Panic set in as she stared at the calendar dates in front of her. Her body felt hot and her heartbeat accelerated as the only thing that came to mind was, “I’m running out of time”

Time.

One small word that resonates deeply in my life, time and time again. I say this because I always feel like I’m running out of time, chasing time, on a timeline, wanting more time, not being aligned with time etc…My husband constantly mocks me about it.  He claims I am “Jack Bauer” from the television series 24 who is often heard yelling, “We’re out of time”. When I zip through the house like a tornado, cursing about time, he usually laughs and yells out, “Calm down Jack”. As someone who sleeps minimal hours too, I’m not one to have a lot of leisure time on my hands and I have to be very strategic with what I invest in.

Bodybuilding has been a wonderful new endeavor and has taught me a lot about time.  Time. Time is a lot of things. Time is patience. Time is allowing seeds to be planted. Time is dedication. Time is perseverance. Time is wisdom. Time is opportunity. Time is waiting when it’s best to wait and not do. Time is following through. Time is allowing things to grow and muscles need time to grow.  In fact, I have photos of myself that are sometimes months apart with minimal changes in my body composition that have sent me into a fit of rage knowing how much time I invest on improving myself as I sometimes crave for the results to be more instantaneous. Sometimes, time will surprise you and bring success quicker than you anticipated. Muscle growth and changing your body composition require proper form and exercise, effort, a consistent diet, clean eating and yes that word again, time.

When I started to take weight training seriously two years ago, my old trainer said to me one day in January, “Wait until you see what you can do next year”. I was dead serious and partly offended when I retorted, “Why not March?”. Needless to say, we were both annoyed with each other. I thought he had no faith in me and he thought I was nuts. I had to embrace it and learn that muscle definition takes a very long time. There will always be one wise-ass that will boast that it took them no time at all but trust me when I say that 90 percent plus of the population will have to put in a lot of time grinding to get those results. Having started at my age, I often sigh and think how I would look right now had I started earlier but looking forward is best and I will continue to improve and that’s what matters most.

Bodybuilding takes hours in the gym: time to rack the weights, do your sets, breathe, rest, hydrate, unrack, repeat. If you step up to the demands of competition, all of this becomes more amplified. Not only do you have to put in the time to exercise, your time then needs to incorporate food preps, posing practice (wait until you hear about this disaster) and more. Much more. This sport has taught me that there is so much more behind every muscular frame and person that we build.  It has taught me not to make assumptions or judgments about others. Everyone has their reasons, their source of inspiration, obstacles and journey to get to their end results.

“The day you plant the seed is not the day you eat the fruit. Change takes time” (@ancientwisdom).

I had to learn this and embrace this very statement over the past few months.  With less than 12 weeks away from stepping onto the stage for my first competition, I have to embrace where I am right now and compare it only to what I was and not what I should be.  In this photo of me below posted by my coach yesterday, this is the evidence that time has given me progress, whether competition ready or not. I have hit some milestones and that’s something to be proud of. Now I better go work on that ass of mine otherwise I’m going to have to rename this series Biceps and Biscotti!