I'm turning 32 today! Here are 32 lessons I've learned that have changed my entire life

I turn 32 today & I'm celebrating the only way I know how by giving YOU the gifts. 🎁

In this episode, I'm sharing 32 lessons that have completely changed my life. Some of these took me years to learn. Some I learned the hard way and some I wish someone had just taught me sooner.

We're talking about everything (mindset, health, fitness, motherhood, business, and how to actually build a life you love).

Whether you're in your 20s, 30s, or beyond, there is something in this episode for you.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey friend, welcome back to Stronger Within, the podcast for women who are done chasing quick fixes and are ready to build real strength and lasting change from the inside out. I'm your host, Christy Magri, and here we talk about becoming stronger within in your body, your mindset, and the daily habits that shape your life. If you're ready to build a body in life you feel confident in for good, you're in the right place. So today is actually my 32nd birthday. I actually had to double check that. Does that happen to anybody else as you get older? You're just like, wait, am I actually this age? Am I turning 31, 32? I know for sure I wasn't turning 33, but yes, I'm turning 32. Or I am 32 today. And so I thought for today's episode, we could do something a little unconventional, um, a little fun, and share 32 lessons I've learned over the years in my time being here that have changed my life. Quite honestly, these are things that I've learned within the last like five years. I feel like I've grown a lot as a person, even just in my 30s. Holy cow, like I am not the same person I was even a year ago. But it's taken a lot of growth, a lot of hard times to get to this point. And I am grateful in a sense that I went through those things because it really helped me be that source of inspiration to other women, um, you know, the women I work with, the women in my life, just anybody to show you that you can come from the biggest struggle and make your life completely different. And so today I wanted to share, again, 32 lessons I've learned that have changed my life. I've broken these down into non-fitness related, that's like the first half, and then obviously I'm gonna throw in fitness-related things. That's what this whole podcast is about. So that's gonna be the second half of this. Some of these I'm gonna rapid fire, some of them I'm gonna go into a little more depth on, but let's just get started because we have 32 things to talk about. All right, number one, you become a victim to your circumstances and fold, or you can choose to rise stronger. So, kind of just going through what I just talked through, I I've been through a lot in my life. I've shared some of my story on here, uh, and we could easily sit in those really hard moments. However, we cannot just choose to become a victim to our circumstances. I see it so often where we are very woe is me, victim mindset, and that literally does nothing for you. You cannot create a life of greatness, a life of gratitude, a life you are so happy to live in if you are just constantly sitting in this victim mentality, and I know a lot of people like this that are super negative, and that's not fun. Who wants to feel that way? Like life is so dang short. So you can become a victim, sit in those circumstances, let those define you, or you can let that be your reason to be stronger and inspire other people because of it. Number two, my childhood trauma made me a phenomenal mom. That's it. That's all we're gonna go through on that one. Number three, there will always be someone that has it better or worse than you. I very much used to be somebody who would just constantly compare myself to other people, and now with social media, it's easier than ever. And I actually watched a video today about a girl talking about how moms back in the 90s or before that, obviously, too. Um, and if you didn't know, I'm very passionate about wishing that I was a 90s mom, but she was talking about how like back in the 90s, before that too, obviously, like I just said, moms were not constantly comparing themselves to other moms on the internet. Like, this is what this mom's house looks like. This mom is taking her kids on vacation here, and I can't do that, or you know, all the ways that we compare ourselves. And so something that has really helped me with the whole comparison game is always saying, like, it doesn't matter what level I get to, what I have, what my house looks like, what my car looks like, someone's always gonna have it better than me. Literally always. And also, big perspective shift. There is someone that's always gonna have it worse than you. I always think about like even the most basic things, like being able to walk. There are people in wheelchairs that can't walk that would love to be able to be in your position. So that has really just helped me get out of that comparison game and be grateful for what I have because you can always have better. You'll and here's the funny thing about that. I think about my business specifically, and when I wanted to get to the point that I'm at now, and now that I'm here, it still doesn't feel enough for me. I have a bigger goal now, and the goal is always gonna get bigger, so learn to find gratitude in what you have now. Number four, being rich in life isn't about the money you have in your bank account. This is a really big one growing up, even throughout my 20s. I was like, oh, rich is having a lot of money. But especially since having kids, rich to me is having food in the fridge, my kids being healthy, being able to bring my kids to the park whenever I want, being