SLOW....DOWN....

Slow down 
Man in the mirror slow down
You're running too fast to see what life's all about 
This world ain't a fire for you to put out
The best times are here and now 
Slow down

~Kenny Chesney

This past Saturday, my husband and I had an easy morning and then took the day slowly.

That is basically where our life is at right now... slowed down, and I AM SO GRATEFUL FOR THAT!

This is a health blog, so if you are here, you are probably look for some info on how to be healthy, right?
Well, here it is:
SLOW DOWN

That's it. Just slow down! I can not tell you how important this is to us right now.

Throughout my life, I have been thinking about the next step, and while it is not a bad idea to plan for your future, the past has taught me that often times, the future doesn't usually turn out how you planned it would anyway.

So what does that mean? Well, for me, it means that I need to stop thinking about what I want to do next and enjoy where I am at right now, because I have noticed that when I think back on my life, I never really too the opportunity to enjoy the phase that I was in. I was always pushing for bigger and better, but that trained me in such a way that when bigger and better came to me, I didn't take the time to savor my success. I was instantly ready for the next bigger, better thing and that made me a really unhappy person. 

I was going WAY TOO FAST to really enjoy what life is all about. 

I may not have reached the best part of my life yet, but I have had some pretty great times. My only regret is that I didn't take the time to enjoy them to the fullest while they lasted. 

I am only 23 years old, though, and there is time to change. I am counting my blessings that Andrew and I have the jobs that we do. We knew what we wanted in life, and we have created a space for ourselves where we can choose how fast or slow our days go by. I know that is not a blessing that a lot of people have, especially when you are working for an employer and have to bend to their rules and expectations, but it doesn't mean you can't control other aspects of your life.

 Think about when you are in the car driving to or from work. Look at how rude people can be and how hurried everyone seems. I challenge you to create time for yourself to slow down and enjoy some quiet time to yourself. Turn off the radio and just enjoy the view you have. When you get home, don't turn on the TV. It is a time killer! Seriously! So many lives are wasted away in front of the TV.

If you want to enjoy life, spend the time you would normally spend in front of the boob-tube working on some type of hobby you enjoy, or playing with your family/friends.

I guarantee you will start to forget about TV and realize that you aren't missing anything by turning it off! 

Just slow down and soak in the beauty of life that is all around you!

Don't rush through your life. It is not healthy. It causes stress and fatigue, and death bed regrets. No one ever says on their death bed, "I wish I'd hurried more." or "I wish I could have worked more hours." or "My life was too long, I am just ready to get through this next phase."

So back to our Saturday, Andrew and I were talking about how nice it was to drive through town with no where to be at any particular time. We ran some errands at our leisure then checked out a new part of town. I learned somethings about my husband that I didn't know before, but most of all, I just enjoyed feeling alive, and happy. It was a great day, and we decided that we were going to work on creating that slow feeling for everyday. 

Slow down.

This life's not a fire you need to put out.

The best times are here and now.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I can hear some kiddos and my husband laughing down the hallway... I'm going to go spend some time with them!
Enjoy your life!

Drew and I taking some time to enjoy our lives together in St. George in January. I am so grateful for those memories!

PD

When I was in high school, I was a member of an organization called FFA.

I went to National FFA Convention twice, as well as many state and local activities, but each time I went, I felt a rush of excitement as I was made aware of the potential that I had. I didn't recognize this back then, but that rush came from listening to key note speakers who were teaching me how PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT ~PD~ could affect a person!

Since joining Beachbody, I have been trying to do at least one hour of PD a day. Why? Let me illustrate with a picture...

Life is great at presenting opportunities for us to learn. It has it's ups, and it has its downs. I assume most of us can look back and say that we have become better people than the people we used to be, and that's great, but imagine if you could speed up that process by learning from others' successes and failures.

Well, have I got great news for you! (You probably already know what I'm about to tell you, right?)
YOU CAN!!!

This is what Wikipedia says about PD: Personal development includes activities that improve awareness and identity, develop talents and potential, build human capital and facilitate employ-ability, enhance quality of life and contribute to the realization of dreams and aspirations

Doesn't that sound great? Don't you want to 'contribute to the realization of YOUR dreams and aspirations?!?!!!' 

Here's your takeaway for today: When trying to live a healthy lifestyle, it is important to include at least 15 minutes of personal development into your daily activities. 

Here's my story about PD:

I DO NOT enjoy washing dishes or folding socks. I am perfectly fine with any other household chores, but please, DO NOT ask me to do those two tasks. Whelp, I am a housewife. With a husband who works full time, it is important for me to tackle those chores. I used to avoid these as long as I could. When they finally needed to be done, I would put on some music and drag myself to the task, giving my time begrudgingly. Just recently, I began listening to Personal Development books, and General Conference talks during these chores, and my attitude has completely changed. Now I don't have enough to do to last me as long as I'd like to listen to my recordings! To top things off, I am becoming more confidant and growing because of it! I am happy in the work that I do, and our home is a much more pleasant place to reside! 

