MY MENTALITY BREAKTHROUGH: FROM SELF-CONSCIOUS TO SELF-CONFIDENT
My dad and I after I ran the Chicago Marathon in 2007
Growing up, I was self-conscious. I didn’t feel quite comfortable in my skin. Needless to say, I experienced a lot of anxiety.
There were three things that helped me work through those innate challenges... story time:
One. Movement, specifically strength training
I was lucky enough to work with a personal trainer when I was 12 to learn how to move my body (outside of sports) and navigate my way around the gym. As I aged, I began to go to the gym before school (high school that is), take a spin class, lift some weights, grab a protein smoothie and go to class. It was the place I learned how to be strong. In the 60 seconds I spent in an exercise, I couldn't think about anything else but the physical discomfort. When it was over, I felt strong, not just in my body, but in my mind. It taught me that I was strong. I was capable. And it slowly helped me to defeat the anxieties I experienced, physical strength equaled mental strength.
Two. Food
I wasn't brought up in a super healthy household. However, my mom did cook a lot and had fresh food ready to eat, now we call this food prep, back then it was just 'making feeding the family, easier' (that's my mom's words). It went hand in hand with when I started lifting weights, I recognized that when I ate more whole foods, items with less processed ingredients, I felt better. It was as simple as that. It had nothing to do with my weight or shape, it was a feeling. When I ate better, I felt better.
Three. Doing things outside your comfort zone be that things you thought you couldn't do, things for the first time, or something solo
Me atop Rosalie Peak in Colorado when I was 15
When I was little I wouldn't even call a friend to ask if they could play, I made my mom do it. I wouldn't raise my hand in school to go to the bathroom, I'd pee my pants. I was another level of shy, a worrier, and I lacked self confidence big time.
So what changed? A lot of things, but the initiator of the change (besides #1 and #2 above) was this trip my parents sent me on when I was 15. The trip was 2 weeks backpacking in Colorado with other kids I didn't know from all over the USA. We had two guides and as a group of 12 we each carried all our gear, hiked into the wilderness and camped. I cried a good amount. I remember being SO extremely homesick after the first week that I almost came home a week early. But I didn’t, and because of that ONE choice to stay, I believe it made me who I am today. That next day we started to hike Rosalie Peak (an almost 14000ft mountain peak in CO). At 4:30am on July 6, 2000 we set out to climb to the top. I almost didn’t make it. Seriously. I could barely breathe, my legs were done, one of the other kids LITERALLY pushed me at my back the last 10 minutes up to the top. But I got there.
I. Did. It.
THAT moment has forever shaped my life.
It’s when you do something that no one else can do for you (ok well, with a helping hand/push). We don’t grow when things are easy. We grow when we face challenges & don’t give up. It’s how you get stronger.
It’s also how you…
Build confidence
Instill self belief
Create self-discipline
Improve
Grow
The feeling of “I did that” is extremely self-motivating.
I coach a lot of women (& men) who desire to change their health & body yet struggle with consistency or self-discipline; the advice I find myself giving over & over again is this:
—> Get outside of your comfort zone, physically.
I proved to myself that “I can.” It’s how I grew my mental fortitude AND it’s why I know that physical challenges create internal changes.
I went back home change, stronger (inside and out), and more confident too. It also lead me to go on many other solo adventures including moving to Costa Rica, traveling all throughout Europe, and road tripping across the USA… solo. It’s a huge component of what lead me to creating a confident version of myself that cared much less about what anyone else thought and a whole lot more about what I thought of myself.
I share these three stories above in order to help you understand my why behind the launch of the SheStrong Community.
What is the SheStrong Community and why might you want to join us?
The SheStrong Community (SSC) is a sisterhood, a women's health focused group, a virtual environment that aims to help support, educate, and empower you throughout the hurdles you face in creating your healthiest (& strongest) you.
Over the past decade of coaching I've recognized that so many of you feel negative feelings around the positive challenge of health.
You feel frustrated, alone, unheard, defeated, confused... in the what and how of your wellness and weight loss goals, and many of you also feel that way with yourself.
Maybe you find yourself in cyclical behavior patterns, not seeing results and struggling to mesh life and goals.
Maybe you find yourself continually self-sabotaging your consistency or finding yourself either fearing food or using it at times of stress or boredom.
Maybe you feel like you've been doing ALL the right things and your body still isn't responding as you'd like.
This is why I created SSC.
My team and I are sharing our expertise, knowledge, experience and passion to help you grow your knowledge, build your confidence and learn how to conquer both your mind AND your body.
We, Coach Janelle, Katlin, Sarah and myself, know the damage that mis-information can do to one’s mind and body and we see the frustration, the defeat, the pain that so many of you are going through in pursuit of your goals; We are on a mission to change that.
Our end all mission is to empower you through the process of your wellness and weight loss goals and teach you how to think better, move better, commit longer, and win against the hurdles you face in creating your healthiest (& strongest) you.