Chrissie
The amazing Team I am privileged to be a part of is currently holding their leadership development class, Coach Basics (training for new Team Beachbody coaches). I am re-taking the class as well because I have new coaches enrolled and I like to be part of the training with them. It's a really wonderful "boot camp" for new coaches because the first part of the training really helps to guide them through all of the basics of their new business and get them off to a great start. Day 2 of the training focuses on the development of a strong, emotional WHY. If you have ever been through a goal-setting class or done much professional development training, you will know this is a common theme in anything to do with personal achievement. If the reason you want something is strong enough and there is some deep emotional component atttached to it, you are more likely to reach your goal than if you didn't really have much thought invested in your goal. We teach very much the same thing to our fitness challengers. You have to have a deep, emotional reason for wanting to lose weight, get healthy, or get in shape or you won't be serious about sticking with your fitness and nutrition plan through the difficult times.

So, my WHY has pretty much always been the same but seems to intensify as time goes on. So, tonight as I was preparing my assignment, I realized I have never publicly shared my WHY for doing what I do. Yes, I believe it is my calling to help women learn how to regain their self-esteem and God has provided many avenues for me to do this: Esthetics, Electrolysis, my various social media sites and groups, and now my challenge groups via Team Beachbody. What a blessing!! But my WHY...is much more personal and emotional. It is the driving force behind everything action I take each day. My WHY is the big picture behind each goal I set. So, I want to share with you what I shared with my leadership group because I think my WHY is the same as so many other moms out there who may not know there is a better way. There IS a better way. I can show you a better way


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My 'WHY' as a Team Beachbody coach is a collective of many mental images but can be summed up in one word: Freedom.



I have always had a difficult time coming under authority but it all came to a head after my first daughter was born in 2004 and I had to return to work when she was only 6 weeks old. Everything inside of me rejected the idea of spending 8 hours a day inside a tiny, windowless cubicle shuffling papers for a man whose wife got to be home with her kids while my sweet baby was being raised by a stranger. I spent my lunch breaks in the restroom sobbing. In desperation, I signed up as a Mary Kay consultant, my first exposure to Network Marketing. That amazing company introduced me to the wonderful notion called personal development. I began using my 8 hours to listen to endless training and teaching tapes by the most phenomenal and inspirational women in Network Marketing. I basically filled my head with personal development for 40 hours a week for months on end. It was then that I began to see what was possible. I could see that there was freedom outside of my cubicle walls. And I wanted it very badly!

It wasn't until Team Beachbody was introduced to me that I discovered the perfect vehicle for that freedom. The word freedom here embodies many different types of freedom for me. Freedom from the dead weight of a dead-end paycheck-to-paycheck job, freedom from a nightmarish traffic commute, freedom from mediocre, average, and ordinary, and freedom of location. Financial freedom is a BIG one! Freeing my family from the debt of student loans will be a dream come true for me. But the really HUGE freedom, the one that hits the emotional hotspot for me is FREEDOM FROM REGRET.

Let me tell you something. I have memories of my oldest daughter in her infant to toddler years playing dress up and singing and dancing in the living room. I have memories of her wearing her Little Mermaid swimsuit, wearing giant water wings, posing in her favorite sunglasses. I have all kinds of memories.



I have memories of my 2 year old son's fluffy cloth-diaper butt pushing his dump truck up our driveway as fast as he could, chubby legs flying out to the sides.




That little girl is about to be 10 and my son's legs aren't chubby anymore. My youngest daughter is about to turn 3. 




The pain that I feel at the thought of missing any part of what little remains of their childhood just about kills me. That pain is called regret. I refuse to regret missing out on the shortest, yet most vitally important part of their lives. I want to have those snapshot memories. And I want to have them while being free from debt and obligation. I want my husband to be free to choose whether or not he wants to work away from home. I want to be free to take my family and make new snapshot memories on the fly. I want FREEDOM. I want it for my family. 
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I know so many of you reading this can relate to that sinking feeling. That overwhelming sadness at having missed out on something that you can never, ever get back. If you can relate, this is what I want you to know: There is a better way. And even if you don't find it through Team Beachbody, go find it. Go find it!