able to have a roof over my head, and swiping my card at the grocery store and not having to worry about how I'm gonna pay for groceries. I have really redefined my version of rich as I've gotten older, and that again is just a perspective shift that has been so helpful to me in that like comparison trap that we can all fall into. Number five, you don't have to be liked by everyone. If you were, you're probably not being true to yourself. This is, I mean, it kind of just like goes without saying. If people don't like you, I feel like it's usually a projection thing, or it you guys just don't mesh, and that's fine. You're not gonna be liked by everybody. Literally, who cares? Number six, your emotional state doesn't have to depend on your current circumstances. So what I've found is that when something good happens, we feel good. When something bad happens, we feel bad. We become, just like I said in point number one, we become victims to our circumstances. But the feeling of peace, safety, happiness that is available to you right now, even despite the outside conditions not being the exact way you want. So something that has been really helpful to me is saying things like, I can access whatever feelings I want right now. It's up to me. Life truly is not about getting what you want, but enjoying what you have. And again, this is one of those big perspective shifts. I've really been into mindset and neuroscience and spirituality, and all of these things are things I've recently discovered and thought about in my life, but this is such a big one. Your emotional state does not have to depend on your current circumstances. Number seven, I already have everything I need. This kind of goes hand in hand with there will always be someone who has it better or worse than you. Being rich isn't about the money in your bank account. But a really great perspective shift that can help here as well is we both have hot and cold water, right? Our showers look different, our faucets look different, but we no matter what house we live in, no matter if we live in, you know, a small house, a 600-square foot house, or a 5,000-foot square house, we can both access hot and cold water. Even royalty didn't have that, by the way. So like we're pretty dang royal and lucky. Um, whether I have a different-looking shower now or in the future, it works the same. We have a fridge full of fruit, food. Maybe our fridges look different, maybe someone else's is bigger than mine, but I still have a fridge full of food. I already have everything I need. So again, this really comes back to gratitude. Gratitude is one of the biggest things, lessons that I have learned over the I've always practiced it really for like 10 years now, but really over the last year, um, just being so incredibly grateful for all the things that a lot of us really just take for granted. Number eight, pretending my 80-year-old self gave me one more day at 32 has changed my life. Maybe you've seen this on the internet. I totally stole it off like a TikTok or Instagram video or somewhere. Um, and I've seen it, people talk about it in multiple ways, but it's like when you're having a really hard day with your kids, you're like losing your shit, you're like, oh my god, this day is never gonna end, the toddler tantrums, all the craziness, literally just closing your eyes, pretending like you are 80 years old, and you would kill to be in this moment in this body. How maybe you're in your 30s as well, 40s, whatever. You would love to be here, and so be grateful for this day. Think ahead to that moment. It is something that has really helped me just be more present with my kids, especially because you know our phones are gonna be the death of us, absolutely, and I feel like we are missing out on so many precious moments with our kids, and I am someone that is just go, go, go, and I struggle to slow down, and so thinking about this is something that has really helped me a lot. Number nine, if you want to live a magical life, stop letting everything bother you. This is another big one, big perspective shift. If someone cuts you off in traffic, that's okay. They needed to get to where they were going quicker than you did. If somebody stole the parking spot you were gonna take, that's fine. They needed that spot more than you did. The thing you were really hoping that was gonna happen didn't happen, that's okay. There's a reason for that. Something is lining up better for you. The more that you can see life like a game and see these moments as a game, it truly just makes everything feel so much lighter. Not letting things get to you if you get in an argument with somebody, just kind of stop, just stop letting everything bother you. I know in life it's normal, we're gonna get annoyed, we're gonna let things bother you. But if you're someone that like everything bothers you and you doom scroll and you focus on the negative, you're gonna forever be unhappy until you stop doing that shit. So stop letting everything bother you. Number 10, business is the biggest personal development exercise you can embark on. I don't know if you're business owner, I don't know if you can relate to this, but yeah, it it goes without saying. Um, growing your own business will absolutely challenge you in so many different ways. I'm so thankful for it. So, so thankful. It's helped me grow into who I am today for sure, but per biggest personal development exercise. Number 11, overcoming fear of others' opinions can and will change your life. Thinking about my business again. I started my Instagram account in 2017, and actually when I started my account, I didn't even tell my husband who was my boyfriend at the time, and he came across it on like the people