Finding Freedom in a Laundry Basket

There is this area in my life that I have been trying to get ahold of for YEARS and yet, despite my many promises to myself to “do better” and “try harder” I seem to fail and fail time after time.

Keeping my house clean.

You might think I’d be embarrassed to admit that so publicly, but let’s not kid ourselves, we all have those areas – right? I mean, maybe you are perfect and are in control and living exactly how you’d like to live, but I am going to go out on a limb and guess that you have similar areas in your life. Areas that are ALWAYS bothering you, that you wish you could get control over but just never seem to be able to.

Shame lives in darkness, so I’m bringing it out in the light – airing my dirty laundry (which I seem to always have a lot of in this house) but not just for the purpose of venting or being gross or having a pity-party, but because I’ve had a minor break-through and I’m hoping it will help you as well!

So, in all my years as a fitness coach and business mentor, it is my job to help people have breakthroughs in areas where in the past they have failed and the biggest mistake people make when they try to change behavior is just that – they try to change BEHAVIOR. You can try to pull apples off an apple tree and staple oranges on it all day, but it won’t be long before the rotting oranges fall off and apples grow once more.

Behavior is a SYMPTOM of mindset. We all do what we WANT or what we believe is best. Until we change our MINDSET, and tap into a deeper motivation or belief, and get the ROOT fixed, the fruit and behavior will never change.

Buying a new workout program, joining a business opportunity, putting together a budget or chore chart, those are all well and good, but they won’t last, unless the mindset has shifted.

So, first I had to identify what my CURRENT mindset was when it came to keeping my home clean. What were some of the thoughts and core beliefs I had? I actually wrote them down, and here’s what I came up with:

• I have four small kids, our house will never be clean.
• In order to have a clean house I’d have to be one of those uptight, anxious, no fun, anal people that makes everyone uncomfortable when they come over, and I don’t want to be like that.
• Having a clean house would require me to be cleaning 24/7 and I’d rather be present with my children, not worth it.

It’s the mindset that stops us isn’t it? I had convinced myself that all this was true. I’d tell myself these things over and over, even though I was incredibly unhappy with how our home was kept, I just believed it wasn’t possible, or the sacrifice I’d have to make wasn’t worth it.

It wasn’t until just a week ago, when we had to evacuate because of Hurricane Irma and ended up staying with a good friend on mine in Orlando that all my “reasons” disappeared.

We were graciously hosted by my friend Sarah, who has three children, the same ages as my older three and is pregnant with her fourth. She works a full time job, has a husband and of course the kids to care for, and is a Beachbody coach to boot! Yet, somehow, her home was so clean, and organized and well kept and peaceful and comfortable and I never felt like the kids couldn’t be kids, and I never felt like she was stressed or overwhelmed or missing out on time with her kids because she was scrubbing the floors all the time.

I’m sure she’d tell you she gets tired by the end of the day (she is growing another human after all), but during the week we were staying with her, I saw her constantly taking an extra minute or two (that’s really all it took) to clean a dish in the sink, wipe down a counter top or table and put away the toys the kids had finished playing with. Probably what had my jaw on the floor the most was when she pulled a load of laundry out of the dryer, folded it all and put everything away, all at the same time.

You can do that?!?!

Never in my life had I actually done all of those steps all together in one day: wash, dry, fold and put away.
(gosh, we are REALLY getting into some embarrassing reveals here aren’t we?)

Something finally clicked for me.

Having lots of kids didn’t mean it would be IMPOSSIBLE for me to have a clean home.
I could work hard to maintain a clean home without being uptight and making guests feel uncomfortable.
I could still spend beautiful, quality time being present with my children and just do the laundry all at once after they are in bed.

Seeing someone in MY SHOES, doing what I thought could not be done gave me such HOPE. It allowed me to believe it was possible and made me actually want to work hard to make it happen.

Over the past three days we have been home, I have never felt so happy with our little place. I cleaned, organized, threw out unnecessary clutter and have consistently maintained our home to a level I have NEVER in my life done before. I even washed, dried, folded and put away a load of laundry all in one day.

