Chapter 1
“You’ve always had the power my dear. You just had to learn it for yourself.”
- Glinda the Good Witch, Wizard of Oz
My gaze is fixated on my toddler’s tiny toes gripping the “big girl” balance beam as she struggles to maintain upright, holding my hands in hers with a death grip. I can’t help but think that one day she will be able to do this without me to help keep her balanced and remind her to go slow and put one foot in front of her at a time. She won’t need those reminders then. She will have them inside of her, and she will have grown enough to trust her own sense of balance, too. Isn’t that the way everything works in life? We must learn from the world and then decide to use our own filter and put trust in ourselves so we can figure out how to get across the obstacle and maintain a balance.
You have heard this before, but there is a magic, secret key that unlocks even the heaviest of doors leading you to radiant health and finally living your best life. In this book, you will discover every ounce of knowledge I have learned and experienced about engineering a life full of health, fitness, happiness, and peace. You can have ALL the tools you need in order to get you there and to keep you there. Can you see it? Finally reaching the life of your dreams and breaking free of that relentless cycle you’ve been stuck in for years and years? BUT, here is the difference, and the part that maybe you haven’t heard before, imagine you are the locksmith. Not me. Yes, this book will give you all the tools and materials, and it will guide you on the process, but ONLY you can use them to then construct the perfect key for your body, your brain, and your life.
But don’t worry, we’ll walk together down that yellow brick road. And by the end of this book, hopefully you’ll feel supported enough in your own inner strength to begin to let go of my hand and know with certainty that you can do it on your own.
The first step is to dream. Like really, really dream. Like you are freakin’ Dorothy trying to see over the rainbow. Write the answers to the following prompts in a journal or somewhere where you can easily refer back to them whenever you need as you read this book and beyond. Let yourself dream deeply and intensely about every aspect of your ideal version of yourself. How does that person look? Be specific. Think about what that person’s body looks like from head to toe. What clothes does that person choose to wear? What jewelry or accessories? What perfume or cologne does that person like? Anything you see, write it down. Now, turn to the inside. How would this person think? How would this person feel in life? How would that person react to certain situations? What kind of attitude? What kind of personality? Know every single thing about this person intimately. And then, slowly, day by day, thought by thought, action by action we can begin to align everything in your life to be like this person. To be this person. In fact, you can choose moment by moment to be the person of your dreams starting right now.
We will come back to this vision throughout the book. It might be helpful to attach a word or phrase for your vision that allows you to instantly get there in your mind. For example, when I want my brain to realign to the ideal version of myself, I tell myself “Be her now” or I use the word lionheart to bring about the feeling I need to ignite that mindset.
When I was in elementary school, I was overweight. If I am honest, it took me a long time to look back and love that little girl. I realize now that I was also smart, highly observant, sensitive and caring, creative, and a high achiever. I was in the Gifted and Talented program and made all A’s, but I allowed my weight to cause me to doubt myself in many activities other kids enjoyed without a second thought. And that bothered me. I felt restricted within my own body. I felt uncomfortable in my own skin. And that is a very challenging thing for a third grader to comprehend. Heck, that is hard for an adult to understand.
One day, my class and I arrived in P.E class. Going to gym class was another complicated thing for me to understand at such a young age. Part of me enjoyed going because of my natural love for movement and my need to expel energy, but because of my weight, I was always on guard. On this particular day, my gym teacher told us that he had a challenge for us: see if we could jog the entire class period. Again, mixed feelings swirled inside me. I love a good challenge, but jogging the entire class? I wasn’t sure how long I had ever jogged in my life. I wasn’t even sure how long P.E. class lasted! I felt butterflies start to swirl in my stomach. I hated being embarrassed in front of my friends. I hated failing. I closed my eyes and swallowed hard. And then I heard a faint, little voice inside of me say “I wonder if you can do it. Just try.” I opened my eyes and fixed my gaze softly in front of me on the floor. I made up my mind right then and there to have the courage to try.
We all got lined up around the court. My gym teacher started some music for us and we started to jog. I had to slow down pretty quickly in order to keep going, but I did! I kept going for the entire class! I was going so slow by the end, but I never stopped jogging. I was elated and felt so proud of myself. The music stopped and I turned to my friend who was nearby and said “I did it! I made it the entire time without stopping!” to which she replied, “Yeah, I guess, but you were going soooo slow.” She looked me up and down and then rolled her eyes. And just like that my elated balloon popped. Tears instantly swelled up in my eyes. I turned quickly away from her so she wouldn’t see if one fell on my red, sweaty cheeks. Although I was feeling defeated at that moment, I still managed to walk away with a new-found power inside of me: the belief that if I set my mind to do something, I could. As the weeks went by, I kept thinking about that. Maybe I couldn’t run as fast as that girl for the entire class, but because I was brave enough to try, I still accomplished the goal. And if I could be brave enough to keep trying, maybe I could get better at it.
For years, I let that moment motivate me physically. I started playing volleyball. I ran harder, pushed further. And when I was old enough, at 13, I got a gym membership and started taking all the group exercise classes I could. I found books to show me how to strength train and what foods to eat for nutrients. Of course, there were many ups and downs throughout the years in trying to figure it all out. But as I matured, and I began to look inward, I realized one thing that needed to shift. Instead of my constant mentality of “I’m going to prove her wrong,” my steady motivation became “Prove yourself right.” A subtle but powerful adjustment.
You hold the vision within you. You have the ability to craft your perfect key.
Prove yourself right.
Let’s begin.
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