75 Hard Revelations

I’m not one for challenges or competitions, but when I took a look at the 75 Hard Challenge (by Andy Frisella) something in me said, “Do it and fail a thousand times, but do it anyway. What else do you have going on?”

One thing I am very great at (doing and handling) is FAILURE. Yup, I am soo awesome at failing, that it no longer deters me from going out and doing something. I always gain something from the experience, and that becomes more my goal than finishing or not finishing something I start “successfully”. Sometimes that works against me, but for the majority of my adult life, being great at failing, has served me in tremendous ways.

So why did I start this? Honestly, I just wanted to start reading again, and needed some way to hold myself accountable to it. (Check out revelation 76 on how that went)

I approached it like almost anything I approach: head first and without a plan, to accomplish some small task with a very roundabout, elaborate path.

The idea is to complete the below commitments, consistently, daily. If you fail at any of the items, you start from Day 1 and go again, without a pause. So you can get to Day 74, and get sick on the 75th day and decide you can’t do it…back to Day 1 you go. You do this until you complete the 75th day successfully.

What it involves:

• 2 x 45 minute workouts daily (one of them has to be outdoors, in any condition)

• no alcohol

• no cheat meals

• 1 gallon of water intake

• read 10 pages (non-fiction) daily

• follow a meal plan (anything, but you follow it)

Without further hold-up…

Here are my 75 (actually 76) Hard Revelations from my 75 Hard Challenge.

1. Social media not only eats up my time but messes with my motivation and drive. Turn on monochrome settings and stop mindless, soul-eating, scrolling.

2. Not everyone will support me. They might think I'm crazy, or "too much". It's okay to walk away from them so I can focus.

3. Not everyone has to do what I'm doing, I can still do it anyway!

4. If I don't eat enough satiating, nutritious foods during the day, I feel the cravings kick up when I get some downtime in the evenings. I plan for those dips with pre-arranging nutritious food choices to eat at that time. I usually only make time for 2 meals a day, but 3 meals keeps me away from snacks, which helps me in my energy levels and satiety.

5. If I delete Uber eats, doordash, skip, food apps from my phone I get less ads about them AND I make it harder to order foods that suck for me anyway. If I REALLY want something prepared for me, I can purchase from a meal service or walk/drive and pick up directly from the restaurant. Everyone wins.

6. If I don't accomplish reading and working out before 2 pm, the excuses to do them later go up 100-fold and it gets mega difficult. Get it done, early. This also leaves more room in the day for more movement, which is unplanned, and my body feels so great from it!

7. Texting with friends is great, but much like scrolling it has the potential to eat away at hours of my day. Pick up the phone for a call, it saves, on average, 10 mins per communication (for me).

8. Can't call on the phone? Start my texts with: I have to jump off in 5 mins, set a timer, and make it real. If texting needs to happen longer, schedule a call for later instead. Save precious time and less room for miscommunications.

9. I owe nobody anything. I owe myself my truest self.

10. If kids don't understand why I'm doing this, teach them and get them involved if they really want to know. If they can read, send them articles. If they can't, show them, involve them, and inspire them!

11. Motivation definitely decreases once I'm done with my workday. I just want to rest! If I haven’t completed my workouts, I get very resentful and annoyed with myself (and others)…I have a choice to get up earlier and make it happen AND to take care of my emotions if I just don’t get to things until later. Everything is a choice, especially how I react to my circumstances.

12. Meal prepping can save HUNDREDS of dollars per month, when done right.

13. Meal prepping allows me to choose ingredients that work for me, not against me.

14. Meal prepping allows me to portion my foods to support my goals and health, so that don’t I under/over eat. It takes some fine tuning, and changes daily, but in the long run you get the hang of it.

14. The Instantpot is a great tool! I want an air-fryer. Just putting that out there.

16. Rice cookers are amazing! Rice is amazing…don’t blame rice for what processed, crappy, refined carbs and boxed food with added sugars does. I eat approximately 6 cups of rice a week, yes you read this correctly. My weight remains more stable, I snack ZERO times, I eat more vegetables and protein and fats with my rice, my heart rate and blood pressure have both improved - rice isn’t messing it up for me.

17. Fad diets and workouts are fads: "an intense and widely shared enthusiasm for something, especially one that is short-lived and without basis in the objects qualities; a craze". Don't sacrifice quality and longevity for this crazy crap.

