Wellness Warrior

I wonder, how do you look at wellness? Do you see it as something that just happens, or as something you have to fight for? As in, be a WARRIOR for?

I have lived in the camp of being a WELLNESS WARRIOR for the past 25 years of my life. For me, being healthy wasn’t “just happening.” Staying up too late, operating on 4 hours of sleep, skipping breakfast and lunch, only to binge on Fruity Pebbles cereal and Super Pretzels for dinner was my modus operandi. Yikes! Hurts to remember those days, but I’m all about sharing the truth.

The truths we don’t face become our limits.

So…one day I drew a line in the sand and said, ENOUGH! I went to bed earlier, getting 8 hrs of sleep each night. I began making a nutritious breakfast at home and eating it before I left for school/work. I never skipped meals, always ate balanced, and swore off the Fruity P’s, pizza, and cookies. Then all of my life’s dreams came true. The End.

NOT!! I hope you didn’t believe that for a second. Being a WELLNESS WARRIOR in my life has often meant making HUGE CHANGES, RADICAL SWOOPS, TAKING DESPERATE MEASURES, only to go right back to where I started. Talk about depressing. Those were some very hard years.

I finally realized that going to extremes was just another way of being unhealthy.

I struggled with eating disorders and body dismorphia, in a major way. (More on that in another post.)

So what did work? How did I get to the place I am now? Anxiety replaced with peace? A fit, strong body ready to make the most of each day I’m given? A faith that trusts more than doubts?

For starters,

I gave up.

Gave up my unrealistic expectations. Gave up the crap I was reading that promoted the image that “skinny would make you happy.” I wised up. I switched to books that looked at the whole person, mind/body/spirit. I developed a relationship with God and prayed, prayed, prayed. I went to counseling and met with wellness health professionals. I learned as much as I could about how to be healthy. I started working out in a group setting, taking classes and building community. I focused on strength vs. body weight, fitness vs. achievement, joy vs. a “should/would/could” mindset. I did lots and lots of work on mindset. I starting practicing gratitude, serving others, and getting my mind off of myself.

It’s amazing how loving others well and giving of your time, talents, and resources can improve your life greatly-God told me it would.

So, friends, what are you a warrior for? Does your wellness matter enough for you to fight for it? What helps you create new, healthy habits? Where could you make tweaks to take you in the direction of your best self?

My advice to you:

• Give up the Fruity P’s! (Whatever that nutrient-less food is for you.) Remove them from your house and re-stock the fridge and pantry with fresh veggies, fruits, grass-fed, no-hormone added meats, eggs, avocado, raw nuts and seeds, to name a few. Can you have your indulgence food sometimes? Of course! But keeping it out of the house until it’s time for that every-so-often food will be helpful.

• Plan your meals. This will help you eat out less and make fewer poor decisions.

Cut up your fruits and veggies, prepare your meals and snacks as much as you can at the start of the week. This will prove to be fruitful when you’re needing something quick.

• Become friends with herbs and spices. Having a variety of flavors will keep your vegetables interesting and help get you excited about eating them!
• Be willing to try new recipes! Check out 21 Day Transformation for some free, healthy food resources.
• Join a clean eating challenge, my pref is the 21 Day Transformation because it comes not only with 60+ recipes, but it also guides you on what to eat for that special treat, has a restaurant guide for eating out healthfully, and it’s designed in a way that is very easy to follow and flexible to meet the taste buds of many. Aka-it’s fmaily friendly. One of my all-time fave parts- ACCOUNTABILITY. This program is wellness coach led and you have access to the coach for 21 days. Ask any questions you may have, no matter how specific. Oh, AND, you get 21 days of BARRE ON DEMAND FITNESS CLASSES too! Say what?! Yep, it’s the full package.

• Workout with others. Research shows that group exercise is the #1 exercise method for improved mental health. You’re also more likely to stick to your workouts. It’s motivating, and especially when you find a place that is positive, upbeat, and encouraging like B Present Studio. Don’t live near a B Present Studio location? Invite a friend or two over and get the same great messaging and benefits with Barre On Demand .

• Set goals, and have grace. GOALS AND GRACE. Yep. Take one step at a time. Believe you can.

You are stronger than you even know.

You can choose to be a wellness warrior.

💚 T

Doors

Doors. I’ve been attracted to doors for years. I have found they are quite symbolic to our lives.

Think about it, in nearly all cases, you’re only opening a door or going through a doorway when you’re entering a new space. Opening a door takes you somewhere. Just as closing a door shuts you off from the space where you just were.

It’s a divider. A separation. Many times doors are reinforced with a lock, or maybe multiple locks, and even chains. Doors are meant to keep people/things out just as much as they can be used to keep people/things in.

Perhaps you’ve even used the language, “I closed the door on that one years ago,” when speaking about different aspects of your life.

As I looked at this beautiful set of doors this morning, with that simple little exterior lock, you want to know what I thought? I could break through that! These doors give you a view of what’s inside AND they have a weak lock?! I’M IN! And then it struck me, maybe much of the hurt and suffering I experience in life is because I barrel through doors that have been gently locked. I force my way through the tension that was intended to help me make another choice. I ignore the warning signs and Just. Keep. Pushing.

Anyone else love to be a boundary buster? Do hard things? Rise above challenge? Triple handraise from me!! AND I DON’T THINK THIS IS A BAD QUALITY! But I do think it means I need to be very intentional to BE STILL and take time to PRAY & LISTEN before I go barging into things or slamming doors shut. Perhaps what I’ll find is that God put some resistance there not so I could show how strong I am (through Him) to push through, but because He wanted to spare me some heartache and trauma.

What doors may be closing in your life that you are trying to force open? What doors have you been holding open for decades, despite the knowing in your gut that it’s time to close it?

I don’t think there are easy answers to these questions. Especially when you are a person of faith. Faith means believing in that which is unseen. Faith believes that through Christ ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE!

Maybe you’re seeing this today because you have closed a door prematurely. You closed a door because you didn’t see things coming to pass when you wanted, on your timeline, in 30 years(?!), so you shut it, never to even look at the door again, for to do so would be too painful.

All this talk about doors, does it really even matter if you’ve slammed a door or keep standing by an open one waiting for someone/something to happen in your life? YES!! 100x YES!! If you’ve closed a door prematurely, YOU may be preventing yourself from the life you were meant to life. YOUR CLOSED DOORS/MINDSET could keep you from the fullness of peace and joy that are to be yours. Likewise, standing at the same door, “stuck” is one way to think of it, wishing things would change/could change while the rest of your life passes by…ouch. Again, there is no “one size fits all,”. “Open three doors, then close two, then repeat.” No, sorry. I have no formulas to give you. Only a person and His name is Jesus. He will not lead you astray. He will show you which doors to keep open a crack, so those former things can still get in, but while you’re also out opening other doors and living your life. He will guide you to pad lock certain doors and never ever look back. He’s done it for me and I am no one special. Aka-He loves us all the same! If He does it for me, He’ll do it for you, too.

So, today friend, be intentional, be prayerful about the doors you are opening and closing in your life. If you’ve opened wrong doors, it’s not too late to ask for help in closing them. If you have some doors that have been closed so long they are rusted shut, it’s not too late for those either.

God is good. He is able. He is willing. Are you?

💚 T