you may know or how it shows you accounts you may have things in common with, and he's like, What is this? And I'm like, Oh my god, like immediate shame. I'm like, oh, I made at the time I had started the Instagram account to just share some like about my own personal fitness journey trying to lose weight. So it was like pictures of bowls of oatmeal and selfies, the selfie I used to take in the mirror at the gym where I would like be off to the side, one leg kicked back, you know, that glute pose that every girl in like 2018-2019 did. Um, and so I remember just being so embarrassed when he found that. And then through the years, right, I I like got past that initial embarrassment and people that I knew started finding him, following me, finding the account and following me, and I was like, ugh, like a level of cringe every time. And then in 2021, when I started getting really serious about the online coaching thing, I had to start showing up and talking on my stories. And if you followed me during that time, I don't know if you remember how terrible they were, they were terrible. I would share them now, maybe one day in the near future I will, but I just it makes me cringe so badly inside. Um, but I had to start showing up and talking on my stories and showing my face, and that was a level of vulnerability where I was like, oh my god, people are judging me, people are talking about me, and maybe they were, maybe they were. But guess what? If I had let that fear, if I had let the the fear of other people's opinions hold me down, I never would have built my business to the level of success that it is now. And now I can pop on my stories confidently. I don't care who sees it. I'm like, yeah, I hope you watch it. Thank you for the view. I am confident in what I I'm saying. I love what I do. I love getting to impact women and reach, you know, people halfway across the country, all the way across the country. Like, it's just really cool. I feel so grateful to do what I do. But yeah, the that fear of other people's opinions was terrifying. Um, but truly, you can't care about the opinions of other people. I there's this quote that says something about um it's better to be judged or something than to live in a cage in your mind, or it's better to be cringy than live in a cage in your own mind or something like that. It's so true. Alright, number 12, you need to feel the fear and do it because of the fear. This is applicable to me through and through right now in this season of my life. If you know we are moving to North Carolina in just about eight weeks, and I am so fearful. Y'all, I am scared. We are moving away from everything we know, 12 hours away. We're not gonna have any family near us. Um, luckily, we will know a few people in the area. I actually made a friend who lives in Connecticut, she has three kids, her kids are similar ages to my kids, and she's actually moving from Connecticut to North Carolina at the same exact time in the same month. Isn't that crazy? Um, and then my husband has a friend there who used to used to work with, and he'll know him down there, but like besides that, we know nobody, and we are really just having full faith in this process, and it is really scary, but honestly, I want us to do it, number one, because we want to live there, and we've been talking about this for like a decade, but number two, because it it is scary, and I don't want to stay in my comfort zone and what I know because it's comfortable. That's not how you grow. So feel the fear and do it because of the fear, whatever that situation is, hiring the coach, starting your fitness journey, starting the Instagram account to document your own fitness journey, uh, making the move, whatever it is, just freaking do it. Life is too short. Number 13, you need to meditate, journal, and visualize daily. Again, back to my whole like personal development journey over the last um it really I started like back in July diving into like manifestation and meditation and all of that, and it has changed my life. Especially as a mom, I've noticed a big positive change in my nervous system because especially as a mom, when you wake up and you just are immediately needed, you're immediately jumping into taking care of everybody else, you're not giving yourself a moment to kind of like self-regulate, and we need to start uh we need to start starting our day on offense instead of defense. So first 30 minutes of my day, I don't open up my phone. Actually, that's why I do open up my phone because okay, so here's my flow. Alarm goes off at 5 a.m. Typically, I wake up naturally, like right as my alarm is about to go off. I've gotten my body very used to it. Alarm goes off, I get up, I go out to my kitchen, I grab my AirPods, I pop an earpod, an AirPod, AirPod in, and I immediately start listening to whatever audiobook I've been listening to on personal development. Right now I'm listening to You Are the Placebo by Joe Dispenza. Love his books, recommend his books, rec recommend his meditations. He's really what got me into this whole like world of manifestation and all of that. Um, I will listen to a few minutes of that just like while I'm getting up, starting to move throughout my morning, getting on my scale wing, myself, all the things. And I like to start my morning off like that because it immediately just I'm immediately already thinking about I am in control of the day. I am, you know, just positive, positive vibes, learning first thing in the morning. Your brain is so susceptible first thing in the morning, so you want to feed it positive things in the direction that you're wanting to go. Once I do that, um, I find a meditation, typically another Joe dispensa meditation. I sit down on