I want normal! All those stresses and complaints I had the beginning of March, I want them. The trips planned, the adventures with friends, the summer excursions, I want them. All the fights I had and wanted to have, I want those too. My list could go on and on, because I miss normal every single day. This world of instability and unpredictability just isn’t working for me. The weeks are ticking by and each week brings more restrictions, more regulations. What I would give to live the world I had. What unwanted perspective I have on what really matters. I never felt so alone and yet in such need of alone time. And so here I am, living one moment at a time and planning no farther than tomorrow.

Change is brewing. Things are evolving and adapting. 2020 is off to a running start and another birthday was celebrated. Life is moving fast and time doesn’t know how to stand still. I want to be excited about all of it. I want to embrace all that is new and all that is becoming. But honestly, I am struggling. I am a creature of habit and things that are different are a bit scary for me. Even things like a schedule change, or a shift in my daily activities, these are things I have to be good at because of my job. But it doesn’t mean I like it. I like consistency, no I LOVE consistency. I don’t need each day to look the same but I like sure as hell like most of my Mondays to look pretty identical. These shifts and changes, they are parts that I have learned to move with, not because I like them but because that is how life is. But change is happening all around us. As I look ahead, I see new possibilities and new prospects. And it’s time to explore, it’s time to embrace and it’s time to see what changes look like when dive in.

This is a great time to open the conversation about nutrition. The New Year is off and running. Some people have started accomplishing their resolutions and goals while others never set them and are continuing on their paths of awesomeness. Things are pretty good so far this year. But the motivation of the new year can also open the door to ideas and images that might not be in line with what we really want. And yes I mean diets. Peoples success stories and ideas of what makes them feel amazing is going to change from person to person. I love these conversations, as long as I don’t get too heated. Diets are a hot topic and probably always will be. And I’ve got my own opinions and believe it or not, I try my hardest to not to be too biased.

The ball dropped, the calendars flipped, time moved into a new year, a new decade.  The newness of it all can feel so motivating.  We get to start fresh, start over.  We get to put aside the failings, the short falls, of the 2000’s and start the 2020’s with a clean slate.  What are you hoping to accomplish?  What goals are you setting?  Where is your motivation leading you?  What are the strengths you want to kick ass in this year?

As we enter into the holiday season, temptations are around every corner. There are temptations for foods that we love and drinks that we can’t resist. There are temptations for things we don’t need but somehow try to justify buying. And with the cold dark mornings, there is always the temptation to stay in bed until the very last minute. And this holiday season, let’s take some of the self control out of those temptations. How about we just say yes. We can say yes to the cinnamon roll with extra frosting, the champagne, even when its bottomless mimosas. We can say yes to the too expensive yoga pants. And maybe even yes to playing hooky and staying in bed to watch Hallmark movies.

Progress is a hard thing to track.  There are times when the scale is going down or we hit a new personal record on the deadlift, where progress is obvious.  But more times than not, progress has a lot of plateaus and valleys.  There are more times where we put in the work and we don’t see the immediate outcomes, the instant results.  So often progress has a question mark after it instead of an exclamation point.  And most of the time, we wonder if we are even making progress, we wonder if all the hard work we are putting in is even worth it.  So heres the quick answer is, yes it is.  It most definitely is worth it. 

"You do you and I’ll do me.”  This phrase is my mantra these days.  I use it for parenting, I use it for friends and I’ve used it to get out of a few uncomfortable situations.  I may actually be over using the phrase at this point, but it actually makes a lot of sense.  Each and every one of us is unique.  My wants and needs, my goals and failures, they are going to be completely different from the people around me.  Each of us comes with a lifetime of differences.  We can compare our similarities, but why?  Our differences are what make us the individuals that we get to carry into life.  And honestly, there is no such thing as normal or the same.  We are barely even alike.  Differences are everywhere we look.  So lets be the person we are meant to be, not the person next to us. 

Failure is such a powerful word.  We say it when we fall down.  We say it when we make mistakes.  We say it when we lose.  It is a word that we are afraid of, a word that we shy away from.  The negative connotations surround each and every definition of the word.  And yet our greatest successes come from the lessons we learned when failure was the outcome.  In all honesty, it is the beginning of everything good, it is the foundation for creating progress and achievements in everything we do.  Failure is the starting point for what comes next, what lies ahead.  

I have had quite the story to tell, quite the experiences had.  The past few years have led me through uncomfortable spaces and amazing places.  I have jumped into life, saying yes to new things and new experiences.  I have also retreated far away from people who care about me and hid deep under the covers hoping to make time disappear.  The ups and downs, the highs and lows, they have all been lessons to teach and exercises to learn.  And for some of it, I felt like I was just allowing life to happen to me.  I was putting in the work without really knowing where I wanted to go.  But I think I figured it out.  I know where I want to go.  I want to be the bestest, badassest version of myself.  

Being an adult sucks.  Paying bills, grocery shopping, the never ending pile of laundry, it sucks.  And that doesn’t even include the responsibilities of raising kids, running a business and maintaining relationships.  Sometimes I look up to see my life filled with to-do lists and alarms.  And other times I just want to hide away and binge watch Game of Thrones.  Through these differences, I have been trying to balance my down time and my free time.  A balance that comes at cost, a price.  Time is limited and time alone is hard to come by.  Again, adulting sucks.  Some days I don’t want to do this whole adult thing.  Some days I want to return to a time when life seemed easier.  The times when I worried about getting good grades (ok, that was never me), making it home before curfew and hoping my parents didn’t find out that I skipped half my classes that day.