Happiness or Success?

Happiness and Success .... two contrasting and complimenting aspects to which we base our very life upon. But what is happiness compared to success? Can it be,"Happily Successful" or should it be,"Successfully Happy"?

Though it is relevant to us as individuals,  we meet at common grounds of desire and determination to achieve what we see as "happiness" . Whether it's Money, Love or Goals.

This reminds me of the story of the wise man and the western man. Both met at a temple to discuss life and all its meaning. As the westerner sat and talked to the wise man about life, he served tea to them both. The more the westerner spoke to the wise man, the more he kept filling his tea cup. As the tea began to overflow then westerner said, " My cup is full sir". The wise man stopped and said

"One cannot intake if one is already full"

The westerner quickly realized that he traveled all this way to learn, yet he had been speaking the whole time.

As Buddha says,  get rid of ego and rid yourself of desire, and one is only left with the truth.

As a society, we know no satisfaction. Our cups are void of any structure to fill. As we progress,  we constantly want and desire more of it until, inevitably our obtained become meaningless.

Now remember, I'm speaking about happiness;  not success. Because they both are relevant to you; they remain irrelevant to eachother.

Once you let go of desire and let go of ego; you have the truth of what happiness can be.

The Las Vegas Informer Exclusive: Sherry B. Hasty Rise to Success

Sherry can be defined as many different things but the one thing that would be able to cover them all is, “Successful”. A 40 year YOUNG full time traveling RN, a mother and an amateur bikini competitor who was born in San Antonio, TX and graduated from Angelo State University in ’99. Sherry was in her 20’s, she would go to the gym and do what I would call a “casual” workout. It wasn’t until she turned 40 when things had started to change. A coworker of hers underwent a gallbladder surgery due to a horrible diet and that’s what did it. Sherry joined a gym, got a trainer and started getting after it. She attended her first show with my neighbor and then knew she wanted to try her hand at competition.

She quickly cleaned up her diet and in 12 weeks she her 6 pack and that’s very usual for a woman in her 40’s so this was, obviously, a huge deal for her.  After that, she knew she was going to go for Bikini competition and see what she can do. Sherry placed 3^rd and that qualified me for nationals in her first show. From then on she was placing differently through each show due to competing back to back, and then things started taking a toll on her body. She then decided to take a break for a year and placed 1^st on her first show back and this just reignited her passion to compete. Sherry was then featured in Max Muscle Magazine in September 2011. Sherry now works as a full time traveling nurse, a part time model for HTFU and a part time office assistant for HTFU LLC.

We were lucky enough to catch Sherry with a little free time and she sat down with us and indulged us in the life of a woman her personifies and radiates the HTFU mindset and lifestyle.

LVI: What’s does HTFU means to you?

SBH: HTFU to me means absolutely everything. I’ve been on my own since I was 17 and I had to grow up very fast. Basically I had to “HTFU”

LVI: Sherry, give us an idea of what your weight training routine is and how you get psyched for a workout

SBH: My routines normally include 2 hours a day .My legs are my weak point of my body so I workout legs 3-4x a week. Squats, Lunges, Dead lifts etc and mix it up with Plyometrics as well. I use a lot of Cellucor products as a staple of my supplement regimen. I do cardio for an hour a day on a stair climber. I’m not a huge fun of cardio but it’s got to be done. My favorite exercise is squats. Least favorite is box jumps. I usually begin my prep 12 weeks out from a show to give me enough time to dial in my diet and cardio to get the desired results.

LVI: What are your thoughts of the growing and changing fitness fad s that are going on now days?

SBH:  I am pretty old school when it comes to my training. I don’t fluctuate a lot with my weight so this keeps my contest prep slightly less stressful on my body. I prefer to do it that way because us women cannot pull and drop weight that easy. I eat clean a lot throughout the week and occasionally on the weekends I’ll have one cheat meal or so. There are a lot of different fitness fads and diet going around and the problem with that is a lot of people want something instantaneous and quick. They’ll buy whatever they think will work and don’t do a lot of research to know what they’re getting themselves into. Everyone’s body is different and what works for someone may/may not work well for you

LVI: Sherry what are your thoughts on Personal Trainers, good or no good?

SBH: It is definitely something that has blown me away lately. I remember going into 24 Fitness and the trainers, staff and managers would be in great shape and would look great. Now, I walk in and see unfit trainers, big staff members and it looks like all of these people who work in a gym look like they don’t even workout! I don’t understand when it became okay for people who look like they don’t know what they’re doing or how to do it and try to tell someone else how to work out and how to lose weight!

LVI: What’s your favorite cheat meal?

SBH: Pizza, pancakes and breakfast tacos!!! You can have a cheat meal! It’s not going to hurt you that bad, but you have to earn it with a week of dedication and commitment and it’s all in moderation.

Look for Sherry in Chicago for the Junior Nationals on June 13^th, 2013 to earn her pro card and begin to make this goal of hers a reality. Sherry and HTFU are going to Isle of Man TT to do some sponsorship work with athlete Brandon Cretu in the races.

Clothing by HTFU 

Photograph by Harry of LGHSX Photography 

The Process

I once wrote of a segment that I called "Trust The Process" and I want to explain to you what I mean when I say that. Life has a process in which things breakdown, go wrong or fall apart and then they're built back up again. Much like our muscle tissue when we workout. 

We go through a process of constant break down and build up over and over again to achieve a goal, in this case our dream physique. 

However, in life, while have the exact same process, there is a difference because there are two types of people in this world. There are those of us who take this process headon. We shift and progress through all the pain, the bullshit and the doubt because have faith in ourselves and that all of our effort will not have been in vain. 

When it is all said and done and it's all over; we are met with great rewards for our struggles and further our journey to even better rewards.

Then there are those of us who do the exact opposite. We carry on until we hit turmoil and the second we do; we regress. We regress over and over again until we are no better off than where we were when we first started our journey through life.

I, myself, cannot settle of an average being. I cannot settle for average anything. I want great EVERYTHING.  No matter how bad things get, no matter how hard life hits you MUST, yes MUST, keep getting up and keep pushing forward. 

Life isn't easy! You know this! 

Times are gonna be hard, money is going to be tight and things aren't always going to workout but if you keep going and you don't quit I promise you your reward is on its way. I GUARANTEE you that all of your work will pay off dearly because that's the process.

Each and every one of you have done so much in your time and have accomplished a lot,  and all I want for each and every one of you to have more and more success.  Trust the process because it's the way life works. Keep your mindset right , your work ethic high and stay ahead of that curve because if you do, I promise you have the greatest life imaginable. 

 All you have to do is decide to do it. Take that love you have and all that passion you have ans spread it into all areas of your life and watch the seeds of all your labor bring a fruitful harvest for you and your loved one's to enjoy forever.

Happy Training.