jamie’s fitness journey | personal

motherhood, balance + accountability

REAL TALK – As much as I hate to admit this, transparency is what is going to get me through this and make this shift in my life successful – so…here it is. I haven’t worked out since I had my first daughter THREE YEARS AGO! Literally – nothing at all except carrying two toddlers and a dog with back issues up and down the stairs all day long. Yes, the same girl who was in every sport she could ever be in since she was five years old. The same girl that played sports in college and managed three-a-day workouts. The same girl that used to get up at 5:00 am to work out and shower before heading off to a full time job while running a part time side hustle!

ENTER MOTHERHOOD – When you’re trying to balance being a momma, being a present wife, running a business and making sure the house doesn’t fall apart in the process, your personal well being tends to take a back seat. Never enough hours #amiright? Over the last three years, I’ve prioritized EVERYTHING above my own physical health.

Before having my girls, I was extremely active. I played multiple sports through high school, inaugural field hockey in college and lived an active lifestyle. I even did some sweating for the wedding before my husband and I got married. But, once we had Claire, my priorities shifted. My girls fill my heart more than I could imagine, but they also filled my belly and let’s be honest – everywhere else. After she was born, every spare minute I had went into my business or trying to snag a date night with my husband. However, this is the year I’ve chosen to take some time to focus on me and bring some balance back to my life.

BALANCE – Balance, my word for the year for Expressions, has somehow become my life motto for 2018.. For me, it’s creating a balance between being a wife, a mother and a business owner while still creating time for myself and health . I’ve learned over these last three years that the saying is true. If momma’s not happy, nobody’s happy. Not setting aside time for Jamie was taking its toll on my energy level and stress was causing unnecessary anxiety in my life.

I know I am not alone in this struggle. Putting everyone and everything above yourself ultimately isn’t going to be good for anyone, because we are human and there will always be a breaking point. I’ll say it again – THERE WILL ALWAYS be a breaking point. However, I’m taking this year to make the change.

The only way I see this working for me is to create accountability. I will find every excuse under the sun to be helping someone else or serving my clients with whatever spare time I have instead of focusing on myself. To make this Balance successful, I’ll be posting once a month updates here. We’re all in this together, (sorry you didn’t have a choice!)

ACCOUNTABILITY – I wanted to share my fitness journey with you and how I’m finding balance in my life month after month. My hope is that my journey will inspire some of you to find the balance in your life as well – whatever that might mean to you. Take a step back, look for stressors, talk with your significant other, pray on it and create an action plan.

This month, I got back into fitness after my good friend Mandi asked me to take an Insanity class with her. If you haven’t heard of Insanity, it’s a max interval training workout that has you pushing yourself to the max on every exercise for three minutes with 30 seconds of rest in between each. I love intense workouts like this and I knew for me it was all or nothing. If I started out (like you are supposed to) easing my way into it, it would be easy for me to stop. However, I’m proud to say that I was able to keep up and only had to use the modified version 15% of the class.

I know getting back to where I was isn’t going to happen overnight. I’m just excited to be on the path and taking time for myself again. Doing this with friends, consistently taking 30 minutes to work out a few times a week and attending Insanity ,in Fairfield, when I’m able is already making a difference in my attitude. I can’t wait to share this journey with you. If you’re in the process of trying to find the balance in your life, comment below, send me an email or reach out and connect to let me know so I can encourage you along the way. <<Yes – I mean this! Strength in numbers my friends – go get em!