Being a visual person who thrives on beauty, I had no idea how much it was affecting me to be living in such a dirty and cluttered home. I even feel like I am more thankful and in love with our home now that I am showing it some love (which is actually the same thing that happened when I started working out and eating well, I started loving my body more, just from the sheer action of being kinder to it).

Taking care of my home isn’t a waste of time, like I thought it was, in fact, if my home is clean and peaceful and under control it can be a place of SERVICE to others – just like Sara’s home was to us while we were fleeing the storm.

I guess I am writing all this to say, if there is an area of your life that you are unhappy with, but you are CONVINCED there’s nothing you can do about it, maybe it’s in the area of health and fitness, maybe you want to start a business, or a blog, or a YouTube channel, want to write a book or pay off a large amount of debt….dig a little deeper. What are the “reasons” you are giving yourself for why you can’t. Are they ACTUALLY true? You will never attempt something until you BELIEVE it might be possible.

Is there someone in your life that you can go to, watch, learn from and be ignited with a spark of HOPE? Sometimes that’s all it takes, to see someone doing all the things you thought couldn’t be done!

Maybe, all the hard work to get healthy, build that business, live frugally, keep the house clean, seems like a drag, but time after time I am learning, it’s actually just the payment for a much richer, happier, peaceful and wonderful life.

Disney highs and Disney lows

Disney with four small children.
Oh where do I begin?

First let me say, we had a great time. We live in South Florida, so going to Disney is more of like an annual visit for a day or two (or three) instead of a ONCE IN A LIFETIME, pull out all the stops, trip.

 

This wasn’t our first time and so we are used to the crowds and lines. We always expect at least one melt down from each kid each day. It helps to have our expectations in reality and not the holding hands, skipping in front of the castle, perfection that  you see on a Disney World commercial.

Even with all of that however, going to the parks is stressful. I truly enjoyed them, but I also really love the days of rest. The days when we are just on the monorail riding around looking at decorations in the resorts, going on scavenger hunts for hidden Mickey’s, making gingerbread cookies in our condo and strolling through Disney Springs.

I even noticed the kids did better on the days when we weren’t “ON A MISSION”. It’s crazy how OUR energy transfers to them!

Vacations are challenging though. I know about halfway through I was feeling pretty discouraged. My kids were acting up more, fighting more, I was feeling like I needed a BREAK from them, but my husband had to leave half way through so no time for that! I felt bad that here we were on this awesome vacation and I was struggling with thoughts of not be a very good mom. Turns out you can’t take a vacation from mom guilt!

Thankfully MY mom was with us for the very last few days and she provided some much needed perspective. She encouraged me when I was in tears and reminded me that kids off their schedule, not napping, eating way more sugar than normal and in a stressful crowded park are going to have their moments.

 

She also reminded me that the memories that will endure are the good ones – and we had a lot of good ones! Here are just a few:

• The drive up: we made it fun, high energy music and dance parties, lots of snacks and silly audio books. Anything by Mo Willems is a big hit for my kids.
• The new Soarin’ ride at Epcot – gave me goosebumps and made me want to travel the world!
• Turtle Talk with Crush: One of those rare activities at Disney where the littles love it and the adults are laughing along as well! Also the aquarium is super impressive and captivating.

  

• Festival of Fantasy Parade at Magic Kingdom: we saw it twice and the kids were in awe each and every time! It also helps that this is our customary Mickey Ice Cream time.

  

• Unlimited popcorn: Our very first purchase was to get the holiday souvenir tub of popcorn and then we were able to enjoy $1.50 refills for the remainder of our trip – at all the other parks on all the other days and we used that puppy, because we are incapable of walking past that fresh popcorn smell without getting some.

  

• Hunting for hidden Mickey’s at the Wildnerness Lodge: You can actually get a sheet of paper with clues that take you all over the resort from the front desk and if you find them all you get a special prize!
• Going to see Moana: We spent a day at Disney Springs and saw Moana in the movie theater – something we NEVER usually do as a family. It was perfect because the very next day we were surprised to see we could meet Moana and the kids were really excited!