my couch and I meditate typically between 10 to 20 minutes, and then after that, I journal. And usually with my journaling, I do three things that I'm grateful for. That is what I start off with, and then I write a letter to the universe. Maybe it's a little bit woo-woo. I don't care. This has worked really well for me. There is literally science to back this up, and I've also seen crazy signs in my life on this whole like you know, universal law. If you are not into spiritual, you're probably like, Christy, what the heck are you talking about? What is this witchy stuff? But I write a letter to the universe thanking, um, just thanking the universe for like all that's g it's given me, and then I show thanks for things that I want to attract into my life. So I'll say like thank you for all the new clients you are sending my way. I love being able to impact their lives and get to um help them change their lives and you know, all the things that I am wanting to manifest. I also really want us to buy a home in the next few years. We have always rented, we've never owned a home because the plan was always to move out of Connecticut. But now that we are moving to North Carolina, I'm starting to manifest buying our own home. So I show gratitude, thank you for lining up my dream home with you know all the things that I want in my house. I'll like literally list them out. It's like placing an order to the universe. You don't worry about how it comes to you, you don't worry about the when, the where, the how. You just trust that it's gonna come. So that's what I do. Um, I journal, and that typically takes me like five minutes, and I'm usually listening to a song during that, which my meditation song is Blue Sky by Weezer or Um Time by Han Zimmer. So that is my first 30 minutes of the morning, every single morning, and when I do not go through that flow, I feel a difference 100%. So start your morning like this. Alright, number 14, Whimsy is so back. I am so over the millennial, sterile white and gray with no character. Why does everybody's house look the same now? It's funny because I used to really love that like modern, um, kind of like minimalist, nothing around, no decoration. I used to love that vibe, and I cannot stand it now. And I'm like, give me all the thrift finds. I want you to feel like you are in your grandma's house, like it is just so much more cozy. And I have my friend Casey to thank for this. I don't know if she's listening to this, but she got me into thrifting, and she has just made her house so beautiful with like the just cute like it's like you stepped into your grandma's house. I love it, and I feel like that is like what we need, especially as millennials. I feel like we've been through a lot in our lifetime, and that like we don't need the sterile, boring, like that's just kind of like depressing. It feels like you're in a hospital, anyways. This is like that's like the most random one, but I had to throw it in there. Alright, let's get into the fitness-related ones. Number 15, if you are a female, you should know the four different phases in your cycle, exactly which one you're in right now and how it affects you. Why does nobody teach us about this in school? Why did we learn the Pythagorean? Is it prep Pythagorean or Pythagorean? See, I don't even know what it's called. That thing, theorem, is that what it is? We learn that, but we don't learn about the female cycle. Like, honestly, rude. And I find that a lot of the moms that come to work with me have no idea how it works either. And so you need to know. Should I do a podcast episode about that? I think I just came up with a podcast episode idea. Well, maybe we'll do that one soon. Alright, number 16. Whether you think you can or can't, you're right. We'll just leave that one right there. Number 17, best combination for movement is Pilates, strength training, and walking. My workout routine right now is 10,000 steps a day. I don't know for sure that I hit that because I actually stopped wearing a watch um almost a year ago, but I walk a lot. Like I get on my walking pad um 30 minutes in the morning, 30 minutes in the afternoon. I'm constantly walking outside with my kids, especially now that the weather is getting warmer. We are just like constantly outside. Um, I walk on the treadmill of the gym. Like I'm always walking. So I feel pretty confident that I get at least like 8 to 10k a day. Um Pilates I do once, once or twice a week, which I have loved. It humbles the heck out of you if you have strength trained, but you've never done Pilates, it's insane because you're like, I could go and lift like 200 pounds at the gym, but I am struggling to lift these like two to three pound weights. It's actually insane. But I found that it's been really helpful for my core, specifically postpartum, and it is more of a low impact movement, so it's not um gonna put like a ton of pressure on your body if your body's already in a high state of stress. I won't go too much down that rabbit hole, but and then what I do is strength training. Three to four times a week at the gym, so I'll typically split that up into two upper body days, two lower body days. Alright, number 18 in a world where skinny is trending strong is actually what's in. It's honestly crazy looking at celebrities, which I hate celebrities. I think that we literally live in like a Hunger Games era. The Met Gala just happened recently, and it's like they're starving kids, and I don't even want to go down a rabbit hole on this topic. But like a lot of celebrities, like Ariana Grande, like girl, what the heck happened to you? And now everybody's on Ozempic. It's crazy. Actually, I think I just mentioned this on a podcast the other day, but my