You see, I was definitely not always like this.
Healthy was nowhere near how I would describe myself. My whole life - just sick all the time. I was convinced that I had the worst immune system out there. I suffered from migraines all growing up. They got worse as I grew older and in college, I can't even count on one hand how many times I ended up in the ER because my Imitrex shots couldn't touch it. So they would have to put an IV of some concoction to get rid of it. I figured it was just in my DNA. My Mom has suffered with horrible migraines ever since I can remember. I just thought it was going to be part of my reality. But I learned that my migraines were caused by very specific things for me - STRESS and just being unhealthy. This is NOT the case for everyone - like my Mom. Hers are chronic and just have to be managed....
Migraines aside - I just wasn't healthy. Physically or emotionally. I suffered from depression from a very young age and I'm sure anxiety too, although I had no idea what the anxiety was. I just thought I was a weirdo who would freak out about everything. I tried to hide my depression for a long time because I really felt the need to be the strong one in the family. And I'm not tooting my own horn when I say that - it's just the reality of the situation. I was the peacemaker, the calm to the storm, the fixer, and the feeler. Even though I felt so lonely and sad inside, I didn't want to share that with anyone because I didn't want to cause any more hurt or problems than people already had.
Turns out all of that is not a great recipe for health by the time you're a young adult. Super stressed out, depressed, severely anxious, couldn't sleep, sick a lot. I was kind of a mess through most of my college years internally.
Fast forward a few years and I started my first full time career. I was never really a party person in college - but once I started my career, I worked in public accounting. And if you know anything about that field, you would know that there are lots of happy hours. As a tax accountant, especially just starting out - you pretty much just live at work. Your coworkers become the people in your life that you spend all of your time with. We worked a lot, and we had a lot of fun with happy hour activities. Even though it was fun, it certainly didn't help the whole "unhealthy" lifestyle.
I ate every single meal out. NOT good choices, let be clear. And I drank WAY too much. And while it was fun at the time....it was never fun after. Alcohol is a severe depressant to me so this lifestyle was not helping me out one bit.
Why share all of this? Because I think it's important to look back only to see how far you've come. You know I may still have my days where anxiety creeps in and I have to really be self-aware and nip it in the butt right away. But I am not even close to the same person I was back then. You can look at this picture of me in 2007 and then this picture of me now and think "she doesn't LOOK that much different". And I would agree. I don't have this major physical outward transformation. But the transformation to my mind, body, and spirit since then is more than I could ever even try to put into words. The girl in that 2007 picture was a GIANT mess. That was right before I moved to Chicago to kind of start over in a sense. I can still remember everything I felt then. I thank God every single day for all of the changes since then.
Being a health and fitness coach has been so much more for me than just helping people lose weight. I honestly don't even talk about weight much with people. I am just happy that I can help motivate people to live a healthier life. Because I know the difference and I NEVER want to go back.
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| 2007. HOT.MESS. |
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| 2016. HAPPY.HEALTHY. |
The most important things I've learned....
1. Surround yourself with people who respect you as you respect them. Know that you are worth way more than you give yourself credit for. Don't always give give give until you are empty. People should want to give back to you too. Real, honest, LOVE is possible.
2. Stress is the #1 worst thing for your body and mind.
3. The food and drink that you put into your body not only directly reflects the kind of health you have - but it also plays a super important role in your emotional health.
4. You can do anything you set your mind to. You don't have to follow a mold. You can make different choices. Ones that people don't understand. As long as you going in that direction with a pure heart, you go for it sister.
5. Sleep is key.
6. Physical exercise is a giant stress reliever. Feeling strong, releasing endorphins, taking care of my body has been so amazing over the last few years.
7. You can't fix everything. You can't make everyone happy. And more importantly - it's NOT your job.
8. The only reason you should ever look back - is to see how far you've come.
We all have our own story. And we have our own paths for a reason. To learn lessons, to help other people....we just have to use it for good!!
