I am so thankful for all of the mess and chaos of my upbringing, I was raised to believe I could achieve absolutely anything I put my mind to…

It’s how I rallied 4196 signatures to get Hanson to come to Tasmania when I was the ripe old age of 10, it’s how in 1999 I just walked past the media and got Grant Hackett to sign my poster the second he got out of the pool… there are so many of these stories to tell where my love of something or someone has fuelled me to achieve something great.

I wish I knew at what point on the journey of life that I lost the determination and spark, or at least when the confidence I once had as a little girl dulled.

My life has been a constant up and down on the scales and I don’t actually recall a time I wasn’t thinking about my weight, it was my “Roman empire” some would say.

March 2023 my life changed.

My life changed because I made a choice to love myself and put my own oxygen mask on first, knowing I could only show up for those around me – refer to previous posts for more info on that!

But as part of the above I was all about being uncomfortable and the growth that comes from that! So I agreed to do running training… to hopefully run 5km…

I’m here to say I did it!!!

My family joined me and we did a 5km colour fun run. My heart is so full and I am filled with emotions to see how far I’ve come and how different my life is when it comes to exercise and nutrition.

My day was filled with the most divinely timed messages in all honesty, I woke to a message from a friend, I had a message from my sister & then call it the universe (or for me, I believe it was god) I had a message whilst waiting to start and feeling insanely nervous from my friend Michelle who has been instrumental in my journey & then half way through my run when I was actually about to get my phone out and tell the family I was calling it at half way because I didn’t get to start the way I wanted due to the crowds when my friend who has been my daily accountability buddy sent a message that they had no doubt in my mind I had it… so I put my phone away and finished the 5k in 45:05 which was 5 seconds more than my goal haha so I was stoked.

This 5k not only had me doing an incredibly fun thing with my family, it helped build a little bit of that confidence that little Jessie had and now I’ve agreed to do the Burnie 10 next year with Lil! Who knows, with some more time and persuading, that might become a family run too hehe

If you made it this far, I hope you make a choice to do something that challenges you today because there is nothing better on the planet than beating that little voice inside your head that’s trying to stop you!

Love always,

MrsJRad