18. Reading is hard, do it anyway! Pick something you are interested in and start with 10 pages a day, at a time that you're most motivated to do it. Don't wait until later. Ever.

19. Salt keeps the sugar cravings away.

20. Sugar invites more sugar cravings.

21. Whenever the sun is shining, change your day to take advantage of it even for a few minutes. You'll be glad you did and so will everyone else.

22. Hire (if you can) a therapist when making big changes or thinking about them, and yes this challenge was a big change for me even though I never realized it. Can’t hire a therapist? Surround yourself with a solid support network of trust-worthy friends, colleagues, or doctors. So much emotional “stuff” has come up for me during this and if I didn’t have the tools to deal with things appropriately I definitely reached out to various resources when I could for help.

23. I have re-evaluated every relationship I currently have with everyone during this, especially the one with myself. It's been a very revealing process. I realize how much I mean to myself, and that is such a gift and change from where I used to be years ago.

24. I have a lot of time to waste, or I can change my perspective and allow myself the allowance to use time, in whatever way I choose.

25. When I workout twice a day every day, I can't go all out but I can give it my ‘all’. I also need to rest to be able to repeat it daily. Sleep, proper nutrition, and hydration becomes a non-negotiable factor for performance.

26. A diet can be whatever I make of it. If I leave room for things I like, I'll never need to "cheat" or binge. Himalayan salted kettle chips (with avocado oil), or basmati rice drenched in butter and salt, are my jam. By the end, my taste for chips (which I never thought could change) has definitely decreased. Rice remains a mainstay in my diet, forever.

27. I hate taking progress pictures of myself, daily. I expect big changes and my expectations are quite flawed. After day 60, I realized my focus in the mirror was on an aesthetic appearance. When I removed the lens of judgement, I saw myself for who was truly in front of me in the mirror. This body that provides my soul a home, that allows me to move, that allows me to touch other humans and help them, that allows me to feel an embrace or a kiss, one that allows me to lift things when they feel heavy, and safely put them down when I’ve had enough. I no longer saw a bag of bones, or a blob of fat, I just saw Monica standing in front of a mirror and saying: You’re going to do great things today.

28. Health is not a number on a scale or a size of clothing. Health is not something you can hold or purchase. Health is within you, it is a part of you. Once you can realize that you are not without it, that you are because of it, that is when everything changes. You then realize you must earn your keep if you plan to keep yourself. What you are improving, if you want to improve it, is yourself. What you are choosing to ignore, if you choose to ignore it, is yourself. The choice becomes yours and so does the responsibility. No one else’s.

29. Health is: how well you move, how often you move, how well you think, the nutrients you ingest and absorb, your blood lab reports, your hormonal labs, your oxygen saturation levels, your blood pressure, your heart rate at rest and heart rate variability, and so much more than you don't see in a mirror or in your clothes. Health is YOU.

30. Health is earned. The work needs to be done daily.

31. Health must be followed and maintained, as it is an ever-changing target.

32. Things don't get harder the older you get. Your mindset does. Become malleable in your mind, so you can become more malleable in your life.

33. Eat real food.

34. The more sleep I get, the more sleep I want. The less sleep I get, the less sleep I want. I have to explore this more. I’m still figuring this out. This will be my focus moving forward, really understanding my relationship with sleep and how to get better quality of sleep and how to break the habit of quantity defining it. Day 76 and I still feel this way. I’m starting to realize my sleep routine, and my wake up routine play a huge role in how I feel after a good night’s rest.

35. Put electrolytes in your water. You'll absorb it better (stay hydrated) and urinate much less frequently. It also cuts down on a lot of the cravings, if other cylinders are firing well.

36. Avocados have more potassium than bananas. Both are "good for you", but one offers more of what you might be looking for when it comes to nutrient density.

37. Nutrient-density matters.

38. Stop wasting energy on trying to digest foods that give me very little benefits. Chips taste great, but they make me feel like crap the next day (most of the time), and I wake up hungrier and moodier.

29. Some people enjoy friends with benefits. I enjoy food with benefits.

40. Don't sit or lay down after a meal. Get up, wash dishes, go for a walk, for at least 30 mins or so, so your body has a chance to move it. I always feel better for it.

