Why do we wait?

I have this exact magnet quote on my fridge:

Even though I look at it EVERYDAY, I am still waiting.

Why do we wait for a crisis to make a change?
Why do we wait to pursue our dreams when the "perfect" moment may never come?
Why are we so afraid of failure, of taking a risk, of actually LIVING?

Only when we hear about a diagnosis, have one of our own, or lose someone, do we seem to reflect on our own mortality.

What have you been waiting to start? To finish? To say?
Who have you been waiting to hug? To see? To call?

I'm thinking about this because I have some dreams. I hope that we all are still dreaming! But life and money are getting in my way, and my conundrum is, when will that NEVER be the case? Will I just never pursue my dreams because of these things? There may never be the perfect moment.

I think that these things are part of leading a healthy and happy life! Fulfilling our dreams. No one ever regretted going after a dream! Even if we fail, we learn. And we get right back up again.

"What's your dream?" - do you remember that line from the movie Pretty Woman?

I encourage you to answer that for yourself. What is your dream? If at the end of the next 12 months you had the perfect year, what would that mean? What would the "perfect year" look like for you? Write it down. Post it on your mirror. Read it everyday. Make it happen! Stop waiting. And I will too.


Live a happy, healthy, life right now. What are you waiting for?

Be well,
Mandy

Breast Cancer Month

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Why isn't it Breast Cancer PREVENTION month?

Exposed

Jennifer Lunden on the Business of Breast Cancer

http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/7693

I posted this article to my facebook page, but thought it was worth reposting here for all to read. It is a very worth-your-time article to read. Even though it is a bit long, it is worth reading ALL THE WAY THROUGH!

It discusses many things: corporate greed (shocking, right?), Pinkwashing of America, government regulation of toxins (or lack thereof), and our responsibility to ourselves as consumers.

Breast cancer has shown up too many times in my short life. I've become someone skeptical of anything I put in my mouth and on my body. I've sought out companies that do the right thing, that create products with ingredients I can read and understand, whether it be food or personal products. I read, I research, I try to share. It is overwhelming. It is a constant battle. And I fall back into old habits many times (here come the habits again!). But in the end, I want to know that I did what I could. That I stuck with what I believe. That I didn't just do things because "everyone else is doing it" or that "it's just too hard!". Those are not good reasons in my mind.

So here are a couple of  sites that I'd like to share to help you research the products you use, and an alternative company if you are looking for non-toxic products. To the right are a few other resources that I will be adding to as I go. After you read this article, use these sites as resources. Read more. Share more. Be educated. Be well.

http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/  -- a place to research the products you use. See how toxic they are and find alternatives.

www.avaandersonnontoxic.com -- This is a wonderful company. I know everything I buy from them is NON-TOXIC. Started by a teenager who couldn't find any products that were non-toxic after learning about the dangers of the ingredients in the products we use.


Be well,
Mandy

Potential

I AM GIVING UP ALCOHOL AND SWEETS FOR 60 DAYS. (During the week).

That is a bold statement from me. More because of the sweets, not the alcohol. And because I don't trust myself to do it! Why do I keep challenging myself to things I don't feel like I will accomplish? Because I keep thinking "this time I WILL do it!". AM I THE ONLY ONE???

Sugar and alcohol have contributed to my overall sense of feeling crappy for a very...long...time. And for me, it doesn't take much. 1 cookie. 1 drink. Headaches, nausea, lethargy, roller coaster of emotions...all attributed to even small portions of either substance. During consumption, after consumption, and even the day after consumption. So why do I continue? Habit.

The fact that I don't usually follow through with anything I challenge myself to do also contributes to that overall sense of feeling crappy.

OK. There have been times! I did a half marathon once (but I definitely could have trained more). I think I am a great mom (but I know there is always room for improvement). I'm talking overall. More often than not, I miss the mark.

I can't be alone here. Can I?

