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Posts tagged ‘struggle’

The five lessons of 2016

As the year comes to a close, it’s typical to find ourselves reflecting on its challenges and gifts, while beginning to envision our intentions for the coming year. For the past several years, I’ve shared my year-in-review insights in a blog. It helps me to put it out in the Universe, and I hope that others might find something enlightening, useful or relevant.

This year, it’s taken me the better part of a week to formulate the lessons of 2016. While it was a year with plenty of joy and success, the clouds and challenges were significant and proved difficult to navigate for this “in-her-equation” gal. The gift of it all, as I wrote in my blog last week, is the GROWTH and BLOOM that has occurred for me as a result of those challenges. (Here’s a link to that blog: Does every cloud have a silver lining?)

As I reflected on how to articulate the lessons of 2016, I went to Facebook to see what it had to say about my “Year in Review.” While I usually take these Facebook analyses with a grain of salt, this one really nailed it. It reads:

“2016 has had its ups and downs, Lori, but overall it’s been an important and positive one for you. You’ve learned a lot about yourself and will start 2017 more confident than ever before. Looking back you must be proud knowing that you successfully navigated this year and its turbulence. You have emerged stronger than ever and are ready to keep on smiling.”

And so there it is — the GROWTH and the BLOOM. Read more

Resilience. The key to happy, healthy & whole.

GOOD NEWS: If you don’t have resilience, you can develop it!

lori-speakingfitfest2016This week, I’m celebrating four years of living from the center of the equation of my own life as a fit, active, happy and healthy girl. Yes! A big deal.

I’m more proud of maintaining my -200 lb weight loss and Lori-in-the-equation life for four years than I was to lose the weight and get to my goal in the first place. And that’s saying a lot, because I was ecstatic to get to goal on May 12, 2012 and celebrate with my special peeps!

While losing and keeping the weight off is a huge accomplishment and changed my health trajectory, the greatest gift I gave myself was a WHOLE life. I got off the hamster wheel of a busy life, where I was drenched in self-doubt and worthiness issues, and learned to take care of my health and happiness first. I learned to live more from intention and less from habit. To honor and respect myself. To practice self-care consistently. And to stop doubting myself, beating myself up and being a victim of my circumstances.

WHOLE is not easy! And living a whole life manifests differently for everyone. I define it this way: WHOLE = happy + healthy + hard. I didn’t get here by taking the easy road. One of the most important skills that I developed along the way was resilience. I’m learning now — four years in — it makes all the difference. Read more

What to do with this heavy heart

What Cancer Cannot DoLife happens and it is not always rosy. I am learning how to hold myself in the equation and be gentle when that is the case. When life throws us curve balls and there is nothing we can do but control how we react.

Lately, I have a heavy heart after a triple whammy of news of personal loss, and deep pain and struggle for those very close to me. Losing an Aunt, a friend, and now news of the parent of a close friend diagnosed with terminal cancer – all within the last couple of weeks. I find my emotions mixed, and like my friends who are directly affected, I am trying to make sense of it all. Read more

The mind is a powerful thing

It’s official. I am struggling with all aspects of my program and have been for nearly two weeks. Nutritional slips, missed workouts, and frankly I am just not as focused as I have been during the past 13 months. The truth is, I was on a roll and feeling so positive that I didn’t expect to falter in the home stretch. I didn’t think it could happen to me. Boy was I wrong! The mind is a powerful thing.

Read more

Support comes in surprising packages

I am a dreamer and a believer, and today my faith that I have help in this journey was renewed.

Do you believe that you are given help or support just when you need it? That the right person, situation, or opportunity presents itself at just the right time to keep you focused and on track? I sure do! It has happened for me throughout this journey, and it happened again today. Read more

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