Ever since I was a young child I can remember liking sports, exercise, and health. I was a closet personal development nut in high school in the late 90's. Secretly reading about the Macrobiotic diet, and reading The Artist's Way. I also had another persona. I loved writing and acting. I went to college for journalism and minored in theater before heading out to LA to act and go to a performing arts school.
In LA things were different. Yoga was popular, working out was a way of life, and holistic health was so widely popular and accepted.
I moved back to Ohio, did the normal thing society tells us to do. Get a job, get married, and have 2.5 kids, live in a suburb and boom you made it. ( Ok so I actually love my main 9-5 job and both of my careers! I am very lucky and blessed)
But something was missing. Not to mention the way it is in our culture to work, work, work and be busy. Oh being busy!!! The glorification of busy-ness is astonishing.
I jumped at an opportunity to take a yoga teacher training 5-6 years ago. Which you would think would have put me on the path to my huge transformation. But it didn't. I love yoga and absolutely love teaching it. But no one taught me self-care. There was never a class to learn how to prioritize yourself and create healthy boundaries.
I was teaching 5-7 times a week and at one point at 3 different places and still working full time, not to mention being a mom to 2 busy kids in ALL of the activities.
I was constantly sick, tired, and my anxiety had sky rocketed. Like I do every January of a new year I created a vision board. On this January of 2020 I had on it rest, slow down, more family time, travel more, start a podcast, start my own online business, and some other things. In February of 2020 I told 2 yoga studios I need a break and can not teach anymore. I told the other studio I want to have less classes. Then in March 2020 the world shut down. I read a book called Untamed by Glennon Doyle and finally after years and years of wanting to become a holistic health coach the book helped me see my potential and I took the chance to do something for myself and enrolled at Institute of Integrative Nutrition.
The coronavirus pandemic has pushed health to the front of many of our minds. A lot of us if we weren't worried about health and nutrition before are starting to get more health conscious now.
I have been studying bio-individuality, which means that we are all unique and recognize and honor our uniqueness is the key to health and happiness.
Your body is the only one you have so its critical you listen to what fuels and nourishes it and gets you going.
Wellness has become a popular word and trendy saying these days but when you are living a healthy lifestyle you are energized, full of life, free from illness, do things that make you feel alive, and most importantly feel CONFIDENT.
When I talk about health and wellness I am not just talking about the food on your plate and physical health. Wellness is your body, mind, soul, and spirit are all aligned.
When you invest in your health + wellness you are practicing self-care and creating a better version of yourself. Not only will you reap the benefits but everyone around you will also benefit from a happier and healthier you.
It's time we as a society stop glorifying being busy and intentionally focus on becoming our healthiest self.
Being healthy isn't just about what you're eating and how you're working out. It is so much more, its about your thought's, hobbies, work life, relationships, career goals, personal goals, finances, and so much more.
We live in a day and age where we are bombarded with everyone's highlight reels on social media. On top of that women/moms are made to feel like we have to do " All the things".
What we think we become. It's important to fuel our minds with positive influences and do the work on ourselves.
One of the best tools you can have is personal development. When you learn to love yourself you will want to become the best version of yourself. You are so worth investing in!
Spending time to intentionally grow as a person and focus on yourself will have trickle down effects of positive aspects on everyone around you.
The tireless phrases, " You can't pour from an empty cup", and "Put on your oxygen mask first" are true.
This year I started to slip back in to burn out mode. Doing all the things, working non stop, mom-ing, adulting, etc. I was slowly burning out.
Different ailments from my back going out in March, to getting Covid, then pneumonia, and my back progressively getting worse I haven’t been able to work out much this year. Coupled with the different rounds of steroids made me extremely self conscious. In May I did a reiki session from a good friend and one of my yoga mentors, Lisa. She really got through to me that I have to slow down and rest.
After being sick of being sick and hurt most of this year I finally heard someone.
I set down a huge path of reclaiming my joy. I set forth to rest, set and enforce my boundaries, meditate A LOT, get outside daily, relax, and sit by the pool a lot this summer!
I’ve read so many books and listened to a lot on audible that all just clicked.
I stayed off of Facebook mostly only checking it for the kids activities.
This summer has been so much fun! Because I’m calmer so our my kids! Our whole house has been so much calmer.
Another crazy thing. When I finally relaxed and stopped stressing so much both my businesses and my husband’s work started booming!
✨I was a huge micro-manager ( ok this one is still hard to release haha) but when you release control everything flows! ✨
Here's my personal resources for personal development:
Books/audibles:
Untamed by Glennon Doyle
Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
How Are You Really by Jenna Kutcher
The Blue Zones by Dan Buettner
The Power of One More by Ed Mylett
Sleep
Journaling
Gratitude list
Meditation, Meditation, Meditation. I can not stress this one more. This has insanely helped with every area of my life from building confidence, to relaxing.
Walking
EFT/tapping
Set and enforce healthy boundaries.
Cheers to the rest of summer! 🍻🍾
For my community I have a special offer from IIN. A free sample class and $2,500 off of tuition for the health coach training.