I know its tough, if it was easy everybody would do it!

I do my very best to never feel as though I've been through more than somebody else or vice versa. Pain is pain. Sure there are worse kinds of pain and others clearly have gone through more than most of us could ever want to go through. I have things I've gone through that have hurt me deeply and you have things you've gone through that I've been lucky enough to not have gone through and hopefully never will go through. In return I hope you don't have to experience some of my pains. But nothing makes me more crazy than the folks that walk around pissed off at the planet and everyone around them and blame everyone for their probs. Its always someone elses fault. Come on you've met someone that no matter how many times you try to help them, they always have a million excuses as to why they CAN'T do something or how its someone elses fault that their life sucks!? Or how about this band-aid society we live in? There is a medication for every flippin problem out there. Anymore you don't even have to work through the pain, you can pop a pill and waalaa all better! Until of course the side effects kick in, but lucky you, you can pop a pill for that prob too. And on and on and on, its never freakin ending!

Did you know that a 30 minute walk has the same effects as Prozac without the side effects? Drinking water can cure a headache just as easy as a Tylenol? Coconut oil can get your thyroid functioning again just as well, if not better then the liver killing thyroid meds can? Deep breathing can help anxiety? This list goes on and on at what we can do ourselves to help our pain, depression, anger, weight problems, high cholesterol...and actually come out better in the end for it. Unlike a drug that will leave you worse off then when you started. But of course that would be way to hard, its so much easier to just stay mad and blame and pop a pill? Right? I mean its too much work to pick ourselves up and do all we can to feel good and better? If a pill has all the answers, why not just do that? I mean your life gets so much better right, when you just put a band-aid on it, and pretend its not there? That makes everything go away? I mean its way too hard to workout and eat right these days, we need a fast fix, no matter what the end result is, and who the hell cares if its killing us and we wake up feeling like crap everyday? Who wants to workout? Isn't it just easier to be mad, fat, drugged up, feel like hell, hate everyone, blame everyone, lay around, and just hate life? Apparently it is easier. After all if taking care of yourself were easier than everybody would do it, but that's not the case.

I know, I know life gets in the way. Things are hard. I don't understand, blah, blah blah...! I know! Trust me, I know. I have days where the thought of lifting a weight makes me wanna vomit! I have times where an eggnog shake just sounds so much better than anything else on the planet! I have times where my blood sugar spikes so high I feel like I'm gonna just curl up a die, but damn I still want to have that piece of pizza! I have days where I have so much to do that there can't possibly be time to take care of me! I'll say it again...if taking care of ourselves was easy, we'd all be doing it! That's why its so easy to fall in to that trap of looking for quick fixes, pills, comfort foods, depression, anger, blame, hate, loss, hopelessness...! Little do we realize just how much work it takes to feel all those things and actually how little work it takes to eat right. But most of us don't see it that way. Most of us look at exercise and eating clean as WORK! And WORK means pain and stress. Though you are already in pain and full of stress now, who wants to work to get better? This trap will suck each of us in at one time or another in our lives. This trap will lead us to think we need a pill, need to blame, need to eat...whatever! We all will fall into this trap! And it does take WORK to get out of it, but that work isn't near as hard as we all think it is. In fact that work can make life worth living. I don't know about you, but I don't want to live a life where there is actually no living involved. Just sitting around dying does not sound like fun to me. I'm READY and willing to do some WORK!

I could go on and on about how much easier life is for me with clean eating and exercise as part of my day to day! I get more done now than I ever have. I feel good! Sure I get stressed and depressed just like anybody, but I get through it so much easier than I ever used too. I don't need to go to the doctor for every ailment I have and I don't turn to pills to lift me up. Exercise and eating right could kick the crap out of Prozac any day! Taking a few deep breaths now and then can sure bring down the anxiety I feel at times. Eating a healthy breakfast gives me the energy I need to workout and continue on with the rest of my day! Yoga tops anything vicodin could do for my sore muscles. Plus I get to remain focused and can be a mom and wife instead of a space case. Is it always easy to take care of me? NO! Buts it a helluva lot easier than walking around dying instead of living! I'll take exercise any day over laying around in my house hating this world and those around me. Cause every time I get out and take in that fresh air and work myself to my limits, I feel like I can fly. I don't need to overdose on vicodin to fly! I don't need a crispy cream to help me feel better cause someone who did me wrong! So all in all eating right and working out can and will start to feel like FUN and not work! You should try it sometime....

Beachbody Coach Jen Mangum
www.beachbodycoach.com/jenmangum
http://jenmangum.blogspot.com
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beachbodyjen@yahoo.com

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JustJen's All About Health Blog! MONDAYS!! Love 'em or hate 'em?

