My Story…

Last week, I talked about how I believe that life is a script and you are the writer of your own story. I encouraged you to continue to learn about yourself, keep asking questions and searching for answers, and to surround yourself with people who care about you and support you in your beautiful journey. I also promised to tell you a little about my own journey finding my passion and purpose these past 14 years in the fitness industry and how that has lead me to where I am today.

But first, even though we are several weeks into 2014, I had to say this. I want to thank the many of you who replied to my blogs and newsletters each week in 2013 to tell me how they have positively affected your life. Many of you have taken time to reflect and respond to the questions I asked you in my blogs. Others of you have put some best daily practices that I have suggested into your own life and have seen the compound effect that occurs when you consistently make the small, daily choices that lead you toward your goals. I’ve also had many of you tell me that my content has inspired you to make healthy changes in your life.

Friends, I want to tell you that nothing pleases me more than to hear that the content that I send you weekly is empowering you to move toward the person you long to be. This brings me so much joy, because I have been in my own process and through this have honed in on my strengths, my passion, and my purpose.

As I continue to do my own soul searching, I have taken personal development and my desire to learn and grow very seriously over the past few years. I’d like to tell you more about my own journey that has brought me to what I am doing now and how I’ve come to realize that my grand purpose in life is to help women transform their lives.

Fourteen years ago, I started personal training. I took anyone who would pay me. It aligned with my interest in fitness and nutrition as I was getting my undergraduate and graduate degrees in Exercise Science. At the time, I enjoyed working with a plethora of clients, from a 90-year old woman, to a 400-pound man, to 6-year olds, to a stroke patient, to high-level athletes, and everyone in between. I can honestly say that I have trained them all!

However, there was one demographic that I grew to truly care about and love to work with. They were middle-aged women who simply wanted more out of life, or wanted to lose weight, feel better, and build confidence. As I found myself interested in working with these women, they seemed to have a special interest in working with me as well. I must say that my most fulfilling and rewarding professional relationships were with my middle-aged female clients.

I soon found myself wanting to exclusively train this clientele. I also began to find that my desire to sit and listen to these clients share their struggles with nutrition and physical activity started to surpass my desire to give them a workout. At first, however, I thought that it was a waste of a training session. Instead of my ordering them to complete five more sit-ups, I was sitting with them and simply listening to their struggles and issues with weight loss. The funny thing is that these clients began to enjoy the time that we sat and talked (and not just because they didn’t have to sweat!), but because I had actually helped them work through many issues that were hindering them from achieving their desired results.

I then began to understand that it wasn’t just a lack of motivation, desire, hard work, or commitment that was hindering the process toward their goals, but I learned that there is more to it than just giving them a hard workout and handing them a meal plan. I found that other factors were in play that were holding them back such as previous failures, a lack of energy, a lack of belief in themselves, a lack of a support system, a stressful life, and unfulfilling relationships.

As I began to sit, listen, and coach these clients through their struggles, I soon noticed that my clients were actually making more progress toward their goals than they did the years I spent as the “Queen of Mean” trainer (the nickname one of my clients gave me). I also started to recognize that I had natural coaching strengths, a level of connection with women that is unique, a special ability to build trust, and genuinely deep longing to truly help women believe in themselves, build confidence, and reach their goals.

Over the past two years, I have dedicated my time to learning about how to coach women to reach their goals while building confidence in themselves. This includes obtaining a prestigious health and wellness certification I established last year. In 2013, I have been quietly transitioning my business from personal training to health and wellness coaching. As you may have noticed, I have changed my business name to Transformation Wellness for Women, and as the name declares, I now coach solely women who have the desire to work toward living their best and healthiest life.

If you are committed to making 2014 YOUR healthiest year yet, I am certain that I can help get you there. My aim for 2014 is to continue to bring you rich and practical content. If I have helped you make positive changes in your life that have started to move you in the right direction, I invite you to visit my website at www.TransformationWellnessForWomen.com to learn more about how I may be able to help you live a healthier, more fulfilling life.