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Take a leap of faith & leave your doubt behind!

A pattern I’m realizing about highly successful people is their ability to take chances and step outside of their comfort zone. They all seem to have a compelling and moving story about taking a giant leap of faith.

They understood that greater things were ahead but they had to be willing to get uncomfortable in order to get there.

They didn’t have all the answers to their questions.

They didn’t know if it would work out how they planned.

They didn’t know what challenges would arise along the way.

They didn’t know if it was the “right time” in their life.

They did know that on the other side of that leap of faith was something worthwhile and potentially remarkable.

“In the end, we only regret the chances we didn’t take.”

It’s completely normal for us to have doubt and fear of new beginnings. It’s unfortunately how we are wired! Our brains automatically throw all these negative thoughts at us the moment it feels threatened…and here comes the flight of fight game!

When you make an important decision in your life and you start to get nervous as the time to act approaches, that’s OK! It means you are moving in the right direction my friend!

Welcome that uncomfortable feeling with open arms!

When it’s almost go time, you will feel the urge to RESIST and maybe even start to get cold feet. That very thing is happening to me right now.

I know deep down that it’s time to go ALL IN and to not let anything get in the way of my dream. My intuition is keeping me at peace because even though I don’t know the full roadmap, there is favor on my side. The simple act of moving is already paving a way for me – one step at a time.

It’s time to make things happen and I am not going to let my mind trick me into settling. I know that everything will fall into place as it’s meant to be. It always does!

You can do hard things and there is a bright pot of gold on the other side of that rainbow.

LET’S TAKE THE LEAP & DON’T LOOK BACK!

7 Benefits of Trail Running

A new adopter of trail running and why I’m OBSESSED!

There’s times we hit a plateau in our running journey and this is definitely a great way to spice things up and reignite your spirit.

Here are 7 awesome benefits of trail running:

  1. Exercise for the MIND & BODY! It keeps your mind engaged and active throughout the entire workout.
  2. Mindfulness Practice – You will truly be present during this time on the trail. On traditional road runs, it’s easy for our mind to wander on other things or ruminate on the past. During trail running, we have no option but to be in the present moment.
  3. The VIEW – Running with a view is always more exciting, soak in your beautiful surroundings and be filled with gratitude!
  4. Activates different muscle groups – Various muscle groups are at work and you’re less likely to overwork the same muscles as much as on the pavement. Trail running activates smaller ones we may tend to neglect!
  5. EXHILARATING – It’s an adventure and you’re not sure what will come next. You learn to embrace the uncertainty!
  6. CHALLENGING – You will naturally run slower because it’s harder and you also don’t want to fall on your face. Although you may run at a slower pace, you will feel the burn from the ever changing terrain and feel proud of your progress.
  7. Endurance booster – An effective way to improve endurance and stamina as you work towards personal goals or train for an upcoming race is to incorporate trails. Once you’re ready to pick up the speed, check out this article from Runner’s World about how to get faster at running trails.

In summary, trail running is a wonderful new world I’ve discovered and I hope you have the opportunity to switch things up and hit the trails too!

Find local trails near you: AllTrails

5 Ways to Effectively Drink More Water

Water is everything!

First order of business to staying on track is to set your daily goal.

Each person is unique so this is not a one size fits all. The rule of thumb I follow is to drink at least half of your body weight in ounces of water per day.

For example, if you weigh 150 pounds, you should drink at least 75 ounces of water per day. If you’re someone who is typically under your goal amount, it may take awhile to adjust your habits and get used to a higher intake. However, the benefits far out weight the challenges once you’re reaching your appropriate level. Be patience with yourself and keep up your progress!

Why is drinking water such a big deal?

Hydration plays a crucial part in helping detox your body, regulate temperature, brain functions, support joints and even elevate your mood and energy levels.

When you start to lag in the water department, think of the direct impact it has on your overall health and wellbeing.

5 simple ways to help boost your water intake:

  • Use an app to track your progress – I personally enjoy the Lifesum app! It’s more exciting to visually see yourself get closer to your goal each time you record it.
  • Carry reusable water bottles that list the ounces on them for easy tracking.
  • Infuse with fresh fruits (strawberries & basil, lemon, lime & cucumber, watermelon & mint to name a few).
  • Reward yourself with a favorite snack or non-water beverage once you hit a milestone. For example, I’ll indulge in a matcha latte once I hit 30oz!
  • Opt for a bubbly to mix things up! Sparkling water is as healthy as still water, just be sure to read the labels and avoid any artificial sweeteners.