You don't even know how great of an investment that small change is to me in the scheme of things!

Now, I'm off to clean the bathroom!

Mars: A One Way Mission!

Mars.

It's known as "The Red Planet"

Since man's journey to Earth's Moon, Mars has been the target for space enthusiasts both young and old.

We have sent rovers to give us a closer view of the barren landscape, and know that it can take anywhere from 150-300 days to travel the distance between Mars and Earth. (1.)

So, what does Mars have to do with with your health?

Yesterday, I read an intriguing article about a new mission being dubbed "Mars One." If you are interested, you can read more about the mission here. The mission will send an unmanned craft to the Red Planet sometime around 2018, with plans of sending manned crews to follow starting in 2024. Here's the catch, Mars One is titled so, because these missions will be one way. The plan is to first send four people to live in a self-sustaining space station, and then send missions of four astronauts every two years. 

It was surprising to me to think that anyone could love something so much, and have dreams so big, that they would be willing to give up everything else just for a shot at their dreams. At first, I was very skeptical, thinking these people need to sort out their priorities. Who is willing to make such a sacrifice? Leave Earth never to return? Then, like most things I read, I applied it to my life. What would be so important to me that I would choose pursuing it over living a comfortable life with those thing I would otherwise have to sacrifice? What dream is so important to me that I am willing to give up on things of 'lesser importance' (at least to me) in order to see that dream fulfilled.

Well, luckily for me, it is not, nor has it ever been, my dream to take a mission to Mars. I do have other dreams, though, and there are things that I have found are worth sacrificing so that I might see those dreams fulfilled. 

So, if you're still with me, let's relate this to our health...

Here is my take away from this article: There ARE some things in life that ARE worth sacrificing for BETTER things to replace them!

Think of it as an investment. What does being healthy give you?

Well, for me, I have peace of mind, confidence, zest for life, endurance, happiness, I FEEL GREAT, and SO much more!!! Have I had to sacrifice things to get that which was important to me? YES! Was it worth it? YES, YES, YES!!! What have I sacrificed? TV? Somewhat, I have stopped watching reality television and instead, I spend my free time watching uplifting/inspirational/personal developmental programs. Is that really a loss? Not to me. I can not tell you how much I have grown and learned since making the choice to cut those out! Have I sacrificed good tasting food? Heck NO! In-fact, I think the food that we eat now has SO much more FLAVOR than anything we ate before, AND I don't feel sick after eat now! DEFINITELY a GREAT investment. Have I had to sacrifice some of my favorite social settings (like my favorite restaurant)? Yes, BUT I can not tell you how much money we are saving  since we have stopped eating out. We can still go out for special occasions, and it seems so much MORE special now! There are other things I have left out of my life, but rather than thinking of them as a sacrifice, I think of them as a good trade, or investment in my life! 

So, here is what I hope you take away from this:

There are people who have come before you, and who will come after you, who have/are going to MAKE SOMETHING out of their lives. They have had dreams, and have made big sacrifices in hopes of reaching those dreams. Those sacrifices have brought great strides to them in reaching their goals. I'm assuming you are here because you are hoping to make positive changes concerning your health, but even if you have other dreams, the only way you will reach them is by making some trades or investments. When you figure that out, make sure that you dream big enough to make that a one way mission. Don't put one toe in, 'go big, or go home,' because a two way mission won't get you anywhere!

As far as what you're willing to trade? Well, I'll let you decide.

New Year, New Start!

I live in the center of the Rocky Mountain range, and when we drive, it seems like you are just 'waiting to get over that one mountain' but as soon as you crest over the top of it, you see how many more mountains you have to cross or travel around before you will make it to your destination! Life is very similar to this metaphor. When you think you have made it, you realize you actually have quite a ways left to go! This rings especially true with health and fitness, so even though I reached the goal that I had set in August, I am excited to continue my journey, and will be starting Les Mills Body Combat on Monday, January 13th, 2014.

I will be tracking my progress daily, and sharing tips and tricks, and more to help motivate YOU in your personal journey!

So to begin, I am posting my before photos today. These were taken this morning, January 10, 2014. I will also be sharing my current weight and measurements in my post tomorrow!

Wish me luck! If you'd like to join me in a 60 day weight-loss challenge, I have one starting on January 20th! Comment below, or visit www.facebook.com/teamfindyourbestlife for more information!

My Story: When Life Gives You Lemons

Welcome to my journey!

If you haven't figured it out yet, I LOVE life!

I was dealt some pretty tough hands early in my life, and as a young adult, I began to let those trials define me. The result was a life not lived, and a very rough bout of depression. 