client went on a trip with her girlfriends, and a few of them were on Ozempic and like couldn't even lift their suitcases, and it's like, whoa, hold on, guys. We want to be a healthy weight. Of course, that's important. However, not at the cost of losing our strength, losing our muscle mass, our bone density, and that that's really dangerous, especially as you get older. People that strength train, people that regularly move their bodies and have taken care of themselves, we are preventing things like Alzheimer's, dementia, things that we don't think about in our 30s, 40s, even 50s. However, the side effects of what a lot of medications, GLP ones, are doing because, and this isn't a GLP1 rabbit hole that I'm gonna go down, but there's a time and a place, and most people taking GLP1 medications should not be because they have not addressed the root lifestyle change. There are select few people who are doing it the right way. Kudos to those people, however, most people are not, and so that's when it becomes a problem of now you are setting yourselves up for a disaster as you age, and all of these things that you don't necessarily think about right now, but can absolutely affect you down the line. Also, shifting my mindset from I want to be strong instead of skinny has really helped my mind a ton in the journey that is weight loss because I am still on a weight loss journey myself. I still have like 20 pounds I want to lose, and those last 20 pounds are the freaking most stubborn 20 pounds I will tell you, especially if you're 4'11 and you're very tiny like me. But all of that to say it's really helped my mindset a ton, not just hyper-fixating on being smaller, instead focusing on being stronger, being healthier overall. Alright, number 19. The solution sometimes is actually doing less, and a lot of solutions are actually free. Your issue right now, for example, is you don't like the body that you're in because you're eating too much. You would have to sit there in discomfort and do nothing instead of snacking all day. That's actually less effort than eating and having to put meals together. We are constantly looking for stimulation, and so it's really interesting when you think about it and like the dopamine hits we're looking for all day. So the solution most times is actually doing less of what you're doing right now, not more um, you know, more rules, more rigidity, more cardio. Typically, the answer is really just like kind of like taking a breath and doing less. Number 20, changing your life through identity-based habit change does more than hyperfixating on a certain body or number ever will. I find when I talk to moms, when I start working with moms, they very much hyperfixate on a certain body type, losing a certain number of pounds, whatever it may be. However, what we need to focus on more is what is the identity of who I have to become to be that person, to get to that goal. We need to start focusing less on uh outcome-related goals and more on the process. Because the process of changing our identity, of becoming the mom who takes care of herself, that is gonna get you so much further than really hyper-fixating on numbers or very specific goals ever will. Number 21, you can consume all the free tips, but nothing will top investing in yourself. I know that a lot of you fall into this category, and there's no shame because when it comes to investing in your health, it can feel a little bit scary. It's way different than investing in like the newest iPhone, for example, because you pay for the new iPhone and you actually physically get that iPhone in your hand, right? Versus investing in your health, you're not necessarily getting anything in return right away. You still have to work for it, right? But you are over there still scrolling on Instagram, searching for tips, using ChatGPT as your coach. Nothing will ever top investing in yourself because number one, you're gonna have the strategy and the support that you need to actually do things differently than you've been doing them. And number two, when you are invested in something, you have skin in the game. I actually just recently reinvested back into a coach several weeks ago, and it is a big investment, like a five-figure investment, okay? And it's a lot of money. But I did it because the strategy, the support, I know this girl can help me. She has helped me a lot already in my time working with her, and I show up for myself differently when I am paying for something, versus when you're not investing in something, you have no skin in the game. So it's like you don't want to show up, you really have nothing to lose. You have nobody to answer to, and it's not that I'm forcing your hand as a coach. However, you need a certain level of accountability. This is the thing that takes my clients from, oh my gosh, Christy, I'm frustrated, I'm trying so hard, I'm not getting anywhere, to how did I get here? I'm so proud of myself. I'm down X pounds, I feel amazing in my clothes, I saw a picture of myself and I loved what I looked like. The only regret you will ever have with investing in yourself is that you didn't do it sooner. Alright, number 22. You don't need to eat less, you need to eat better. What I find is that so many moms hyperfixate on I need to eat less, I need to go into this big calorie deficit, I can't have this, there's this food rule. Let's focus less on eating less and severely restricting ourselves, and more on eating better. Because I will tell you, I have gone through a period in my cycle where I was eating less. However, I was filling my calories, my macros with ultra-processed foods. I was starving all the time because my body wasn't satisfied, it wasn't getting what it needed, and now I eat more, but I eat better and I see way better results. So you want to focus less on calories and more on ingredients. Both matter for sure, but you need to also pay attention to the ingredient list. Please just need to eat better. Choose whole foods. It's an 80-20 balance, that's the way I like to look at it. 80% of the time we're eating nutrient-dense whole foods. 