If you read Tuesday’s post about my son’s recent emergency hospitalization and surgery, you got a sense for the challenges involved with caring for someone else. As a mom and caregiver, I found myself needing to be “on” at all times, with barely a minute to take care of my basic needs, much less process or work through the emotional implications of…
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Is Pain Ever Productive? Finding Purpose in the Midst of Life’s Trials
As a fitness instructor, I often use the term “productive pain” to describe what we feel the day after a hard workout. One scientific theory for soreness says that small muscle tears are the reason for the pain. When we do strength training, the tiny fibers in our muscles tear and then rebuild stronger than before. Productive pain. This term has taken on…
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The Energy Difference: How Cleaning Up Your Diet Changes More Than the Scale
A week ago, I shared my official loss in weight and inches after finishing Advocare’s 24-day challenge.* What I didn’t share was the intangible before and afters — energy, motivation, and overall sense of well-being. The day before I started the challenge, I had an overwhelming sense of feeling all-around yucky and decided to write down exactly what I felt. I had a hunch it…
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Finding Hope When I Don’t Trust God Anymore
“When it rains, it pours.” I’m pretty sure whoever coined that phrase was not talking about the weather. But since it’s been, well, raining and storming and flooding around my part of the country, this phrase has become both a literal and figurative truth in my life. Last week, I talked briefly about the pull of emotional eating–about how my…
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24-Day Challenge: Before and After Stats
Last week I finished Advocare’s 24-day challenge*, and I can’t WAIT to share the results of this intensive health overhaul with you! (If you’re interested in what prompted me to do the challenge in the first place, you can read more about it HERE.) In the days following the challenge, I’ve found that my new habits have really stuck. Yes, I’ve…
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24-Day Challenge: DAY 24!!!
I’VE COMPLETED DAY 24*!!! Can you tell I’m excited?! 🙂 While this has been a successful experiment in resetting my habits, I look forward to incorporating what I’ve learned into “normal life.” I know some people adopt a Paleo lifestyle long-term, but I’ve taken that approach in the past and found it to be detrimental to me. Attempting to follow…
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