In The End, How Will You Be Remembered?

Morbid question alert!  Have you ever thought about your own funeral?  Have you ever given thought to who might be there?  What the service would look and feel like?  Who would stand up and speak about you?  More importantly, what your spouse, parents or children might say about you during the eulogy?  What about your friends or people from your church?

As part of an exercise from a book I am reading, I went through this visualization.  Ironically, it was quite a peaceful, eye-opening experience to walk through the details of this moment.  I have been to plenty of funerals in my lifetime, but I think out of human nature, I have never allowed myself to think about what it would be like to sit through my very own.

After I viewed my lifeless body and took my seat, I began to imagine what my husband, kids and parents would say about me.  Ultimately, their parting words about me are all that truly matter.  This is what I heard:

“Lindsay loved life!  She was a woman who always lived for the moment - actively living life and always having time to find beauty in the simplest places.”

“She was one of the rare people who was never too busy to stop what she was doing and be with anyone who needed a listening ear. She was a great comforter.”    

“Lindsay oozed the love of Jesus from her pores and that love was felt by anyone who was around her.”

“Mom loved us fiercely.  She gave us the freedom to find our own inner voices.  She never doubted us and gave us the confidence to find our purpose.” 

“Mom believed in us so much, fostered our God-given gifts and gave us strength to follow our dreams.”

“Mom always gave more than she received. I only hope I can be the same kind of mom to my kids.” 

Sounds nice, doesn’t it? 

Going through this exercise of watching my own funeral really allowed me to see that those comments ARE REALLY what I should be striving for in life.  Those comments, rolled up, have now become my new “life vision.” 

What I learned is that my constant desire to achieve and run the perfect household may give me some sort of control and sense of order, but those things are just temporary and ultimately do not give me ultimate happiness.  I have learned that my current way of life is incongruity with the life that I want to be remembered for.  Some things need to change.

Today, I encourage you to go through this exercise.  Think about every little detail.  What things need to change in your life to start living the life you want to be remembered for?  Do you need God in your life again?  Do you need to redirect your focus from material things to the intangible gifts of life?  Are you like me and need to take the “business” out of your family life and start being in the moment?  Whatever it is, I encourage you to try this…and see what is revealed.  You might learn something new and that my friends, is a true gift!  

FitBit Flex Newbie Review

Have you ever noticed that the most successful people in life are “trackers”.  If someone wants to grow their wealth, they track their spending.  If someone wants a good running time in their next marathon, they track their time.  Tracking isn’t a glamorous life and it doesn’t exactly lend itself to spontaneity, but successful people are trackers.  They are disciplined and they know their numbers.

Over time, I have come to realize the importance of tracking my health and fitness.  As simple as I can state it, if you want to lose weight or maintain it, you need to know how many calories you are burning and how many you are eating every day. It's easy math, calories in must be less than calories out. Tracking these items doesn’t address whether or not the calories you are eating come from “clean food”.  That’s another topic for another day, but for a beginner, this is a good place to start. :)

It's like Christmas

So the “Analog Girl” (me) decided to pick up a FitBit Flex because I wanted to try to be a little more connected to my health and fitness – and wearing it on my wrist provides a nice visual reminder of the commitment I have made to myself.  I’m not very tech savvy, so I’m sharing my non-technical review, but if you’re less technical than me, you may have some questions, so please ask away. Three years ago I was just starting my fitness journey, so I’m always wearing those glasses when writing these posts.

Here is my non techie, beginners review on FitBit Flex: 

1. YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE TECH SAVVY.  It takes about 20 minutes to set up your new Flex.  If you have an iPhone or a Droid, you can install an app on your phone which allows you to see your progress.  The installation is simple and easy to follow.  You can also log into your FitBit account via the website to see your progress from any computer.
2. IT TRACKS YOUR STEPS.  I receive lots of questions on where to start a fitness journey.  Most times, people want to start simple, so I suggest walking.  Flex allows you to see how many steps you walk per day.  You can set a daily goal (I recommend 10,000) and shoot for it everyday.  If you have friends with the Flex (ADD ME!), you can “sync up” with them and start some friendly competition to see who is racking up the most steps per week.  I love this and find myself doing more because I want to see myself reach a goal.  My Flex “lights up” and vibrates for a few seconds when I achieve it. Yay!
3. HELPS SET OTHER GOALS.  A built-in pedometer is just one cool feature.  You can set other goals like how many calories you burn per day, how many “Very Active” minutes you want to achieve and see your weight progress.
4. SYNCS UP WITH MYFITNESSPAL.COM.  I love www.myfitnesspal.com.  I track my daily calories in that program.  It’s a great place to log your food and focus on meeting a daily calorie intake goal.  Since I use this app on my phone, daily, I love the fact that myfitnesspal syncs up to my Flex app.  This sounds technical, but actually quite easy to set up! 
5. TRACKS YOUR SLEEP. Are you getting enough sleep? We have all heard that it’s important for adults to get at least 8 hours of sleep a night.  It’s true.  Our bodies need the rest and they do a lot of repairing while we are asleep.  The Flex tracks sleep.  I probably love this feature the most because I really didn’t have an accurate idea of how many hours a night I was sleeping or how “soundly” I was sleeping.  Turns out, I’m not getting enough - only 6 hours on average.  I wake up at least 6-9 times a night – and even more if I’m not wearing my mouth-guard (nice, huh?).  You better believe I am working to get more sleep now that I know…and that mouth-guard is going in every night now versus just when I would think about it.