20% of the time, live your life, girl. Number 23, we kind of just went through this, but we live in a world where people don't focus on the basics but medicate themselves. I'm always hesitant to talk about GLP ones because I'm like, mm-hmm, if someone's taking one, I don't want them to feel judgment, but I feel like I do have to call this out with naturally what I do for a living. So before you start injecting yourself with peptides because you heard about them from an influencer, please check in with yourself about how much protein and fiber you eat daily, how good your sleep is, how well you manage time and stress, and how active you are. If we don't have those basics covered, we are not in any position to start injecting ourselves with peptides. Number 24, how you age is completely a choice. I hear it all the time from people as they get older. Oh, getting old sucks. I'm like, it doesn't have to. It really doesn't have to if you strength trained, moved your body regularly, got in seven to ten thousand steps a day, slept enough, ate enough protein, fiber, whole foods. Yeah, it sounds boring, it sounds basic, but how you age is completely your choice. There are like 80 to 90-year-old grandmas deadlifting over 100 pounds out there in the gym. I love sharing those videos whenever I see them. I've shared them a few times. Um, and they look great and they feel great. So it's your choice. Number 25, there is no safe level of alcohol. I actually made a podcast episode about this, I don't know, a few weeks, maybe even a few months ago at this point. And there's literally no safe level of it. I don't want to go down a rabbit hole with this one, but I completely have cut it out of my life. It's been a few years, and I have never felt better, and I will never ever ever go back. I will never take one sip of alcohol ever again. Literally poison. Number 26, the real tragedy is not failing, it's never trying. I feel like I don't even need to go into depth on that one. It just is what it is. Number 27, the clock is moving whether you participate or not. One thing I hear all the time is like I just don't have the time. There's craziness, the kids' sports season, now the kids are out of school for the summer, we're doing this, we have X going on, I have whatever at work. Life is never gonna slow down. It's always gonna be busy, but it is up to you to make your health a priority in every single season of motherhood, and I'm here to help you do that. Number 28, fat loss is a phase, not a year-long goal. This is a really big mistake I made in the beginning of my journey, and I talk a lot about this, but there's actually four different phases of dieting, and I've made a podcast episode about this as well. But the calorie deficit is only one of those phases, and the mistake that I see a lot of moms make is they focus on just that phase. It's like, I'm focusing on fat loss or I'm kind of doing nothing. And this is why you'll see moms or women in general lose weight and then they end up gaining it back because they had no real exit strategy or plan for going out of that caloric deficit. And so just as important as the fat loss phase is the maintenance phase. So there's the four different phases: calorie deficit, reverse diet, maintenance, calorie surplus. You need to know during different points in your year, in your season of motherhood life, what you should be focusing on. This is something I do with my clients at the beginning of every single year. I'm like, all right, let's map out your year, see what we want to focus on and when, depending on your goal. For example, I don't focus on fat loss around the holidays. No, thank you. I want to be able to enjoy the treats with my family and not stress about it. So I simply just maintain during that time. I know that I want more flexibility. I also know that I'm usually a depth in a deficit in the spring leading into the summer, so I can feel my best. So again, we really want to be proactive and smart about how we go through each phase. Number 29, the greatest gift you can give your family is what you do for yourself, not for them. And as moms, we are selfless. I know that about you. You put everybody else before you all day long. You are last on that to-do list. Maybe you're not even on that priority list. However, for you to be the best mom you can be for your kids now and for years in the future to be able to keep up with them, to be able to keep up with your grandkids, to be happy and healthy and present for them, that requires that you take care of you. I had a mom who did not take care of herself, and because of that, I could see the way that it affected her and the way that she spoke about her body and her energy and how I was just constantly walking on eggshells around her because I didn't want to upset her. That's something I still struggle with now to this day as an adult. And I don't want my kids to live that life. I want them, you know, we're as moms, it's normal to have hard days. Like I absolutely lose my shit sometimes. I would be lying if I said I didn't. But I am I have the energy for my kids. They know that I take care of myself, they know that I am a priority, and it has to be that way. And also you're teaching them. So if your kids don't see you regularly exercise, do you think they're gonna do it? If your kids don't see you eating healthy, you