During a recent training, a song was playing, and the lyrics really struck a nerve with me.

The song is called “The Light” by Disturbed. One of the lines says: 

“Sometimes darkness can show you the light”.  

That line almost made me cry as I reflected on it.  I have personally been through some very dark times in the past and right now there is darkness for some people I love dearly.  Maybe you have experienced your own periods of darkness.  I know many of you have shared your struggles with me.

It is often challenging to see any light when you are in the dark. You have probably heard the proverbial saying about “seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.”  In a tunnel all you are focused on is the darkness that surrounds you as you proceed forward to end where there will be light once again.  It is those times that it is crucial to have a support system to show you the light.  We need energy (physical, emotional and mental) from others to help us move forward. 

When I have experienced my own darkness, I have also been blessed with people who care about me to bring me through to see light.  I have learned that through the darkness I have been able to grow in ways I would not have otherwise.  My greatest hope is that if you are experiencing any sort of darkness (injury, loss of a loved one, mental health issues, etc.) that you would know that your family at Get Fit NH is here for you!

-Coach Erin

What is self-care?

One definition from psychologist Raphailia Michael is “any activity that we do deliberately in order to take care of our mental, emotional, and physical health.” Self-care is often neglected because we are so focused on other people or responsibilities. How often do we skip training or eat food that is not the best for us because we are so tired from the demands of life? Self-care does not have to be complicated. Last week I was suffering from a migraine but got a call to go visit a dear friend in the hospital. I had not eaten lunch yet and was faced with a choice. I could go through some fast food drive-thru on my way to the hospital or I could pack something healthy from home to eat on the way. Fortunately, I had some cooked chicken in my refrigerator. I grabbed it to go and ate it on my way to the hospital. I also made sure I was doing my best to drink plenty of water. Sometimes it is the small things that add up to help us to do self-care. Here are some self-care suggestions:

-Exercise!!! It is a proven fact that exercise greatly benefits both physical and emotional health

-Drink plenty of water

-Fuel your body with the proper food

-Get 7-8 hours of sleep a night

-Try relaxation techniques: deep breathing, yoga, meditation

Unfortunately, self-care just doesn’t happen. It takes planning and scheduling, making self-care a priority. Just like the airline instructions to place your air mask on first before assisting others. The more you take care of yourself, the better you will be able to handle life’s demands and care for those who are important to you.

-Coach Erin

Thank you so much for taking the time to vote for us in Hippo Press.  Your support truly means the world to us. We have already started the communication with Shirtmasters to draft us up a gnarly t-shirt. Next week we shall start planning the ten year party I promised when we won. You guys rock and we love you!

THANK YOU!

Weird blog title, I know. The purpose of this blog is to remind you that everyone goes through struggles. Personal struggles, health struggles, pain struggles, work struggles everyone has struggles. Just like everyone has a story. We, as humans, go through some really hard stuff. Some people go through more struggles than others. Some are maybe more severe than others. But everyone has them.

The purpose of this blog is not to take away from anyone’s struggles. Struggles are hard and they just downright suck sometimes. My hope is to change your mindset to help you get through these tough times.

• How you let your situation affect you has everything to do with how you get through it

Are you letting your situation control you? Are you letting it define you? Let me use an example to better explain. You just found out the only way you will get out of pain is to have your hip replaced. Dude, that sucks. It does. How are you going to let this news affect you? Is it going to consume your thoughts and your energy every waking moment until it happens? How about if you look at it like this, “This is going to be tough. I have been in pain for a long time and now I finally have the answer to getting me out of pain. It will be  long road, but when I come out of this I will be able to do X, Y and Z again pain free!  I can’t wait!” You are not just a person who needs a new hip. That’s not who you are. You are person who likes to be active. Who wants to age more gracefully so you can keep your independence and play with your grandkids on the floor. You are not just a person who is in pain. See yourself through the blinders and embrace the suck, because it won’t suck forever. 

• Smile and use positive self-talk. Look at the world in front of you. The floor is not that exciting, look up and stop putting yourself down! You are so much more than your flaws. If you choose you focus on the things you don’t like about yourself then it consumes you and you start defining yourself as that person. You don’t have to be. Embrace your flaws because they are personal to you. Focus on the things that are great about you. If you need helping defining the great things about you then please let me help because I can spout off what I love about you. Let those things define you because that is who you are.

• Be purposeful when someone asks how you are doing. You are more than alright and more than just okay! Use more enthusiasm and you will truly start to feel the way you respond. I am a big believer in that.

Embrace the suck. Embrace your flaws. Celebrate your beauty and be flippin’ fantastic

Coach Meagan

Raise your hand if you have ever said or thought something like,

"I’ll start on Monday......"  (But it is Wednesday)

Or

"Life is too busy for me to go to the gym right now so I’ll try again when life slows down"

Or

"I don’t have time to eat healthy"

Or

"It’s too expensive to eat healthy"

These are things I hear almost every day. I am here to change the way you are looking at your life just as much as I am here to help your change your body physically. If you can change your mindset then you can really get some work done. So let’s address one at a time and let it be known that I am no super hero.  I have had these same thoughts to some extent too so let’s work through it.

• "I’ll start on Monday......." (But it is Wednesday)

Ok, so you had a bowl of ice cream on Wednesday night and then a glass of wine and maybe a giant bowl of cheesy pasta. Oh and you missed training on Monday and Tuesday….DUDE, you’re gonna survive. I mean, your stomach will probably hurt like hell, but you didn’t just gain 50 pounds in one sitting and lose all of your muscle mass. So you tell yourself this week is blown so you’ll make sure on Monday you’ll get back on track. Ummm what? Are Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday not good enough days to get your stuff together and make a plan? Every day is a fresh start. In fact, every minute is a fresh start. Forgive yourself and allow yourself to have your moments of weakness. They are acceptable. Adult tissy fits are totally acceptable and necessary sometimes. What is NOT acceptable is leaving yourself there in the dumps. Pick yourself up and try again.

• "Life is too busy for me to go to the gym right now so I’ll try again when life slows down"

Here is the number one phrase I hear when clients leave. It crushes my soul every single time, because life will not slow down. The perfect time is never going to come knocking on your door. YOU, yes YOU, have to create the time. YOU have to understand that you are important too and you have to believe that and you have to act on that! Putting yourself first is not easy when you have a demanding job and kids and so on and so forth. I get it! Life is busy and you need to be a priority because without a healthy you other areas of your life suffer.

• "I don’t have time to eat healthy"

I don’t even know what that means. Why not? Have you heard of an instant-pot or a crockpot? Have you heard of Pinterest or Google who have literally MILLIONS of healthy recipes using these machines? C’mon now. We are adults. We can take care of ourselves, but we do have to put in a little effort. Find simple recipes (You can even google simple recipes!), make a grocery list, go grocery shopping, prep if you can (if you can’t instant-pot doesn’t care! (You can put frozen meat in there!) and eat your healthy meal. Make extra for lunch the next day or so. You can do this. How important is it to you? If it is important to you then you find time and make it happen. Technology has come a long way, use it your advantage!

• "It’s too expensive to eat healthy"

You know what else is expensive? Hitting the drive thru a Dunkin’s every morning or going out to lunch a few times each week because you didn’t bring yours. Now THAT is expensive! Frozen veggies are less expensive than fresh and they will give you nutrients too! You don’t have to buy organic to get results (I don’t!). You don’t have to shop at Whole Foods to get results.There are so many tricks. Ditch the excuses and you shall find results!

Coach Meagan