After watching the Discovery Times series “Diamond Road,” I began thinking about the diamonds I own (I don’t have that many, but I do own some) and began to feel incredibly guilty. Especially after watching all those mine diggers working so hard to search for diamonds, slaving away and earning $1-3 dollars a day. Hearing the men tell stories about their poverished lives and how difficult it is to live day to day. They are unable to save for the future because each day is a struggle to earn enough money for a bag of rice. I used to live extremely poor too, but never at that level.

There are days where my ego inflates and I feel overly powerful and untouchable. Then there are days, like today, where I sit down and begin to appreciate what I own. If less financially fortunate people were to see the way I live (some may call it luxurious while others simply call it frivolous), many of them would draw their own conclusions about me. I do this song and dance with myself so often, I’m sure it’s beginning to be tiresome to my journal readers. Don’t get me wrong, I love my life. I love what I have earned and achieved and have worked my ass off to be where I am today. Nothing was handed to me on a silver platter.

Just four and a half years ago, all I owned were two duffle bags of clothes. Now I’m on my way to becoming a millionaire. It’s so surreal. Days where I feel generous, I simply give and give and give to other people because I somehow feel that I’m not entitled to the money because I already have enough. And I feel guilty when I see poverished people because I’ve BEEN there and people once gave to me.

The other day I went down into my gym like I do every day to work out. And as I walked down the stairs into the basement, I became overcome with guilt. The money used to build my home gym and acquire equipment could have paid for a day’s work of hard labor for 15,000 people in Sierra Leone. The strange thing is, the minute I stepped on the treadmill… all the guilt went away and all I could think about was more success. To me, healthy body equals success. So I worked out and pictured my body thin and healthy and pictured my monetary goal next year. When I visualize my goals when exercising, it produces more effective results. How is it that in just a matter of two minutes, I can go from feeling overwhelmed with guilt for being successful and then immediately be motivated to be even more wealthy than before? I’ll certainly never forget where I came from, however, when I consider the possibility of going back… it only motivates me to be even stronger and more prosperous.

This gym has helped me evict approx. 90 pounds off my body already. And even slave m has dropped 20 pounds in the last two months and he has started the Jenny Craig program (now we’re both on it together). I want to wear a bikini worth photographing and I want to have a slave with a boxer’s six pack. And by golly, I’ll get what I want.

Here’s my beloved gym. And I hope these photos of my gym INSPIRE anyone who may be thinking, “Oh that’s nice, but I couldn’t have a gym like that,” because trust me, if I can do it, then anyone certainly can. It takes hard work to save money to afford nice things, and it takes a LOT of willingness to exercise everyday to achieve great results. I am inspired every day by beautiful women with sexy Barbie-bodies and that gets me going. For other people, they’d rather see some other form of inspiration. Perhaps just the physical gym itself will instill a spark to make people do something nice for themselves. Exercising is your body’s way of saying thank you.

Guilt removed. Success earned.

Love
Isabella
xooxoxo