Bozeman or Bust

I am currently sitting in my old, yet Oh So Comfortable orange Popazan chair.  I didn't know till recently that it even had a name besides orange, round comfortable, don't sit in My camp chair or else.  Therefore, I don't know how to spell it and am not even going to spell check it.  Sorry of if you are uncomfortable with that. Ok, not really sorry, because today's topic is a reflection on my past weekend and how it could have been Really uncomfortable in many moments had my head/heart not been in the right space.

So, Friday morning a friend and I tossed some basic needs into her car.  Clothes, sleeping bags, a tent and some food. Oh, and she did toss in matches.  I think she may have seen a couple episodes of Survivor and remembered that fire is a good thing out in the wild and we were headed to the wild for sure. Our chosen direction was North; with Bozeman, MT being our most northern point given we only had a few days and didn't want to spend all our time driving to Awesomer destinations.  Bozeman would be awesome enough given she had never crossed its borders.

With the air conditioner in our hair and a song in our ears, we hit the road. Free at last! For those planners out there...Breath...it will all be ok.  Big Sky was our first stop and we met a wonderful woman who gave us Get Lost Montana stickers.  Two for each of us!!  Now we were livin. We wandered the resort area and took many silly pictures and soaked in the beauty of that area before continuing North.

Hmmm, do we rough camp along the river or hit the KOA outside Bozeman?  We had set out to find hot springs and the hot tub at the KOA was pretty darn close to that...right? Upon arrival, we found the whole set up changed and no hot tub.  Bummer!  Next.  We found a sports store and the cute, energetic girl inside filled our heads and a piece of paper with extrodinary camping ideas and directions.  We were set now!

A plate full of sushi, no we didn't spear it ourselves, and another server's ideas found us headed toward Hyalite Resevoir, in the complete opposite direction from the first girl's suggestions. This decision came partly due to the huge rainstorm outside and staying lower down the mountain sounded like a smart idea. We were a little lost though, as the server didn't provide as elaborate of instructions.  Luckily, I purchased a fancy map while at the sports store which came in handy at several points on the trip, especially this night as it was raining and we were lost, it was getting late and All the campsites were taken. We found the last one...a literal mud pit due to all the rain. I won't tell you how long it took us or how many times up and down the canyon road we drove to find it.  I was about ready to just pull over and sleep in the car. I fell in love with our mud pit and the beautiful things that were close to it to see.  Did I mention that even though we were lower down the mountain we were actually right below the dam, we could see it from our campsite.  Funny!

We hiked, took pictures, came across lots of grouchy storm clouds, met great people, found another Last Spot at a KOA near Livingston, got rained on a little, sat by a smoking fire because to wood was wet, saw deer, a bald eagle, cows, elk, buffalo, amazing mountains and beautiful rivers. We ate healthy food and lots of Wilcoxson's creamy, smooth peanut butter & chocolate ice cream with a scoop of bubble gum.  We drank water, hot chocolate and a few swigs of soda. We were serious and we were silly. We had it all because we were happy, carefree and doin different.

So that is my message!  For those of you who are so stuck to schedules and planners and the "this is how it must be done's," I say Be Free.  Let your hair down and go with the Flow.  Set your exercise routines down for a day or two and do whatever comes to mind; even if that's just putting on your shoes and walking, going to the hills, or turning on some music and dancing.  Maybe it's simply resting and not pushing so hard for a moment. Be willing to Flow and see what comes across your path and trust it will be the right thing for you in that moment.   Be Spontaneous!  Be Silly! Be Soul-full!  You might just be amazed at what you discover when you take the time to do different from the routine and scheduled lives you lead. You might just hear You calling!

For exercise ideas different from your norm give us a holler at Health and Fitness Academy.  Or, if your norm is never having a plan and you would like one, it would be our pleasure to assist you with that as well. We have a team of four trainers to fit your needs and assist you in "doing different."

So go ahead, get in the ring, get dirty, Be spontaneous, Be free and then share your stories with us! You never know how you may inspire another with your courage &/or crazy story.

Until Next Time...Go BE Great!

Jennifer Saunders
Health & Fitness Academy
ButtinGear
Reiki
Intuitive Life Coach

Change is hard.....

CHANGE

It is such a big word.

