Guest post by home girl the beautiful Natalia Muntean. www.NataliaMuntean.com

“Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.”

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
Some people are born to lead and some people are born to follow. You are blessed with certain characteristics as a child that you can develop to your best ability as you mature. We tend to get caught up with “real world” games and lose that precious connection with our inner voice that can lead us to open up our potential and help us blossom into the persons we meant to be all along, if only we could listen to that voice attentively.

One thing is certain though, champions are not born, champions are made! You can transform your body from fat to fit, from weak to strong; you can go from not knowing alphabet to being able to write bestsellers, and you can break your limbs and still compete at the Olympics… You can do anything you want, if only you believe in your heart that you can.

“The world we have created is a product of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.”
~ Albert Einstein
I’ve been told for years that I couldn’t be a model; I’ve been told for years that I’d never win the battle with my genetics, according to that, I was doomed to be fat; I’ve been told that it’d take me several years of competing and paying my dues to be featured in a fitness magazine, or, if I am lucky get on its cover; I’ve been told that I’d never be able to write well, since English is not my first language, but fourth… I’ve been told I’d never survive in the new country, it’s too far, it’s too hard, and it’s too this, it’s too that…

I would always say to those people in my mind, “Watch me!”
It is all in your head, it is all in your mindset, thus if you want your journey to be hard, you will find the way to complicate things, you will rest on array of excuses in order to prevent yourself looking in the mirror and facing the most uncomfortable truth of taking responsibilities for your own decisions. You can choose to be a winner or a victim.

Now, don’t get me wrong, there are some unfortunate circumstances that can happen to us in life that we certainly never wished for, not even subconsciously, and we can’t change or control that, but what we can control is the way we perceive things and react to them.

Any of my life changing decisions would start with a dream, a wish and a strong desire to materialize it. And I think that a lot of people do have that part down, they dream and wish for things, few people know specifically what they want though.

So, how do you go from looking in the mirror and being disgusted with your own reflection to thinking that you can become Ms. Bikini Universe? The strong desire to change my body and my lifestyle, the desire that is so strong you can taste it. The desire that gives you such strength that you physically can’t stop moving ahead, you are ON and there is nothing and no one can change it.

It takes time, it takes discipline and so much work to win, whether you are losing weight, getting ready to compete in the world championship or transforming your junk habits into a healthy, in all of its aspects, lifestyle; it, also, takes courage and faith. You have to believe in the positive outcome, you have to imagine it while shedding sweat, blood and tears in the gym, or saying “no” to a junk snack or bad influence of convenient procrastination or not fast enough results. You have to have faith in your talents and abilities.

I knew that I could win the title of Ms Bikini Universe, if I put my thought, hard work and discipline into it. It took me a year to prepare and I won. I love the sport, I love the game and I believe that the same principles apply to business, as a matter of fact, my fitness success was sudden for many, because I treated it as a business, and didn’t try to pretend that I was doing it just for fun. Obviously, it is fun to perform on stage, shoot with great photographers, meet new people and hang out with your best friends backstage, but, come on, everybody wants to win! Unless, you are afraid to win or simply don’t believe that you can.

Another important point for me was to learn as much as I could about the fitness industry and the competition world. It’s not enough to win, you need to surpass that in your long-term vision for yourself and decide what you are going to do with it. I had all my goals written down and names of people I wanted to talk to, list of magazines I wanted to be on the cover of.

I had (and always do) my short –term goals, where I would take one workout at a time, and long-term goals, such as winning the biggest title and build a brand around it. I never had a problem with the imagination, haha, but with great and thorough planning it can become a reality and for me it always does. Unless, you stop wishing for it, believing in yourself, working hard AND smart on making it happen and following a clear blueprint of your dream, nothing and I mean, nothing, can ever stop you from achieving it.

check out the rest of my pictures… and YES!!! You can click on it to see the larger images :mrgreen: