Alright. So I’ve been a little busy. Over the last 18 months when my posts have been lacking while I’ve done some pretty incredible things. During that time I had two choices: try to keep up this blog and write from an exhausted, drained mind or release myself from the guilt of having too many plates in the air. Obviously you know what I picked. I knew I didn’t have the creative depth or reservoir of passion to give much advice to readers. But now, I’m slowly getting back to all the things I love and finding joy in things that take up time again.
Over the past 18 months, I fully switched careers to a full time personal trainer and recently acquired my Weight Loss Specialist license. I’ve been working with overweight clients, underweight clients, females, males, confident people, self conscious people and everywhere in between. And I’ve been learning SO MUCH. It’s been all consuming and thus my lack of writing. But I have been doing some reading, which is the launching point of this post.
Lately I’m obsessed with the book Girl, Wash You Face by Rachel Hollis. I’ve read it. I’ve written in it. I’ve bought three copies for women I know. I’ve lent out my own copy and I pretty much obsessively tell everyone about it. Within the book, Rachel takes you through several lies women tell themselves and how to stop believing them so you can reach your full potential. While reading the book, I saw a lot of lessons I had learned while losing weight printed into words I didn’t know other people had felt. Some chapters rang more true than others. Some chapters I skipped (like about motherhood). But what was clear while reading the book was, she gets it. Were all fighting the same battles each day and yet we keep providing the same lies were believing.
The chapter that I knew was for me was: Chapter 3: The Lie: I’m not good enough. I had quite a light bulb-hold the phone-stomp on the breaks full mom arm seatbelt-moment during this chapter. I always have known I’m a workaholic. I liked to excuse the habit away with “but I’m from the Midwest, were taught to work hard” and “but I’m a teacher; it’s a 24/7 job” or “but I love my job.” I had never ever had someone explain it the way Rachel does. Of course I’m paraphrasing here but she explains that for many of us, work is where we feel the most confident. It’s where we feel like we belong and have permission to do great things. So we want to spend ALL our time there. It’s ok to gain confidence from your job but it’s not ok that ALL your confidence rides on your job.
My favorite quote from the book is “Work just as hard for the pee in your pants moments as you do all the other ones.” I haven’t peed my pants enough in the past few years.
The best part of my job is watching people change. I get to watch women become whole again. Men gain their confidence back again. Some people just want to put their shoes on again. We all have goals and ways we want to change. I get to push people toward their goal and take the burden for just an hour while they work with me. They let me push them past their comfort zone, past their breaking point, past their own goals to see them take steps towards that change. I don’t necessarily think my clients look to me for life altering advice like I found in Girl, Wash Your Face I could get behind my own tagline: Girl, My Ass Hurts!
So happy you’re writing again ❤️❤️❤️