A look at 2016: The good, the hard and the grateful.

There are a few more days left in December of 2016.  What a great year it has been!  I have been looking ahead to 2017 for a while.  I have some cool new programs and concepts that I am working on, but I am sifting through my lessons of 2016 so I can  learn.  I can’t fully move forward without learning from the past.   I can’t want more of something if I am not fully appreciative of what I have. While my “what”  is food and nutrition, my specialty is figuring things out and helping people connect the dots and eventually getting my clients to higher ground. I always ask:  “Where did it get off the track?”  “What’s missing?” “What could be the bigger lesson from not feeling well or burned out. ” My own wrestling match with fatigue, insomnia and a thyroid condition,  took me on a personal quest to peel back the layers that modern medicine could not help me solve.

My chronic desire for self-satisfaction has lead me to a lot of self-reflection as well as trial and error.  But as my wise husband told me after I came downstairs from doing a webinar riddled with technical errors that filled me with shame and discouragement,  “Just because you build something and it doesn’t work, doesn’t mean you don’t keep building.” And just because I am always striving for something, doesn’t mean that I am not content and appreciative of where I am now.  I think that’s a common misconception that we all need to understand more.  It’s OK for there to be some tension between where you are and what you want next.

I always say that I paid my tuition in both the university classroom and in the classroom of real life.  I am quite honest that I have made some mistakes and part of what I offer is a way to climb up the mountain more easily because I have wandered off on more than my fair share of trails.  I also learn immensely from my greatest teachers, my clients. 

So with that, I want to share a little of my highlight reel from 2016:

• Helping a seventy-five year old client who was able to stop taking Pentasa after 20 years because her colonoscopy no longer showed any signs of ulcerative colitis.
• Guiding a 40 year old professional who learned to tame her vicious attack-dog self-talk so that she no longer needed to ‘eat her feelings’.
• Supporting a busy mother of three boys who found space in her life for more by doing less and fell in love with her life just as it is right now.
• Seeing the peace in a client’s face as she was no longer chronically plagued by digestive issues she had since she was a teen.
• Creating the new habits and patterns for two equestrian clients who made the connection between their daily mindset and the people and drama that used to surround them.  Now, they are firmly in control of their health and able to attract the kind of personal and professional lives and relationships that they truly desire.
• Helping four Ironman athletes go from good to great this year by leveling up their gut health, and lowering the inflammatory process in their bodies so that they no longer suffered from chronic fatigue and low energy.  All four took turns picking up hardware and standing on the winner podium in their age categories.
• Witnessing many clients gets relief from depression and anxiety from changing their food and learning how to shift their thinking and self-care practices.
• Walking a client through a transition out of a toxic corporate job into a life that held more peace, joy, creativity and attention to health and self.
• And just this week, one of my clients gave two other clients a gratitude journal to help them continue their morning routines.  (Whooo Hooooo) 

It’s hard to pick a favorite but let me just say that after 35 years as a professional, I have never done anything that lights my jets more than this.  

And it’s fair to say, that I have had to challenge myself to work on me more than ever.  One of my decisions was to not listen to all the voices and opinions to build a predominantly on-line business.  While a certain percentage of anyone’s work today has to be on-line since no one owns a yellow-pages anymore, I still chose to focus on  local, personal and off-line work as much as possible.  That has brought me joy and the satisfaction of understanding and listening to myself.  Sometimes you wait and hold out for what you want. Loneliness can be better than fitting in with the crowd.

As I close out 2016, I want to say thank you.  As I have encouraged you, you in turn encourage me immensely.

If you want more of anything that you see here, let’s talk about that.  If you have a friend or a colleague that would benefit from what I do, I encourage you to share this.  I really love working with people that my current clients know. 

And don’t worry if you aren’t all the way there.  I am not either.