I’m coming up on a year. 

One year ago I quit my “amazing” nursing job.  (I use the word amazing in quotes because that is how many nurses described the position I held.)

So, I’m taking some time to reflect. 

• What have I accomplished? 
• What haven’t I accomplished that I hoped I would? 
• What could I have done better? 
• What are some things I did better than I expected?

This has been a CHALLENGING exercise for me.

Reflection is something that is super uncomfortable.  I can’t say I’ve ever really done it unless I’ve been forced to (for school or my employer). 

I don’t like it because it feels slow and tedious.

I’m not good at slow.

Maybe you can relate?  Have you ever said, “I’m too busy”?  It just rolls off your tongue.  Then someone asks you what you’ve been busy with and you draw a blank.  Or what you do think of doesn’t really sound that busy once you say it out loud.

Then you realize, maybe you weren't that busy; you've just been busy in your mind.  You see that ...

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been feeling pretty overwhelmed lately.

With my husband and kids being home 24/7, new information to sift through, and the day-by-day (sometimes hour-by-hour) planning because of the constant changes…

it’s made my head spin.

My head might be spinning, but here is what you won't find me doing:

I’m not going to blame or wish things were different.

It won't make me feel better nor will it help me make wiser choices. 

I refuse to indulge in it.

Rather, I want to focus on my current circumstance (things I can not change) and what I do have control or influence over.

Here is my present situation:

3 kids at home.  A husband working at home.  An extra office space set up on our dining room table.  Snow outside.  Plenty of food in our fridge.  My mom still living with us and available to help. Bins, draws and shelves full of craft projects. A sewing machine with dust on it.  A house that hasn’t been deep cleaned for a year.  Devotionals that haven’t bee...

Weight loss can be a spiritual journey.

Have you ever thought about that?

It did not occur to me for a LOOOONG time.  So, don’t worry, you’re not alone.

I was listening to the radio the other morning, and the announcer was talking about how he started on this journey to run a marathon purely out of selfishness.  His wife wanted him to lose weight and as he put it, “I was tired of looking at myself in the mirror.” 

So, he started running.  But it turned into so much more than that very quickly.  He put a purpose into his running by raising money for a local non-profit.  Through this God opened his eyes to how He was working while he was running and trying to lose weight.

After hearing this, I realized, I too had a spiritual journey through weight loss.  It is one of the most valuable journeys I have ever been on.

See, three years ago I was a mess.  You wouldn’t have seen it on the outside.  I had this beautiful family, a wonderful husband, a nice part-time job, a great ho...

If you didn’t read last week’s post, I highly suggest you go and take a look. 

Last week, I discussed how to start cleaning up your thinking; to start being aware of what is going on in your mind. 

Here is a snippet from the post:

The thoughts in your brain will create the reality of your life.  Life is made of internal and external.  The external is the direct reflection of the internal.  I suggest you start there.

As someone thinks within himself, so he is. Proverbs 23:7

So, I wanted to expand on how the internal is reflected on the external.  And, since I coach a lot on weight issues, I’ll use that as an example today.

First, if you’ve never heard of Dr. Caroline Leaf, I highly recommend her work.  She is a cognitive neuroscientist with a PhD in Communication Pathology specializing in Neuropsychology. Basically, she is one smart cookie. What is fascinating is that her work is confirming scripture.  Science and scripture aren’t contradictory my friends.  There is more a...

Halloween is not a holiday.

I know I’m going to ruffle some feathers today. But ultimately, this post IS NOT about whether or not you should celebrate Halloween.  That’s not my point.

But if you want to get to the good point, you’ll have to hear me out about Halloween….

We don’t celebrate Halloween at our house.  We haven’t for years.  My kids don’t dress up.  They don’t go trick or treating.  We don’t have parties or decorations. 

We DO have a family fun night on the 31st though (so don't worry, my kids are not deprived).

It’s not because I stand on some morally high ground and oppose the “holiday” (Even though I don’t understand why you want to celebrate ghosts, scary monsters and skeletons.  I bet you’ve never seen a dead body with its skeleton coming out.  If you did, I bet you wouldn’t want to use it as decoration….just saying…)

No, the reason we don’t celebrate Halloween is because I hated the end result of the evening. 

When my kids where younger they screamed and c...

