Something you should know about me… I’m passionate about health and the pursuit of health!
Not because I’m perfect or better than anyone else. Nope. It just matters to me. Very much! I’ve experienced the ups and downs with it, just like many of us. But it’s a big part of my personal story, what drives me and how I show up in my business. So I want to share!
My Story
By 2022, I had gained 15 pounds in six months, on top of the cliche middle-aged spread I’d been carrying awhile. Just going up and down stairs felt like an effort and I’d amassed a list of aches and pains and had that good ole’ brain fog and mood swings to boot. For awhile I wondered if this was my “new normal”.
But then… I decided. Nope. Things had to change.
I finally felt ready to do something about it and started on my personal fitness journey (one I’m still on!) with a coach and learned to eat with macros and train with weightlifting.
The changes were intense. The commitment required was no joke. But was it worth it? YES. I’m amazed how much better I feel in my body after 18 months. I feel years younger! But what’s been just as amazing is the inner work I did and how it’s bled over into other parts of my life, including my business journey.
If it weren’t for these deep shifts, I literally would not see my business the same way!
Here are a few core ideas I’ve embraced along the way.
SHOULD and SHaME don’t get a vote
Often if we talk about health & fitness, those nasty little shoulds come crawling out.
“I SHOULD be doing this… I SHOULD be doing that…”
“I SHOULD look like this… I SHOULD weight that…”
We’re holding ourselves up to invisible standards and shame comes with falling short.
I’ve decided that SHOULD and SHAME don’t get a place at my board of directors. Yep, they pop up. I have a little chat with them, but send them on their way.
I get to decide what I want to do – with my life, with my health – not imaginary standards or inner mean girls.
I think we all get to decide what to do with our body, how we want to feel, what matters to us. I believe in body positivity and maybe the closest expression might be body empowerment. I don’t believe in one type of body, standard, or fitness regime. I don’t believe the state of our bodies makes us “good or bad” or “superior or inferior”. There is so much going on beneath the surface and I don’t believe in judging a person by that.
What I do know is what I want for me and what I choose for me – and that’s it.
What I DO want for me is vibrant health, FEELING good, and longevity with a better quality of life.
My body is an instrument, not an ornament
So much of our hangups around the body are related to external judgments & perceived standards. I refuse to live my life worried about dimples on my thighs or bat wings. Nope.
I’m embracing the idea that my body is an instrument, not an ornament. It’s how I use it, it’s how I feel inside of my body, it’s what it allows me to do. That is my frame of reference.
Do all things from love and kindness
On this fitness journey, I’ve had to learn, above all, to be my own best friend. To be that kind, encouraging voice in my head, not that shaming, bitchy one.
I say all this like it’s straightforward and easy, but it hasn’t been. I’ve had to fight tooth and nail to embrace these ideas, to claim them as the way I’m living my life from here on out.
So how does this apply in business?
I’ve found these ideas so ingrained in me now, that they’re part of who I am as I’ve started a business. That woman I became in the gym? She gets to come with me when I’m planning or serving clients.
Here’s what I’m taking with me:
Shame and should don’t get a vote in my business
I get to decide my business goals and strategy and values and principles. I get to decide what makes my business a success. I get to decide my timeline.
I refuse to let shame or should be what’s steering me.
My business is an instrument, not an ornament
My business exists to serve – others and myself. It does not exist to look good in some shallow way or stroke my ego
I try to examine if what I’m doing is increasing the value, the service I can offer – or just surface-level wrapping paper?
Do all things out of love and kindness in my business
It can be tough being a solopreneur. Sometimes you need a cheerleader.
Guess what? I get to be my own best friend, my own biggest encourager. I get to choose, before everything, to be kind to myself. That kindness spreads, allowing me to be kind to clients and people in my community too!
I can tell you twenty other things I’ve learned in my fitness journey, but this is at the heart of it all, because all the drive and motivation in the world may get the job done, but without a deep sense of integrity with yourself, feeling empowered to do what you do from purpose and meaning and love, it will never feel good and I believe that deep sense of being in integrity with yourself is what keeps you going through it all day after day.
Interested in working with me as your Values-Based Online Business Manager? Chat me up. I’d love to learn more about you in a free Discovery Call.