So excited to share my Finally Fit Blog!
Fitness encompasses physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health and wellness.
My deepest desire is help you create a life of WHOLENESS.
My blogging goal is to motivate you to create a life that THRIVES - by empowering you to change what you see in the mirror from the inside out. I will help you START, so that you NEVER want to finish your journey!.
Enjoy!
Guess what? The comeback is not always as strong as the setback. In fact I am jealous over the people I see that seem to make it look so effortless. They are high on life because they see differently, they accomplished their first marathon or got in the best shape of their life, climbed Everest or created an amazing product to help cancer patients. Now, don’t get me wrong I have had my moments but honestly, I have been aboard the struggle bus since 2015!
Read More“Wanting to be someone else, is a waste of the person you are” ~Marilyn Monroe
I was diagnosed with Colorectal Cancer in 2015, a few months after my 40th birthday. I was devastated. Why would this happen to me? I was the poster child of health & fitness in all the ways one can be “healthy". One thing I could come up with after months and months of agonizing and fighting this diagnosis, unwilling to accept the fate of living with a permanent colostomy bag after being inundated with poisonous chemicals and radiation….I had lived for 20 years with chronic inflammation and autoimmune disease.
My immune system was compromised from mono when I was a teen and the standard american college diet of processed foods & alcohol contributed to my gut permeability but this was misunderstood in the late 1990’s. So I adapted to chronic bloating, constipation, fatigue and pushed through changing my lifestyle and diet at 24 with very little change in symptoms and several GI doctors telling me to just eat more fiber (which I was).
Read MoreThe effects of grief and stress can create ripples through a person’s health and wellness that can endure for years.
During difficult times, it’s vital to set healthy goals to work toward that help you minimize these effects and keep
you on the path to healthy healing. Check out this list of four ways to do just that.
1. Make Time for Friends and Family
Extensive research over the years has found that the importance of healthy relationships on a person’s mental and
physical wellness cannot be overstated. According to Northwestern Medicine, those who nurture positive, reciprocal
relationships experience less stress, are able to heal better, exhibit healthier behaviors and enjoy a greater sense of
purpose. Research also shows that social ties help extend your years, with those who share healthy, loving
relationships of all kinds living longer.
Read MoreI am almost part of the 7 year club. The 7 year Cancer free club and I feel the “itch of discontentment” boiling up at times. Do you know what I am talking about?
The wondering if cancer will ravage my body again since I don’t get those semiannual scans. The concern that a day I feel more tired could be a warning sign. And knowing the healthy lifestyle I lived did not thwart cancer’s rage which dimmed my confidence on all I believe.
The inside voices attack without notice despite all my counseling and life coaching. I think it is part of the Survivor experience. I have larger tools available in my ammunition that have pushed me in to a THRIVER and remind me to be here today rather than worry about the future.
Read MoreThe Most Powerful Scriptures come from Difficult Times. Finding myself in a different country brought the gift of Faith to me at the age of 20. Feeling Lost in my life deepened my Faith at the age of 30. Fighting for the life I lost because of cancer disillusioned my Faith at the age of 40…
Read More“When your legs 🦵🏼 can’t run anymore, run with your heart” ❤️
Running saved me in so many ways. This track from Frontier High School developed in me the perseverance, confidence, and discipline I needed and brought into my adult life.
I am so grateful for the coaches, teammates who pushed me beyond what I thought I was capable of back then. It was a moment in time, I visited especially through cancer & recovery.
Did you make New Years Resolutions? Want to know how you can commit to those?
Happy Thrive Day!
Do you remember the 90’s Nike slogan “Just Do It”? it was a great marketing pitch! We bought a lot of Nike gear because of that motivational quip! Unfortunately, we do not always have access to the real skills to unleash our Get-Up & Go girl/guy and many of us are FRUSTRATED with the lack of results in our lives.
Read More“It’s a GREAT life if you don’t lose faith.” ~John Herlihy (my grampa)
WARNING-This may be too real for some…
Life Before Cancer (B.C.) was fairly normal. I worked the Monday-Friday schedule, did the dinner, read the books, said the prayers, did the weekend sports, volunteered for church, prepped my food, and hit replay.
My healthy lifestyle did not exempt me from Cancer’s grip and so after the initial shock wore off and a plan was in motion I went into treatment like an Olympic athlete. In an attempt to avoid the darkness from creeping into my every pore I daily posted to Facebook. I shared a sentimental song with a story about an event or a person that had an impact on my life. It was cathartic for me, it kept me from being sucked into my grief and helped me to contribute something positive to the world of social media in an effort to inspire someone else.
Read MoreOne of the few Gifts of my Broken Road🎁
⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️
~my TOLERANCE for UNCERTAINTY and DISCOMFORT has grown immensely
Those early days learning I had cancer were excruciating
Read MoreWe are 6 weeks into this new year and this is when the resolutions written down created with much anticipation become part of the recycle bin.
Have you ever considered what your personal values were and how to integrate those in your daily life? Some may be easy for you because they simply are in your nature. Other values may be more challenging like patience, have you ever heard someone say they are praying for patience? That may not be an answer you want!
Read MoreWinter is the coldest season of the year here in the Northern Hemisphere. The sky is covered with dark, gray clouds and there are less daylight hours which can make the days seem dreary. Some may experience a lack of motivation in their pursuit of health and wellness goals. Those same goals that encouraged you to sign-up for that new membership or start eating healthy can become monotonous and insignificant. This is especially true if the goals you set were unrealistic and you expected to see more progress at this point. So how can we pull ourselves out from the muck and mire, reevaluate our goals, and set our feet back on the ground towards a healthy lifestyle?
Read MoreWhen Shakespeare wrote “thinking makes it so,” he meant that our thoughts guide our actions and often become self-fulfilling prophecies. Having been in the fitness world for the last 18 years I have seen how “mind over matter” really comes into action when a new skill is presented to a client. Regardless of the age of a person, the ability to reframe and retrain our thinking in the positive and staying focused on the present task makes the difference in being successful with our physical health and wellness.
Read MoreThree Ways to Begin to Change the Mirror
1 - Interview Yourself
2 - Make a Choice
3 - Commit to Practice
Read MoreIn the midst of my husband's ambiguous illness & my recovery from cancer, God gave me a word - MOSAIC. A Mosaic is the assembly of many pieces, sometimes broken, to create a larger and more beautiful whole.
Read MoreHow many of us have heard this buzzword? BE PRESENT! Hands raised if you SUCK at this?? Today I will do one thing to give myself space and BE PRESENT with me....What about you?
Read More“Work on being in LOVE with the person in the MIRROR who has been through so much BUT is still standing”. My nature is to encourage & affirm & see beyond what another sees in themselves. But most of my life I was my own WORST BULLY!
Read MoreWhat is your Game Day? How many of you have ever played sports, an instrument or just started a new habit? We have to practice to excel.
Read More“A life is a thousand little moments that create a mosaic masterpiece” I am inviting you into my story to get to know me and my WHY for starting Mosaic Fitness and Nutrition.
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