Change is hard

Change is scary

                Change can cause more stress in your life than your Aunt Mildred who won’t stop asking “why you are not married yet”.  It is worse than any Deadline you could possibly have a work. It is worse than the loss of an important relationship. In fact we will worry, and plan, and stew over it, and plan again before we will actually take the steps to try to make a change. We will sabotage our efforts before we are even started on the road to it by surrounding ourselves with friends and family that do not expect it. We will harm our self-esteem by using negative self-statements to keep us from believing we are capable of it. We will even tell the world and everyone in it that we don’t care to do it with our “I don’t have to attitude.”

                Let’s get real….we have to do it. We already are doing it. A human being is forced to change through physiology every day. Our brains are hungry for information. The spirit is always looking for ways to find happiness, and the body wants to be challenged. So why do we make such a big deal out of it? We reward it like a Pulitzer Prize when anyone can pull it off, and we don’t even try to hide our disappointment when someone tries and fails to reach their goal. Small changes are looked upon as not enough, and big promises that are never fulfilled are considered better in some social and business circles.

                Granted, at this point I have been talking about changes that we have little control of. They will happen whether or not we have the will power, strength, or smarts to get them done. So let’s talk about the harder changes. Diet, exercise, improving our self-esteem, improving your health,  loving yourself, landing a better job, beating addiction, finding god or a spiritual connection with the world, changing the course of a relationship, learning to be a better parent, or partner. These are the big ones; they are the changes we procrastinate because we fear a very public failure. These are the changes that if we cannot or will not make, will deeply affect our ability to be truly happy. Are you actually doing harm to others because you won’t change? Does being stagnant in one area of your life affect the rest with its Karmic quicksand? Is it time?

If your answer to any of those questions was yes, then here are a few steps to get you started. Break out your pen and paper and get to work. Change can be liberating.

·         Ask yourself what it is that you want to change.

·         Be specific about your current behavior.

·         Develop strategies and intermediate goals that will help you to reach the ultimate goal.

·         Identify the situations that may make you susceptible to the undesirable behavior.

If you need any help with your future changes, the staff at Health and Fitness Academy is ready for you!

Call 208.557.2823 or email me at ghouston@mvhospital.net.

Honesty

Honesty…

A friend recently explained that she was on a journey of honesty. She wanted to share with me where she really was at, looking at her life without excuses, without justifications, without judgment, just accountability and honesty.

I then read a daily verse that rang even truer to that concept of honesty and it made me think about the amount of honesty in my life. Am I making excuses for things? Do I think I am doing better in areas of my life than I am? Do I think I am doing worse than I am? Where is my responsibility? Where is my accountability?

Since my entries are related to nutrition, I wanted to apply the honesty concept to that today. What did I come up with you ask?

“I stink at eating my vegetables!”

For some that know me closely, you may think, “oh yea, I knew that.” But there may be a lot that don’t know, as a personal trainers, we don’t always have it together either! There are areas of my nutrition journey that I am MUCH stronger in, but vegetables are unfortunately not one of them.

So, what do I do about it? Well…I like steps, I like processes, I like checklists!

Here comes the checklist girl in me!

1.      Identify what vegetables I like and will eat. If I am feeling adventurous, choose 1-2 NEW vegetables I have not tried! But let’s not get carried away yet…

2.      Identify how I like to eat those vegetables most (cooked, raw, salad, shake…etc).

3.      Revisit old strategies I have used in the past to eat more vegetables. What worked then? Why am I not using those strategies now?

4.      Identify 3-5 recipes that are quick and easy. (I don’t do long complicated recipes!)

5.      Plan and prepare! Grocery shop for the items I like and for the recipes I will use as well as prepare (chop/slice/dice/package) them for easy use. (I've gotten lazy! This has been a struggle for me)

6.      DO! ACTION!

All the planning and preparation in the world won’t help if you don’t take ACTION!

            So far, my favorite recipe to use has been:

            Mediterranean Salad

                        Sliced cucumbers, grape tomatoes, black olives, green olives, feta cheese with a homemade dressing of olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper!

            NOW…the question is…what do you need to be honest about? Feel free to email me your answer for your accountability at hjones@mvhospital.net OR seek out our insightful Jennifer Saunders at jsaunders@mvhospital.net if you need help identifying your answer.

            Until next time!

            Hayley Jones, BS, CSCS, Pn1

            hjones@mvhospital.net