  

• Frozen Sing-a-long: I never heard of this show, but it’s at Hollywood Studios and we did it for my daughter. It ended up being the MOST hilarious show! A comedic re-telling of the Frozen story interspersed with opportunities to sing the most popular Frozen songs at the top of your lungs. Even though I have been over “Let It Go” for months now, I had such a fun time, and the kids LOVED it.

Well, there you have it, the highs and the lows. Fernando and I have already decided the next time we hit up Disney it will be just him and me – Flower and Garden Festival – yea baby.

 

Fresh Cabbage Salad

Cabbage is one of my favorite veggies. It’s an amazing source of cancer-preventing nutrients and vitamin C. I love it because it’s also delicious (and super cost-effective)!

  
This fresh salad is easy to throw together and bursting with flavor:

Chop 1/4 cabbage into thin slices. 

In a separate bowl, mix together 2 Tbs. Rice Vinegar, 3 Tbs. Olive Oil, 2 Tbs. Honey. Pour this dressing over the cabbage and toss to coat. Season liberally with salt, pepper, garlic powder and Ginger. 

I like to add chopped almonds or cubed chicken for a more hearty dish!

Enjoy 

Will It Always Be This Hard?

The other night I was feeling discouraged. I have such high aspirations for my life. Doing personal development is probably the BEST thing that I’ve added to my life in this past year and a half of being a Beachbody Coach, but the more I listen to other people’s “best advice” on living a better life, the longer my to-do list gets.

I love getting tips from others, and I want to implement so much of it – but too much of a good thing isn’t always good.

My mind races with all of my “goals” to be intentional toward my husband and building up our marriage, and with my kids, to shower them with love and affirmation and train them to be respectful and do chores around the house, and feed them whole healthy foods, and limit their tv time and make sure they play outside every day and expose them to the arts and then with my business – best practices for training my coaches, and motivating my challengers and keeping my own healthy journey on track, and then my church and investing in the ladies in my small group and making time to get to church early for a new class and then my extended family – supporting them through sickness, helping them with a move, making sure I carve out time to chat when they are going through major life changes and don’t forget to manage our finances, and track our spending daily and make sure we are contributing to our investments and the kid’s college fund and not going out to eat too much, but still being ok to spend money on date nights because our marriage is important, and my own spiritual growth – taking time to read scripture and be in prayer – but not to neglect the house either – the kids need an orderly, safe place to grow up in.

So many best practices, so many plates to keep spinning – I’ve only barely scratched the surface of all the things that run through my mind on a daily and hourly basis! So many opportunities to feel like a failure, so many areas I need to “excel” in and so many “consequences” for not living properly.

It’s exhausting. It’s tempting to just want to throw in the towel and give up on EVERYTHING! (Ok, maybe I’m being a little dramatic, but that’s how I feel sometimes).

It just seems like everything that is right and good takes SO much hard work.
And I’m tired.

Will it always be this hard?

Thankfully I was able to sort through some things last night and I realized – it won’t.

Years ago I read this book called The Power of Habit. The majority of the things we do each day are habits. Getting up and out of bed and shuffling over to the bathroom is a habit. You don’t sit up and think, “Ok, where should I walk to? The Kitchen? No. The Living Room? No. The Bathroom? Well, I do have a lot of useful things I can do there…ok! The Bathroom it is!” No, you’ve done it every single day for so long, that it is a habit. It’s actually scary how many things in our life are controlled by habit! Driving, making a sandwich, the questions we ask in a conversation, so much of what we do in life is habit. It’s because our brains would be too exhausted to make every single decision we need to make in a day over and over again. It makes short cuts for us, so when we receive a trigger (waking up) we take an action (walk to the bathroom) and we are rewarded for it (we are ready for the day) and our brain thinks: “This is a good action to take when the trigger of waking up happens – repeat every morning.” And the habit is born.

