Roll with Changes by Shaping Your Perspective

How do you deal with change?

Do you embrace what’s next?

Or do you resist it?

Is your way working?

Mine wasn’t.

I’ve not always handled change very well…

How Change Comes About

My whole life has been wrapped up in the physical and this started at a very young age.

Gym was my favorite class in elementary school. It was the only place I was comfortable and successful … at least for a while anyway.

Then, as I moved from elementary school to middle school I encountered others who were much more skilled than I, and I was forced into a 1970’s PE “uniform” (red polyester shorts and horizontal striped shirt) where my identity was completely thrown for a loop. I no longer stood out with my physical skills, I no longer fit in, I no longer even wanted to be seen.  I actually disappeared.

It made me hate gym. I hated my body. I was no longer even comfortable in the only place where I used to feel confident. The only place I ever belonged.  This was a harsh and unwelcome change in my identity.

Diet and Exercise

Who was I?  I no longer knew….

I decided to take control of the one thing I knew how to control … my body.

I began to diet, exercise, and isolate from others. I found control and comfort in my food rules and diet rituals.

Diet and exercise became my “go to” behaviors, year after year. I became very good at it, too!  With the right unwavering, driven approach, I excelled at it.  So much so that I would spend the next 35 years in what I thought was my life’s purpose: teaching group exercise and fitness.

Thirty-Five years!

Then, several years ago change showed up again.  I was tired, burned out, exhausted.  Tired of dieting, exercising and striving for the perfect body, it was never good enough, no matter what and I was never successful.

Change Shows Up Again

A few years back, I decided to shift my vision. Due to my own body image and conflicts with weight, I moved into a new and amazing career working with women who struggle with their relationship with food, mind and/or body, and I thought I’d found my dream job as Program Director at Green Mountain at Fox Run, a whole-body wellness retreat center for women who struggle with weight.

It was a place where I could guide and support women to begin a diet-free journey of self-acceptance, self-compassion and self-love. 

YET, I would soon come to realize, this was not a destination, but a just a stop along the way. Something was missing.  I had a new perspective.

A Change in Perspectives Brought Shaping Perspectives

As another autumn approached and summer heat gave way to bright red and orange leaves, I moved into my own next chapter. My own perspectives around weight, food and body image had changed.

It was time to work for myself, share my own story and implement my thirty years of professional and personal experience. So, I took a leap and decided to leave the “stable” job and venture into the arena of self-employment and running my own business.

I was ready to count on myself, my training and credentials, and, perhaps most importantly, my personal experiences.  It was time to share my story and reach out to other women who struggled, too.

Embracing Change

Life is to be lived from the heart. Passions are to be pursued. Happiness is to be had. Impact is to be made. Knowledge is to be shared. I no longer care solely about the outcome, I care about discovery, new beginnings, learning, growth. EVEN IF I FAIL. I’m excited to try. I’m inspired to trust change. I’m thrilled to be empowered to shape my own perspective.

And so, with my husband and business partner, Shaping Perspectives…A Woman’s Way to Joy! opened its virtual doors.

Shaping Perspectives has support; care; knowledge; experience; and coaching and training for women who are tired of fighting the war on weight, food and body.

There is a better way!

We move through life in a distinct order, at a precise time. The people in our paths help support and guide us, and there are people who appear in our lives who we help and guide as well. It would be an honor for Shaping Perspectives to be that for you.    When you’re ready for a better way yourself, explore some of the ways we can work together here.

I recognize the changes I have made, the lessons I’ve learned and I feel gratitude and love for my present chapter.  I am so appreciative that at any given moment, we can turn the page and start a new.

Changes are a way of life. Learning to flow with them (like the tides of the ocean) can open new doors, new experiences, new visions.  This can happen for you too. What will your next season of change bring? 

Click here to get for a free clarity conversation, and begin to implement  the 5 steps that changed my perspective…today.