We know there are HUGE links between fitness, health, self esteem, happiness, overall well being...and on and on.We do all know this, right? But when we set out to do things, challenge ourselves, we get so psyched up to do it! Then shortly thereafter, we come up with excuses, life gets in the way, and we go back to our old ways.

I named this entry POTENTIAL because I want to ask you all this question: Do you know your true potential?  Truly. How good could you feel? How happy could you be? How successful, how strong, how confident, how sexy, how loving could you be?

If you are striving for GREAT things, how can you really do your best without putting yourself first? How can you have the drive, motivation or energy, to do the things you need to do? Be the person you want to be. Energy drinks? Pots of coffee? Worse things? STOP IT! None of those things lead you to your greatest potential without sacrificing something more important. Your health.

In my first post I talked about all of the things that I believe are worth bringing to the forefront of our brains. Fitness and Nutrition, I believe, are 2 of the most important things we can do for ourselves. If we don't have our health, what do we have? Self esteem, emotions, chronic diseases, pain, relationships, and how we even navigate through life, can all be affected if we choose not to take care of ourselves.

Habits:
I, and I'm assuming many of us, keep going through life playing out our habits. How we eat, how we think, how we exercise, how we treat people, how we work, how we play. We are all at different ends of the spectrum on all of these things, but we are all playing out our habits. Maybe you are super competitive and always have been. Maybe you are someone who has always wanted to be fit but your habits keep you where you are.Maybe you have goals that you have striven for over many years but have never quite reached them!

I've fallen into the "mediocre" category most of my life.  Doing enough to get the good grades, but never going above and beyond to get that 4.0, even though I could have. I've always WANTED to be that athletic looking person, but have never really pushed myself too hard. I know I have the potential to be that amazing teacher who goes above and beyond at all times for her students, but I seem to do just enough to get praise, but not too much to be that one that stands out in a crowd. I've always gotten by with money, but I've never had too much. I can pay my bills, but there are no major vacations, many family reunions and weddings in Wisconsin we could not make, and those houses we would have loved to own but they were just out of our reach. Habits, habits, habits.

Well this year I got tired of it!! What am I truly capable of?? What can I really accomplish??How great can I really be and feel?? How healthy can I be??

Like so many of us I have the tools. I am a person that is passionate about and LOVES nutrition. I want to prevent cancer. I want to live a very long time! I want to earn more money! But I am weak...I am human.

I became a BEACHBODY coach last January which means that I represent a company that helps people get and stay fit! I love it. I get to coach people everyday, online, keeping them accountable for their fitness goals, challenging them, encouraging them, etc. I also can earn a great living doing this. BUT! I approached this like I approach every other area of my life. Not with reckless abandon. Just doing enough to make it look like I am doing something, but not really accomplishing too much of anything! Staying right where I am. In mediocrity.

So!! What am I doing about it?? Starting this week, I started a program called Focus T25. It is 25 minutes a day, 5 days a week, at home, and led by Shaun T of the Insanity workout series. I also love Bikram yoga, so I will be incorporating that 2-3 times a week. I will be EATING CLEAN: no processed foods. That is a big umbrella. No alcohol. No sweets. Notice I didn't say no sugar. I just mean no extra desserts, candies, cookies, anything of the like. As I am writing this I am getting a little bit twitchy. Thinking about the cookies at home I just purchased. The nice microbrew in the fridge before dinner. Cold...yummy...

BUT this is another attempt to BREAK MY HABITS! If I can tackle this habit, I KNOW it will filter into the rest of my life! My business, my relationships, my parenting, my everything!

I CAN break through some of those bad habits that have plagued me all of my life! And so can you.

I know that when I get into a great habit of exercising and eating well, I feel fantastic! I have more energy when I wake up in the morning. My confidence soars and I go harder! I am happier. I am a more patient mom. I am a more patient partner. I am a more motivated, more patient, more excited teacher. This is how I know that all of this matters. Drinking makes me feel like utter crap. Sugar makes me moody and gives me chronic headaches.Not exercising makes my self esteem go down, my clothes fit me differently, and my attitude to veer towards negative. Why do I do it to myself? Why do I not do the things that make me a better person? Why do I not strive to reach my highest potential everyday? Why don't many of us??