This is a good thing to know because we can use this brain shortcut to live well without feeling so overwhelmed. All these things that I want to do, all of my grand aspirations will be much more manageable if I turn them into habits. Things that I do automatically, without having to make a new decision every day.

So, I’ve decided to start small, choose one thing I want to change and implement and turn it into a habit. To create a new habit all you need to do is follow the pattern:
Trigger
Action
Reward

If I want to wash my face more consistently than I do (this is a real thing for me), I decided that when I wash my hands to take off my contacts, I will wash my face at the same time. There’s my trigger and my action, and when I am done I will put on the delicious smelling lotion that I love – because yummy smells brings me pleasure, and that is my brain’s reward.

It’s going to take some effort, it’s going to take some will-power and intentionality to get the wheel moving, and get the habit established, but once I do, I won’t have to stress about it, or work so hard to make the decision, it will be an automatic part of who I am.

You can apply this to investing in your marriage, spending time with your kids, building spiritual disciplines. Get a trigger, do the action and reward yourself for it. Put in the work to create a habit and it WON’T always be this hard.
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If you are interested in learning more about this concept, I encourage you to get the book The Power of Habit, I am not an amazon affiliate or anything, I just think it’s a great read.

8 Weeks of Life

This month is pregnancy and infant loss awareness month. I’ve been seeing posts on Facebook all month and yesterday was the official DAY to remember those infant and pre-born children who we have lost.

I almost wasn’t going to post anything at all.

I’m fairly open with my life on social media – I feel like if others can be encouraged by my struggles then I’m happy to share them. No one who meets me for more than 60 seconds is walking away thinking I’m perfect so why waste energy trying to be that way on social media?

But this is different. It’s so intimate and personal and painful and beautiful and I didn’t know how to process or write about it or share about it.

This morning I woke up and it was the first thing on my mind. That baby I never got to meet.

I’m thankful for the surge of joy I got at that pregnancy test. I learned how instant motherhood and a mother’s love is.

I learned how powerful the feeling of having a LIFE inside of you is.

I learned how devastating it is, watching bloody pieces of a human you loved exit your body. The violence, the emotional trauma, wondering if you did something to cause this, feeling so hopeless and insecure. Wondering if you’ll ever have the chance again.

I learned how tender the love of the Father is. How deep his healing can flow. It ran over me and down into the darkest, most damaged parts. It was gentle and pulled me, inch by inch, closer to The One who loved me more than I loved that baby and would NEVER leave me or forsake me.

I will never forget the child who first made me a mom or everything I learned in those short 8 weeks they were alive.

The Beginnings of Our Life of Freedom

“Mommy, this is the funnest day ever!” My son looked up at me as we walked toward the Metrorail station. The sun was setting and he had just given a homeless man with a gold tooth a high five. “That man looked like a cowboy!” He told me amazed.

My 4 year old daughter Jasmine yelled excitedly, “An escalator!!” and up we went to catch the train home.

There are days when you work hard, and there are pay days, when you reap the reward of all your hard work and yesterday was one of those days.

My husband and I have hearts filled with wanderlust and before we had kids and were enjoying two incomes we traveled! Costa Rica, New York, Istanbul and various road trips. It’s in our blood.

Having three kids in under three and a half years was a jolt to our way of living. It was a brand new adventure that was more challenging than we thought, but more rewarding than we could have imagined. Still, we dreamed of travel, exploration and freedom. My husband is a teacher, so we have time – summers, spring break, lots of holidays and his work day ends at 2:30pm every day!! Time is not the problem, but money and energy is.

Before I got healthy, the thought of going anywhere outside of the home with three littles was laughable!! I could barely get mouths fed every day let alone plan trips and outings. If you’ve been following my journey at all you know that this past  year and a half I’ve been making small changes in my health – the greatest of which is the mental shift that I am WORTH investing in and I am going to make my heath a priority, not an afterthought or luxury. At the same time I’ve been working hard at the business side of Beachbody coaching. Basically pouring into others – helping them achieve their dreams, giving them tools to be successful in their own businesses and when I do that, I’ve started to find my own income growing steadily.

