Tag Archives: #beachbodycoach

Perserverence and Ego

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This week, I’d like to share a story of perseverance paying off, and how I had to get my ego out of my way.

So nearby to where I live, I had heard there was an owl that lived in a tree in a cemetery. I saw pictures and ever since, have been determined to see him. This was a couple of years ago now. 

Last summer, I got a new bike and would frequently ride around looking for this elusive owl. You need to understand, I had very little to go on and this cemetery is massive. All I knew of was a general location. I rode around and no dice. 

With working from home and lockdown, I started thinking about this damn owl more and more. I literally was obsessed with finding it. 

I have been taking little drives around the cemetery looking for him every chance I could get. Now that I got my camera, it became multiple days in a week that I’d just “nip down for a minute”. A few times, I would see people with cameras walking around and I KNEW they were there for “my” owl. This is where my ego would get the best of me. I was not about to ask anyone where the owl was. I needed to find him on my own no matter how frustrating it was. 

After many many fruitless trips, poking at random trees and wandering in freezing cold, I finally got over myself. I chatted with a few photography types and within 5 minutes, knew exactly where to find the owl. Unfortunately on that day, he wasn’t around. I vowed to try again. 

A few days later, back I went, camera in hand. As I rounded the bend and parked the truck, I saw someone standing, taking pics. MY OWL WAS THERE!!!

I scrambled out of the truck, got the camera set up and finally got an in person view of the prize. And he was beautiful. Like exactly what I was hoping to see, my dreams came true. All because I persevered and got over myself (my ego). 

My new best friend, the owl

You see, I have the perseverance thing down. When I have something in my head, I will keep on trying until I succeed. The ego thing is another story. I hate asking for help. In the case of the owl, I felt I would look stupid, and even worse, that it wouldn’t feel as good to find the owl if someone helped me. I was wrong.  It was every bit as satisfying as if I had stumbled across him on my own. Had I asked someone sooner, I would potentially have had my reward sooner. 

My point is this..

It’s never shameful to ask for help. We all need help from time to time. And when we ask for help, we can accomplish things a little easier and quicker. 

Easier isn’t less rewarding, it’s just more efficient. 

Next time you’re working toward something, yes, persevere so you accomplish your goal, but if you’re finding you’re at a roadblock or just stuck or confused on where to go, or just need some guidance, ASK FOR HELP!! I wish I’d asked sooner, but then I wouldn’t have learned this lesson. 

What have you faced in your life that you’ve had to ask for help with? I would love to hear your story.

Patti

xo

Knowing your worth

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I’ve been talking alot this week about knowing your value. Since going back to my Barre Blend workouts and doing the accompanying daily affirmations again, it’s really had me thinking about this topic.

There is such a misconception out in the world that if someone values themselves and therefore carries themselves differently that they’re either arrogant, selfish or greedy.

I’m going to start here: it’s not selfish to know what you’re worth and that translates not only to taking care of you and your mental and physical body but it also goes with monetary gains.

So speaking about monetary gains.

When I read You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay, she talks about not undervaluing yourself. For instance, you are an artist. And you undercharge for your work, and then you struggle to pay bills while doing what you love. That is a prime example of someone not knowing their worth. This person doesn’t see their value, so therefore they don’t think others will either.

Now, let’s talk about not taking care of yourself mentally or physically. When you don’t know your value, you don’t take the time to take care of these things. The rationale sounds so noble: I don’t have time because I’m always working..I don’t have time because I have kids..I don’t have time because I volunteer in my spare time.

People, not taking care of YOU, means that you are valuing everyone else above you. You are putting out to the world that every other person’s needs are more important than your own. It’s not noble. It’s sad.

When we value ourselves enough to take good care of ourselves first, we are happier, healthier and wealthier. It puts us in a better situation and headspace to help the people we so value in our lives.

I saw online this week something that hit this home in my heart: When you’re on a plane, listening to emergency instructions, you are told to put the oxygen mask on yourself first before assisting others. Why? Because you can’t help someone else if you’re dead.

I urge you to start prioritizing yourself and really know what you’re worth. It will open doors you never thought possible.

Patti
Xo

Older and Wiser?

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I had a milestone birthday this week. I turned the big 5-0! Turning this age was not what I was anticipating. I’m not sure what I was expecting…but I was surprised with how I felt about it. I will spare the platitudes: age is just a number and all that nonsense (although it really is). My daughter just kept saying she can’t wrap her head around me being 50, and I have to say I’m with her. I honestly can’t believe it. 

