Mistakes don't make me. This was one of the hardest things for me to learn. I was so performance driven. I was worthy if I performed well and others approved of me and worth nothing if I didn't. It's no wonder my health journey was a mess!
Shame hung over my head any time I ate something "bad" or gained a pound, or missed a work out. I couldn't keep it up because who wants to walk around feeling terrible all the time?! The 21 Day Fix taught me how to plan in treats, how to pick myself up after a perceived failure and realize that mistakes don't make me, they teach me! That perspective switch changed me life! Fueled with hope and grace, seeing my worth and beauty, my health journey is a joy now and something that I look forward to each day. That is how you make it a lifestyle! You are more than the sum of your efforts! Your worth is fixed and cannot be increased or decreased with your performance. Care for yourself, enjoy learning and growing! Ditch shame, replace it with grace!
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I attract a lot of rebels and I like that! They come in different shapes and sizes and seasons of life, but they have this in common: They have an aversion to conforming. They want nothing to with being part of the herd. I am this way myself. As soon as people starting gushing about something, I become suspicious! I don't like being manipulated by marketing and I find myself avoiding place that try to make me feel "uncool" if I am less than thrilled with their products or services. I do not care if you think I am uncool! Apple can try to convince I need to "Think differently" and use their products to do so, but I would rather " Think for myself". I refuse to be part of a cult following of anything, even Beachbody.
I fought it. I didn't want to join. I would scroll past my friends post without liking or commenting, but I found myself being drawn to the lifestyle. I was suspicious and hesitant and so I got a used copy of the 21 Day Fix and did it ALONE. I told no one. To my dismay, it changed my life! For months after that, I was flat out irritated that I wanted to be a coach. When the desire finally tipped me over the edge, I also had to fight through the fact that I didn't love the way a lot of coaches were running THEIR businesses. They weren't doing anything wrong, it just wasn't what I wanted for me. I had to figure out my own way. I had to start with WHY I wanted to do this and make every decision from THAT place. It has served me well. Beachbody isn't a cult, it's a set of tools, and I can use them anyway I want, which is why this business called out to the rebel in me! It's much the same with your fitness journey! It actually pays to be a rebel even though it doesn't feel like that at times. I had one challengers email me to sign up and actually said, " Quit making me want to work out with you! I hate working out!" and another one who told me, " There is no way I can stick to the meal plan, I can't have people telling me what to eat." and when I hear things like that I know they will succeed. They are already thinking through what makes them tick and they are forming their why. That draw to this lifestyle is pulling them and they are fighting it. Why will that makes them successful? Because they are fighters and when they realize that they can exist in this lifestyle on their own terms, they will fight JUST as hard for the progress that they desire! Why does this program speak to the rebel? 1. There are a variety of work outs from dancing to kick boxing to weightlifting to yoga. There is literally something for everyone and with Beachbody on Demand you get access to it all! You can have variety or stick to the same freaking workout every month, whatever makes you excited to be doing it. You can choose a 10 minute workout, a 30 minute workout or work out for hours if that floats your boat! Rebels don't like feeling boxed in and there is complete freedom inside this program. 2. You get to choose your own food. I started with P90x many moons ago and I did great with the workouts but the nutrition plan was my undoing. It was written out for me and contained a lot of foods that I HATE. ( Like sweet potatoes and turkey bacon, no thanks!) I was subbing too many items and I just didn't get great results because of it. The container system changed my life because it gave me lists of approved foods and I was able to design a menu that I LOVED and so I have been able to stick to it..happily...for YEARS! I know, right???!! Now this doesn't mean I don't have unapproved items, I do!! But the MAJORITY of my nutrition is dialed and I LOVE how I feel and the way my body has transformed. I LOVE it, which means I have owned it and I am doing it because I want to. No one is making me eat anything! 3. Our challenge group is not about nutrition and exercise. I know that's a funny thing to say since we do hold each other accountable for those things, but it's true! Our challenge group is about honesty, courage, and growth. We are not there to be perfect, we are not there to have flawless bodies, we are not there to eat brown rice and raw vegetables. We are there to remind each other and ourselves that our worth is not in what the scale reads. We are there to have support as we fail our way to success. We are there to grow, to improve our lives and health, inside and out! We are calling all rebels because that's who we love to surround ourselves with! We want woman that challenge us, think outside the box, and fight for a life they are excited to live. That is the kind of inspiration that moves us all forward! If that is you, we would LOVE to have you! Even if you aren't ready to commit at this time, I want you to feel proud of your rebel heart! It means you are thinking for yourself. It means when you DO decide to commit that nothing and no one will get in your way! And as you get started on your health journey, remember this: It's ok to move at your own pace! You don't have to overthrow your entire life to make steps in the right direction. Here are my best rebel tips! ;) 1.Don't fight the biggest battles first. If you love your sugary coffee, or a soda at lunch, leave it for now. Focus on making smaller changes first. Switch from white bread to whole wheat. Swap out packaged snacks for fruit. Drink more water. Trim out excess sugar. Make small healthy changes on things that don't matter to you that much. As the changes become a habit and more comfortable, make more changes. Just keep going! 