Funny thing happened as I started growing as a leader, growing as a business woman, doing things I never thought I could do – I decided to homeschool as well! Something that completely intimidated me and I thought I just couldn’t do became not only an option, but something I love!

Hard work on my health + Hard work on my business + Hard work to become a homeschool mom = Freedom

We spent the entire day yesterday exploring our city – driving down to my husband’s work at 2:30pm, taking the trolley, having a birthday lunch, walking around our beautiful city, catching the train to downtown, seeing the tower my five year old son has been wanting to see for weeks. Exploring new restaurants and seeing the beautiful yachts in the Miami bay.

Not once worrying about work, school or our budget being destroyed by this one outing (like it would have been in the past). 

We have big plans and dreams to travel the world with our little ones – I’ve got lots of work to do to get there, but for now, I am over the moon at the glimpse into our future that I got today – exploring, wandering, being in awe, experiencing new things, getting quality time with my littles, valuing experiences over things and being completely FREE to live the life we LOVE.

The suburbian, 9-5, buy a house, then buy a bigger house that you never spend time in, then get a nicer car, but you don’t know your neighbors, or really know your kids, but you have lots of stuff, but you aren’t free – that life is like POISON to us – always has been. But unless you DECIDE you want differently, and WORK for it, and make plans, and take control of your life – you will spend it building someone else’s dream. I guarantee that.

Yes, it takes work, yes it takes sacrifice, but if you can DREAM it – don’t let ANYONE tell you it’s not possible!!!

What do you want to do with your one wild and precious life?

My husband and I want to travel, we want to invest in missions – not just pray for people, but put real money down to support our friends who are missionaries all over the world, we want to teach other men and women how to build a life of financial freedom so that they can do the things they are passionate about rather than work long hours and never have time to invest in what REALLY matters to them.

We want to teach our kids how to be leaders, problem solvers, think independently, not blame employers, society or the government for their problems but take control of their own life. We can only teach this to them if we live it!

It may not come over night, but with hard work, over time there is NOTHING you can’t do. I have believed in this opportunity with Beachbody from day one and seeing the pay day starting to roll in I am even more excited and motivated to share it with others.
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I am currently mentoring women in this lifestyle – teaching them how to build six-figure incomes and a business that can be done anywhere. It is for those who are willing to learn, believe in themselves, grow into leaders and LOVE helping others. If you’d like to learn more about Beachbody coaching and this opportunity, CLICK HERE for my “What is Beachbody Coaching” free group on Facebook.

Chicken with Stewed Tomatoes

When I’m trying to get a healthy meal on the table quick (because let’s be honest, the hour right before dinner is not my kid’s best time of the day!) I like to rely on simple, flavorful ingredients and this chicken recipe is one of my favorites.

This particular one is best with boneless chicken thighs (dark meat is just so tender) but you can use chicken breasts as well.

Heat a pan with olive oil and minced garlic. In one minute the garlic will be fragrant, add the chicken to the pan. Season with salt, chili powder and ginger. Turn the chicken after 10 minutes and re-season with the same seasonings. Once the chicken is cooked through finish with a squeeze of fresh lime and add in grape tomatoes. Let stew for 3 minutes.

Enjoy!

When the Results Aren’t What You’d Hope

They say the start is what stops most people.
I think that’s true – starting to get back on track with your health is difficult. Gathering up the courage, researching the best program, paying the money, getting ready – it’s very intimidating (although if you have a coach like me – less so *wink*) and that does tend to stop a lot of people.

However, I think there is another place where people get stuck in their health and fitness journey (I know I have) and that’s when the results aren’t what you hoped they’d be. Usually after the first three to four weeks. You’ve gotten over the initial hump – you STARTED! You are on a roll, you are starting to feel really good about yourself. More energy, getting stronger, things are falling into place and becoming routine – but then…you step on the scale. “Five pounds?! I’ve been at this busting my butt, eating clean every day for four weeks and all I’ve lost is five pounds?”

