Life...as told by Shaina

Now, let me first say it says easier, it doesn’t say easy peasy! Starting a workout routine or even starting healthy habits takes time and patience with yourself! Be sure to set achievable goals so that you can start off on the right foot. This means if you don’t work out at all right now, don’t make a goal to work out every day! Think about your schedule and set an achievable goal for yourself. This could be anything from 1 day to 3, but be sure to take small steps. Your fitness is not a destination, it’s a journey! When I first started adding a fitness routine into my daily schedule I started off working out after work. At the time it worked great, but I started to notice that things would start creeping into my workout time. For example, dinner, hanging out with friends, being super tired, etc. I was able to overcome those things, but I really wanted to have more time after work to relax or hang out with friends (this was pre-corona). I moved my workouts to the morning startin...

Last January (2019) I decided I needed to make a change. I was commuting an hour and ten minutes one way and most of my job consisted of sitting. I also was going to be turning 25 (I know, so old! ;)) and heard somewhere that after you turn 25 it’s a lot harder to become healthy. (I have no idea if that is true, but it scared me enough to motivate me)  So I decided I needed to find something that I could do to stay healthy. The hard part was that by the time I got home from work it was 6:30 pm and I was starving and ready for dinner.  I didn’t want to go anywhere after driving to work and was already getting up at 5:50 am. I didn’t know how I was going to fit it in until a very wise co-worker suggested I eat a snack on the way home! It was like a light-bulb went off in my brain.  You all may have noticed that was the answer right away, but for me when I was trying to figure it out, I just saw a huge roadblock. Once she suggested that my biggest “excuse” was gone and ...

I’m really good at doing what people tell me to do. Like, give me an assignment and I can get it done! The harder part comes when you give me more freedom. Like I have to call all the shots?? I actually got feedback from one of my internship supervisors that related to this. I walked into the one on one thinking I was going to get perfect marks. And he surprised me! But in a good way, he told me, “You’re really great at coming to us and asking what you can do to help. I would love it if instead of coming to us and asking what you could do, you instead came to us with an idea or even something that you had already done. Fulfill a need and take that initiative! You are a part of this internship for a reason and we trust you.” That was probably the best constructive feedback I have ever gotten and I really took it in stride. I started looking for ways I could help and contribute instead of just asking. Flash-forward two years later and I was walking into another one on one with ...

Today I felt like I got my butt kicked multiple times! Not in that, I was physically beaten up, but more of the “Shaina, are you listening? This is for you!” The focus today was: how am I working towards my goals? How am I making progress towards the life I want to live? It all started this morning when I decided to listen to a podcast called #WeGotGoals with my favorite BeachBody super trainer, Autumn Calabrese. Literally, this lady has become an inspiration to me. Single mom, successful, smart, helps others, and looks amazing doing it! In this podcast she talked about how New Year’s goals are important, but why are you waiting until January (which is 2 months away) to start working on them? Why not start now? That hit home! I’ve been working on my fitness since last summer, but actually buckled down this January. The amount of progress I’ve made is amazing, and I’m so grateful that I have documented the changes that have happened! (You gotta take those pictures and measurem...