![Health Fire! Warning Signs that Keep Me up at Night]()
The baby was finally sleeping, after a 2 ½ hour battle. My weekend was spent at an amazing Writer’s Conference in St. Paul, MN, where there were meetings and speakers and networking, yummy panel lunches, advice given and taken, and more meetings. The event was fabulous and full, and I was spent.
I was all ready for bed when my husband came in to say goodnight before he went and watched some tv. We heard something that sounded like a chirp, but neither one of us acknowledged it because we feared we’ve heard that sound before. Maybe we were both thinking that we had imagined it or that if we didn’t acknowledge it, it would disappear.
There was no denying the second chirp, I think it was louder. Yes, it was definitely louder than the first. We looked at each other with a look that said “I wish I hadn’t heard that.” It was 11:13pm and we were both dog-tired. Optimistically, my hubby asked, “how often do those things go off. . . every couple of hours?” He had just gotten that out of his mouth when it chirped again. It was definitely the fire alarm, letting us know that the batteries needed changing. Now.
Read MoreProximity can be the difference between meeting and missing your goals.
Proximity can be the difference between having a dream and making it a reality.
Proximity is nearness in space and time. So what is the distance between you and success?
I tried to explain this concept to my husband as he was lugging a heavy and awkward spin bike from our basement into our kitchen at my request...yes into the kitchen. He was as confused as you may be.
We do not have a spacious kitchen but it fits our needs. There happened to be a space between our kitchen table and the deck door that looked just the perfect size for my experiment with proximity. See the spin bike fit nicely in our basement and I had the best intentions to use the bike while watching TV downstairs. I was excited at the possibility of have a consistent, easy to access workout option in our home that I could utilize despite the variable Minnesota weather.
As I've alluded to in previous blog posts, working out is not second nature to me like my dear sister Ashley Darkenwald. I'd go as far to say most of my life I have loathed exercise. It always felt like punishment because it was boring, hard, and painful...and honestly I never stuck with in long enough to see results which only has made me more discouraged from doing it. Fast forward many years of turbulent health challenges and dramatic changes to my daily nutrition, I've found myself exercising again but with a completely different mindset. Instead of thinking of exercise as a punishment, I seek out exercise I enjoy, find my "happy movement" as Ashley calls it. In addition to being much more mindful of what I like and dislike doing for exercise, I'm more aware of how much my body personally needs.
Read MoreWe are super exciting to have the one and only Amy Peterson, RN, personal trainer, and group fitness instructor extraordinaire as our guest blogger today! Amy’s been a guest on our first and second Living Wellness LIVE shows. Click the links here to see the Facebook LIVE recap videos of our shows: Show 1 and Show 2. Without further ado, here’s Amy with some great tips for jump starting or re-starting your 2018 wellness goals.
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January is that time of year where you get to start fresh. It’s a new year and there’s something inspiring about starting out with a clean slate. Setting goals are on the priority list for many people. Unfortunately, though, not everyone obtains their goals. You get busy, lose focus, the momentum slows, and, quite possibly, you might even forget them…not that that ever happens to me! 😊
Over the past 10 years, I’ve seen many clients and friends succeed in accomplishing their wellness goals, and I’ve seen many stall or just give up on their goals. Let me just say that it is never to late to start prioritizing your health by making some SMART goals, no matter how small of a goal it is.
Read MoreEveryone’s talking about New Year’s resolutions. Have you set any? Maybe your resolution is to set a resolution 😊 Or do you more resolve to not make any resolutions?
Making New Year’s resolutions is definitely a common thing people do. What’s the point of making these resolutions? No, no…it’s not just to break them. I’d like to suggest the practice of New Year’s resolutions can actually be quite transformative if you go about it with an honest heart.
I love taking a few moments during this time of year to reflect on all the changes, blessings, challenges, triumps of the year. It helps me to first and foremost reflect on God’s provision. Reflection on the past year can help you to identify what you were really proud of and things that you wish that you could change. In the process of doing so, you then have the opportunity to look forward into the next year with a sense of opportunity for something new.
Rather than setting goals to eat less sugar or exercise more (which are great goals), I’m setting an intention this year to be more mindful.
Read MoreTwo weeks ago, I received clearance from my doctor to get serious about my postpartum health and exercise journey. Check out my first post here.
As many of you have read, I recommend setting goals for your wellness and fitness journey that are SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound goals (Living Wellness for Growth Groups, p. 17). I've recently decided to make it my goal to be back to pre-baby shape and size by Thanksgiving. That gives me about 3 months from now (5 months since baby was born)--Just in time to make a new plan to get through the holidays, healthy- and with a new baby! My point in blogging this journey is not to keep a digital journal, but rather give you inspiration AND to receive encouragement as well. I have been thrilled with your response from my first post-- please keep your stories coming! I want to hear about your struggles and progress.
I'm happy to report I HAVE made a little progress these past two weeks, but progress nonetheless! Here's what I've been up to, I hope this inspires you, wherever you're at in your health journey.
Read MoreI couldn't tell if the audible crying in the bedroom was from my baby or me as I tried on my jeans, for the third time. I'm not even talking about my everyday jeans. I'm taking about the other ones.
I'm almost 8 weeks postpartum. Although I've come a long way from the moo-moo I wore home from the hospital, I still can't comfortably wear ANY of my old pants that have a button, snap, or zipper.
A few minutes into my pity party, however, I looked in the mirror. I starred at the reflection looking back at me. As I gazed at my reflection, I realized that I wasn’t actually feeling upset with myself at all—I was only reacting to how I thought I should feel after seeing a number on the scale that I haven’t seen since my “overweight” days. Once I really searched my heart, I realized I was quite at peace with my body and my weight, albeit larger than I would like. My body had carried yet another (praise the Lord!) precious life in it for nine months and now serves to feed and sustain that life. My body carries the marks of motherhood, and I’m so so grateful for them.
Although I am at peace with myself, I feel excited and ready to start getting back into shape for this next season—life with a baby, two older children, and a business. I'm ready to enjoy feeling strong and healthy again. With support from my family and friends, I'm ready to take this journey that I have coached so many people on.
Read MoreWell friends, tomorrow marks the last day of our #LWGG30Day Challenge. Thank you for sharing this journey with me and supporting me as I challenged myself with my wellness goals.
My hope is that over this past month, you found our wellness challenge posts to be inspiring. Inspiring you to nourish your body with different types of exercise. Inspiring you to choose your body with foods that not only satisfy your hunger but nourish your body with the building blocks it needs for health. Inspiring you to take time for yourself. And inspiring you to put nourishing your body, mind, and spirit at the forefront of your mind in order to worship God, honor God, and serve God more fully.
Two weeks ago, I shared with you in this post my progress with the Living Wellness 30 Day Challenge, what exercises I found I enjoyed, and a few take-aways that I learned from this challenge.
Today, I'd like to share with you one final take-away.
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