Or you try on that dress that didn’t fit so good before and it’s a little better, but no one will be mistaking you for J-Lo. Discouragement comes like a punch to the gut. All of a sudden all of those great things you’ve been experiencing (less stress, more discipline, more focused, sleeping better) go right out the window of your mind and all you can think of is how badly you wanted that slice of pizza and saying no was SO HARD and all that you’ve gotten from your four weeks of pain and suffering is 5 measly pounds less.

Trust me when I say – I TOTALLY get it! I’m writing this because this is me! I am THE most goal driven person and when you add to that my impatience – ya, it’s not a great combination, but before you throw in the towel and give up on health in general and swear off both salads and Shakeology, let’s think about this.

What is your number one goal for making these healthy changes in your life? I know – seeing the scale go down is A goal, but is it the MOST important goal? Deep down, what are you MOST interested in, a number on the scale going down, or improved quality of life – improved length of life – improved confidence – keeping yourself from preventable diseases. Yes, we all want to see that number go down and a sexy body emerge from the fluffy fat covering everything, but a hot body that is unhealthy isn’t going to do you any good.

When I turn my view from the outward to the inward and I realize what a gift I have given to myself these past few weeks of consistent exercise and eating well and being self-controlled it makes me feel proud instead of ashamed at my tiny weight loss number.

The next thing I do is go on YouTube and watch weight loss transformations. Because although the infomercials would have you believe that in 21 Days you can go from flab to fab, change takes TIME! The most inspirational video I remember watching was a mom who got in amazing shape but over THREE YEARS. It makes my impatient tantrum over my four week journey seem just silly.

The start may stop some, and slow progress stops others, but in the end it’s the persistent, the hopeful, the positive and the resilient that reap the amazing reward of a healthy life.
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For some practical tips on how to push through a weight loss plateau click here.

Fall Wardrobe Planning

This afternoon I am doing one of my absolute favorite things: wardrobe planning.

I do this every season (Fall & Spring) and it’s not because I have all this luxury time to spend browsing Pinterest, or all of this expendable income to shop till I drop – nope, I do it because just like exercising, eating and every other routine in my life, I have to get dressed – EVERY day.

Anything that I have to do every day I have to plan and simplify so that I can do it well. Sound crazy? Just stick with me for a second.

Two years ago I was about to give birth to my third baby with a 1 year old and a 3 year old that I still needed to take care of. I realized right then and there that I needed to simplify EVERY daily routine or be ok with eating fast food, never reading my bible or another book again, walking around with an extra 50lbs of baby weight, and staying in yoga pants and old t-shirts all day.

This is what led me to get plugged in with Beachbody’s 21 Day Fix program – it was a system that was simple and told me EXACTLY what to do!

This is why I have created a routine to my early morning hours – I sit in the same spot at 5:30am every morning and I read.

This is why I plan and prep my meals every weekend.

This is why every season I plan my wardrobe.

You can either simplify and make a plan so that your daily activities are automatic and easy to accomplish, or you can try to re-create the wheel every day, find it to be too difficult (especially when life is super busy) and never make progress in any area of your life and be frustrated all the time. (In all honesty, I’m still frustrated sometimes, but WAY less than before!).

So – onto my fall wardrobe! (the good stuff!)

I stumbled upon Into Mind a few years ago – it is a minimalistic blog written by a fashion blogger in Berlin and I just love it. Even if your style profile isn’t minimalistic you will still benefit from her principals and guidance.

Based on her recommendations I have come up with the following steps when I am ready to re-vamp and plan my wardrobe for the next season. 

1) Use Pinterest to re-define your style.
This is pretty self explanatory. You can search for something as simple as “fall fashion” or as detailed as “minimalistic fall looks in Bordeaux”. If you want to check out my Pinterest board for this Fall you are welcome to! Click Here

2) Choose your color palette.
This is my best kept secret! Each season I decide on one (maybe two) colors that I will be wearing – the rest of my wardrobe is all neutrals. This allows me much more flexibility in mixing and matching pieces. For this fall I am choosing Navy and Bordeaux.

