There is nothing like keeping up with things – and as is often the case I am behind before I begin! 😀

I have just discovered the blogging challenge on 12wbt and while I considered starting at week 6 and working backwards, it seemed silly not to at least do week one which is the introduction.

  • Introduce yourself? Tell us why your here? 

My name is Shirley and I live in Western Sydney. I have three boys who are 27, 25 and 14 (and no it’s not a typo 😉 ). I am a widow – my husband lost a short but intense battle with leukaemia and they turned off the machines that were keeping him alive on Boxing Day 2006. My life changed so much from that moment. In a way I lost sight of who I was as John was so much a part of my life for so long. It has been a long slow journey but I am getting my life back.

I have always put my thoughts and those stories in my head down on paper, if for no other reason than to get them out of my head and about a year after John died I started writing everything down. It was incredibly cathartic and it occured to me that perhaps it would help other people to know that they were not alone, that other people went through the same thoughts and feelings and that there was no wrong way to grieve. So ‘One Woman’s Journey’ was born. It is a work in progress but one day I hope to share it with the world.

I am a Registered Nurse and I work night duty in a nursing home – 7 nights on and 7 off which fits in well with my family. I love scrapbooking and used to teach it before John got sick, I love to read and spend far too much time on the computer.

I grew up in New Zealand and worked in the US and UK which is where I met my Australian husband and after living in NZ for a while moved here 25 years ago and am here to stay. 🙂

  • Why did you decide to join round 2 of Michelle Bridges 12 Week Body Transformation? 

I had reached a stage in my life where I was ready to change my physical  appearance. In the last two years I had been through a lot of change emotionally, mentally and in almost every other way and now it was time to do something about my health. My boys had lost their father far too young and to be honest I was terrified that I would die if I didn’t change my lifestyle.

I had successfully lost 50 kilos 15 years ago with Weight Watchers but I just couldn’t get enthusiastic about it this time. I briefly considered having my stomach banded but fortunately (in hindsite) it was too expensive). I was on Facebook one day and an ad for 12wbt popped up and I went to have a look. Immediately I was struck by the idea and especially as it was run by Michelle. I thought about it for a couple of days and talked it over with my best friend – the only person who really knew just how unhappy I was with my body and understood why it was so difficult to actually do something about it. In the end I decided it was worth trying, I knew I was pretty much in the right frame of mind and so I joined up ready to go.

  • How have you prepared for the challenge?

I love how Michelle has everything so well set out and all you have to do is follow what she says. Saying that it’s not all easy. Some of those early tasks were a bit confronting – but in a good way. As an example, it was amazing when I sat down and sarted writing my excuses, just how many there were. It made me so sad that I had been using such stupid reasons to put my life in danger and not be truely present in my kids lives! I did every challenge and task and it made a huge difference to my mind set and by the end of pre season I had already lost exactly 10 kilos!