   

   it's sleek and stylish

Would I recommend buying the Flex?  Yes.  But, it’s just one tool.   

An important tool that often gets overlooked is a heart rate monitor.  I innocently bought the Flex, thinking that it would accurately track the calories I am burning in my daily workouts and that is not the case.  The Flex is not a heart rate monitor.  So, I use a HRM when I work out and enter the calories I burned into my app.  Everything syncs up and I love seeing a daily picture of my health and fitness.

If you have any questions about the Flex, let me know.  I’d also love to hear how you are using yours.    

Took the leap

He wants us to know ourselves.

I had one of those heart to heart moments tonight with my daughter. She took a big step in the courage and independence department today. She did something that she's been afraid to do for quite a while.

She decided to share with me her fear and anxiety over it and was quite tearful. Her "why" for taking that tough step was deep enough that she was willing to take that step. So cool to see this happen with my daughter...I know it was tough for her.

What did I do?? I just listened. Which is huge for me. For me, it's easy to swoop in, drive conversation and tell my daughter how she should feel or worse tell her to get over it ,but I looked deeper. And felt her emotions with her. Truly.

I know my walk with God continues to mold and shape me and make me a better mom. I felt like He was there tonight with us and leading us together in our talk.

The point. Don't feel guilty about working on you. Fitness, health and even spiritual focused time. The more you focus on you and your development, the more it compounds and shows up in such a beautiful way.

 

For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. - Matthew 12:34

 

What's My Relationship With Stuff Got To Do With It?

 Have you ever just stumbled onto a personal development book that has been a life-changer for you? You know, a book that you just totally connect with and it clicks with you on multiple levels? Several years ago, I read, “Return to Love, A Course in Miracles” by Marianne Williamson and it was incredible how THAT book and the timing of reading it re-sparked my relationship with God. It “returned” me back to God. Ultimately, where I was meant to be. Do you ever wonder what your life would be like if you hadn't found that “life-changer” book? Not that God would’ve given up on me if I didn’t read the book, but I truly felt that it was God re-introduced. When I reflect back, I’m grateful for that book. 

I’m always on the quest for a book that will have THE answer for me. Fix whatever struggle I am currently facing. One area in my life that seems to be at the forefront in the current season of my life, well, geez, probably every season of my life is TIME! I have struggled with time. Always! I am always late. My house is always disheveled to the point that I feel like if I had someone just drop by, I would be mortified. Underwear on the bathroom floor or dirty dishes in the sink. My roommate in college always used to chuckle at how I got dressed each day…with my constant changing of clothes and the pile that always ended up on my bed. The pile of clothes never returned to the closet until about a week, sometimes two later.

 I’ve been a mom for 8 years. Yep, it would seem like I would have this whole “time battle” figured out, especially working full time and having a home based business. But, it turns out, I don’t! My laundry baskets are always overflowing, I never have the kids ready for school until five minutes before we walk out the door, my car, as I like to refer to it, looks like a bomb went off inside. I crave to seek peace in my crazy world, but is that even possible? Are moms just meant for a chaotic existence? Is that what we are supposed to “deal with” in our roles? I have read all about how to make my work week a 4-hour one, or how to organize my day into certain time blocks so I am dedicated to my task when I schedule it, but nothing has seemed to work. The whole thought of it feels a little hopeless.

 Last week, I started “listening” to “Unstuff Your Life” by Andrew Mellen. I always listen to personal development in the car to grow. This new book was an unexpected purchase on Audible.com through my monthly membership. Something about the name of the book just stuck out to me. Plus, the reviews were outstanding. I figured it couldn’t hurt.

The author, is a comforting man, who seems to resemble a therapist. We get started right away and the starting point is not what I was expecting. He wasn’t telling me where the perfect place is to keep my car keys or how to organize my cabinets. He asked me to look inward to understand why I am the way I am and what is my relationship with my stuff.