This is my story:

My name is Cheltzey Newman.

I was born in a small town in South East Idaho, to great parents. 

My childhood was easy, simple, and blessed.

Both of my parents were entrepreneurs, so I guess you could say the 'go-getter' attitude was instilled in me from the get-go. I grew up surrounded by a rural agriculture based community, which I loved, and I relished in the joys that came with the small-town lifestyle. Hard-work, family, and taking advantage of God's beautiful creations. Yes, my life was peaches and cream, and as a child, I never thought it could be different.

Early in my teenage years, I was faced with a trial like none I had faced before. My perfect life came crashing down around me when I was told, after 14 years of what seemed like a happy marriage, that my parents had decided life would be better lived if they split and went their separate ways. I was devastated, and it started to show, not only through my rapidly dropping school-grades and loss of interest in friends, but in my outward appearance as well.

I had always been healthy. Never the bean-pole frame that many children carry, and around twelves years old, I was carrying a few extra pounds, but they were quickly hidden by a sudden growth spurt that I had in 6th grade, and I filled into myself quite nicely. It was during high school that I began to gain weight again, and I went from a size 6 pant size to a size 12 by the end of my senior year.

I have now been out of high school for four and a half years, and was at my heaviest about 6 months ago. In July of 2013, I weighed about 170 pounds. Not only that, but I was suffering from health problems as well, and I seemed to be sick all the time. When I wasn't actually physically sick, it took all I could to get out of bed in the morning because I was suffering from depression on top of everything else that was going on. This doesn't mean i didn't have happy times through it all, but it was effecting me enough that I was struggling with my job and my college classes. I began to use my depression as an excuse to keep me away from progression, and became even more miserable. It wasn't until early in 2013, though that I decided enough was enough and something needed to be done, so I began researching everything I could about the issues I was having.

I learned about nutrition, and toxins in the body. I learned about spirituality and the miracle of forgiveness, and I learned that when those aspects of life are not in balance, life can be pretty sour, but we have been told that when life gives us lemons, we should make lemon-aide! I decided that my future was in my hands, and in the spring of 2013, I began to take initiative and create my own happiness and prosperity!

By summer time, we were eating healthier, and I was beginning to feel better, but still experiencing debilitating health problems. I had been having kidney stones since I was 14 years old, and they were becoming more and more common, to the point that i was passing one every three-or-so months! Those caused urinary tract infections, and I was really trying to get control of that by making sure that I was hydrated and staying away from foods that are considered to cause the stones. I also began having gall-bladder attacks in 2011. I knew that my body was retaliating because I had not been taking care of it and it was not going to be instantly better, not matter how many steps I took to improve myself! These problems didn't appear overnight, and I quickly learned that it would be months before I felt great again.

Speeding Up the Healing Process

Throughout the month of July of 2013, I had greatly improved my diet, and had begun doing some moderate exercise and I was seeing results when a friend approached me about joining a Beachbody fitness challenge that she was hosting in August. I was skeptical, because I had joined weight-loss competitions before and had rarely seen results, but she told me about her experience with Crohn's and something that had helped her called Shakeology. I decided it probably wouldn't hurt to try, and my husband had recently ordered a Beachbody workout program called INSANITY, but he had never gotten more than a few workouts into it. I thought this would be a great time for me to put those workouts into use, so I got started! I COULD NOT BELIEVE THE RESULTS!

I started replacing one meal a day with ShakeO; usually breakfast or lunch, sometimes both! Two days after starting to drink Shakeology, I noticed that I was sleeping more soundly than I had in years, and I was waking up refreshed and excited for my day. I began watching the pounds disappear and I was feeling great, both physically, and mentally! In two months, I had lost 15 pounds, and I was so excited about my progress, I decided when the challenge was over that I was going to become a Beachbody coach so that I could HELP others experience the success that I had!

It is now January of 2014. I am so happy, and I can't even begin to describe what great things have happened in my life over the last  four months! Do I still have bad days? You bet! That is part of life! The difference now, though, is I don't let them take control of me. I understand that those times when we feel a little down are meant to help us be evermore grateful for those precious times we have. It is important to make sure that each time you hit a low point, it is higher than you last low, and you will see progression that way! My life has transformed from selfishness to selflessness, and my whole being is devoted to serving others. I am so grateful for the opportunity that came to me to get back on the right track, and I am loving the lessons I am learning on a daily basis.

If YOU are ready to see positive change in YOUR life, I'd love to help you!

Contact me at 

www.facebook.com/teamfindyourbestlife

or

www.beachbodycoach.com/cheltzey

Here are some of my transformation photos:

This was my first 60 day challenge accountability photo!

Some of the changes I noticed along with the weight-loss were healthier hair, skin, and nails!

My husband is happy and proud of me, and we are working together on this journey!