41. Put the phone as way or on DND while I accomplish any focused tasks.

42. Avocado oil, sea salted, kettle chips are still the bomb-diggity and I don't know how not to polish off a bag in one sitting. Keep them in a container in the garage. If I want them, I have to go and get them. I haven’t done this yet, but I also haven’t been soo crazy about them lately - probably because my food during the day has been great. Day 76, I can say this is no longer true. I added in more fruits and consistently getting 3 meals in my day, and my reach for those chips has decreased, but also they taste very different to me now. Your taste for things can change, once you begin to get the right nutrients into you.

43. If I wash dishes right after I eat, I have less dishes to wash right after work. They didn’t teach us this in math class.

44. The goal isn’t to finish this, the goal is to go through it. Apply this to any goal in life, and the process of achievement gets easier because the focus becomes about doing the things that lead you to the result, rather than constantly reaching for the far out result.

45. I recognize this challenge is likely “easier” (read: different) for me to accomplish, because I don't have to think about how this may impact another human (child, a co-dependent relationship/partner), and it's revealing to me on how I would choose to live my life moving forward or what I'd need to set up if changing those variables.

46. It doesn't get easier. I just stay consistent or I don't. It was hard on day: 4, 10, 11, 18, 19, 22, 24, 31, 32, 33,….50-72 …you get the point.

47. I know I will do this in one go. Now I just have to get there. Consistency and commitment are easier for me than patience ever will be. I did it in one go, like I knew I would. I realized I negotiate a lot with myself, and likely “half-ass” things, but then I have to remind myself that some days that’s all I have to give, and therefore it’s not half, it’s 100% of what I have available to me in that moment. I expect a lot from myself, as I should. I also need to give myself grace, with those expectations.

48. This is a choice. I'm not torturing myself. I'm teaching myself and I’m treasuring myself. If changing your life for the better feels like torture, please invest in a GREAT therapist. I did. I promise you, it’s worth every ounce of effort to learn that being good to yourself is a good thing, and don’t let anyone convince you otherwise, especially yourself! Looking for a name drop on therapists? I suggest looking up Gestalt Institute Toronto and finding someone trained well through them. You may have to interview quite a few to see who fits best for you, but do it. They also have a student clinic. No I’m not associated with them, I have just been through the alphabet of various practitioners and this worked for me. Find what works for YOU.

49. If I do “it” now, I can do less later.

50. If I do less now, I can do “it” later.

51. I am not lazy. That's a guarantee. I can choose to be it, and it's a treat! Being lazy is to be lucky. We have our definitions of that REALLY MESSED UP.

52. The more I move, the more I want to move. The less I move, the less I want to move.

53. The hardest things in my workout, give me the most pain relief for days to come! Do the hard stuff! For me, usually the hardest training is what looks so mundane and simple. There’s something to be said about the basics, please do not feel the need to dress-up your training to make it look like some elaborate routine that serves no function other than to make you sweat and move around - unless that’s your goal! If you want to learn to move and move well, while hitting your goals, find a coach that will teach you what you need to know about movement and health, and follow it consistently. Do the hard stuff. I’d be happy to be that coach for you.

54. I care less and less about what I see in the mirror and more about WHO I see in the mirror.

55. If you're bored of the loop you're on, change the direction, change the shape, or break it. You can always come back to it for comfort whenever you need. Walking around the same 3 paths, daily, got pretty…boring. I got into listening to podcasts, made a few calls, or just really became present with my surroundings and took those moments to myself IN. Sometimes just walking those paths in the reverse direction, was a good enough change!

56. I'm not doing something extraordinary, this is ordinary; make it so. Let’s make health, ordinary.

57. Taking care of myself is a privilege, duty, and a right. The only person that can do it, is me.

58. Plan to get thrown off your routine, so you won't get thrown off your routine too far. Being prepared allows you to handle the stressors of unexpected changes, better. If I miss a day, I can restart at day 1 tomorrow…but I won’t because that’s just who I am, but I am okay with it - remember failure doesn’t stop me, but the process of finding a way to make it work without having to restart is exciting to me. I am not an early-riser, but there were many days where I go up at 4:45am to make sure I could roll out of bed, into my snow gear and get outside, because it was the only time to squeeze in my outdoor workout for the day. There were a couple of days that I did a workout past 8pm - those were HARDER than the 5am ones, 100%.