Monday morning madness! Aren't Mondays fun? How many of us have said this line of crap before? I'm starting over on Monday? Its no wonder we all hate Mondays. We've turned this day into this big significant day! We put everything off til Monday...from changing our lives, to eating right, to getting work done, to getting caught up, to learning something new...blah blah blah! It all begins on Monday! Oh but wait how many of us have failed on Wednesday and instead of starting over on Thursday, we simply say, "Aw hell I'll start over on Monday" so we destroy our body an extra 4 days, all because we messed up ONE DAY? I'm raising my hand right now!!! Seriously is this the pattern of death or what? Trust me folks, this is ME! I do this crap too!? What? WHY? So Mondays...love 'em or hate 'em?

I can tell you that Mondays for me used to be the day I hated the most. I've always looked at Mondays as the start over kind of day. Man has that screwed me up a million times. Sometimes looking back I think, DUH JEN!, why oh why did you always use Mondays as your excuse for starting anything? It wasn't until I realized that there shouldn't be a CERTAIN day to start over!!! When you fall, the key is getting RIGHT back up! Not five days later! This sad but true pattern we all get stuck in, does nothing but harm any progress we might make. Its no different then News Years Resolutions. THE BIG DAY! The day I'll CHANGE! The day I'll be BETTER! WTF? And 90% of us fail!? Right? We do! We fall off the wagon and we stay down until next years resolution or next Monday! And yet we wonder why we are never seeing results, never getting anywhere, never seening any big change, never getting better...? Living this way causes us to give up! It does. When we wait for change, the change never happens! If you don't get out of this pattern, you will continue to walk through a never ending revolving door! Don't do that!

So what do you do? Well you take Mondays off your list FIRST! Monday is now just as important as Tuesday or Sunday! And stop waiting til New Years to come. In fact don't even make a resolution! CHANGE NOW! TODAY! THIS SECOND! Not next week, not next Monday, not next year...RIGHT NOW! Now does that mean you change everything in a matter of seconds? NO! That's where we all screw up. We get going, we go all out, we do everything right, we slip up once, ....BAM we stop! Then we start over again sometime next week. Like Monday! BABY STEPS! Start taking your life one day at a time. TODAY is what matters! Today is what will make tomorrow better, if you live it right. But if you mess up today, then get up and do it right tomorrow, no matter what day tomorrow is! The longer you stay down, the harder it will be to get up. If you keep staying down and you keep living with all the things you want to change, you will NEVER change those things. You'll stay miserable, you'll stay over weight, you'll continue to eat bad, you'll hate anybody that looks good, you'll be bitter, mean, cranky...yada yada yada! You know the drill! Been there, done that. Sometimes I still fall into that! UGH! Not near as much though. I'm slowly but surely taking those baby steps and I'm changing into the me I want to be. You can too!

If you don't have a calendar get one! TODAY! Not Monday!! :) On each day of your calendar I want you to write ONE thing you want to do that day that benefits YOU! ONE THING! This # can grow as time goes on, but for now lets just write ONE THING! For example it could be a 30 min walk, 45 min of weights, grilled chicken and salad for dinner with low fat dressing, listening to a motivational CD, reading through a healthy recipe book and planning this weeks meals, writing in a food journal ...SOMETHING GOOD FOR YOU! Write down something you will do that YOU know will benefit you, make you feel better, make you smile just a little more, give you an extra bounce in your step...and do this good for you thing each day. Planning is so huge in helping you follow through. On that calendar also write your goals for each day. Not just Monday. Each day write a goal that you want to reach. It can be the same goal everyday. For example "I want to lose 10 lbs this month, I want to learn how to cook healthier meals this month" Writing down the same goal everyday is fine, in fact it will probably help you reach it faster. You become what you think about! Just get a calendar and slowly but surely start looking at EVERYDAY as an opportunity to improve. EACH AND EVERYDAY! Not just Monday! Change your way of thinking, so each day is as important as the next! Now if Wed. is a complete disaster and everything you said you were going to do, just doesn't happen. Wake up on Thursday and check out that days goals and start again! GET UP AS FAST AS YOU CAN! Don't wait til Monday to start again! Start again as quickly as possible. Do this until it becomes a pattern. I'm telling you it will make life, success, results, ...and everything else easier! Try it!

I said baby steps and I meant that! We don't change over night or get everything we want in a matter of days. Its a process and it takes time. Honestly I don't ever want to be satisfied or feel like a finished product. I always want to get better and work towards a stronger more healthier me. I want to continue learning and growing because I know I have so much learning and growing to do. I just know if I take my time and work on ME a little everyday, I'll slowly but surely continue to see positive results. Things will pay off. I'm tired of waiting for Mondays and New Years resolutions. I want each day to matter for me and each day to be another step in the right direction. No more WAITING for things to change! I'm gonna start changing EVERY DAY! And so should you!

Until next MONDAY :) Have a wonderful, successful, healthy, energetic....week!

Thanks so much,
Jen

www.beachbodycoach.com/jenmangum
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beachbodyjen@yahoo.com
970-209-4053