What I uncovered in the past week, is that I don’t have an unhealthy relationship with my stuff. I have no trouble saying “goodbye” to things in my house, but I am a perfectionist. I strive for perfection and I am often disappointed with myself when I don’t achieve high level of performance that I expect of myself. (Can I get an Amen here?) When I don’t think I can attain it, I shut down. I often don’t perform a task unless I know I will do it with accuracy. If I don’t have all the tools and resources available, I won’t do it. In turn, things pile up. Another issue for me is distraction or maybe it’s laziness. My husband referenced a few weeks ago, that I never put things AWAY right away when I am done with them. And...he’s right. I get started with dinner and the food, measuring cups, utensils, etc. are left out. Then we sit down for dinner and my mess is sitting on the counter. We’re done and not only do I have to clear the table, but I am overwhelmed by the prepwork mess I still have to clean up. OVERWHELMED seems like an understatement. In classic Lindsay-like fashion, I got pretty defensive with my husband’s comment, but last night I told him he was right.

I don’t have it all figured out yet, but I’ve been applying some of the things I have learned over the past week: 1. Everything has a home. All of our stuff needs to have a home and we need to be able to find what we are looking for in 30 seconds. 2. Like with like. This means when we store items, they must be kept together.

I have a feeling this book is going to transform my life. I am seeing it already. I have incorporated the things I have been told to work on this weekend. Find a place for my mail and my keys. It’s been revolutionary. Really. I’ve been also focusing on putting every single thing I get out AWAY when I am finished. This weekend, I cleaned out my car, weeded the flower beds, got more laundry done than I have ever done in a weekend…and I put it away.(Yahoo!!) AND, the best part was I found time to play with my kids without the nagging feeling that I had more housework to get done. Oh, and I got this blog post done. :)

I look forward to sharing the transformation and successes with you so that you might be inspired to read this one, too.

Faith and Trust are Mutually Exclusive

Life has been in a whirlwind lately.  New exciting projects at work, my 14 month old son is just starting to walk, my daughter going back to school, staying in our current home for the longer term.  I have been grateful for the changes and decisions in the past several months, but I would be lying if I didn’t say all the changes aren’t affecting me, making me a little uneasy with life, where it’s going and how to deal with the day to day.  I’m just your everyday working mom and wife.

Faith and trust.  These are words that are so interchangeable that before this week, I hadn’t really even thought about these words.  Do they mean the same thing or are they different?  You go to church and you hear those words all the time.  But can you have faith if you don’t have trust?

I consider myself a woman of faith.  I believe in Jesus, that he walked this earth and that someday he will return.  It definitely took some time for me to truly believe this, but now I do and stand firm in my faith that He not only existed on earth, but he still does in spirit.

Each morning, I try to put my time in with God.  Some weeks are more consistent than others.  I sit down with my phone and reading a selected bible plan.  This week’s topic was “Confidence”.  Seemed appropriate enough to dive in and soak up some scripture. 

Let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him.  For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.   Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm for God can be trust to keep his promise. - Hebrews 10:22-23. 

On this particular morning, my mental highlighter picked up the word, “trust”.  TRUST!  God wanted me to read this and focus on it.  If I’m not trusting to pray to God in hard times, thinking I can handle my issues on my own, how can God come in and do His work?  Lord knows, He will fix my boo-boo much better than me!  In our instant gratification society, we are programmed that when a problem surfaces, to stop the presses and fix the problem immediately.  We can’t handle pain for too long…nor do we have the time to really pray and ask God to handle in His time.

I am guilty of this behavior.  But, how do I stop it?

A friend of mine suggested that I ask God for more trust, more faith.  Hmm, I had never had that thought…you mean I can go to him for everything?  Crazy, right?

My realization this week is that one cannot fully have faith if they do not trust.  Trust is such a powerful word and even more powerful to GIVE.  I don’t have it all figured out this week, but here’s to the molding process.

Before...

No One Likes Taking "Before" Pictures

So, I learned how to set the “self timer” to take some “before” shots for my 90 day adventure with TurboFire. Was reminded two things during the process. 1. No one likes to take “before” pics. 2. BUT “before” pics are a necessary evil to see your progress along the way…otherwise where’s the motivation to keep going when you hit a slump? There is no better motivation. Here’s mine - taken two weeks after delivering my second child.  Can’t wait to see the results this time around!

Stetching Myself

Hi!  I’m Lindsay.  I’m a christian, mother, wife, volunteer junkie, newbie fitness girl, marketer.
 These are just a few of my labels…

Let me first say, that I admire anyone who has started blogging.  I like to think I am pretty savvy when it comes to technology, but this has been a stretch for me to get started…to say the least.  Not to mention, that one needs to be comfortable putting his/her ideas and feelings out there for the world to see.  Am I confident in myself to express myself in a more personal way?

Why did I start this blog?  Really to motivate myself to try new things.  I am a writer by degree, but don’t practice it as often as I should…and quite honestly, the whole idea intrigues me.  Will anyone really care to read my posts?  I hope so.
Being a marketer, I know, in theory that I should be pretty clear on what my focus should be for this blog, but I don’t. I’m just going to share things that move, motivate and inspire me.

I love motivational quotes, great stories of triumph and words of wisdom from family, friends, co-workers, etc. I also love my family, working for the family business, my newfound passion for working out and discovering ways to lead a more fulfilling life.  I hope you’ll join me on the journey!