Spring's Around The Corner, It's Almost Time For You To Bloom

I've been away for a week or two. And believe me it is not because I forgot about our dear ol' blog. Partly because I've been debating on what I want to put up and partly because Atlanta weather is just ridiculous. The snow is gone...hopefully for good...and spring is so close I can taste it. Fresh starts and new beginnings are around the corner.

Today, I want to talk about something a little more serious- growth and self-improvement. Oh and fair warning GUYS this is going to be more of a GIRLY convo today, but feel free to read if you are secure in your masculinity.

I've been working in nutrition and personal training for almost 4 years now! I've been in the health field for about 5 and have always been athletic. You think I would have improved my health and body tremendously over the past 5 years. But let's be honest, it's not always that easy. For me and for most people, it's been an up and down battle. For the first 3 years I'd say a mostly downhill battle because I was still figuring out my medication that I have to stay on for the Epilepsy and with that medication comes side effects aplenty. I'd get refocused on my goal of being healthier, but something else in life would come up. Over the past 5 years I've gained about 15 lbs. I'm not like super happy about it, but I'm not overly upset about it either.

Those 15 lbs are not gained from being lazy or lax about working out. Those 15 lbs were gained because I always put myself last and focused on work, school, putting clients first and the million other things that come up in life. Gaining this bit of weight definitely created a mental challenge for me. I mean I work in the nutrition and fitness field, I'm supposed to be this awesome stellar example with abs and a bod like this right??

But alas, I do not have a six pack! So things have calmed down a lot with my medication, and I'm a lot healthier this year. I've been working a great deal on a great many projects that were on the back-burner, I've been working hard on trying to cook more at home (Nick is honestly a way better cook than I will ever be, but I can keep learning!), I've been working on those abs and that bod...and I've tried to up my reading.

I recently finished this book Make Every Man Want You by Marie Forleo:




I know first glance at the title and you're probably like "What the...." I'm not looking for a man-I already got mine, but I had heard so many raving reviews about this book that I was intrigued. There was a lot of good, inspiring info in there, even for those of us ladies that are already in a committed relationship. One of the things that I learned from the book is to make Is-Ness your Business. More on that later though.. Another take away I got, is that it can be hard sometimes to implement new, good habits when you are still hanging on to your bad ones with a death grip.

I decided to try this out. I took the worst habit I have and I got over it in... 3 WEEKS!

Ever since I can remember I have always been a nail biter. I've always been a little self-conscious about it too. But never enough to make me completely stop. And I say it's my worst habit because I have had it the longest, not sure why I do did it, and I do did it ALL the time. I new I wouldn't be able to make any growth or self improvement in the healthy weight arena, if I couldn't get over this. For those of you who are obsessive nail biters, this worked for me and I have been uber proud of my accomplishment.

I can actually scratch my back now with my nails. THAT is a HUGE deal.

Here's what my nails used to look like-

See- very short, stubby, chipped, cuticles a mess, skin ripping off (climbing and working on obstacle courses all the time didn't help, but they weren't the main culprit). Yeah they are awful.

These are the changes I made over the past 3 weeks and you can see the improvement below!

1- Drink More Water- water hydrates your hair, skin, nails. I drink around a gallon a day now. Your bladder will adjust over time :)

2- Take Vitamins - I take Vitalizer Women. Check out that video for more info, or go here to read up on it. The vitamin pack is chock full of vitamins A and C, biotin, and omega-3 fatty acids that help with hair, skin and nail health. If you want a discount on these let me know and I'll hook you up!!

3- Nailgrowth Miracle- I haven't really used it as regularly as I had originally hoped. I think I manage to just massage the serum in once in awhile, when I first got it the most I did it was 3 days in a row, now I do it like every couple of days when I remember. You can get it on Amazon, or find it at your local drugstore or beauty supply store. I found it at Kroger for around 7 buckaroos.




4- Nail File- My nails are still finding their strength, so while the length was growing fast, the strength is taking a little more time and I didn't want to get hang-nails caught on anything so I got a good file to keep the edges even.

That's it, that's all I did. And within 3 weeks my nails were looking like this:

No messed up cuticles, there's some actual length, obviously they aren't manicured and they're still in the process of growing longer and stronger but hey- this is a BIG DEAL for me. I have never seen my nails this long or this nice looking in my entire life. Yeah, not even on my wedding day!

That book really gave me some good motivation and inspiration. Even though it's kind of geared towards women who may be looking for Mr. Right, it has a lot of helpful info on revamping yourself if you're already married or committed. It helped me get over THE WORST habit I've ever had and now I feel like I can overcome all the other things, like the 15 lbs I've been meaning to shred.

The thing with growth and self-improvement is it doesn't usually happen overnight. If (literally and metaphorically) you water regularly, feed your body and mind the right nutrients, give yourself enough sunshine in your life, and allow yourself space to grow, in time you'll bloom into something beautiful!