Chrissie

The beginning of another year is always so exciting to me! It's a blank slate, a chance to start over and do better, a fresh opportunity. I have been very busy the last week or so making plans for my 2014; writing down goals, saving photos to paste on my dream board, journaling my wishes and desires for my family, my self, and my two businesses. What I haven't done much of is reflect on the previous year. At the most, I have marvelled at what I have accomplished (as it is quite marvelous, if I do say so myself). Those are things such as finally getting my health and fitness back on track, sticking to a fitness program for longer than a few days, getting out of my comfort zone and beginning to build a successful business, and standing up for myself in a variety of other ways. I have come to know "me" on a deeper level. Those things are great testimonies!


But there are some struggles that linger, that I'm still dealing with. I've made a lot of progress but I haven't arrived. One of these struggles is with postpartum-turned-chronic depression (since I'm not sure I can, technically, still call it postpartum now that Kinley will be 3 next month, lol). Fitness and nutrition have, without a shred of doubt, helped to put those horrible, agonizing days behind me. I owe so very much to Team Beachbody for giving me the tools I needed to climb out of that deep, dark pit. What I'm left with are the dirty rags of shame and guilt that I'm assuming will take a little longer to shed completely. But I'm getting there and that's what is important to remember. 

I'm currently reading Joel Osteen's I Declare: 31 Promises to Speak Over Your Life. It's a wonderful, empowering 31 day devotional journey. Today, the passage I read caused me to look back over my journey with PPD and my eyes are opened to see the grace that was extended to me to get through such a harrowing time. You see, there were days when I couldn't see the light at the end of the tunnel, the whole world was dark and cold. I believed, at times, that I couldn't survive it and, even others, when I didn't want to. It's hard to understand if you've never experienced it but I believe PPD is a deeper, darker, lonlier place to dwell than a more common clinical depression. It has too many other faces and they all hide behind or get lumped under the name Postpartum Depression. 

Today's passage said that God gives us the grace and favor we need for the time we are in. He does it one day at a time and that is how we live through it. It's easy, looking back, to wonder how I ever made it but the truth is that I survived each day, a day at a time. And it's only looking back, collectively, that you can say, "I have arrived." But we all have to do it one day at a time. I'm sure this may not be a great revelation for some of you, and that is fine. It is such a blessing for me to know that, though, it may appear to some looking in on my life that I went from Point A to Point B but I'm still on this journey. The train is still rolling and I'm still walking out the changes in my life. One day at a time. Sometimes I go through valleys. I'm going through one now in the days following the death of my grandfather. But experience has taught me that I'm gathering what I need from this experience and carrying it with me so that I can share what I have learned with others who follow. And that, I believe, is part of God's purpose for carrying me through the valleys vs. transporting me out of them completely, though He certainly has the power to do so. Had I not gone through the level of pain that I did, I would not have had the courage or knowledge to take hold of someone else's hand and walk with them out of their valley. And it is now my blessing to watch these transformations take place and know that my misery served a higher purpose.

So, my goal this year is to help as many people as I can to see their potential and reach for it! I'm not only talking about through Team Beachbody and my incredible accountability groups but my children. This year I will embark on another humbling, pretty scary, but exciting journey to homeschool my 3 kiddos. It is not something I ever considered or thought myself capable of doing but I feel called to do it and I know He will give me the grace and Wisdom to do it His way. There are a number of reasons I could list for why I feel called to do this but this is the one that keeps coming out on paper when I journal about this subject. God gave these children to me and my most important job as their mother is to lead them back to Him, to help them see their God-given potential and give them the tools to reach for it. 

Yes, I know that 2014 is going to be an amazing year for my family. I can't wait to see what God is going to do!! Happy New Year to you all!



What are some of your goals for this year? I'd love to hear them! You can comment below, email me, or message me through Facebook if you'd rather not share publicly. 

**If you're interested in learning more about one of my upcoming accountability groups, email me at chrissie828@gmail.com or send me a message through Facebook. :)