 Things that DON’T make you fat….

• Sugar
• Flour
• Carbs
• Gluten
• Skipping Breakfast
• Fast food
• Eating every two hours
• Obese parents
• Your husband’s grocery shopping
• Kids eating every two hours
• Picky eating habits

Things that DO make you fat….

• Consistently over eating and hating yourself for it

This was not originally my idea.  I got this post idea from Jordan Syatt.  Just didn’t want to plagiarize.  But I did add a few of my own items to the lists.

I LOVE doing consults with potential clients.  It is my FAVORITE thing ever.  I love it because you can just “see” (I guess actually I hear since I do them over the phone) their minds working to give all the excuses as to why they are the weight they are currently. 

AND WE ALL DO THIS!!

Jesus replied with this story: “A man prepared a great feast and sent out many invitations. When the banquet was ready, he sent his servant to tell the guests, ‘Come, the banquet is ready. But they all began making excuses. One said, ‘I ha...

Let’s talk fatigue.  I’m not going to get into physical fatigue but it does play a part in what fatigue I am going to talk about.  What I really want to discuss with you is …

DECISION FATIGUE

It is real and it is happening to you.

Do you know what decision fatigue is?

You know when you’ve had a very physically demanding day.  Maybe you have been working in the yard all day or maybe you did a very strenuous workout.  By the end of the day, your muscles are sore and you can barely lift the water glass to your mouth.  You then realize your physical abilities are exhausted. 

The same goes mentally.

Your ability, mentally, to make good decisions deteriorates through out the day when you are forced to make choices.  What does this create?  Bad decisions near the end of the day.

I have so many women tell me that they eat well all day until after work or after they put their kids to bed.  Then they overeat and snack.

Decision fatigue is why this happens.

One study found th...

Who is ready for back to school?!

Maybe you have already sent your kids back or will in the next week or so.  My kiddos don't get back into the "grind" of school until after Labor Day.

But I AM SO LOOKING FORWARD TO IT!

As much as I have LOVED my summer and my kids being home, I am looking forward to having a “normal” routine again. 

My kids… not so much.  They all like school.  It's not pulling teeth to get them to go, but they enjoy all the fun activities and vacations summer brings.  They enjoy the warm weather and playing outside.  They enjoy using their time as they please.  To them, it feels like they are giving that all up.

I had a conversation with my kiddos about this the other day.  They were complaining about having to go back to school and missing out on sleeping in and swimming every day.  I reminded them that this wasn’t actually what they did every day.  A lot of days were filled with household chores, spending a majority of time away from friends and being...

You’re a what? 

Why would people need a coach?

Like… how can you really help them just by talking to them?

I get this all the time.  Someone asks me what I do and I tell them I’m a health and life coach. 

That’s usually when I get a blank stare.  Maybe a half smile and nod if I’m lucky. 

So, for those of you that are curious about exactly what I do, I will try my best to describe it here.

All of you know what you need to do to change a certain aspect of your life.  Maybe you want to lose weight.  Maybe you want to be happier.  Or maybe you want to stop yelling at your kids.  You know what you need to do (even though some of you tell yourself you don’t, you really do know) but seems like you are unable to follow through.  You even take a few steps to get to your goal.  But after a while, you fall back into old habits.  Nothing seems to change and it feels like you just keep recycling what you did before and feel just as miserable.

This is where coaching becomes the secre...

For 5 weeks, I have been breaking down the top five “health rules” that I BREAK. 

One thing that I pray for you is that you never take any person’s opinion as fact.  While some of these “rules” might work for you, I would say the majority of people it is actually hurting rather than helping them.  Even when I tell you my opinion, you need to decide for yourself if you will benefit from this or not.  You need to test it out by applying it to your life, listen to how your body reacts and then by making YOUR OWN DECISION.

Last week’s rule was EAT EVERYTHING IN MODERATION.  I’d love to hear your opinions so don’t forget to stop by my Facebook page and leave questions or comments!

This is the last week!  Of course, I saved the best for last!

Health "rule": LOSING WEIGHT IS ALL ABOUT DIET AND EXERCISE, MOSTLY DIET THOUGH.

I’m smiling right now while reading that statement.  Yes, there is a lot of truth to this.  But the weight loss experts want you to believe this is the end al...