I don’t feel like what I anticipated this age would feel like when I looked toward it from my 20’s, 30’s and even my 40’s. I guess I thought I’d instantly age? Funny how perspective changes once you’re in it. 

I kind of thought that fun life would be all over at 50. Truth is, I’m having more fun (pandemic aside) now than I ever did when I was younger. Here are some of my observations:

I don’t sweat the small stuff

I may go to bed a lot earlier, but I also get up earlier which means I see some pretty beautiful sunrises

I’m way more calm

I don’t give a shit what other people think of me

Things at this stage of my life just feel better. 

I speak up for myself 

I know myself and trust my judgement

I’m an incredibly strong person, I’ve been through so much and yet, here I still am..happy and positive.

So true story here…and the reason why it surprised me that I didn’t freak out about turning this age:

I was always morbidly terrified of growing old, because I was closer to death. So I worried about it alot as a kid, and then well into my 40’s. LIke I legit worried about it almost constantly.

Not long ago, I realized that this mindset was stealing my enjoyment of the present. I attribute a lot of my mindset and being able to enjoy the present to my meditation practice, but I’m betting some of the credit needs to go to getting older and wiser too. 

I guess what I am saying is this: if you’re worried about getting older, please stop. Enjoy where you’re at! I think I’m really going to enjoy exploring my life perspective in my fifties. 

Patti
Xo

When Quitting is Actually Winning

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It’s ok to be a quitter. I know that we are taught the opposite growing up, but I’m telling you now, that mindset is toxic.

Now let me clarify. I am not talking here about just giving up on something because it’s too hard, or painful or we just don’t wanna. 

I am talking about quitting things when we know that something has run its course. Ending something that is no longer working for us because we listen to our gut, our intuition, however you want to put it.

Listening to your gut instinct, that’s huge. 

It’s not the easy road, in fact it can be pretty freaking painful, but the end result is ALWAYS worth it.

So how do you know the difference between just giving up before it’s time and knowing it’s right?

That’s a tough question to answer.

I think it comes down to a lot of things. You need to ask yourself some tough questions and really sit and listen to the answers. I recommend sitting in meditation for a few minutes before digging in. 

Once you’re in that calm and neutral state, ask yourself the following things:

  • How is this situation serving me?
  • If I stick with this situation, what do I see the outcome being?
  • Is making a change worth the pain that the change could cause?

You can apply this to any situation really.

Romantic relationships, family, friends, jobs, careers..anything that you may be on the fence about.

Self reflection is a gift to yourself. Why would you want to short change your life?

I am only recently grasping this. I have been in so many situations in life for far too long simply because I didn’t love myself enough to make decisions FOR MY WELL BEING. I literally lived in order to make everyone else happy. Changing from that person to where I am today has taken me to a better place. A place where I’m not afraid to change, or speak my mind.

The situation recently for me was switching off a workout program that I was enjoying. It was actually detrimental to my health when I sat and asked myself those questions. And while it may seem like a totally trivial thing, it wasn’t to me. 

As a Beachbody coach, the expectation is to try all the programs when they come out. My OCD brain says that means complete it. I want to know the programs so I can best serve my clients, But, what cost to myself was I really willing to accept? I was looking at quitting as a failure, when in reality in the grand scheme of things, I only have one body. That one body doesn’t give a shit about Beachbody clients. 

It truly was an aha moment that, although I viewed it as quitting and a failure at first, it was me winning at life.

So, as I go off to do a workout for my mental and physical health, one that is best for MY body, I leave you with this:

What are you putting off quitting?

Patti

xo

You can’t fix everything

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Waldo

A couple of weeks ago, I did a Facebook post on my page about a turkey that appeared out of nowhere in my neighbourhood. Turkeys are common in my area, however, this one is out of the ordinary as it’s alone, and has shown up in the city rather than a few kilometres up the road in a farmer’s field with it’s buddies. I figured it had strayed from it’s peeps and that it would move on in a few hours. That night, we went for our evening walk and it was roosting on the power line.

The turkey is still hanging out, now he/she has taken up at the busiest intersection of my neighbourhood and all the locals are up in arms. They have named it (Waldo), they are coming up with things to feed it(not recommended) and even have a plan on how to execute a capture and release into the local woods. 