59. You don't have to explain your why to everyone (but I guess I’m here, explaining my why to everyone!). I hope it inspires you to make some consistent changes in your life to improve the quality of your life and relationship with yourself. I know…how dare I?! ;)

60. You'll be surprised to see who gets inspired by just being around you, when you're excited about what you're doing. My partner and I encouraged each other through action (and jokes), my best friends (even one’s visiting in town) understood the space I needed to make this happen and would give me those little pats on my back that I really love and even joined me on my workouts, my clients and patients have commented that it’s inspired them to look at their movement in their day differently and make small changes to make their days better, some of my friends joined in at various parts of the challenge, just so much of a ripple effect was created around me. I wasn’t a happy-go-lucky person throughout this, trust me, but I just really wanted to do this for myself.

61. You can do A LOT in one day, and you can also do VERY LITTLE. Both of those scenarios are perfectly great!

62. If you aren't recovering well, you will start to make mistakes in other parts of your life that may have huge impacts. Recover, it's important.

63. Recovery = sleep, nutrition, mental health check-ins, general hygiene tasks, friend-time, partner-time, solo-time, and things that make you happy, grounded, and at peace.

64. Psychedelics, when done with intention, can show you what's really important to you and help you remove those barriers of excuses from you becoming your best self. Psychedelics, previously and while on this challenge, have tremendously helped me with an eating dysregulation or disorder I didn't even recognize as one.

65. I realize who I really want to spend my precious moments in this universe, with.

66. I realize who I don't really care to spend my precious moments in this universe, with.

67. Both revelations of 65 & 66 show me reflections of myself. I must continue to work at the world inside of me so that the world outside of me is more at peace as well. I’d like revelation #66 to transform into not really being a thought in my mind. I either want to spend time with someone, or there are just people around me that get my attention for less time. Better boundaries and better energy all around.

68. 75 days feel very long and then very short, all at the same time.

69. You'll want to quit every few days, that's why everyone fails to continue after those 21 day or 30 day challenges. It doesn't take 21 days to build a habit. It takes consistency, over time, for as many days as you want it to be a habit. Your priorities will change, and so will your habits. If you really want to quit, quit. If you really want to achieve something, keep sticking it through and you'll be happy you did. This challenge wasn’t just to get me to do this for 75 days, it made me realize I will be incorporating a lot of this moving forward, for life.

70. Being self-employed (can) have its severe limitations with stability, but it's allowed me to focus more on designing and living a life I truly enjoy. It's hard as heck, but so is everything else. Living in a trauma-filled home was hard. Being in a trauma-filled marriage was hard. Staying in the closet was hard. Coming out of it was hard. Choose your hard. The choices become easy, once you’ve made them.

71. It doesn't get easier, it just matters. Knowing it matters, gets easier.

72. Sometimes the only thing keeping me to this is knowing that starting at Day 1 feels so far away now, so I just go and do what needs to be done (really feeling this at Day 23, 55, 62, and 72).

73. So many people asked me if I was “rolling in it” (financially abundant - for those that don’t get the reference), because apparently this challenge gave them that appearance. I”m rolling in the abundance of love and compassion for myself and this process, and all of those who around me who I find to be very supportive in making this happen, even the nay-sayers. This has zero to do with financial ability. Why are we all so obsessed with money as our measure of success and happiness, or the reason for it? I’m guilty of this, too…but please don’t reduce my entire experience and process of living to my net-worth. My business is struggling, like many, during this time, and this challenge has done wonders for my mindset to keep my eyes on the horizon and remain present and focused.

74. It's okay to get off track and still manage to be on track. Switch it up. Move differently at a different time of day. Make a better food choice even if it's takeout. Be okay with making a change on the fly because change really is the only constant.

75. I am worth every ounce of my energy. It's the only way I can help any other soul on earth. Without each other, we have nothing. So please take care of yourself before you reach out to take care of me, and I will do the same.

BONUS

76 I “only” read 3 books, while I saw that others on this challenge read upwards of 12. For someone that hasn’t read a single book cover to cover IN YEARS…I can be much more understanding with myself and say I READ 3 WHOLE BOOKS for the first time in a long time, and I enjoyed them. I definitely got an idea of what I like to read, and will continue to do so whenever I want.

Did any of this resonate with you? Drop a comment below or send me an email. This really has been an eye-opening experience for me. I’m going to give myself the grace of a little break, before I continue onto 75 Hard Phase 1. I’ll send you all an update once that’s done ;)