I’d love to hear your feedback and other ways that work for you!

Our Days Are Numbered

The point of the story is you don’t know how long you’ll be here on Earth.

Don’t waste the days you have on a mediocre life!

Don’t someday your dreams!

Each day is a non-refundable day!

Les Brown

Doesn’t this set your heart on fire to go after all the things you want in life?

What do you have to lose?

Take action each day that you have the opportunity to wake up and make it count.

Now is the time to make moves, not tomorrow or next month because we aren’t guaranteed to see it.

I don’t know about you but I want to leave this place knowing that I gave it my ALL.

I don’t want to leave wondering what if I did things differently. I don’t want to leave feeling like there was so much untapped potential left in me.

Let’s make a conscious effort to experience all the things, live a BOLD life and leave a beautiful footprint behind.

Who’s with me?

Practice Makes Progress

Practice makes perfect progress.

No one is perfect and there is no perfect destination.

There will be highs and lows as you march towards a goal.

There will be continuous progress as you move along but don’t expect things to come out perfect. Remember, practice makes progress.

When I was training for my first half marathon, I read about all the things to prepare for and all the curve balls that could come my way.

Well life happened. It was the brink of the COVID-19 pandemic and the race was cancelled. However, you could still compete virtually! I was bummed, I had worked so hard and this was not how I imagined my first race to be.

I shifted my mindset and stayed the course on my training plan. My goal was to finish under 2 hours with no stopping.

Well life happened again. I got lost trying to navigate through my route so stopped for a couple minutes, and then spilled half my gel all over me! It was not the ideal circumstance because now I was flustered and behind my mark. I had to shake that feeling off and remember why I love the sport of running and chose to do this. This race doesn’t need to be perfect, most importantly I need to soak it all in and enjoy the process.

In the end, I finished just a few minutes over 2 hours and I was thrilled!

The small imperfections didn’t matter! What mattered was my consistency throughout training, my grit to run solo and determination to finish.

Watching one’s milestones throughout a journey is a beautiful thing. You will be amazed at how much you can accomplish as your consistent practice makes progress.

In whatever you do, keep at it and great things will be waiting for you!

How to Chase your Dreams

Learn how to be a DREAM CHASER!

You were born to do more than work, eat, sleep, repeat.

You were born to live a BOLD life and thrive in the process.

You were born to share great stories and impact others.

You were born to do hard things but also fall on your face in the process.

Life is not easy but if we give it our full effort, we will gain momentum and soar into beauty.

Just because there’s failure ahead, doesn’t mean to fear it and avoid it.

You must move towards the uncertainty. Any action you take is progress and inaction will keep you stuck and feeling unfulfilled.

I challenge you to take the first step toward your dream and fail forward. 

When people share their regrets in life, they tend to ruminate on the things they didn’t make the time to do or were too afraid to try. 

In the end, you have far less to lose and everything to gain.

Let’s be dream chasers!

10 Productive Things to Do Instead of Watching TV!

There’s a new routine I’ve adapted that’s my version of a TV timeout. Stay with me…

Do you experience weeks where you have so much to do and feel like minimal progress is being made? When I’m on overdrive with my work or personal life, I crave curling up with a blanket and diving head first into Netflix.

Fast forward hours later…I regret how much time I’ve wasted away on the couch. Leisure time is great until it turns into a bad habit.

Knocking down bad habits for me has worked best with extremes…here comes the TV timeout logic. You can easily start by choosing 1 day a week of no TV (including iPads/shows on your computer/etc) and then try 1 full week of no TV!

I like No TV Tuesdays or No TV Thursdays to trick my brain and make it sound more fun 🙂

You can also start out with smaller wins like only watching 1 episode/max per day and work your way up.

This also works great for social media – take entire days/weeks off or set limits for yourself.

The ultimate goal is to see how you feel without it and plan to incorporate better habits moving forward.

10 productive things to do instead of watching TV:

  1. Cook a healthy, nutritious meal and you will be so proud of yourself.
  2. Bring on the self care – mask it up, soak in a bath, go enjoy a pedicure or get a massage.
  3. Exercise – get moving and you’ll feel better afterwards!
  4. Call your family or friends – not text, actually pick up the phone and be present in the moment.
  5. Visit the doggie park or take a long walk – you will both appreciate this one after!
  6. Write and share content in a blog, write in a journal or create a book.
  7. Volunteer your time for a cause that interest you – it’s good for your soul and those around you!
  8. Read a book or listen to a podcast that’s on your wishlist but you’ve been putting off.
  9. Clean the house – I know this one is not fun but we must admit it’s very productive.
  10. Plan a fun trip or event with your family or friends – now that’s what I call fun!

