June 4, 2014
Let me begin at the beginning...
**I apologize in advance for the length of this post. I hope you will stick with me for this one and I promise all of my posts won't be this long. :-)**
I am a mom of three great kids - 11 year old twins and a 9 year old. I, as I am sure many of you can relate to, poured pretty much all of myself into them since before they were even born. I remind myself that I was a person prior to being a "mom". I had other descriptors at different points in my life. I was a daughter...(I remind myself that even though my parents are gone, I still am). I was a...cheerleader- yes, I was (I am more of a frustrated athlete who lacked the confidence to leave the sidelines and attempt the field but that is another post I think) I was a teacher and while I left my classroom behind when my twins arrived, I remain a teacher at heart. Before having my kids, I was at the gym every afternoon after school kickboxing or stepping with a great group of women. I took care of myself, I exercised and watched what I ate. Then my husband and I starting trying to get pregnant and things slowly started to change. I wanted to have children and be a mom more than anything in the world and when that didn't come as easy as it did for other people, I was disappointed and frustrated but determined. There is a quote by Maya Angelou that says "If you want me to do something, tell me that I can't." - that pretty much sums me up. I can have a one track mind when necessary, I have been known to be called competitive (most recently by my 11 year old son), and I can be determined to the point of tenacious. What does all of this have to do with being healthy? I will get there.... :-) Once my mind was set on having children I didn't look back - I did whatever I had to do to get there. We ended up the lucky parents of twins - a boy and a girl and we were over the moon. People ask me how I did it and I usually tell them two things - I didn't know any different and my husband is an awesome partner and Dad so I wasn't doing it alone. When our twins were less then 2 1/2 years old we welcomed our third child, a little boy and became the family of five that we are today. You can understand, I am sure, how my life began to revolve around my family. I was the mother of three children under three. At the same time, my mother was diagnosed with cancer and passed away before seeing my youngest son turn 1. I was heartbroken but I could not fall apart - I had my family to think about. At that point I added a new descriptor under my name when I became a runner. Running was one of the few things that I did for myself and it was, frankly, therapy. I ran and ran... and did eventually compete in and finish an 18 mile run on our island. But then life started getting in the way again... the kids were all in school, they began playing sports (which I LOVE), and I slowly started to realize that I wasn't spending much time on me. My father began to have health problems, we lived 4 hours away, and we were not at all happy with the town we lived in or the school our children attended. I was stressed out, frustrated, and not as happy as I should have been given all of the many blessings in my life. My father was diagnosed with cancer and passed away in the blink of an eye and after that I took some serious stock of my life. I was determined to make changes. I had learned first hand that life is short and you need to live everyday like it is your last. I was determined to not have regrets. I was determined to rid myself of the toxins that were stealing my joy. I started with the people in my life. I cleaned house - I embraced those relationships that were good for me, worked on repairing ones that needed repair, and let go of ones that were weighing me down and not giving me what I needed. I had had my own health issues as well that I needed to take care of - whether it was stressed induced or environmental, my allergies had become completely out of control and I felt awful. I started making changes where I could and worked on getting myself better. We were lucky enough to have the ability to move at this point and the change of environment helped both my allergies and my stress levels. We were finally able to move to the beach full time and raise our children where I had always wanted to live. That brings me to this past year. We moved, relocated while our house was being renovated and moved once again when it was complete (sort of). Our children started a new school and met many great new friends. They began playing travel soccer which keeps us all on the go most days of the week. I unpacked, redecorated, prepared everyone for school, dealt with contractors, taxied my children around, and spent three days per week as a "single mom" while my husband traveled for work during the week. While I would not trade any of it, it began to take its toll on me physically and emotionally. I was tired, I didn't always feel great, and I wasn't happy with the way I looked. I had turned, gulp, 40 last summer and I was not completely on board with the whole aging thing. After many months of thinking about it, I decided to make some changes that were just for me. But in reality they were not just for me.... because as the saying goes, "If Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy." I was determined to put as much energy into myself as I have been putting into everyone else for years. I was determined to make lifestyle changes for myself and my family that would make me a happier, healthier, more balanced mother and wife. I was still running although I didn't feel like I had the energy to put my whole self into it. I didn't feel healthy. So I decided to do a nutritional cleanse for 30 days and takes steps to change and improve my diet, exercise more, and become healthier overall. As soon as I began the 30 day journey, I started to feel better. I started to sleep better - I didn't even know that I wasn't sleeping well. I felt more balanced, more rested, happier, more energetic, and the weight and inches started melting off. On Day 1 I hesitantly took my picture and sighed. I wasn't seeing the me I knew was inside and I knew that it was a direct result of me not taking good enough care of myself . By Day 18, I was thrilled with my progress and by Day 30 I felt like a new person. This was not a diet but a lifestyle change.
My journey is leading down a path of better health and since I was already a blogger, I decided to blog about it. So here I am.... and hopefully you are too. Hopefully you are ready to make some positive changes in your life that make you healthier, happier, and more whole. I invite you to visit my blog for inspiration, motivation, maybe some recipes, maybe some workout tips....who knows where this journey will take me and those of you that decide to join me. As for right now, I am happy with the changes I have made and I really feel Beach Healthy! I welcome you to feel Beach Healthy too!!
xo Lisa
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