3) Choose your proportions and uniform. 
In order to do this you will need to go to your closet and find the outfit that you love the best! Put it on. What proportions does it have? For me and my body type I love wearing skinny jeans and loose fitting tops, I have an easy going, minimalistic style so that guides my wardrobe. Other women may enjoy a more fitted and tailored look, while still others go even more loose fitting and bohemian. Knowing your “uniform” is a great starting point to structure your wardrobe. (If you are looking for some proportion and uniform examples, Click Here)

4) Inventory and detox your close.
This isn’t as big a project as it was the first time I did this, because now I do this every season and it keeps my close paired down, containing ONLY what I love to wear. I like to take a Sunday afternoon to do this and I literally lay out on the floor all of my tops, pants, skirts, dresses and shoes so I can see them all in a group. Anything that stands out that doesn’t seem to fit with the general look of my wardrobe, I pull aside. Anything I don’t love wearing, or haven’t worn in awhile – I LET IT GO! (I know, it’s hard, but you HAVE to do it!).

Here is Into Mind’s quick guide to wardrobe editing.

This is probably the MOST important part of the entire process (and the most time consuming) but it is VITAL! Also, when you do this, your favorite outfits and pieces will start to show you what your uniform and color pallet should be!

5) Identify gaps and make shopping list.
Once I’ve paired down my wardrobe to ONLY what I love and fits, and isn’t stained, or needing a repair, then I take a look at what’s left and compare it to a basic list of “must haves” for the season. (My favorite list, of course from Into Mind, can be found HERE)

So, there you have it, my 5 steps for wardrobe planning. Of course, if you REALLY dive into the blog and all that she has to offer (which you totally should) you will find ENDLESS resources for how to define your style, how to create a mood board and shop for quality pieces. I highly recommend you do so! It may seem like something trivial and a waste of time, but I can’t tell you how great it feels (and how much less stress I have) to be able to quickly and easily get dressed, EVERY DAY and LOVE the way I look and the outfits I have.

You Are What You Think

We’ve all heard the phrase: You are what you eat – and as a health and fitness coach I must agree. Funny thing is, in order to find total health and wellness a healthy MIND is just as important as a healthy body. Negative thoughts can actually make you physically sick. Stress, anxiety, rage and bitterness release chemicals and hormones into your brain and body which negatively affects your organs!

On of my absolute favorite things about being a coach is being introduced to personal development books. I always looked down on “self-help” books because I thought they were only for really messed up people who didn’t read the Bible.

I still read my Bible every day and believe that it contains all we need for life and every book I read is filtered through my understanding of scripture, but gosh darn it! There are so many inspiring experiences, brilliant understanding, profound motivation and self-discovery to be found in GOOD books. I have never felt so challenged, motivated or grown so much as I have in this past year.

So, I challenged myself to read 12 books in 12 months – starting in January. As we begin September, I am so grateful to be starting book #10 (I may have to set my goals a little higher next year!)

Here are my reviews of the books I’ve read thus far:

Entreleadership – Dave Ramsey
Of course I had heard of Dave Ramsey, but never read any of his books, listened to his radio show or had much experience with him – all I knew is that he taught people how to budget. This was my first real interaction with him. My my, he is quite arrogant (confident?) isn’t he? But you can’t argue with his passion and success. I learned a lot from this book, especially about integrity, leadership and hard work. Many of the chapters are exclusively for those who are running an actual business (a whole chapter on how to hire and fire someone and outsourcing work, etc.) but on a whole I found it very helpful, lots of good nuggets and some chapters that I will revisit.

21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership – John Maxwell
This is Mr. Maxwell’s seminal work and for good reason. It is quite extensive and took me the LONGEST to get through (I racked up some hefty library fines with this one!) but if you take the time to do the self-evaluation work (which I did) and really use it as the tool it is meant to be there’s no way you WON’T grow into a better leader. I HIGHLY recommend this for anyone who wants to grow into leadership, but if you are just looking for personal growth I would go with Mr. Maxwell’s 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth instead (I read this last year).