2. Add exercise three times a week and make it something you love. My husband is skiing twice a week right now, meaning he only has to work out from home 1-2 days a week and that works for him! You can walk, dance, kick box, swim, anything that moves your body and that you enjoy! Don't box yourself into a form of exercise you don't like. For change to become habit, it has to be sustainable! Keep trying new things until you find something you enjoy! 3. Find your person ( or people). We rebels have a competitive streak! If we have someone who is working toward the same or similar goals and they check up on us or we see them posting their food, work out, or progress, it lights a fire! Surround yourself with people succeeding and that will fuel your motivation! Embrace the rebellion! We are here to define healthy living on OUR terms. We have a reverence for individuality and a passion for helping other women find their own way to freedom! To join us or to get more information connect here: http://www.angelsofvalor.com/join-a-challenge-group.html So often, I talk to amazing women who are passionate about their goals but they aren't starting. They fear that they can't walk through it perfectly in their current circumstances so they are waiting for the right time. I get it! I was dragging my feet. I was nervous about spending the money and fearful that my best wasn't going to be good enough. And you know what? I DIDN'T walk through it perfectly. I made mistakes, I missed work outs because of lack of sleep and sick children, but I did do something! I moved forward, our nutrition improved drastically over time, and I committed to be consistent not perfect. It changed my life! Yesterday I shared my commitment to donating a portion of my coaching income to Love146 each month and, this February, as we celebrate love, I want to encourage you to be part of what I'm doing AND encourage you to invest in yourself! For each All Access Challenge pack purchased this month, I am going to donate an extra $20 to the cause! ❤️ If you have been waiting, let this be the month you get started! I want you to experience the freedom that comes from taking the first few steps and I would love for you to be part of my passion for standing up against sex trafficking. I am thrilled to be celebrating love in a new way this year! Doing something, even imperfectly, will get us closer to our goals and dreams than doing nothing. Won't you step outside your comfort zone and join me? Message me for more details! It's not too late to join our February group! When I started Angels of Valor, I knew I wanted it to be more than a business, I wanted it to be a movement, a revolution! I wanted to be part of healing and setting women free from shame. I wanted to show them their worth and beauty. I wanted to empower them!
It has been an amazing two years as I've delved into the depths of my own shame, taking the hands of other women who are also growing in strength and vision! My dream has slowly become a reality! My income doubled from 2015 to 2016 and,as we have been doing our taxes, I realized I wanted to do more than I am currently doing. My "why" runs deep! I want women to be free and I want to contribute not just my time and energy but any monetary success I have as well. As I've prayed about it and thought through the long list of organizations I respect, I realized my heart was drawn the most to fighting sex trafficking. Someday, I would like to be even more involved, but for now I can take a portion of the money that others have invested in me and in their own freedom and send it with love to those that need physical deliverance! I've chosen to donate 10% of my Beachbody earnings to Love146 each month with the hopes that percentage can grow even more this year. I started this business because I truly wanted to make a difference, I wanted to be an example to my girls of a woman that pursues her passion, and that passion has been further fueled by the realization that it gives me financial freedom to be part of this cause! I have been inspired by so many as I watched them stand up for what they believe with their voices, with their time, and with their finances! I am so grateful for their example! I hope, even if this isn't the cause that resonates with you, that you will find the one that does! Let no one say we were silent when there were people that needed us to speak! I am a night owl! I LOVE the darkness and the quiet when the world is asleep. It's peaceful and my inner introvert loves to revel in it! However, if I am struggling emotionally, it's also when I tend to give into the flood of feelings that I have been holding at bay during the daylight hours!
Those are the moments I can tend to let my thoughts run wild, where I throw pity parties, and give in to fear. I have had to wake my husband up more times than I can count to help me get a grip! Sometimes these are moments and sometimes these are days, weeks, or years. Life can dish out some terribly hard circumstances and learning to cope in a healthy way during and after can be challenging. We have been focusing on healing and internal transformation this past month in our group and I have been so encouraged hearing the stories of these awesome women and watching them choose to step outside their comfort zone to overcome! They make me want to brave, to face my fears head on, to practice my strength of mind in the dark hours and believe the truth. Their vulnerability helps me put my own circumstances in perspective, to take the good with the bad, and to allow it all to strengthen me further. Healing is a choice! The sun rises but we have to go out to meet it. " What do you do? " I get asked this question a lot, working from home. I can give a list of the daily activities I do but that just doesn't cut it! The daily activities, the personal development I read, the posts I write, the challenge groups I run, the "WHAT" are just so insignificant in light of WHY I do it.
