I finally did it!!

Yippee! I did it! I finally did it! For years I have wanted to start my own blog. I’ve thought about it, thought about it some more and finally decided to act on it.  It’s sort of surreal for this day to finally be here.  I first thought of doing this when I was pregnant with Carson as a way to keep family and friends updated on my pregnancy and our family life after he was born. But like a lot of other things in life, it got pushed to the back burner.  So when I signed up to be a Beachbody Coach in 2014 I knew that someday I would make it a reality! And here I am!  

baby

For those who don’t know me, my name is Linnea and I am a 34 year old wife to an amazingly patient man and a mother to a 2 year old son Carson with Baby #2 on the way (currently 18 weeks along).  I also have four (yes, four!) kitties that I adore: Wriglee, Harmony, Mo Kitty and Precious.  We live in middle TN but I was born and raised in IL. Growing up in IL was fun and I loved every minute of it but there was always something inside of me that knew I was meant for something bigger.  The area I grew up in is really small and I knew that with where I wanted to go and with the degree I was going to pursue that my options would likely be limited.  After 4 years at NIU in DeKalb I moved on to Ball State in Indiana where I pursued a Doctorate in Audiology. That degree is what led me to TN, where I got a job at the VA.  I met my husband not long after moving here and the rest is history!

 

But how did I get to where I am today?  I had a good childhood and always had everything I needed.  But as I got older and my parents grew farther and farther apart I was sort of forced to grow up faster than I needed to to help care for my brothers.  My Dad wasn’t around as much as he probably should have been because he was always working to support us and eventually the same became true of my Mom.  As the years passed and I entered high school my relationship with my Mom became very strained at times (as I’m sure it does for lots of teenage girls!) but it took it’s emotional toll on me and I could not wait to get out of there and go to college!  College was a blast and I thoroughly enjoyed the freedom it gave me.  I went completely by myself and so I was forced to meet people on my own which I did fairly easily. I joined a sorority fall of my Freshman year, a decision that my Dad helped me make and has easily been one of the best decisions I have ever made.  Through that experience I made some of the best friends a girl could ask for, I learned about leadership & service and I had a lot of FUN!  But….I was also a party animal.  I spent way too much time drinking beer at fraternity parties and when I got a job at a local bar that only escalated.  I soon found myself spiraling out of control and drinking 5-6 nights a week. On top of that I was also a smoker.  I managed to get good grades and graduated with over a 3.5 GPA but I’m honestly not sure how I did that.  I took a year off before applying to grad school because I honestly knew I was not ready and not in a place mentally to devote myself to more schooling.  I have thanked God many times for helping me to see that because that year completely changed my life.  

 

Over the course of that year my life really spiraled out of control.  Working in a bar as a server meant late nights, late meals and late nights partying with my friends.  To say I turned into a hot mess is an understatement.  There were many, many nights I drank so much I have no recollection of what happened.  Not to mention I gained a significant amount of weight (about 50 pounds). No surprise there since I was obviously not taking care of myself!  I remember waking up one day and looking at myself in the mirror and just being flat out DISGUSTED. That day was such a turning point for me. I made the decision right then and there to start applying for grad school and get my life back on track. I moved to Muncie in 2005 to start at Ball State. Within just a few months I had lost close to 30 pounds!  All I changed was NO DRINKING.  Gosh, even thinking about that makes me sick!  As much as I love all the friends I had been hanging out with, being away from them was the best thing that ever happened to me.  I finally had a purpose for my life other than staying out late and getting drunk.  I did well in grad school and fell in love with Audiology.  I served on a national board for a student audiology organization and got back to doing things that I love…..leadership and service.  Soon I was headed to Nashville to complete a 1 year externship at the VA. I felt like I finally had control over my life but I was lonely.  A few of the girls at the VA convinced me to sign up on eHarmony and thought I was skeptical I went for it. Within just a few weeks some guy named Woody messaged me and we instantly hit it off. We messaged online for well over a month and eventually I felt comfortable enough to give him my phone number.  About 2 months later I (very reluctantly) agreed to meet him in person at a local restaurant. I was TERRIFIED. Like I considered canceling about 20 times but just knew I couldn’t.  You hear so many horror stories about women meeting men on the internet so I told 5 of my closest friends where we were meeting, what time we were meeting at and what time I thought I would be home. If they did not receive a message from me by a certain time they were to call the police!  Yes, I was that scared!  I have never been more nervous for anything in my entire life but I think it’s because I knew deep down that it was right.  I remember seeing Woody for the first time and just a huge sense of relief passing over me.  I talked his poor ear off that night because I was so nervous!  We sat and talked for hours and the minute I got in my car to head home I said “Oh my gosh….I’m going to marry him.”  He proposed exactly 2 years later and we were married on October 8, 2011.394568_10100415073336708_338318455_n

 

Fast11866304_150758111925700_6148869353140941922_n forward to October 2013:  we welcomed our first child, Carson, into the world.  My pregnancy was great up until about 37 weeks when I developed HELLP Syndrome (I’ll cover that in a different post).  It took me weeks to recover from that physically but emotionally it really took a toll.  Here I had this beautiful baby but inside I was not happy with myself at all.  I felt stuck, unhappy with my body and like I was in a bad mood too often.  In March of 2014, when I felt I had finally had enough, I reached out to a high school acquaintance after watching her lose her baby weight doing workouts from home. That’s when Beachbody entered my life and that’s when I really feel I got my life back.  My Coach recommended I start with the 21 Day Fix program and Shakeology so I signed up without hesitation and told my husband we were doing this together!  I knew I was ready to make a change as I not only had baby weight to lose but I still had some of that college weight to lose as well.  My husband also needed to lose at least 50 pounds.  We started getting up early to get our workouts in and switched to a cleaner style of eating. Within weeks we both felt so much better and within months I had felt better than I had in years! I had energy and more importantly I had CONFIDENCE in myself; something I had been lacking for years.  It only made sense to me to become a Coach myself and pay it forward to others!  Being a Coach has helped hold me accountable to my own goals and help others achieve their goals as well.  It is unbelievably rewarding to see others succeed and reach their health & fitness goals and regain their confidence.  Not only have I undergone a physical transformation but the changes I have undergone on the inside are just as amazing!  For the first time in my life I am reading personal development books instead of gossip magazines and I have a confidence and belief in myself that I have never had before.  I am a much happier and more grateful person and for the first time in a long time I have BIG dreams for myself!  

 

I look forward every single day to continuing my journey and sharing it with others!  Everyone deserves to be ridiculously happy 🙂

 

XOXO,

Linnea

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