It got me thinking…why do we think it needs to be saved and why do we feel the need to fix others? Maybe the turkey needs alone time, maybe (I did my own research) there’s too many young males in the flock(?) and it’s waiting til mating season is over. Maybe, he or she doesn’t want to be saved..

How does this apply to our lives? Well, we all have those people in our circles that have things about them that WE feel they need to improve upon. And maybe they know they need to improve these things. 

Perhaps they need to lose weight because we want them to be healthy. So, we inundate them with suggestions, recipes, things that work for us, make them food, nag them to come exercise with us..but once we stop nagging, they stop working at it.

Maybe they drink too much. So again, we nag at them, citing articles and imparting our knowledge upon them about why they should cut back. Again, nothing happens.

Are you familiar with this expression “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make them drink”? It’s an old saying, but very true. You can’t change someone’s habits for them. You can HELP them, by providing assistance WHEN ASKED, but you cannot do it for them. If someone has a shitty attitude, you can’t change it for them. They need to want to change these things themselves in order for it to happen.

What we can do, is lead by example, because you never know who is watching and how it may be motivating them. 

So keep on trucking along peeps, and worry about your own shit, and help when someone asks for it.

I’ll be keeping you up to date on Waldo and all that drama on my Facebook page, also called Wending my Way.

Patti

xo

Control

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The workout program I have been doing is called 9 Week Control Freak. It’s a great physical workout but it’s also strong in messaging about being in control of the things you can. It got me thinking a lot and I’m glad I am doing it because I think it’s needed by everyone given the state of the world around us.

You can’t control everything, but there are many things you can control that you may not think you can.

Let me break it down.

Eating Healthy to support your amazing body: 

Disclaimer: I fully acknowledge there are people with very real Eating Disorders out there. This section may be a trigger and I want you to know there is help out there. For the rest of you:

YOU and only you are in control of the way you eat. You make a choice when you pick up the fork. You make the decision when you pull into Mcdonald’s. You make the choices at the grocery store. I have heard so many reasons that people are not in control of their eating choices. The biggest one is it’s too hard to make different meals for the hubby, or if you have kids, for them too. The reality is, it’s not that hard. First of all, why would you feed your family food you know is harmful to them? Beyond that, you can adapt any meal and make it better for you. I challenge you to do so. The other one is that people don’t have time to cook. Please. Just stop saying that. You do. Trust me. 

Exercising to support your amazing body:

You are in control of that too. You can find an activity you LOVE that doesn’t feel like exercise. Dance in your undies in the kitchen, get a bike, buy a jump rope and relive your youth. No money? No problem. Walking is free. Running is free. Dancing is free. Doing jumping jacks and running on the spot is free. See a theme here? No time? I call bullshit. How much time are you spending on your phone? Netflix? You. Have. Time. 

How you react to situations outside of your control

You and ONLY you control your brain. What a concept!! YOU can tell your brain what to think. This does take time and practice but it’s something you can accomplish. I cannot recommend meditation enough. It is legit life altering when you embrace it. It has taught me to pause before letting my emotions get the best of me. You can then evaluate how you’re feeling in reaction to a situation and then, choose how to react. This applies to all sorts of things: disagreements with others, someone being less than kind to you, crazy world events, work situations. All of that stuff.

I’m being very blunt today, but with this stuff, sometimes you need to be. I for one, am always a work in progress and I’m proud of that. I have chosen to take a learning approach to my life, rather than the old me that would make a “mistake” and then proceed to berate myself for days. 

I’m going to leave it at this list for now, but I am positive I will think of more later, so watch for a part 2 down the road. 

You got this guys. You are in control of YOU. Nobody else. YOU. You rock, get out and show the world how amazing you are. 

Patti

xo

Motivation

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All this week I have been posting on my social media about what motivates us. I’ve talked alot about intrinsic vs extrinsic motivation. 

3 of my big motivations

Just to recap, intrinsic is the internal stuff: pride of a job well done, the need to just do it from the depth of your soul stuff. Extrinsic is the external stuff: the monetary reward dangling, the fear of letting someone down part of it all.

There’s tons of stuff out there about goal setting and if I’m being honest, it’s pretty standard. Think about what you want to accomplish and then set the goals. These are effective methods, however, the failure rate is high unless you figure out what truly motivates you. There is no right or wrong answer, because we are all individuals and what motivates me, will not likely motivate you.

So to really get deep down into this, and build a why that will be so strong, that nothing will get in your way of moving toward your goal when you think of it. 