think they're gonna eat healthy? Like they are literally learning from you. So be careful with what you show them. Number 30, the way you speak to yourself influences your biology. This is so interesting, but your thoughts are not just ideas floating in your mind. Your thoughts actually create real biochemical signals that shape your immunity, your inflammation, resilience, your brain and your body work together. This is why I talk about mindset and the power of the words we speak and the thoughts in our brain. I talk about it all the time because the strategy alone is not enough. Because your brain and your body work together, you need to make sure that your brain is feeding your body positive things that will help you, not hurt you. So I always think about getting sick. Like everybody typically gets sick in the wintertime, and it is very I can't even tell you how many colds I've had in the last five years. It's for sure been under five. I never get sick because I I just say that I'm like, I am I never get sick. I'm the person that never gets sick, I have an amazing immune system. Same thing for my kids, and I truly believe it is because of my mind because I claim like I never get sick. Also, like I take care of myself, so that's definitely a piece of it. But I know people that are just crazy about sicknesses and germs, and they are the people that are sick like every other week. And I'm like, I think there's a correlation happening here. So just be aware that the way that you speak to yourself influences your biology. It is literally science. It is so true, and so why would you tell yourself anything but positive thoughts now that you know that? Number 31, you will never feel ready. Readiness is built through action, not before it. So maybe you are someone who is constantly waiting for the perfect time until you have more money to invest in the coach, until you have more confidence to step in the gym, until you have more clarity to follow the nutrition plan. We tell ourselves that we will start when things settle down, when life is more busy, when the sport, the kids' sports season is over, when we feel more prepared, but then that moment never comes because readiness is not something that shows up before you begin. It is something that you build by simply just deciding that you are going to begin. Every single mom, including myself, who has ever done something brave or reached this level that they're really proud of, we did it before we felt ready. And the courage and the confidence literally came after that decision to start. And last but certainly not least, number 32, the discomfort that you're avoiding is almost always exactly where your growth is. Think about every meaningful thing that has ever happened in your life. It was probably something that scared the shit out of you or stretched you or made you want to run the other way. Because as humans, the way that our brains work, we are wired to avoid discomfort. But here's the thing: growth and comfort cannot live in the same place at the same time. So you are gonna need to choose. You've probably been choosing the first one, you've probably been choosing comfort, which is why you were in this place where you're insecure, you're not happy in your body, um, you just are not in a place that you like and you want to change it, but that growth is kind of scary. So you keep putting things off, the investment that you're afraid to make, the thing that you want, but you keep talking yourself out of it. That discomfort is a sign. It's just like what I said with my whole moving situation, right? Feel the fear and do it because of the fear. So those are the 32 things that I have learned, most of them in the most uh in the last several years, not over my 32 years, but 32 things that I have learned that I think if you apply these, if you really sit and think on some of these, especially if you're a mom who you're living in a body that you are not comfortable and happy in, you feel like you're not fully present with your kids, you are constantly thinking about dieting, or you're trying all these diets and nothing is working. I know how frustrating that cycle is to be stuck in, and so I really hope that some of these tips help you. Also, surprise announcement, but because you're here on the podcast, I have to reward you because you're here. I have something special coming on the 25th, and it is a free three-day live training called Ditch the Diet. I am so excited to bring this to you. It's gonna be going down on June 9th, 10th, and 11th. And this is a free three-day live training event for moms who want to learn a nutrition approach that works for their lives and their fat loss goals so they can ditch the constant dieting cycle for good. And this is not another plan that's gonna tell you to cut carbs or meal prep 20 containers every single Sunday or follow rules that really only last you for like three days. This is a nutrition strategy that works for your body, your goals, and your life as a mom. At this point, I know that you've tried a lot of things to lose weight, and you're skeptical, and you're like, I just don't know if I'll ever find the thing that's gonna work for me. But I promise you, I'm going to teach you exactly how to do it inside this live training series, Ditch the Diet Mom Edition. So enrollment is officially opening up on the 25th. Make sure you mark your calendars so you can come in, grab your spot. It is completely free. I cannot wait to see you there. But until next time, thank you for joining me today. If this episode resonated with you, I'd love for you to share it or leave a review. It helps this message reach even more women who need it. And until next time, keep becoming stronger within.