I hope that I might be able to inspire some of you to take control. To see that I am human, that we all struggle, that with a bit of hard work and some discipline, even the one who strives for mediocrity can reach for her full potential. Although, do we every really reach our full potential?? Maybe not...but it doesn't mean we shouldn't KEEP TRYING!

So if you'd like to join me, please do! T25 is an amazing program for busy people. 25 minutes? How can I come up with an excuse that is valid? My kid can WATCH me exercise for 25 minutes, if nothing else. He can do it with me!  Alcohol, schmalcohol. Sugar? That is going to be the tough one for me. But it's 60 days (minues the weekends!). And I am going to feel great.

Thanks for reading! Let me know how you reach for your full potential everyday! Help me know that I am not alone out there.The bottom line is we just need to KEEP TRYING! And we will achieve GREAT THINGS!!


Some suggestions for reading for breaking old habits and creating new ones:

The Slight Edge - by Jeff Olson
The Compound Effect - by Darren Hardy
The Speed of Trust - Stephen M.R. Covey

In case you want to try some T25 with me!
Focus T25

In health and wellness,
Mandy

Kicking it off!

This is where the journey begins! This is what this blog will be all about. Stay tuned for an inspiring (hopefully!), educational, valuable, interactive, journey! And this is why it is starting:

 FAMILY

Four generations! My grandma will be 90 this October and has never had any major disease. My mother is on my left. She had breast cancer twice by the time she was 50. And that is my 4 year old son (he was a lot younger when this picture was taken). I want to teach him to be the healthiest and best he can be, and I want to be Healthy, Fit, and Happy, for a long, long time.

Cancer.
This sparked my drive. My passion. Not my own cancer but my best friend's. She was 36. Now she is 37 and recovering, thank goodness.
My mom. Breast cancer twice by the time she was 50. Cancer free now.
My aunts, my cousin (in her 40's), friends (in their 30's). I'm tired of it. Are you? We always say, "...but they are so young!". Should it be OK at any age? I don't believe that it should be.

Family.
Raising a son has changed my vision for life. Changed my purpose, changed who I want to project to the world. I want my son to see what a strong woman is, what a strong woman does, and help him understand what a woman is capable of. I want him to understand what he is capable of as well. I want him to understand how to be healthy and why it's important. What nutrition does for you, what fitness gives to you, and that you must do all you can in this one short life. This is more of my drive.

Nutrition.
We know this is a big piece of the puzzle. This is my passion. I am not perfect, but I love learning. I love the idea that we have, in our hands, the potential to beat our genes. The potential to heal our bodies. Getting back to basics, away from processed food, away from fast food, away from the crap being advertised as healthy for us when it is killing us! Away from counting calories, fad diets and feeling crappy. There is so much information out there and it is there for the taking. I know there are tough issues out there to tackle to make fresh food available to everyone. But it is a battle that is necessary and worth fighting and it starts with the education of what is really going on and what is really possible.

Fitness.
What a contributor to our well being and healthy lifestyle! So many options out there! We know we must do it, even if we don't always love it. Find something you love, and do it! Then find something else, take some chances, and do it! Do it again! Keep doing it. You want to be healthy, fit, and happy? You must get out there. You must be active. You must do what you think you cannot do! You must be selfish in this way. It affects every other aspect of your life.

That is my story! These are the things that I believe in and what I want my energy, in this life, to go towards. My hope with this blog is to educate, create conversations, share information, and to offer solutions and options to those who may be looking.

I know we are out there. Crusaders for a healthier, happier planet, family, and life. I believe that we could all use a little support along the way!

This is the beginning! Are you with me?? Let's go!