To get there, you need to take a few steps. First, think of what you want to accomplish and ask why. Let’s look at an example of how the discovery conversation could go:

Person: I want to lose weight

Person: Why?

Person: I want to be healthy so I live a long time

Person: Why?

Person: Well, I have kids and I want to be here with them

Person: What does that look like?

Person: It looks like me living to be 100 and being able to live on my own the entire time and play with my grandkids when they have them.

Person: Can you visualize that?

Person: Yes, I see myself, gray hair wrestling around with kids on the floor.

Person: Perfect, now let’s figure out how we will get there.

The point I am making: You need to keep asking why until you get to something deeper. Saying I want to lose weight isn’t specific enough, you need to go deeper. Just keep asking yourself why until you get to a point that you can come up with a specific goal. Then, once you’re there, write it down, make a vision board, something that you can see at all times. This will keep you focused and help you work toward that goal. It’s all within your grasp. 

Try this method, and let me know. As always, I am here if you need help digging deeper!

Take Care,

Patti 

Xo

How will you emerge?

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Image Credit Butterfly Life Cycle Vectors by Vecteezy

It’s the end of 2020. The end of what’s been a very challenging year. We’ve been separated from family, friends, co-workers. People have lost jobs. Too many people have died. It’s just been alot to put it mildly. And now, as we head into a time of year that’s already very difficult for so many, we are once again asked to stay home. We are tired of it all. We want to go out and be social. We want to travel. We just want our lives back to the way they were and I understand all of it.

Once again, I am asking you to shift your perspective on all of it. What if, rather than looking at this stay home order as a negative, we could flip to an opportunity?

Can you, just for a moment, close your eyes and picture how you want to emerge from all of this? Think of the image above. A monarch butterfly starts off as a caterpillar, unable to do anything but inch around. Then it is driven to change. It wraps itself up in it’s constrictive coccoon and waits. About 2 weeks later, that caterpillar emerges as a beautiful butterly. It spreads it’s wings and flies off with newfound freedom.

This is similar to what I want for all of us. We can complain and worry and stress about the unknown and I’m by no means not taking everything seriously or minimizing people’s very real serious situations in all of this. But..if I am being very transparant, I know we will get through this and HOW we come out on the other side is entirely up to us.

For me, I’m planning to come out like that beautiful butterfly, forever changed, but for the better. I am using this time as an opportunity to work on me. I’m still healing from the trauma of losing my oldest child in an incredibly shocking way. I’m trying to figure out what I’m going to do about seeing her child since I’ve been presented with that lesson in life for some reason I’m still trying to understand. So for me, it’s learning how to react to stressful and upsetting situations differently, where it doesn’t give me massive anxiety and an emotional meltdown.

I am coming out of all this, fitter and healthier than I’ve ever been, both physically and mentally. Here is my plan:

  • Fuel my body with the nutrition it needs to be the fittest and strongest it can be to support me through the rest of my life
  • Move my body to give me the best fighting chance to live as long as possible
  • Meditate to teach me how to be more intentional with my actions and reactions
  • Grow my side hustle with Beachbody coaching while greatly reducing my screen time
  • Get outside as much as I possibly can
  • Continue to write and grow this blog because it’s helped me more than you could ever know
  • Be kind when nobody’s watching

So, as you see, I have set my intentions for the year. They are not difficult and there are not that many. They are all completely within my control. I don’t believe in New Year’s resolutions, but I do think the start of the year is a good time to reassess and formulate a plan for yourself.

Last year, I participated in an end of the year workshop of sorts that was delivered by Rachel Brathen. At the end of all of the work, you were to choose a word that will set your intention for the year. To be honest, I had forgotten all about it until my friend Fiona posted something similar to this exercise the other day which got me thinking about all of this.

My word last year, was Joy. I still managed to find alot of that, even in a crazy pandemic that nobody saw coming on Jan 1 2020. This year, I have chosen Legacy. I have chosen this word because I want everything I do to be reflective of the legacy I want to leave on this world one day. Do I want the legacy that I really loved to drink wine, worked on my days off and was on social media alot? Of course not. I want my legacy to be greater than that. I want my legacy to be that I helped others and was always present with anyone around me. I want to be known as a great mother, spouse, nana, girlfriend and coworker. That’s what I want and that’s what I will leave this world (one day, very far from now).

