Sometimes it is hard to be consistent.  Every one struggles from time to time.  Even me!  My last post was a great workout.  I wanted to take the time to encourage you to keep it up!  It is worth every bit of struggle.  Make yourself a priority!  You have heard the old adage…bosses don't cancel!  Plan your exercise time like a meeting.  It happens no matter what.  One of my friends always says, "the time will pass anyways", yes, there are a million and one things to do, but you are important.  Make it happen!  This past weekend was a holiday, sometimes we loose focus or over indulge.  This is a new week!  Get back on that saddle and stay strong!!!

Why Be Healthy?

We decided to take the kids on a special weekend!  For Christmas we purchased tickets for "Frozen on Ice".  Well, the weekend finally has come and gone and it was fabulous!  A little Christmas fun in March!  Frozen On Ice was a hit.  Fabulous!  It was amazing to watch the performers with their grace and power on the ice.  But what came after the performance is what I am most pleased with.  We found a facility that is full of trampolines!  Wow, what fun can a family have and what better was to encourage active children than to participate in healthy activities with them.  We spent an hour and a half jumping!  What a wonderful workout.  Giggles, laughs, falls and tricks, we did it all.  All four of us were a fun sweaty mess by time we finished.

This brings me to what I truly want to share.  Exercise to many feels like work and can be motivated by so many vain reasons and sometimes, those motivators can make it easy to waiver from our commitment to health.  I think it is important to really reflect on the true meaning of a healthy lifestyle and the benefits that it allows us.  At just shy of 40 years old, I was toe to toe with my girls.  Jump for jump.  I attribute this to my everyday choices.  It feels wonderful to be strong and fit.  I love having the stamina to run, play a game of tag, soccer or whatever activity I choose.  I want everyone to experience this feeling!

What is best about beginning a fitness regime or deciding to commit to a healthier, more active lifestyle?  You can start small!!  Everyone comes from a different beginning.  Decide to take the plunge.  Go for a walk…you don't have to get out there a kill yourself.  Progress is still progress.  This week, schedule 20 -30 minutes of a healthy activity.  Walk, ride a bike, swim, Yoga, Pilates, whatever you have available. You don't need a gym membership to get fit, you can do it right in your own house, no equipment needed!


A quick example of an in-house beginning cardio workout.  Walk in place, change it up a bit by stepping side to side, or big high-knee steps.  It is something everyone can do.  I want everyone to try it and post with (or without) a picture to my blog and share with us what your motivation was this week and what made you successful!  I can't wait to hear from you!!

Of course, if you are unsure of where or what is a healthy place for you to start, talk to your doctor before beginning anything new.

The Great Juggling Act

Life, the great juggling act...or at least, that is how it seems at times!  Career, husband, children, parents, friends, groceries, cleaning, laundry, dishes, pets and of course, YOU.  Now, I know you are thinking, "yeah right", but synergy won't happen unless you make yourself a priority!

In my last post I asked some important questions of you.  One being, what does synergy look like to you.  Synergy's meaning can be applied to all kinds of areas, but for this post, we are talking life synergy and this is what it means to me:

A balanced life.  That is synergy.  Balancing the priorities of my work and family is a continual effort.  There are days when I just want to curl up in bed and deal with dirty dishes later or sleep just a few extra minutes if the dogs would only push back their morning breakfast and other days my eyes open and I feel like wonder woman.  It is a delicate process at times to keep things balanced.  Pile on all that could be on my plate in any given day and it is tempting to put my needs on the back burner but, and this is a big but that often times keeps me motivated, I know I am a better, employee, trainer, wife, mother and any other hat I wear, if I take care of myself.

I have recently revisited my morning Yoga practice.  Alarm goes off and I get up.  No snooze.  It is too tempting and knowing myself, if I hit snooze, Yoga is going to be off the table because I will be behind and I have breakfast and lunches to prepare and pack.  I have realized that if I hold myself accountable here, I will start my day feeling like I have already tackled my hardest obstacle.  Me.  Things unfold in a much better way when I feel prepared to start my day.  With my 20 minute quick practice, I am centered.  Just a few stolen moments of peace and then the daily rush begins!

Of course, lots of prepping goes into every successful day.  To balance my life I try to stay on point with how I fuel my body (proper nutrition and food choices) and exercise daily.  If my morning practice is all I get in because a meeting comes up or a child forgets a paper and I have to run to school, at least I know I got it in.  Ideally, a noon or evening cardio or weight session is mixed in every day, but I believe in a bit of wiggle room as long as it remains priority.  Don't let one slip turn into a week of mishaps!  Remember, if a day doesn't go as "planned" or anticipated, tomorrow is a new day!  Pick yourself up and brush off the mistakes of the day before because "today, you can only try to be better than you were yesterday"!

Every journey begins with a single step...

I would like to open my blog with a little more about myself.  I am a wife of an amazingly supportive husband that has encouraged me to follow my dreams and with his continued support, that is exactly what I have done.  All my life I have been active.  I played a few sports through grade school, danced through high school and even had a studio of my own for awhile.  When my first beautiful daughter was born, I gave up my studio and life started leading me further away from my personal goals/dreams as I assumed the roll of "Mom".  Three years later, I was blessed with another spitfire, a tiny new baby girl to add to the mix.  My girls are my world!  And now, as they are approaching their teen years, I have realized that I can pursue my goals, and in doing so, demonstrate to them what it is to be a strong, independent and successful woman.  Of course, again, my husband comes to play a role in this because he facilitates open spaces of time for me to work on me.  Running the girls to swim and dance (yes, they are active, like their Momma) and doing his fair share of the daily chores helps keep things moving along and everyone getting in their fun!  With that said, my goal is to have synergy in my life.  A balanced life, so to speak.  

So let's talk about "synergy".  What does it look like to you?  What is your ideal synergy?  I believe synergy starts inside of you, inside yourself.  My favorite quote is "The only person you need to be better than, is the person you were yesterday".  In today's society, as women, we have a lot of pressure, or really, perceived pressure.  To fully accept ourselves, we need to let go of the outside world and focus on self.  Who are you?  Who do you want to be?  What are you doing to achieve that?

I am on this same journey.  It looks different to all of us, so let's start doing what we can, let go of what we can't control and commit to being in charge of US!

syn·er·gy

ˈsinərjē

noun

1. the interaction or cooperation of two or more organizations, substances, or other agents to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects.