Updated AF Collective
Welcome to the "Updated AF Collective," podcast where we celebrate the power and resilience of women.
Join me as we dive into inspiring stories, engage in meaningful conversations, and explore topics that empower women from all walks of life.
We believe that every woman has a unique strength within her, waiting to be unleashed.
Whether you're an entrepreneur, a leader, a creative, a caregiver, or simply on your own personal journey, this podcast is for you.
Updated AF Collective
Holistic Health and Spiritual Fitness With Sami Ruess'
Unlock the secrets to holistic health and self-betterment in our latest episode featuring the incredible journey of Sami Ruess, a spiritual fitness coach whose radiant energy is as inspiring as her story. Discover how Sammy combines fitness with spiritual and mental well-being, sharing her expert tips on maintaining a balanced lifestyle while embracing the Texas heat with "hot girl walks." Her journey from Connecticut to Austin, filled with resilience and the pursuit of her true calling, offers valuable insights for anyone seeking to transform their life.
This episode also offers a deeply personal look into the world of mediumship and spiritual awakening. Hear about the childhood fears that shaped Sami's journey, her battles with panic disorders and depression, and how connecting with a shaman changed everything. Through raw and honest storytelling, Sami reveals the profound healing that comes from understanding and embracing one's mediumship abilities. A transformative experience of channeling a deceased relative provides a powerful example of how spiritual awakening can bring clarity and mental well-being.
Finally, explore the entrepreneurial side of Samis life, where authenticity in coaching and business ownership take center stage. Learn about the challenges she faced, from setting boundaries with clients to planning retreats that foster community and connection. Sami's practical strategies for rewiring habits, mastering morning routines, and maintaining personal and professional growth are invaluable for anyone on a journey toward self-improvement. Whether you're looking to improve your fitness, spiritual well-being, or business acumen, this episode is packed with inspiration and actionable advice.
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Connect over email!
mindfulnesswithsami@gmail.com
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Hey guys, welcome back to Updated AF Collective, the podcast. I am your host, megan Wirth. Today I have another amazing interview for you. Her name is Sammy Roos and she is a spiritual fitness coach. Yes, people like that exist and I am so glad they do, especially Sammy, because she is this like little ray of sunshine when she walks into a room. You notice when she speaks, you hear her and you can hear her voice in this interview, when I was editing it and like doing all this stuff before I could publish the episode, just listening to the episode back, I just couldn't stop smiling. She's one of the happiest women I have ever met in my entire life. But the thing is with her she didn't start off that way and she's very open with her journey and her whole spiritual awakening her fitness journey, I guess, and how she became a fitness coach. She's very raw and real and if you follow her on Instagram which I have her Instagram in the show notes she's very open about her journey and how it wasn't always like sunshines and rainbows and all that stuff. She's very real, is what I'm trying to say. So listen to the episode and, if you feel inspired, if you've been on your own personal journey of weight loss and you want to combine it with a spiritual, I guess, side, she is the girl for you. I got to sit down with her in the studio that we go record at sometimes periodically in Austin, and she was 100% worth the two hour drive. So take a listen and, yeah, go follow her on Instagram, because I'm already her fan.
Speaker 1:Welcome back to the show, guys. Welcome to the updated AF Collective podcast, where we celebrate the power and resilience of women. Join me as we dive into inspiring stories, engage in meaningful conversations and explore topics that empower women from all walks of life. I believe that every woman has a unique strength within her waiting to be unleashed. Whether you're an entrepreneur, a leader, a creative, a caregiver or simply on your own personal journey, this podcast is for you. Together, we'll share stories of triumph, discuss strategies for success and provide a supportive space for women to connect and grow. Get ready for real, authentic conversations that ignite your inner strength and inspire you to chase after your dreams fearlessly. Welcome to the Updated AF Collective. Hey guys, welcome back to the show. Today I have a really special guest. We are live back in the studio and I am so freaking excited I have this girl that I found at Michaela J's live podcasting event here in Austin, and I remember the first time I met this is her name.
Speaker 2:I'm going to introduce her. Her name is.
Speaker 1:Sam, sammy Ruse, right, Did I say, oh my God, you guys you have no idea how bad I've been butchering. I have been practicing, but I met this girl. She's so freaking cute. You're like your energy.
Speaker 1:When you first walked into the room it was like it wasn't intimidating, but it was like I was like oh gosh, like when you're dropped dead gorgeous. And then I remember, like, looking over and you were so perfectly coordinated, like the colors that you were wearing blended you in with the environment, at Michaela J's podcasting event, and I remember thinking did she plan this, cause it looks great. So, but I want to read a little bit about what you do because I want to share you with everybody in the listeners. So she is a spiritual fitness coach and, like I said you guys, she's amazing and I'm going to link her Instagram in the show notes and you have to go follow her because she is really a spiritual fitness coach. She says she helps women live their healthiest lifestyle, to finally feel confident and healthy within their bodies, while combining mindset and spiritual practices to uplevel mentally, physically and spiritually. Welcome to updated AF Sammy.
Speaker 3:Girl, thank you so much. Oh my gosh, it's such a pleasure to be here.
Speaker 1:I'm so happy that you're here and like I feel like I drank way too much caffeine because I was, like, so excited.
Speaker 3:So no, me too, like I was up at 5am this morning ready to go, yeah, and you look gorgeous, Like okay. So okay.
Speaker 1:I want to share you with the world. Let's start from the beginning, cause I know you're new to Texas, so let's start about like, cause I can't remember where did you come from. Again, uh, which state?
Speaker 3:So I grew up in Connecticut and then my partner, tom and I moved to South Carolina last year and we lived there for about a year. I had just started my business really wanted the warmer weather. Okay, like a lot of people, like the four seasons, I am not a fan of the snow.
Speaker 3:I'm sorry, I love to do Hawker walks, so I love to be outside Um. But South Carolina, we loved it. I would say it's more of like a vacay spot for us. We'll definitely go back for vacation, but living there it just wasn't really what we were looking for. And let me tell you, I've only been in Austin for two months, but this is everything and more Like it is beautiful here.
Speaker 1:It is, and I see you doing your hot girl walks on Instagram All the time, all the time, and I always think, like, is she okay in this humidity? Because I'm like I don't leave my house. I'm the opposite I love cold weather. I would thrive in Alaska, wow.
Speaker 3:See, I don't know, I I think because I grew up in Connecticut, you know we were there for 24 years, so it's like because it was there for so long, I don't know. I love the heat, so it really doesn't bother me. I mean, midday I'll maybe take more of like a 15, 20 minute walk, whereas in the morning and the evening it'll be more like 45 minutes. But I think a lot of people will look at me and be like, well, you're a coach, so it's easy for you, but there's still some days that I don't want to go out there.
Speaker 3:But I, personally, this is where, like, my spiritual practices come in Cause. Yes, I do it for the cardio and because it helps me lean out, but also it is so grounding to walk outside, even if you have shoes on, and it just helps me clear my mind. That's when I talk my best to my clients, like I'll be sending them audios, hyping them up if they need a little pick me up. So there's so many reasons I do it outside of just fitness too. So I'll have to like remind myself that if I'm like you and I just like I want to cozy up on the couch today, yeah, I don't feel like it.
Speaker 1:So why Austin? Is there any reason behind it or was it just a random? Hey, let's just try it, let's just move there and see what happens so I think my intuition was calling me here for quite some time.
Speaker 3:it was really one of those things where so many people were asking me like Sammy, why Austin? Like you've never even been there, how do you know? And my cousin moved down here a couple years ago. She's always taught amazing things. She's also a coach, so she was the one that really guided me into finding my business mentorship. And I remember I had gotten my personal training in nutrition certifications and I was like maybe I'll do mindset or life coaching. And she goes bitch, like why are you not just starting your business? Like no, you're going to join PT domination and you're going to start. And the next day I did, the next day, I dropped a couple of grand and I was like, okay, I'm starting my business, like I'm here and that was the best decision I could have made. So she had been here raving about it. And then, of course, michaela. You know, at that point I found Michaela when I was just waking up in my spiritual journey, before I even lost my 60 pounds back when I was 19, about six years ago. I found her in the beginning of her podcast and she had moved here.
Speaker 3:So when Tom and I moved to South Carolina. She moved here and she was raving and raving and raving about it and we were in between Austin or South Carolina when we were moving in the first place. But we ended up doing a little road trip, so we picked South Carolina because we stopped there, we loved it, we thought it was a good vibe. But when I realized that wasn't the scene for me, I was like Austin, like that's what I wanted in the first place. I was really between both, but it was always just something that was on my mind.
Speaker 3:And then I found out it was actually in my birth chart.
Speaker 1:So, oh, oh, I just got the chills. I know, literally like I was going to say that maybe that was like a supposed to be, like a season, that you know, like maybe you're supposed to be there for a season, but no, you were always meant to be and Austin, it's just like you were almost second guessing yourself and you've made a comment that I kind of want to backtrack on. You said you had a spiritual awakening. Can we talk about that? Where were you?
Speaker 2:What were you doing when you were like open opening yourself up to like a possibility of like more to life entrepreneurship like talk talk
Speaker 3:us through that, because those are usually really good stories and really inspiring stories. Um, so my entire life I knew I was different. I'm an Aquarius, it is huge in my birth chart, like all around so I'm very different from my family. Um, and I think, in a way, like I was always such a bright light and around that time I didn't realize that I had abilities and I honestly didn't speak about it in public until my best friend, taylor, and I started our podcast back in February of this year. But I'm actually medium and I avoided it my entire life.
Speaker 3:Like I had a situation when I was five where my aunt scared the shit out of me and we were in Florida visiting my grandma and she was telling me that there were ghosts knocking on all the windows and they were screaming and they were full of pain and all of these things.
Speaker 3:I didn't realize at the time that she, unfortunately, was an alcoholic, so she was drinking and she didn't know what she was saying. But from then on out, like I was a kid that was seeing things and I didn't understand and my family didn't understand they, they didn't know how to help me during that. So when I was 18, 19 and I was waking up, I was struggling with awful panic disorders, like I could not leave my house without having a panic attack. It was a huge, huge obstacle for me to overcome, especially in high school, cause I would have them during class and then I also was having major depression, like I would not want to get out of bed. I would have nightmares which would cause me to be awake all night, but then I would want to sleep all day and I finally met my shaman and he helped me get it out of my house because, like I said, my family just didn't know. So when I'm telling them, like my lights are flashing, I'm hearing the door open and close, like there's footsteps, I'm having nightmares Like my grandma.
Speaker 1:They don't know how to help somebody through something that they physically can't see Exactly.
Speaker 3:Exactly, and I would have, like dreams, my grandparents, um. After my dad left when I was a kid, we moved in with them, so they were a huge part of my childhood and I used to have dreams of them having like red demon eyes, so like the thing would use the people I love the most against me. And finally I met my shaman and he helped me get rid of it. He taught me a lot of what I know now in terms of spirituality and I really started there. So it was. It was like a major test. It was like my abilities opened up all of the sudden and I couldn't deny it anymore.
Speaker 1:Do you think that it was like an attached? Did you have an attached soul?
Speaker 3:Okay, so yeah, it was definitely an attachment.
Speaker 1:It was following me around trying to get your attention, see, like, what happens is like, uh, people who are medium, psychic mediums, spiritual mediums, all the things, um, if you don't understand how to turn it on and turn it off, yes, you are a lighthouse and you are a little beacon of light roaming around the planet and not understanding why you're picking up on these things and you have this like knowing and you are, um, you know, reading people, without actually you know, knowing that you're reading people, but you're opening yourself up to everything else that's going on around you, like things that we can't see. So you're picking up all these spirits and, unfortunately, um, the really lost ones, um can attach themselves to you because you are this little beacon of light and they're just consuming your energy, which leads to anxiety, depression, um, mood swings, fatigue. So the fact that you got that help is amazing. And to to like, get that thing off of you and detach from you, I'm sure just like, felt like a, like a, just this weight lifted off of you.
Speaker 3:It. It was, um, I had a lot of fear. You know my aunt actually. It's so funny we're talking about this now because she had come to me, uh, this weekend and I also channel. So I was sitting by the pool tanning course and all of a sudden I could feel something next to me and I was like, okay, I feel like something's here.
Speaker 3:And I'm recently working with amanda rose. Her name is the mobile medium on instagram and she's one of my clients and we've been kind of like trading services just because she knows about mediumship. So at the podcast event, michaela was like you, you guys should hook up in. You know, she has been such a help for me. And she called it out and she goes did you have someone pass away from a brain injury or something with their head? And it turns out that my aunt passed away from a brain hemorrhage. So she went to Amanda trying to contact me because right now I am learning the on and the off and I'm not fully ready for all of the spirits. Like I'm okay with my friends or my family coming and like people that I kind of know, like I'm still opening myself up to that, but I don't want to be available for just anyone and everything. So she's been helping me out with that and my aunt came through and she actually sincerely apologized to me because she goes.
Speaker 3:I see where so many of your fears throughout your life stemmed from this one event when you were a child. Yeah, because it's like because I was so terrified of ghosts but I knew that I could see them and feel them. It gave me the fear that I could not be alone, which then I was like addicted to men with my daddy issues like looking for love everywhere else, and that's why I gained 60 pounds and I binge ate because I would go through awful relationships and I was looking for love in external places you know love outside of yourself because you couldn't go inside, you didn't know how to go inside.
Speaker 3:I did not know how to go inside and then it's like I was so terrified of being out of control. That was another thing Like I like to be in control, and it's because when it comes to the spirit world, you don't have necessarily that control Like I do now, but at the time it's hard, like because, like, as a medium, like you don't have control of who comes through, how they come through and all of those things too.
Speaker 1:So when I I'm also a medium too so when I do, uh, when I do readings for other people, I always brief them first, like, look, like I'm sorry if you have somebody on the other side that you don't want to speak to. I have zero control over it. And I've I read this one girl who her grandfather came through and she immediately stopped me and she's like I don't want to hear from him. And I'm like I, what do you want me to do? You want me to tell him to leave?
Speaker 2:And she's like, yeah, I don't want to hear from him and I'm just like okay.
Speaker 1:In my head I'm like sorry, and then like nobody else came through. So I felt really bad and, like you, we don't have really control over anything like that. So when you do start reading and you do it is something that you have to like release control. Because when you start to control it, that's when you start to like second guess yourself, and then the messages start to get a little fuzzy. You can't tell if it's your brain thinking it or if it's spirit. So it's like, and, girl, oh my gosh, like I feel like I need to have you back on the podcast just so we can talk about mediumship, because I I love that, I love that so much. I'm not going to interrupt you, girl. I want to hear the rest of this story because, like I said, like you've brought up so many things like trauma, it's like you were living in toxic stress, like oh my gosh like my whole life.
Speaker 1:Girl, please continue. I'm so sorry to cut you off.
Speaker 3:Like girl, I love you.
Speaker 1:But I feel like I'm going to have you back on for a second, just so we can talk mediumship. Oh, I'd love that.
Speaker 3:I would literally love that. So that's essentially how I started my journey, you know like, and that's intense, by the way it was very intense.
Speaker 3:It was very intense, but that's what got me on my spiritual awakening, because I started with the mindset. So that's why, when it comes to my program, I'm like we're going to work on your mindset first, Like we need to acknowledge, like what are your limiting beliefs? How is the way that you felt about yourself? Because that's where I started it was like I just started. I read the secret and I learned all about the laws of attraction. So I was like, okay, I'm going to work on just attracting good in, because at that time it was like I was attracting shitty relationships, I was attracting stress, I was attracting bad entities, but it was all a stem to your mindset.
Speaker 3:It was all a stem to my mindset. So I knew I needed to change within me first right, just like Michaela always says, she's like I was the problem. I needed to make the change and that was essentially what I had too. So the first couple of years it was more so I was working on that aspect and I was working on just tying down my spirituality and my mindset, but I was still struggling with my binge eating. So it wasn't until I was 21 that I got home from school I had gained a lot of weight, like I was at least 70 pounds heavier than I was supposed to be according to the doctors and you know a lot of my clients can relate to this. But when you go to the doctor year after year and they're like you need to lose 50 pounds, like you're overweight, you're obese for your, your height, it just kind of hurts your heart each time.
Speaker 1:It's like thanks for letting me know, but okay, how do I fix it? You keep telling me I'm overweight. But how do I fix it? Like you don't. You don't know what you don't know.
Speaker 3:Exactly so I ended up having this whole mirror moment. It was covid. I had put on a bikini where the year before it had fit, and now it just looked like a thong and I was like, oh my gosh, like I still need to work on the self-love, because at that point I was trying with my fitness journey, but I was coming from such an a space of hate you know, I was like I hate, I hate my body, I hate this.
Speaker 3:So I wasn't getting anywhere with this. So essentially I started to work out at home. At the time we were totally shut down so gyms weren't even available. And guess what? I started with walking. That's really how I started.
Speaker 3:I would go and I would call my grandma in Florida because she was in her nineties and I knew that she only had a couple of years and I was like I'm going to take advantage. So I would talk to her, I would call friends and I was just working on getting my body moving and building the consistency. And then I started with like water gallon bottles and I would do like bicep curls, I would do squats and like hold it. So I built my consistency working out like three times a week and then eventually, when the gyms opened, I had that consistency. So I just transferred it into the gym and I truly believe that both spirituality and the gym saved my life.
Speaker 3:But the reason why I had to tie in my spirituality side for my business was because I was teaching the fitness but no matter what spiritual shit came up like, I couldn't even help it. You know, it would be like you need to ground or you need to have a positive mindset, like it was always coming up anyway, because for me it was the combination of the two and I truly feel like they saved my life. You know, I really do.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and so while you're going through this and you've built, I love the fact that you you said I just started walking and then from walking I did gallon jugs of water, but, thank you, built the habit over time and it wasn't like, okay, I'm going to go to the gym and then you go for two weeks straight and then quit, which a lot of people do, myself included. I mean, for the longest time I was like I'm just going to go to the gym every single day and I would for like two weeks straight, but then I would start making excuses for myself because the habit wasn't there and you had the opportunity to because, again, the gyms weren't open to slowly build that habit. So tell me after that, you are now in the gym and you are waking up to your gifts and, um, did you get? Was Michaela, your first coach? Like what did you? What was the steps after that?
Speaker 3:So I had a couple of different steps from the moment I met my shaman. I worked with him religiously, you know, like he took a lot of my money, not in a bad way, but all of the money I was making like I needed it and I, so I started investing in myself at like 18, you know so, when people come to me and they're like, well, I don't have the funds, I'm like, well, neither did I, and I still paid 150 an hour.
Speaker 1:You know, have a shitty mental health Like you can't afford. It has an ROI and, just like you said, like I took my money and I gave it all to him because I know it was going to have an ROI oh, 100%.
Speaker 3:And it did. You know, like, look at me now. So I started with him, um, my cousin, who was a coach. She actually helped me out in the beginning of my journey too, but it wasn't necessarily aligned, because she's a vegan, so I like meat, I eat meat, um, so it just really wasn't aligned. So I did that for like a month or two and then I ended up quitting, and I do tell my clients now I wish I didn't quit, because I know she could have helped me a lot faster along my journey if I had just followed through with it.
Speaker 3:But I do feel like I needed to go through my weight loss journey alone so that I could teach others what to do, especially others like me who like to eat meat, who are spiritual, who I struggled with the yo-yo cycle too, so I was the same way as you.
Speaker 3:I would go consistently for like two weeks, then I'd go on a drinking bender and I wouldn't go for another month, you know, um. So I did that, and then it really wasn't until I lost my weight that I really started investing in myself, like my business. Mentorship was my first investment because I was going to college, so my mom helped me out a lot, which I'm really grateful for. But I was working full time in the restaurant industry to pay for college, so I'm so grateful that, like I paid it all off, I don't have any debt, you know which is something that not a lot of people my age can say and went to school, so I worked really hard at that. So I also was like putting my finances there. So my business mentorship was my first big investment and then, literally the next month, I signed up with Michaela.
Speaker 3:You know, so I've been working with her for about like a year and a half, two years, and I've done her MMM program twice. I've gone on four to five different retreats with her and I just listen. You know even free content, Like I consider, for example, Marley Rose, who is one of her best friends. I listened to her podcast religiously.
Speaker 1:She's been on my show too and like she's a gem, like I love her. I love her. Yeah, no, she's been on updated AF too, and like but the but. The thing is like I've invested in both of their courses too. I love them, I think they're amazing girls and again, like every single time, I'm like like putting out like thousands of dollars.
Speaker 1:I've always had a return on my investment in some way, shape or form. I do believe, like, for example, like putting in the money and traveling to Michaela J's live podcasting event led me to you, and like I don't believe in like accidents or like coincidences. I do believe I'm supposed to meet everybody for a specific reason and like, like I said, like there's my I feel like you are one of my ROIs just for like investing in Michaela and it just I love that you you think that way too, cause a lot of people don't think that way. They think like, oh, I guess, like I don't have the money for this, but I feel like you can't afford to continue life like how you are and otherwise what You're going to have like the same year after year after year. Something has to change and you did that investment. So, yeah, tell me more.
Speaker 3:Oh my gosh. So I was just saying, like I take advantage of free stuff too. Like I actually just did Marley's body challenge that she did for the last week, where it was like that free challenge and I don't need it, but like why not? And I learned from it. I did the journal prompts and I was like, wow, okay, here's some limiting beliefs from when I was 60 pounds heavier. You know, like I just feel like so many people think that they're good, like they're like oh no, like I've made it, I'm happy.
Speaker 2:Like I don't need to work on my mindset.
Speaker 3:I don't need therapy, I don't need anything. Like I feel like we are the best investments that we have. So we need to work on ourselves religiously. And I don't think it's like a one-time thing, I think it's going to be for our entire lives, like I want to be having coaches and having shamans and having spiritual teachers for my entire life because I want to help people and I just I always say, like how could I be a coach if I'm not being coached?
Speaker 1:Like if I'm not growing, you're not going to help the people that I want to help Right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like life is always evolving. Yeah, and the minute that you turn off your brain, it was like I know it all, I don't need to take any more information in, I don't need to go on retreats or invest in myself with other people. Like the minute you stop doing that, I feel like one. Like if you are in that coaching space and you stop being coachable, I feel like you're kind of being a hypocrite. That's just my personal opinion. I feel like we have to always keep learning and evolving, because what I've learned, especially in the last like four years of my life, when I kind of had my spiritual awakening and I, like you know, moved to Texas on like a random, a random whim, but like what I've learned, is that, um, like sorry, I was like where am I going with this? So what I learned is like every single time I meet somebody, I learned something I've never, I've never known before.
Speaker 1:And even if it's just a tiny little piece of information, I always learn something new. I always walk away from somebody and I'm just like, wow, I never, freaking, knew that. But people that don't want to invest in themselves and do all those fun things, I feel like when they shut themselves down, it's like now they're unresponsive to information or like learning things that, again, they've never learned before. So I agree.
Speaker 3:And I will say, like I've gone through like spurts of that, you know, and even now, like I am not perfect, like my ego can step in sometimes, like last year in Charleston, I do feel like that was a season for me. Um, it was hard, you know, like I went and I was in Connecticut feeling the best. I felt me and Tom lived in our apartment by ourselves and it was amazing and we have my service dog, nala, and then we moved to Charleston and I went through so much inner child work. But I was also like a year into my business and like I was working through things with that of like limiting beliefs, of, oh my gosh, like imposter syndrome.
Speaker 3:Am I meant to be a coach? Am I meant to be this, you know, and I felt through spurts of like him helping you with form and me being like no, I don't need your help. You know, like I'm guilty of it too, we all are. I think the difference is is whether or not you can have the ability to have that like reflection and say is this serving me? Is this who I want to be? Because when I did that, I was acting in ways I didn't necessarily like and that's what shifted everything for me and now, like I moved here and I feel better than I've ever felt, but I really had to be really serious with myself and say, okay, charleston wasn't necessarily my happiest, funnest time. What do I want to change from that? What can I learn from that? And I've been able to do 75 hard.
Speaker 1:I'm on phase three now of the whole year.
Speaker 3:You're so inspiring. I got you. Amanda's doing it, Actually the mobile media. She's on day 15 of 75 hard since working together, so you can do it. You know I keep failing. I keep failing. She failed four times before working with me, so we got it. I'll be your supporter. I'll be like come on, let's go DMing you on Instagram.
Speaker 1:I love it. I need some accountability.
Speaker 3:We all do, you know we literally all do, and that's why I think we need to be really real with ourselves of where can we improve, and just having that open mindset of like, well, I'm not always going to be perfect. Sometimes teenage Sammy is going to come out and I'm going to be a little bit of a bitch. You know, maybe I learned a little bit from my family and I'm like passive aggressive, when I could have been like, hey, do you mind just doing the dishes?
Speaker 3:You know, but like you have to reflect and you have to be willing to make the change next time. And I think that's what's really big is making that shift and then doing something different, and that's just been what it is for me, especially with my fitness journey.
Speaker 1:Yeah, speaking of business, I want to get into that. When did it really start taking off Like you started it? And then let's talk about that Like how, how did that?
Speaker 3:process go. So, like I said, my cousin had told me I mean, you just need to do this shit, and I was like, okay, so I hired my business mentorship and I spent about a month um, using friends as little like dummies. I knew what I was doing. I was coaching in person for over a year, so I knew everything about coaching. It was just really about bringing it all together on an online space. So I spent about a month doing that and then I started hiring clients, you know, and I am just so lucky, like within my spirituality and within my manifestation, and I feel like when you deep dive into your purpose, the universe is always going to support you, right? So from the very jump like I was attracting clients, I got multiple girls in my first week, you know, um, and three months in I quit my job.
Speaker 1:I was like peace out girl scout like I'm good quitting nine to five jobs.
Speaker 3:If you ever listen to my podcast, I'm all for it, so yeah so I ended up doing that and then in November was my first 10k month, so that was like my record-breaking month and then from there I've just been really working on scaling and building. You know, I think the one thing with business is that you can't let it mean anything about you. I had like a little bit of like a weird spout when I was in Charleston where I had like girls leave. But I realized now after going to Michaela's retreat in Bali, they were all girls that were not spiritual and they were all girls that were not aligned. And when I was in Bali I had a download. And that's when I became Sammy, your spiritual fitness coach, cause, like I said, naturally it was coming out. But between January and February I went from 30 clients and 11 left in two months. And that's really when I was struggling the most because I made it mean so much about me.
Speaker 3:I was like oh my gosh, you were questioning yourself 100% because it was like, oh, all of these girls just left and it was for crazy things. It was like, oh, like I have a lung clot or I just got into a really bad car accident and I can't work out anymore. It was things that I didn't have any control over, but it just felt like it was like a punch, a punch, a punch. And because I was going through all the inner child stuff after leaving home for the first time I think all of us do like, especially when you just leave your hometown and you finally are in your own energy I was like looking back at my childhood, like trauma, trauma trauma.
Speaker 1:You're like, wait a minute, you start to see the bigger picture. Yes, cause you're in your own reality and you start to see the bigger picture.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So when I went back and I reflected on that time period, it was all people that were not in alignment that I actually did not enjoy coaching, you know. So when it came to the business it was once I stepped into that alignment. After February, everything just started, like you know, like going up and I have authentically yourself.
Speaker 1:So you start attracting people that are more like you.
Speaker 3:And the number one compliment I get on my business is I'm obsessed with the community. Like this weekend I had six girls go for a hot girl walk together back home in Connecticut, cause one of them flew in from California, so they all get together at the beach and they FaceTimed me and I, like, was in tears and they were like I just love this community. I love it so much. All the girls from other States in, like Arizona and Massachusetts ones in South Carolina, they were like I wish that I could have been there. You know they're all trying to convince me to do a retreat next year. Yeah, I think you should.
Speaker 3:I think I should too. So that's definitely in the bucket list, Um, but it was really when I turned and I was like, okay, I'm going to be spiritual, I'm just going to be authentically me. Back in March that everything catapulted and now my business is my favorite thing ever. And if somebody leaves, like they graduate or they just can't do it anymore, Like I'm just I don't make it mean anything about me, but I think every business owner needs to go through something like what I went through Right Cause it was a confidence issue.
Speaker 3:I didn't have the confidence. I didn't have the confidence when I was 60 pounds heavier. Like there was a lot of time in my life where I didn't have that, and I think that this is where people kind of get swayed, is they're like well, you're just going to have it overnight and you can have that confidence. Like when I lost my weight, I built my confidence, but that doesn't mean that I built it to the area it is. Now you know you need to continue building it and the universe is going to test you too and be like oh, are you confident? Like, are you sure of yourself? And that's exactly what happened. Yeah, Especially with the spirituality was like are you authentic?
Speaker 1:And my answer was no.
Speaker 1:Let's see if those habits have actually kicked in and you're going to pick the right choice, because it's so easy If you have, if you're in the middle this is just my theory If you're in the middle of, like, fixing your mindset and trying to improve yourself, like I feel like, yeah, it's so easy for your brain to say, hey, remember that time where we didn't go to the gym and we snuggled up on the couch and watched Netflix all day. That was so great, right. And then, versus, like we can go to the gym and run three miles on a treadmill, which was miserable, right. Your brain is having these like arguments with you and it's trying to pick the path of least resistance. It's a survival technique and I feel like our brain is constantly wanting us to let's just stay home, let's just do this, you know. But like no, we want to be uncomfortable. I purposely love the. I try to do something one hour every day that makes me uncomfortable. I love that.
Speaker 1:I just I have to because it expands I think that's the right word expands our tolerance to be uncomfortable and therefore, like when bad things happen in life because bad things are going to happen periodically I can tolerate it better, I can handle it better, versus before that I used to like shut down and like cry in the fetal position. So, um, when you are coaching these women, like how are you fixing their mindset? Like what are you doing? What are you teaching them?
Speaker 3:Okay. So the way that I really break down my program is I try to give them resources so that every single day they have a piece of me, even if I'm not necessarily there. Like I work Monday through Friday, so they talk to me all week long. However, on the weekends I have learned boundaries and your girl takes them off. You know. So again, just you know you're learning, so I teach them what works for me. So we always have a Monday mindset and that's going to be anything like affirmations. I sent them like gala darlings, eft tapping like the morning one last week, cause I'm obsessed with it.
Speaker 3:So, I use what works for me and I send it to them. Maybe it's like a positive quote, like one thing that's been huge in my community right now is small progress is progress. Right, we're going for progress, not perfection, because I'm a perfectionist. So a lot of my clients naturally struggle with the things that I've struggled with. So we have that. I give them trainings on Tuesday and Thursday, where I like record a small training for them and, for example, the one that I did for this week was just fucking do something.
Speaker 2:So you know how you're like.
Speaker 3:I'd rather like sit on the couch. It's like just do something, like, oh my God, like, if you really cannot go to the gym, like you're way too sore or you're really not feeling good.
Speaker 3:Just go for a Hawker walk, just do a Pilates video, do a yoga video. So I give them that too, like I give them yoga videos, I give them Pilates videos. I have resources with all my favorite, like all my meditations, all my affirmations that I use through my fitness journey, that I use to lose my weight. So I give them the mindset work that I needed and that worked for me. Wednesday we have coaching calls. So that's really where they get the one-on-one time and they're just so much fun, like they're my favorite part of my week. We all get together and I usually give them like a little like talk and you know a little pick me up for the week, and then they answer questions or they ask questions, they share wins, really whatever they want and need, I'm there to serve. So we have that.
Speaker 3:And then every Friday I send them a journal prompt. So journaling is huge for me. I journal every single day, I meditate every single day. So I encourage that with them. Like last night, for example, I did an entire new moon ritual where I sage I Palo Santo, I lit a candle and I was like, okay, I'm calling in and I did an entire journal session. I read it out loud to like some moon water.
Speaker 1:I don't know if you've ever done that all the time, yeah, so I like to do the choir over here.
Speaker 3:Well, I just learned, so I knew you could do moon water with full moon. I didn't realize you could do with the new moon, so that was something that I just learned. You're always learning, right? No matter how spiritual, how fit you are, you're still going to learn. So I read it to my moon water and then, when I went to sleep, I did this amazing meditation. Oh my gosh. On YouTube there's a girl Reiki, rachel. I'm obsessed with her.
Speaker 2:Like please go follow her, she's amazing.
Speaker 3:So I did her meditation for the new moon and I swear like I went to sleep a new person. It was literally. I could feel the cells in my body shifting. So this morning, what did I do? I went to my girls and I recorded a video and I was like, oh my God, look at what I just did.
Speaker 2:And like I told them all, about it, you know.
Speaker 3:So it's like, as I continue to do the mindset work, I teach them it too and I also, like I said, with the trainings and the journal prompts and the mindset Mondays and just checking in, I'm always just asking them questions that people in their life don't ask.
Speaker 1:Challenging them, probably because a lot of us have never been challenged and they don't even think to.
Speaker 3:You know, like one of my clients tests, I love her to death. We just signed up for an extension in her program and I said to her on our call I was like okay, so what are we working on? Like, what are your goals, what do you want for fitness, what do you want for personal, what do you want for life? And she goes I don't, i't know. I haven't thought that far. I only thought to like where we're at now and I was like, well, you fucking crushed those. So I gave her homework and I was like go do this. Like I gave her questions to ask herself, I gave her how to make a journal or a vision board and then I went and made a training on it so that everybody could do it. Yeah, exactly. So I really will do that as well, with the mindset I will notice what clients are struggling with specifically and then I make content training specifically for them in the app about it.
Speaker 1:So you tailor everybody's individual, like fitness plan and mindset goals and stuff like that. So you're very tailored to them and what they need, it's all personalized, yeah.
Speaker 3:So, for example, like one girl, abby, I met her through Michaela too, in the MMM program she signed up with me about I don't know over six months ago, and we're training for a triathlon, you know. So, even though I'm a strength training girly, I have all of my clients strength train, because you need to strength train in order to build your muscle.
Speaker 3:But I literally still support the cardio girlies too, like I have Tess, for example. She wants to run a half marathon, so that's her new goal. She came back to me with all of her goals. She did her homework and she goes I want to do a half marathon. I said, okay, we're going to make you a program about that and we're going to build up how many miles you run each week.
Speaker 1:Easy, you know how do you hop a month? Or mental, because running cardio is mental, believe it or not. I don't think people think that that it's a mental thing, but for it is. I'm a natural runner. I've been running since the military. I ran when I was a cop. All the fun. I still run. I can run for miles. But what I've noticed when I, when I would do like six to 10 mile runs, my brain would always give up before my body did. So what would you tell somebody who wanted to run a marathon like that? Um like, how would you tailor a mindset? I guess, um, like homework, for that Does that make sense.
Speaker 3:So I feel like cold showers are amazing for that, because that's something I did during 75 hard and we had to do a five minute cold shower every day and it's like you get your brain to do something it does not want to do. Yes, I'm also a huge fan of trying to make it as enjoyable as possible, so, like if they were really struggling with it, I'd be like, okay, put on a podcast that like you really enjoy, or put on music that you really enjoy. I mean, I'm going to be honest, running is not my thing.
Speaker 1:I ran a 5k. I feel like I made that comment to you when I DM'd you and I was like girl you're going to be running 10 miles next time and you're like no, absolutely not.
Speaker 3:Um, I'm a strength training girly. All the way I did run my 5k cause I have so many clients that run them consistently.
Speaker 3:So I was like, okay, if you guys are doing it, I need to do it, and that's where I'm challenging myself. However, I don't see myself running 10 miles. I don't see that. So I would just give them that advice that I would give myself. But, believe it or not, a lot of my girls that are runners, they love running Like they have the runners high, they've been running forever, like they started with running and they needed help with strength training, you know. So it's really cool how people find you for what they need within themselves, you know.
Speaker 1:So what has been the? Have you had a client so far that has just been super tough to coach? Have you had somebody like buy your program and then be really difficult like and just question everything that you have been trying to like give them or tell them? Have you ever had that? I?
Speaker 3:have. Um, I actually had a girl who we just really were not in alignment together. Um, I think where it becomes really difficult is when they come to me and they want the accountability, and then I give it to them and then they get mad at me for it. So, like this person in particular, she was drinking multiple times a week, she was going out all the time, but then in her check-ins she would be I'm so disappointed, I'm not losing weight. And every other check-in she was like I'm just going to quit the program, like I don't think I'm going to continue with you. And I was like babe, you signed up for six months, like it's a six months non-negotiable, because at the end of the day, it took me two years to lose 60 pounds. Now I have a client, debbie, for example, who we started working out together. Um, at the end of January she's lost 50 pounds, right.
Speaker 1:It's.
Speaker 3:August. So it's possible, because I know what I'm doing and I know how to coach, that I can get girls that results. However, if you are doing the opposite of every single thing that I tell you to do, and then you're blaming me and you're like, well, I just can't afford this, I just can't this, like she was really really really difficult to coach. And I think also where in the beginning of my fitness like career, I was tying a lot towards 19 year old Sammy, who was anxious and depressed, so this person in particular had a lot of mental things. Um, to the point where I am not a therapist, I'm your fitness coach, right. So I think there's a really tough balance that I had to learn in that sense. And her mental things would come up very heavily to the point where, like, she'd send me audios of her crying and, as a spiritual person, that is a lot of energy for me to take, and that's not fair to put something like that on you.
Speaker 1:It's almost like now correct me if I'm wrong, cause I don't know this woman but maybe it's like people like that who are just thinking that there's like a quick fix, like oh yes, I have all of this trauma. But you know what I'm going to skip. I'm going to skip past doing shadow work and I'm just going to go straight to the source and I'm going to hire myself a coach. She wasn't ready, it's like she was trying.
Speaker 1:You were the easy button and she thought, okay, this girl, sammy, she's going to fix all my problems and without having to do any of the work that a therapist might be able to assist her with. So for any girl out there that is just looking for like thinking that a coach whether it's like a business coach, a spiritual coach or a workout coach is a quick, easy fix, it's not like you have to do the work and you can do that at the same time. You can hire a therapist, you can have therapy, you can be doing that work while having a fitness coach, like you can do it hand in hand, but you can't. I feel like you can't. Just that's. That was just really unfair for her just to like unload on you.
Speaker 3:It's, that's that's pretty it was, and she just ended it like very disrespectfully. I felt like so that was during my 11 clients are leaving phase, you know so it was like I was dealing with stuff like that.
Speaker 3:But I also just feel like it taught me so much about how to respond, like that was something you said before, like I needed to go through that, like every entrepreneur does right. Like I remember my business mentorship. They're like you think you're living the best life and I did. When I first started my business, it was like, oh my God, I get to coach people, I get to do what I love, and I still absolutely feel that way. There was no challenge, exactly, exactly. But you know, with life there's ebbs and flows. So that was just like a little bit of a low low. So now I'm a lot more picky about the people that I work with.
Speaker 3:I feel like during that time I was open to anybody, but the shift that I made it was I started to focus on the Sammy that already lost 30 pounds and needed to lose the other 30. So, like I was already in the gym, I was doing like dumbbells and kettlebells, but I needed to move up to the Smith machine. I needed to move up from the Smith machine to the barbell. So I honestly changed my demographic and that changed everything. And then also with the spiritual work, like you know, there's definitely a lot of spiritual people that maybe aren't ready to do the mindset work, but I've at least found that if you have woken up and you're on your spiritual journey, you're willing to do the work. And the way that I see is it's like I give you all the tools, I give you the workouts, I tell you what to eat. I'm there to support you. If you have any questions, I answer you right away, like I give you all of me, but I can't make you do the work.
Speaker 1:No, and it's like you're giving them everything to do. They have no excuse. Yeah, I mean, but that's like. That's the best part about hiring a coach is, if you don't know what steps to take, you're just, you feel stuck, you don't know, like okay, like what should I be doing? Like, hire a coach. And that's why coaches exist, because it gets you to get up and move your ass in the right direction and just move in any direction.
Speaker 1:And again, what I hear all the time is like, oh, they're so expensive and I can't afford it. Get a credit card and PayPal has 0% financing. This is not an ad, but seriously, like what I did when I hired my first coach, um, who was also a medium, I was like I'm just going to put it on a freaking credit card and I mean it's just, it has an ROI on it and I love that when you invest in yourself, you get so much out of it. I feel like, so you, being the coach that you are, I feel like, if anybody listening out there is just like I don't know how to just get the ball rolling, hire a freaking coach. Hire Sammy, she's amazing, and the best part about it is you're, you're international. Yeah. So if somebody reached out to you say Austria, which I've just recently blown up in um, would you be able to help somebody in another country?
Speaker 3:Oh, absolutely Everything that I do is online, you know, so I give them all the support that they need. Like, for example, I'm really big into form. So if any of my clients are like, oh, like my lower back hurts when I'm doing squats, or like I'm not sure this is feeling a little weird, I always tell them, like put your phone up against the water bottle, just like this, and then send it over to me. Like I will send you a personal video of me doing it, saying oh, you know what, with the squat, your shoulders are a little hunched, which is just you're giving out on your lower back. Roll your shoulders back and then start the movement.
Speaker 3:Like it could be really simple, but sometimes we just need somebody else to see it, somebody else's point of view and, like you said, expertise. Like that's one thing that I love about one of my clients, rachel. She used to play volleyball in college and as soon as I met her at one of Michaela's retreats, she came up to me and she goes when we go home, can we hop on a call? Like I want to join your program? And she did right away.
Speaker 3:And she always says she's like I feel like we need to have an expert in every single area. So she has an expert specifically for shamanism, she has an expert for fitness, which is me. She's an expert when it comes to, like her business, you know. So it's like she wants to be coached, and I think that's really the difference is like, like you said, you need to be ready for it and also you need to want to do the work. Like I like to do the work. I'm an overachiever, so I like to check things off Like I'll make myself a list. I'm getting every single thing done, yeah.
Speaker 1:But you taught yourself to be like that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I did.
Speaker 1:Yep, it takes time. So anybody out there that's thinking like, well, oh my gosh, I wish I was as motivated as that person. I wish I could just get up and just do those things. First off, motivation is bullshit, it's fake and it's made up Like you have to build the habit. I mean I was the same way. Like I used to have a big victim mindset. Everything was everybody else's fault and it had nothing to do with me. When I woke up I realized, oh shit, everything is like my fault, like I, until you start taking responsibility, like you're just going to have that victim mindset. When you drop the victim mindset and again like I'm big on hiring a coach just to get the ball rolling and then I can expand. From there, I feel like, but, like I said, like you, you had to teach yourself to be like that. Nobody is born with the motivation of just getting up and I just want to go run three miles or I'm going to go lift, you know whatever. Like it takes, it takes time. Yeah, it takes mental work too.
Speaker 3:I think it takes just the first time of you doing it. You know, like I remember after using the gallon water bottles and like working out at home, and then I finally went to the gym and I already had the consistency. It felt so different because I was like, wow, like I enjoy this, you know. Or even with hot girl walks, like I'll tell my clients how I see them and then they'll go on it and they're like, oh, I actually do feel calmer. I do notice the green in the trees, I do notice, like, the clouds in the sky. I saw a butterfly, I saw a dragonfly and they start to see the beauty in it because they finally experienced it for the first time, you know.
Speaker 3:So I think just, especially if you're someone who's like well, I've been going to the gym and I just don't feel it Like just keep going, because you're eventually going to feel it Like there's going to be a time where you leave a workout and you're like, wow, that actually felt really good, like my body feels good. Or for me it was a cold showers, like when I started the second phase of 75 hard, I didn't realize that we're cold showers because Michaela was like we're just going to do it for the whole year, and I was like, okay, I'm in it, I'm going to do it too, and I hate cold showers.
Speaker 3:I am such a hot water girly like steaming bath, steaming shower, and it was probably within the third or fourth time, the third or fourth day of me doing it, where I actually felt the release of the stress and I walked out feeling like I had so much energy and I thought to myself I go, did I just like that?
Speaker 1:Am I turning into a cold plunge girl Like that gosh, I still cannot wrap my mind around a cold plunge yet Yet.
Speaker 1:I'm working on it starting with the showers and then eventually I'll work my way up to getting into an ice bath, but you got to work on that, so that's crazy. But it also builds mental toughness and mental resilience. Yes, there's so much health benefits. People think like, okay, like, what health benefits is it going to? You know, what is it going to benefit for me getting in that damn water, that icy water, and being uncomfortable for five minutes?
Speaker 1:But it also builds mental toughness, like, like you said, like people who start their mornings off uncomfortable actually are way more resilient and handle stress throughout the day Um, a hell of a lot better than somebody who doesn't um start their morning off uncomfortable. Like people that just roll out of bed, they're late for work, they're grabbing their keys or jumping in the car, they're dropping their kids off the school and then others in traffic and other angry. But people who get up that extra hour uh, uh before everything starts and just do a hard workout, go for a run, do a cold plunge, actually are happier people, they say, and then um handle stress a lot better. So there are so many benefits besides just the health benefits of it, because I mean you know that, like you being the coach that you are like what are? Is there? What are the health benefits for just doing, just being in cold water? I mean, I know it's good for your skin.
Speaker 3:It's definitely good for your skin. I think it's really good for, like, your just overall mental and physical. You know, I'm going to be honest when it comes to the cold water, I didn't need to know those health benefits Like I think that's another thing as well, Like a lot of people will be like well, why do I need to work out Like what does it need to do for? Me.
Speaker 2:Like they question everything.
Speaker 3:And it's just like, just do the damn thing, like how do you feel, you know? So I actually didn't really look into too much of the health benefits because I didn't care. I knew I had to do it for 75 hard.
Speaker 1:So I was like fuck it. You're like I'm just going to do it, because it's telling me to do it, I'm just going to do it because I'm told to do it.
Speaker 3:Michaela says it makes her feel good and that's really what I went based off of. It was like well, now that I'm off 75 hard, I still do the cold showers, and it's not because it does any of these things that it might do for my health, it's because I feel better when I leave it Like I work out, not just because it strengthens my muscles and it's going to be really good for my ligaments as I get older and it helps me to have the body that I have and the confidence that I have. I do it because I always feel better, like I always. I will never leave the gym feeling worse than I walked in. I love it.
Speaker 1:You know.
Speaker 3:So it's like I, and that's where the spirituality comes in, at least for me. I go based off how I feel. I do things based off how I feel, like if there is a person in my life that I don't necessarily feel aligned with, I will create boundaries and I will not see them as often Maybe, like I'll see them once in a blue moon, cause I love them. But if there's something that I do like, for example, um, I started 75 hard in March, so I didn't have a drink since then, and a couple of weeks ago I had a glass of wine and I ended up passing out and my body was like Sammy, I don't like that. So I texted my parents because I had to tell them that it happened, cause right now Tom's not with me, so, just in case anything happened, I have my pets. I'm like I want you guys to know, like, yes, my worst fear is that, like I'll die and then they're going to starve, and I'm like, oh my gosh. So I was like please, like you know, just know that this happened.
Speaker 1:And I that this happened. Um, and I decided I was like I'm just not going to drink alcohol again, like I don't like it. It doesn't serve me. When you stop drinking, your like. I feel like when I stopped drinking, I realized like I don't like I did try it Cause I remember having like a really tough day and I was talking to one of my girlfriends on the phone and I was like I just want a little bit of wine, just a little bit, three sips of it, and I was like this tastes like shit, yes, like. And I was like, oh my god, like I don't like wine anymore. I used, I used to have like a like a couple glasses a night, but when you I realized when you stop drinking like you don't actually like it it was like a coping mechanism for stress I was like, oh, don't do that ever again, or it's just a habit.
Speaker 3:You know, like I think we do a lot of things simply based on habit, and that could be as simple as like watching TV. Like, for example, I'm not I don't have a TV right now Cause my cat broke it and I told Tom I was like I refused to buy another TV. Like I'm sorry, I think we're better without one, and he agreed. So when we want to watch TV, we will watch it on a laptop, like whatever kind of like college wives and I found this show called touched by an angel and it's from like the 19. Like girl, I used to watch that show oh my gosh, I'm addicted.
Speaker 1:She's younger than me. Everybody my god touched by an angel. Wow, really dating us over here okay all right, so you're new here. Okay, it's an amazing show. You're gonna cry.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I do cry, oh my gosh and I noticed that like I had gotten to a point where I was watching one episode a night and I was like being very intentional about it and I was like journaling. Because, yeah, I was like really, you know, trying to kind of look into it, because a lot of the episodes, especially the first couple of episodes, had a lot to do with my childhood, like with the baseball player I played softball my whole life. So that baseball coach I was like, oh, like you're giving me a different perspective. Or even the kid whose mom left, like my dad left me. So it was like to see the mom come back. I was sobbing because I recently reconnected with my dad and he is so spiritual. We actually just talked on Sunday for over two hours and he had said to me he goes, sammy, I loved you the whole time, I wanted to be in your life the whole time, but I didn't meet him until I was 21 and Tom and Nala came with me, you know. So it was like a ton of just development.
Speaker 3:But I was like sitting and I was journaling and then I noticed that as I liked the show more and more, I would watch two episodes, I would watch three episodes Gets out of control. Yeah, and I didn't like that. It just didn't feel good for me. So I started to limit myself again and I went like one or two days where I didn't watch it and then I watched it again and I kept it to one episode and then I felt really good with that, you know. So, yeah, but, like I said, you have to be willing to evaluate and for me, I noticed that, like when I watched too many episodes, my binge eating started to come through, because, think about it, like when you have a binge eating disorder, there's habits of why you do it. So for me it was. I would sit on the couch watching TV. And what does everyone do when they watch TV? Oh, let's get some popcorn.
Speaker 1:Let's get some ice cream, let's get some snacks, let's get some wine. Yes, 100%.
Speaker 3:So it's like I had a habit of watching a lot of TV, then eating a lot, and it can come back Like I hadn't watched TV since this show. I was watching like movies for a little bit and then all of a sudden, what do you know, I'm watching a couple of episodes and I'm going to make some popcorn and I'm like wait, I don't need the popcorn. I had dinner, I had my dessert, I'm good. Why am I going with popcorn?
Speaker 1:Because that habit is still in your brain. That neural connection is still there, it's it's in the attic of your subconscious and it's like oh, remember this, Sammy, we used to sit here and we used to like binge on cheese puffs and popcorn and ice cream Like I would eat like half a container of ice cream at a time.
Speaker 3:I don't do that I don't.
Speaker 1:We don't buy potato chips. No, my daughter eats pirate booty and that's like, and I don't like it. So like I won, won't touch it. But I purposely refuse to buy things that were staples in my life, like wine I couldn't watch. For me, it's like love is blind and teen mom I could not watch those two shows without having a whole bottle of wine. So like, or um, potato chips. Potato chips are my vice and so so I purposely oh my God, I just had this conversation with Michaela I purposely do things that the old me like. I do things that so the old me doesn't like. I don't go back to that.
Speaker 2:Does that make sense?
Speaker 1:Like I, purposely refuse to. I don't buy soda. We haven't drank soda in years, I think it's been like five or six years. I don't buy potato chips and I stopped buying wine a couple of months ago because, like that old me is still in that in my brain. Yeah, yeah, like it's just don't. If you purposely know that your old self would do something like that, like you said, like you stopped yourself, you're like, oh wait, no, this is the old Sammy. Yeah, we're on the. It's a slippery slope back to, you know, like a couple of years ago.
Speaker 3:So you could also rewire the habit too right. Like I have this saying cucumbers over chips. Um. So I used to be a snacker and I feel like if you try to take everything away from yourself, you're going to naturally go back anyway, and that's why I teach my clients like to have a healthy relationship with food, which is different for everybody. It depends what your vices are, what your habits are, what foods you like, so it's very personalized, which is why my program is personalized. But for me it wasn't 100% the snacking that was the problem, it was also the choices that I chose.
Speaker 3:So whenever I like I'm really in a snacking mood and maybe it's midday, I have a lot of calls and I'm like, oh my gosh, I just want a snack. I will have things on deck that are a better option for me. So, for example, cucumbers and carrots are like my staples, because one I love cucumbers. They have like zero calories and like literally I just pop them in like chips, like I'll cut them up really tiny and they feel like chips. So that's where the cucumbers instead of chips came in. Or like carrots, because carrots are very grounding for you. So I also try to think about that Like one thing that Amanda had said in our group chat is she was like when you think about whole foods, think about foods that come from the ground, and I loved that metaphor. I was like, wow, that is such a good way to think about it, you know.
Speaker 1:So it's food that you can have on standby, so you can cut up those cucumbers and have them on standby in the fridge. So for me, when I changed my diet, I had to do things that were accessible, because it's too easy to look into my refrigerator and be like, oh my God, there's like nothing in here, and then just like binge on a bag of chips. But what I've noticed is, like I'm not a meal prep girl. I can't eat the same damn meal for five days straight. So what I did is I don't meal prep but I do have snacks like so many snacks on standby. So what I'll do is, like you said, like I'll cut up the cucumbers, I'll make like a healthy pasta salad and I'll just have little things on standby.
Speaker 1:Usually our dinner time is like something where me and my daughter will come together and we'll cook together. So I've kind of made that like a thing because, again, like if I'm not intentional and it's not right there, just like when I wake up in the morning, my running shoes are like not right there. Sometimes I have like you know, you, you, that's how you build the habit. You have to have it accessible. There was times when I was trying to get into a healthier lifestyle and I was like dragging my ass at the gym and half the time I didn't want to go. I would sleep in my yoga pants because if I, if I woke up and I looked like I was ready to go work out, I did it. It's just, it's like a mental game I had to play with myself.
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, I have two things to say about that.
Speaker 3:So one, I think that you are a meal prep girly, because the more that you say you're not the more you're not going to be okay but you don't need to do it like that, like what I teach my clients is to batch meal prep. So like, for example, I'll give you what I was making for this week, so I'll make ground turkey and I'll like use it with, like taco seasoning and then I just make the turkey. Like I have some beans on standby, I'll make some rice and then I get to choose throughout the week what I want. So maybe I want nachos, maybe I want to have a burrito yes, how you use it right, maybe I want a burrito, maybe I want to make a taco bowl with some lettuce and peppers and put like a ton of goodies on it. Maybe I want to make actual tacos. And then I get to choose.
Speaker 3:Well, do I want hard shells or do I want soft shells? And if you think about it with our taste buds, each of those meals taste different. So it's like you're giving yourself that option for variety, but you're also setting yourself up for success because you have it cooked. And if you have something cooked, you are going to eat it. Or like, for example, the grilled chicken. You don't need to eat just grilled chicken and rice.
Speaker 1:I literally bought these super cute, all these silicone matching like um, individual, uh, like meal prepping, uh, these pink bowls, and I was like I'm going to do this every day and I was like I grilled a bunch of chicken one night. I put a bunch of asparagus, I put all this stuff in it and then after the third day I was like this is like so crap, Like I don't want to eat it.
Speaker 1:I can't eat the same thing every day and I like I fell off and now my daughter uses those as like little storage things for her little bath toys.
Speaker 2:So I mean I just like I was.
Speaker 1:like I'm not a meal prep girl, but that's right, I never thought about that.
Speaker 3:But then you can like for the chicken. Sometimes I'll make like a little pasta and it's like, okay, I'll have pasta, and I love blending cottage cheese in the sauce because it gets you more protein. You put the chicken in there and all of a sudden you have penne ala vodka with chicken, right, so it's like that could be a meal. Maybe you make a chicken sandwich, like I am such a sandwich girly I love them, so like I'll literally do chicken like a slice of cheese, maybe some bacon, maybe lettuce, tomato, and you have a sandwich.
Speaker 3:Or maybe I love, like, uh, chinese food, so I'll make my own fried rice at home and then, like, shred the chicken and put it in there. So there's so many different ways that you can use that one chicken you've already cooked. You just kind of got to be open to it, you know, and it's like I love that. Like I said, you had of oh well, I'm not a meal prep girly.
Speaker 1:Well, no, you're not right there. Let me tell you why. You are a meal prep girly. Now I feel like I can kind of go home and redo this and claim back my cute little silicone meal Be like sorry dumping bluey toys out of it, out of her bathtub.
Speaker 1:Do you offer that with your coaching? Do you have these girls Like? So you're just like full three, 60 of like meal prep, mindset work, spirituality, spirituality. Okay, so what is next for you? I feel like maybe a retreat, um is next. I do. They want me to. They want these women that are ready to go oh yeah, no literally.
Speaker 3:I. So we were in our group chat because we have an instagram group chat. A lot of my girlies are all on instagram, so it's popping in there. And they were joking because my client, cecilia we've been working together for over a year now and she's getting married this month, which is so exciting. So she was in New York visiting home and that's why all of my clients ended up meeting up and they were joking. They were like, oh, we need to go to a retreat and go visit CC, cause she's in San Diego and all of us like want to go to California. That's on my top list. And I had joked and I was like, well, if I made this a thing, how many girls would come?
Speaker 1:And over 10 girls are like me, me, me, I mean, they're literally on their like travel apps, like they are ready and my client Nicole goes.
Speaker 3:Sammy, welcome to your first retreat. We're doing this.
Speaker 1:You don't have a choice. And I said, okay, where would you have it off the top of your head? Do you think you would go back to Cal or go to California?
Speaker 3:They want to do it next summer. Uh, for the California, because I have a couple of teachers. I have about five teachers on my team and they all obviously have this school year, so it's a little bit harder.
Speaker 1:Okay, so you're going to accommodate as much as you can.
Speaker 3:Oh, yeah, well because, at the end of the day, like I love my clients, I'm so blessed Like when I decided to go in on the spiritual Sammy and go all in on who I was authentically I truly attracted that within my squad. Like they are ride or die-ers, even the girls that have graduated. They still send me updates. They still send me selfies. They still send me selfies Like I am so grateful for the group that I have and I only want to attract girls like that because they're also amazing. So I only want that vibe now and I just feel so lucky so I definitely would accommodate them.
Speaker 3:I think that I would have the first retreat in California, like they want to honor that. However, I do want to have some sort of event when I go home, because I have probably 15 to 18 of my clients in Connecticut or at least an hour drive from Connecticut. So I think it'd be a lot of fun if I like went home and then we met up for a happy hour or they always joke. They were like when you come home, like we'll just come to your Airbnb. I was like you guys are so funny, Just host it there, yeah, literally just host it.
Speaker 3:So I think I would do maybe something in Connecticut, but this is where I get like very touch and goes, because I've only gone to retreats that like everything was paid for.
Speaker 3:However, I feel like for my first one, like home, home in Connecticut, like I don't want to charge my clients to hang out with me. I think I would do a free event first, like maybe the one in Cali would have to have a little bit of money, just because if we're renting an Airbnb, like we're all gonna put into it, just like Michaela does with her events. However, like for the first one I do, I really do kind of want it to be back home in Connecticut, because it's like all right, right, we all meet at the beach and maybe we I run them through a yoga class or we go through a workout, we have a hot girl walk and then we all go out to happy hour and we all get to like hang out together for the day, like I would want it to be kind of like a day thing, and I don't want them to have to pay for anything.
Speaker 3:So that's where I really want to start and that's why I think Connecticut would be the good option. Where I really want to start and that's why I think Connecticut would be the good option, it's really just a matter of when. My best friend is actually opening up a yoga and massage studio in Jersey and the opening is for January ish. So I was thinking possibly then.
Speaker 3:But home in Connecticut it's so cold, so what I want to do would not actually kind of be feasible, unless they all, like put on their booties and, you know, like have their hats and everything, um. So I know I'm going to be going home for that. So I don't know, maybe, like April, may, when it's springtime, I'll fly down there. We'll have to see. It's something that's very much so on my mind. It's kind of one of those things where it's like the universe is going to conspire, like I put it out there it's meant to be.
Speaker 1:It's going to start lining up, but I feel like it already is lining up. So don't miss the signs of, like, all of your girls telling you it needs to happen. That is literally the universe being like, hey, it's poking you. It's like, sammy, let's go, let's start putting this into action. Steps, yeah, steps, um, yeah, no, I could see you doing that. Oh, my gosh, I really want to do that. So I I feel like, before I let you go, um, I when can I go on?
Speaker 2:a hot girl walk with you.
Speaker 1:I'm only like two hours away from you and I will totally like drop my daughter for school. She gets dropped off at like 7 am and then like let's just go on a hot girl walk yeah, we can go downtown like there's, so many fun areas where we can like hang out.
Speaker 3:I love bart Barton Springs Like. I go there all the time.
Speaker 1:I love Barton Springs and Dripping Springs is my happy place. Have you been to Dripping Springs yet?
Speaker 3:No, I'm going to have to write that down.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, it's so, it's so cute, it's so beautiful. Oh my God, maybe we can meet there. Okay, you would love. She just recently moved back to California, but it's so beautiful. And then two for everybody listening I want, I'm going to link all of your stuff, your Instagram, in the show notes. But how can? How can they reach out to you? How can they contact you?
Speaker 3:Yeah, you can find me on all platforms. I'm on Instagram, tiktok, facebook, youtube, and it's all just my first and last name, so S-A-M-I-R-U-E-S-S.
Speaker 1:And then Instagram does have an underscore, so perfect. You guys have to go check her out and if you're not ready for a coach yet, just your. Your Instagram is very inspiring and I love looking at. I love every single morning. You're just on there, You're taking selfies with your coffee and you're going on these hot girl walks Like God bless whoever invented hot girl walks, because I feel like it got more of us like girls that were just like sitting around at home in the mornings, like drinking our coffee got us out and walking. Yeah, I love a good hot girl walk.
Speaker 3:Especially first thing. It just starts your day right Like my morning routine is literally I will meditate journal. Lately I've been doing EFT tapping as well, and before I even put on any makeup or did anything, I went for a 45 minute walk. Love it, you know so. It's just like it's so. It's such a good way to wake up.
Speaker 1:Master your morning, master your life. Yes, All right girl. Thank you so much for being on updated AF. I appreciate you and I am really looking forward to our hot girl walk. Thank you.
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