When your a little girl, and everyone tells you that you can be anything you want when you grow up, you believe it.  Reach for the stars, don't ever give up, keep moving forward, just wait til you grow up! :-) Then you've grown up, or you think your grown up, and you wonder what happened. Is this what I wanted to be when I grow up?
 
Like most little girls, I dreamed of a million different things that I wanted to be or do.  But none of them really seemed like me.  When I was 8, I started to learn to play piano and I was pretty good at it.  But for one reason or another I quit playing and started heading in a different direction, writing.  As it turns out my mother was very good at both herself - I guess it runs in our family a little bit.
 
I definately wasn't the cutest girl in school or the prettiest.  I just wanted people to like me - I thought if I was pretty then people would like me more. Now I am grown up I've changed a lot, definately for the better, at least I think so, but people still look at me funny. That's life I guess.  

Exercise has always been in my life in one form or another.  I started my own exercise/diet program my senior year in high school. I was working 2 part time jobs and going to school.  My schedule then was pretty similar to what it is now actually.  It was up at 3am every morning and walked to work to my first job then walked home got ready for school after school I got in a work out then off to my 2nd job, home, eat, study and off to bed.  Then next day do it all over again. That is just how it has always been in my life, working 2 - 3 jobs since I was 16 years old.  Now I am almost 38 years old and still working just as hard probably harder than I ever have in my life, because I know exactly what I want for myself and my daughter.
 
Now getting there is the hard part.  I started delivering newspapers when I was 13 on foot of course.  So I definately got the walking part down.  I have been in food service since I was 15 and retail since I was 19.  But the whole time I knew this is not what I want to do with my life.  Figuring that out would take longer.
 
Through my hard work I was promoted into management and that still did not feel like that was me. One thing I have had come into my life and that I know I am to be is a mom. That is by far the most rewarding job I have ever or will ever have.  I feel blessed each and every day to my daughter Abby.  She was diagnosed with cerebal palsey when she was 18 mos old. Since then it's been a long hard road for her too.  She is so tough, she just keeps pushing ahead and still smiles through all of it.  We all could take lessons from her. But ,,, there's always a but in there somewhere - I still wanted to do more with my life.
 
I met my husband Paul when I was 31 years old and Abby was just 8 months old.  We've been together since day 1.  Something that has always stuck with me through life is something that my mom always used to say to me, "Good things come to those who wait." - The waiting part is actually the worst.
 
I have had the pleasure of knowing two very special people, Patricia and Charles Tigges, who happen to be my daughters grandparents.  I lost Patricia a year ago and she is truly missed.  The last time I saw Abby's grandparents, her grandfather said to me that someday I would be rewarded for what I've done.  I told him that I felt that Abby was that reward, but somehow he meant something else.
 
About 2 1/2 years ago was when my training became serious.  It was about a year a go that Paul suggested that we compete together.  The more he thought about it however he decided to stay focused on our gym business and would focus on my training and diet.  That was the most unselfish thing someone had done for me.  It turns out it was the right decision. The training, the diet, the schedule, the practice and the list goes on.  I have never been more consumed with anything in my life.
 
If you do not have a passion for what you do or what you want to do, then don't do it.  Without that passion then what your doing is just work.  You will not truly excel at it and will have spent effort on something that you did not want to do in the first place. Paul and I do what we do because it is what we are passionate about.  It is never easy but if it is what you truly want to do then it will all be worth it.
 
Paul and I both have a mission to help others reach their fitness goals and feel better about themselves.  In order to do that you not only have to look and act the part but you have to help them see it in themselves.  It is truly a high when you help someone start changing their body and gettig towards their goal.  When someone who has struggled for quite a while with their weight and all of a sudden you guide them and they are wearing clothes that they have not gotten out of the closet for months it makes all your hard work well worth it.
 
In July of this year I competed in my first contest entering the Masters Division at the Branch Warren Classic.  It was without a doubt a gigantic learning experience. Trial and error isn't that what life is all about?  If you do not know something you ask, and you never know what you can achieve until you try. If you fall on your face you get back up and you do it all over again only differently.  I met a very nice lady at that first show, named Kathy who shared her experience from her first show.  She explained that I needed to get back on that stage as soon as possible and make a few improvements. 
 
As soon as Paul and I got back from my first show, I immediately signed up the next one and I am very glad I did.  This time I returned from this show a winner and able to compete at National Shows for my pro card.  Standing on that stage with my trophy and looking down and seeing the thumbs up sign from Paul gave me this feeling of accomplishment and just motivates me to push even harder for that pro card. I know how proud he was of me and he stuck by me each and every step of the way.  I truly could not have done this without him.  He is my best friend and my whole world.  My life with him and Abby is everything it was meant to be and each day it just get's better. 
 
I will keep working hard and trying to improve my physique each and every time I step on that stage.  Keep going after your goals no matter what never lose sight of them.  God Bless and TRAIN HARD!
 
Nicole Kelly Joiner