Notes from a Blue Bike – Tsh Oxenreider
I took a little break from heavy leadership books and really enjoyed myself with this memoir about a family’s pursuit of a simpler life in a culture that screams MORE! Tsh and her family lived in Turkey (a country that holds a special place in my heart) and when they returned to the U. S. were so culture shocked that they determined to make radical changes to how they lived so they could re-capture some of what they loved from their time overseas. I enjoyed it very much and it sparked some great conversations with my husband about how we want to live and gave me courage to not be afraid of making decisions for my family that might be counter cultural, but WE feel are necessary for us to live more simply and according to our convictions.

Eat Mor Chikin Inspire More People – Truett Cathy
This book was gifted to me and to be honest I probably never would have read it if I didn’t already have it, but I was pleasantly surprised by how deeply I was inspired by this man’s life. I can’t say I learned tips or strategies, but autobiographies are always powerful because you can’t argue with someone’s story and I was incredibly impressed by Mr. Cathy’s conviction, work ethic and leadership.

You Are a Badass – Jen Sincero
This book was sweeping the Beachbody world this summer (seriously, at the success club trip in CanCun EVERYONE had a copy to read by the pool!) and I can see why. It’s light, it’s funny, it’s a little potty-mouthed and “tough love”. It’s a great intro to the idea of personal development, especially if you aren’t sure that it’s valuable – she makes a great argument for why it is. I thought it was on the whole a little fluffy but had some very profound moments (there’s a FANTASTIC chapter on how so many of us feel like to be authentic and true to ourselves and our message we have to be “starving artists” and if we make money it means we’ve “sold out” and she reveals that thinking for the lie that is…mind-blowing!). Those coaches in CanCun might have been on to something, it’s totally a “read by the pool to get your butt in gear” book. It will motivate you.

Create: Stop Making Excuses and Start Making Things – Stephen Altrogge
I saw this book right as I was ending You Are a Badass and I liked the idea and the title. The book had some good tips for creatives and those of us who get a lot of ideas but have poor follow through. It was a good reminder, but nothing earth shattering.

The Hunger Fix – Dr. Pam Peeke
This book freaking rocked my world! It combined heavy science (which sometimes I understood and sometimes I didn’t – but I got the general idea) with a very compassionate approach for those of us who struggle with food (sugar) addiction. It explained very well how the brain works and processes food and sugar and why we can’t seem to stop. It made me SO much more aware of what’s really going on when I reach for that piece of chocolate and showed me how I need to not only address my diet, but my emotional state as well and her suggestions for how to overcome this sugar addiction – priceless! (I’ll probably be running another free group on Sugar Addiction in October…it’s a free group where I share a lot from this book along with some of my meal plans that are based on her recommendations! If you don’t follow me on facebook already, you should! I will announce it there)

Platform – Michael Hyatt
I hate to say anything bad about this book because I absolutely ADORE Michael Hyatt! If you don’t follow his podcast, you are missing out. But I found this book a little too technical, a lot of it I already knew. There were a few nuggets I pulled out (having a strong About Me page, and perfecting your “elevator pitch”) but aside from that I was a little bored by this book. (sorry Michael!!)

Start With Why – Simon Sinek
I just finished this book and absolutely LOVED it. As soon as I heard Simon Sinek speak at Beachbody’s Summit in July I KNEW I would be getting one (or more) of his books. Really brilliant and helped me SO much to be clear on how I communicate with others, how to inspire others and the importance of not only knowing your WHY but also taking time to develop a strong HOW so that your vision and purpose can be properly executed. If you are a leader of anything (church, small group, classroom, family) I would put this near the top of your list. If you haven’t already watched his incredible Ted Talk – here is a preview of the book: Click here.

So, there you have it, my book reviews thus far! If you aren’t reading ANYTHING at the moment, I highly encourage you to pick up one of these books – start small, just ten minutes a day is plenty (that’s about all I have time for and I’ve gotten 10 books done so far!) and invest in yourself and your growth. YOU are your only limiting factor ❤