The page we should all take out of Saban's playbook

That hurts me just to type. Especially this week as we lead into the game of games. To Bammers, this game is often just another game on the road to the ship, but to us Tigers, it's often a week of anticipation rivaling the moments leading up to David toppling Goliath. But I digress. As an Alabama fan, my husband always chimes Saban's mantra, "trust the process." This phrase can be rather annoying to instant gratification-loving, control freaks like myself, but it holds a lot of wisdom.

Whether your journey is a postpartum one or post-holiday gluttony that is sure to creep up soon, trusting the process is important. Have you ever lifted up your shirt after a workout to gaze at the progress you feel like you should've made? No? Just me? Well, if not, try it next time. It's sufficiently frustrating. It can be so difficult to work hard at a workout or at willpower at work when someone has brought cookies in for the 4th day in a row only to feel like it isn't getting you anywhere. After several workouts or cookie-less afternoons, it's easy to throw up your hands and say, "screw it! It wasn't working anyways!"

At nearly 4 months postpartum, I often feel that way. Especccccially when I see someone I follow on Instagram looking all fab with a 1 week old baby. But ya know what? I've made progress. And that's where trusting the process comes in. I know that my body is working overtime to exclusively pump for Rhett, and I'm back in half marathon shape/training. My diet is far from perfect, but I'm in a healthy place. Whereas at the beginning of this journey, I felt like I had a mountain to climb body composition-wise and maybe I should go keto or jump back on 4 hour body, I knew I had to give it time. I had to lay down a tentative game plan and then trust it.

So that's where I am. I'm Sabaning harder than I thought possible, and I'm happy with the way I'm feeling. Mentally, I'm in a healthy place with food. I've been able to eat all the oats without feeling like carbs are the devil. I can see that this process is slow, but it's also getting me to where I want to be. Giving my body the time and flexibility it needs to recover from pregnancy and my mind the freedom of knowing it'll all work out is a gift. I'm thankful for the knowledge and patience to continue on in this process, and I can't really believe I learned something important from Alabama football. Thanks, Saban.

But we're still gonna try our darndest to take you down Saturday :)