You probably know several Beachbody coaches, we all do the same what. WHY people want to be part of what I am doing is so much more important to me! I don't have a dramatic body transformation. I've always been relatively fit ( though not at all healthy!) I struggled to feel worthy, I lived in shame, I felt unattractive and inferior and hopeless. I am a coach because I want to help free women from THOSE things! I want to show them how to see their worth, to see how truly beautiful they are! I want them to feel good in their own skin and treat their bodies with respect. I want to take the healing I have been giving and extend it as far as I can reach. And where my reach ends, I call out to other women to continue stretching out THEIR hands.I am building a sisterhood of women that are choosing truth and strength. it doesn't matter what the scale says, it doesn't matter if they have abs, it matters that they find emotional healing and enjoy the mental, emotional and physical health that comes from that place. The programs are amazing and they were the catalyst for change in my life, but you can join any challenge group with any coach and do the same program. That's not what sets me, or our group, apart. I have been broken in spirit. I have been in a place where I didn't have the strength to face judgment and shame any longer. I didn't have faith for friendships. I was hiding and exhausted. That's who I am calling out to, not just people that need to lose weight, or gain muscle, but people who need healing. Our bodies are a physical representation of what is happening inside. Our weight, our skin, our hair, our health, they are just symptoms of an unhealthy spirit. Yes, we practice self care, but more importantly we have a safe environment to share our pain and face our fears. We are surrounded by other women that empathize and that eradicates shame. We need more women brave enough to heal and to find their voice, we need more healing hands, we need more women telling their stories boldly and breaking down the lie that we are alone. We are not alone, we are just afraid to speak. "Each of you is an original. Each of you has a distinctive voice. When you find it, your story will be told. You will be heard." And I will add, you will change the world one life at a time! Monday, we start again. We are getting uncomfortable. We are facing our fears. We are healing and growing stronger. If you are ready to take to experience change from the inside out, I invite you! Please, join us! Message me for more information or even to share with me what is going on with you! I would love to hear your story! I don't really know when beauty started being so important to me. I remember being told I was a beautiful child, I remember feeling confident and loving my body. And then, as I got older, people's comments ( mostly not even about me) started chipping away at this broad view I had of what was beautiful until it became so narrow that there was no room for me. I became insecure, self-conscious, and discontent.
WHO I was didn't even enter the equation. I think a lot of women feel this way. We are told our worth and power are found in our physical beauty but nothing could be farther from the truth! When it comes to OTHER people, we know this right? When we talk about people we love, we don't start with what they look like, do we? We talk about how kind, honest, intelligent, loving, strong, gentle they are ( or add your favorite adjective! ;) ). So why don't we give ourselves credit for these things? I love the quote, " What you focus on expands." When our eyes are constantly on our flaws and faults, they seem bigger than life. We are in a state of hustling for our worth and trying to fix, or even punish, ourselves in light of the perceived lack. We hide behind made-up faces and trends. We are afraid of being seen, of being judged, and we feel shame for everything that we are not. Instead, our focus needs to be on what we ARE. When we dive into self discovery, when we glory in our strengths and interests, we find those that need us, we strengthen our ability to serve others. When we focus on our strengths, our strengths grow and transform us, taking our weaknesses right along with them! The hardest part is that in order to heal and grow, we have to step into the light. We have to be seen. We have to brave others opinions, disapproval, and judgement. We have to. Imagine, if you will, a tough mudder competition or obstacle course. Your obstacles lie in a straight line up ahead and hundreds, maybe even thousands of people, line the course on either side. You can either stand frozen or you can tackle the course. If you focus on the crowd, you might become disheartened by those that are jeering, you might get insecure by those that watch silently, you might hone in on only those cheering for you but they are still a distraction. It's only you and the course. It's your job to tune it out and focus on the task ahead. It doesn't matter how many times it takes you to overcome an obstacle, it doesn't matter how long it takes you to complete the course, you are stronger when you finish than when you got started, and the only people who's opinions should matter are those that are battling it with you. I can promise you this, no one that is in the arena with you will judge you. Those that are in the fight, respect you for simply being there, because that is more than most people will even try. They will encourage you and support you. You find these people by stepping out into the light so they can see you. It hurts at first. i won't lie. When I decided I was done hiding, I would speak my heart and then regret it. I would post things on social media and then take them down in a panic only to put them back up again. You know what happened though? Those of you in the arena began to encourage me. You helped me take my eyes of the crowd and focus on the task at hand. Healing was uncomfortable but the more I sought after it, the stronger I became and the more I transformed, until one day I looked at my reflection and marveled at the beauty of my own transformation. I want that moment for EVERY woman. That is the moment we become most beautiful, when our hearts, minds, and bodies are strong, we know what we are fighting for, and we go forward with courage! There is NOTHING more beautiful than that! The beauty we long for has nothing to do with the body we were born with and EVERYTHING to do with how we choose to use it. |
Author"And Aubrey was her name. A not so very ordinary girl or name."(Or so says David Gates ;) I'm a wife to Phillip, a mother to Scarlett and Juliet. We live in the beautiful city of Thornton, Co. I'm a recovering red bull addict. I love to read. I hate to cook. I seek to be inspired and also to inspire others. I am a Beachbody Coach on a quest to be truly healthy mind, soul, and body and challenge others to do the same. Archives
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