So after all of this, I ask you again…how will you emerge from your “coccoon” when all of this is said and done? What will your word be for this year? What legacy do you want to leave? I encourage you to take some time over the weekend to reflect on the year that you’ve had, and set some intentions for 2021. I’d love to hear it!

Happy New Year to all!!

Patti

xo

Self Shaming

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This week I want to talk about self shaming because of things you see either on social media, in person or on tv.

I have decided that that is just silliness.

Getting caught up in the shaming has impacted how I run my side hustle, which is being a Beachbody coach. I LOVE being a beachbody coach. I love their products and I really love their programs. I have been doing their programs for 5 years now. I workout because it helps my brain. I have WAY less anxiety when I exercise regularly.

I also like the side effect this has on my appearance. I have lost weight and I personally think I look damn good for someone who is turning 50 in 2 months. I like to eat right and for ME, that means I track my food, I use a scale (gasp) I take my measurements and I portion my food out. I also drink wine, coffee and eat cake and baked goods. I love a good chacuterie.

All of this is just fine by me. I have been journalling my food and it’s made me narrow down what food makes my body feel good and what doesn’t. I am happy to be losing weight and staying fit and feeling awesome. These tools help me.

Until I see things online and then the second guessing and self shaming would start. Saying to myself, I’m seeing all these posts that we shouldn’t measure food, I should throw away the scale. These are examples I see alot, but are not directed at one person, nor do I think those messages are negative at all!

What was happening when I was seeing these posts, was I would second guess my OWN journey and doubt what I knew was working for me. I cast doubt on my own passion! I said, well, I’m working on my mindset and mental health so I shouldn’t also want to lose weight because someone somewhere said it’s wrong.

Saying stuff like this to yourself is utter bullshit. Unless of course what you’re doing is putting you in some type of danger. You need to follow your path and be loud and proud! if the scale and portioning your food makes you binge, then don’t do it! If it helps, do that. If you are proud of your physical results, then share if you want!

I have made a concious decision to be loud and proud of what I’m about and the tools that work for me, because I know I can help some of the people. And the people that are not down with how I look at food and exercise can follow the other advice! Neither is wrong or more accurate than the other. It is always YOUR choice on how you want to live.

Shameless plug here:

If any of this resonates with you, and you’d like to like to join my group, let me know. I really hope today finds you well.

Patti

xo

Mindset Growth and Lessons

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I’ve been working on my mindset for quite some time, even before Kayla’s passing. I have completely changed as a person. I’ve come a really long way. From being a super submissive housewife in a terrible marriage who had such bad anxiety attacks I would leave the grocery cart in the middle of the grocery store and run out, to the person I am today: Strong, confident, and able to speak up for myself.

I’ve done this through discovering and practiciing meditation, daily exercise, TONS of self help books, counselling, and surrounding myself with like minded individuals.

I had an interesting conversation this week with one of these people and I think we both had a bit of an aha moment. We have been on this mindset journey almost in parallel: we are just on the same page usually within weeks, months or days of each other to finding what is going to work.

We have known each other for years, like over 10. In that time, I have seen her shift from someone that could be seen as aggressive, and very reactive to a positive example of someone who is really trying to embrace the non reactive, live your truth kind of life.

Well, this week, she had an altercation of sorts with a stranger. And we were talking about how angry this person made her. Like you know when you hold onto that anger for HOURS after? When you think of all the smart comebacks you could have made? This was one of those. And to her credit, she really didn’t react to this person. And to ME, that’s growth for her. Like 10 years ago, this would have been a blow up. And this time, it wasn’t.

But, she kept coming back to self blame…saying, I thought I was past this, what is the lesson here. Because, when we are on this mindset journey and growing, we always try to see the lesson in everything. Sometimes it’s right there in your face, and sometimes, you need to hash it out with someone else in order to “get it”.

I thought about it for a few minutes, and then I said to her: We are human. We can’t be fucking zen 100% of the time. That was the lesson people. And I’m writing about it today because it’s important, and a big one.

We are human. We get angry. We get sad. We get disappointed when things don’t go our way. Even when we work so diligently on our mindset. Even when we meditate every day.

You can read all the self help books in the world, and attend every motivational seminar there is but at the end of the day, you will still be a human being with emotions.

Where the true growth comes, is recognizing our feelings. Taking a few minutes to step back and acknowledging where we are at. And how we CHOOSE to react. Or feel.

This is growth friends.

I will leave you with that for this week, try to see how far you’ve come when you have these moments.

Patti

xo