Follow the Signs

Who is guilty of falling in love with the perfect wall art that catches your eye in the home decor section of Target or a local department store? I’m that gal!

I thoroughly enjoy looking through the quotes in particular! If there’s one that really speaks to me, I’ll buy it to serve as a everyday reminder of my vision and goals.

The thing is they are exciting and full of life in the beginning but become like every other piece of decor as time passes.

You must bring them back to life regularly and follow the signs.

Reignite your passion of the meaning and depth of them.

When your day is taking a wrong turn or you need motivation, practice mindfulness and look at the signs right in front of you. Take a look at the sweet words of encouragement that once put a beautiful smile on your face.

Find your connection to that word or phrase again and keep on keeping on!

Take a peek at some of my favorites below!

What’s a sign that you follow?

Sprinting for Beginners!

If you haven’t been mixing it up with strength training, read below!

The NOURISH MOVE LOVE YouTube channel with Lindsey Bomgren has been really helpful and enjoyable as I’m on my own journey to incorporate more strength training into my weekly routine! She offers a variety of strength and HIIT workouts for all levels.

I just finished the 2 week – Strength + Running Workout Plan (includes clickable workout video links on the calendar) and things definitely heated up!

Highly recommend checking it out -> View Running Plan Here

If you are ready for a challenge, try incorporating sprint intervals regularly into your workout routine. The running plan above includes 400 meter sprints (.25 mile). This distance can feel like forever and be hard to stay on high power if you aren’t use to this type of workout! I’d recommend starting with a shorter distance in the beginning (try just 30 second sprints) and work your way up to this.

Example charts below from Healthline.com:

https://www.healthline.com/health/sprinting-workouts

Sprinting activates a different type of skill and result vs a longer 5+ mile steady pace run. It’s a unique and rewarding way for all levels to mix things up!

Sprint benefits:

  • Increase in power and performance
  • Boosts metabolism
  • Efficient calorie burner
  • Builds muscle

Just remember, it’s important to make sure we are working different parts of our bodies and letting others rest as need. It’s beneficial to tie in yoga, always stretch, foam roll and allow rest days to recover.

Now that you’re ready, go sprint like you mean it!

Find Yourself an Accountability Partner!

Finding yourself an accountability partner is a GAME CHANGER.

It takes your skills to new heights when you partner up with someone who has a similar focus and commitment level as you. It’s easy to start something but we often get pulled in another direction. We lose the consistency and motivation to keep progressing. This often leads to a decline in momentum and eventually withers to nothing.

If there’s something you really want to succeed in, I’m sure there’s someone out there with the same goal that could also use a little nudge. You can also find or start accountability groups!

You have to ask yourself, “How serious am I about bringing my vision to life?”

It all comes back to the commitment piece. If you don’t know yet, I’m BIG on commitment not motivation. It’s a lot easier to commit to a plan when you have someone going through it with you and you make a promise to see it through.

When you’re both present to challenge one another and celebrate those wins, it makes a huge difference. Ultimately, the human race does work better together!

Types of activities you may want an accountability partner for:

  • Working Out
  • Blogging
  • Business Venture
  • Waking up early – yes, I’ve done this before and it was actually worked!
  • Sports
  • Leisure Activities – Hiking, etc.
  • Clean Eating
  • Grocery Shopping/Meal Prepping
  • Meditation

Tips to be a successful accountability partner:

  • Set a consistent time/place for meetings and decide how frequent – weekly, biweekly, etc. Virtual options are great and convenient when that works!
  • Show up – Never no show an accountability partner. That’s just rude and shows you are not committed to the cause.
  • Be flexible – Life happens and sometimes there’s schedule conflicts so be adaptable and understanding.
  • Assign homework – Ahhh I know, you will thank me later! It can be small to do list like writing a new blog post, creating the grocery list /eating diary, etc.

A special thanks to my accountability buddy, Ciara, for always cheering me on and inspiring me to dream bigger!

Mark my words everyone, we are just getting started! #KeepOnKeepingOn