So Why Now?

So yesterday I talked about the plan and a little bit why I thought it would be interesting to take this journey.

Why now? While each person has a different reason to make changes in their lives but for me right now seem like a great time for a couple of reasons.

It really all starting a couple months ago, in April I turned 26^th as I said in my last blog. However I hadn’t given much thought to this birthday leading up to it. My fiancé planned a big wine tour for me and I was so excited about getting together with so many of my favorite people, I didn’t really think about the number. However it was after my birthday and all the fun I had that it really starting to sink in that I was well…not a kid anymore. I started to do the math and realized that I was four years away from my thirties. I wasn’t completely sure what that made me feel like till awhile later.

Birthday Wine Tour Group!

Last year I graduated with my Master’s degree and was honored and called to accept a job as the Director of Youth Ministry at a parish in Rochester, NY.  It was a job I was excited about, but also required a ton of work to really get myself caught up to what had been happening at the parish, knowing more about the community and finally figuring out what God was asking me to do in that community.

However , the busyness of trying to play catch up and trying not to miss a beat in the parish also lead me to really neglecting the last part of what I just said, I was so busy doing that I started listening to what God called me to do in that community. This all really started to hit me after my birthday. The end of April is always a hard time for me. Every year my birthday is followed by the anniversary of my mother’s death. My mom was only 42 when she died, so even more the closer I get to that age the more and more fearful I get about not leaving a legacy behind.  Really that is a blog topic to come in the future but however let’s just say that also began me thinking about who I am now as a young women and not a college student.

I started to see that I have a very different role and needed to start redefining myself in this new stage of my life. I knew who the Vicky of undergrad and graduate school was; I can still even remember what high school Vicky was like (or the multiple different version of me that happen during those times of my life). But I didn’t know who this professional, engaged woman was that I had become. In reality and truthfully the 26^th year old Vicky kind of came on me without me thinking about it.

In June more changes happen, a dear friend passed away shockingly and left me really in a spot of seeing many people from a very different period of my life. Nothing makes you really question who you are as losing someone or being remind of who you use to be. So dealing or my lack of dealing really with these question lead to me stress eat and as I got on the scale at the beginning of July I was 20 pounds heavier that October. I knew I had to do something and I also knew that my spiritual questions, mental struggles and my physical challenges were really all tied to one big issue….I didn’t know who I was at this stage and I was just piecing together things without a direction or confidence that I once had in my life.

So here we are my goal is to start doing small changes and as I try things, to talk about them in this blog. I hope that I help you see how you can really take control and redefine yourself. My goal to create a confident, fun, and centered life for myself and through it helps you.

So, why 90 days? While it takes 21 days to make a new habit so first I figure I have three areas that I need to make new habits in, I better give myself more time. Plus I have a lot of work and as a very smart women once told me, you can eat an elephant (or a lot of stuff!) but you can only do it one bite at a time. So looking at my really big goals I wanted to give each small thing the time it desires. But I know by doing so I will have better clarity and confidence in the end.

So what is next? Do any of my problems sounds like something you have heard yourself say? I’d love to hear your story! Has what I need to work on inspire you to take up something for yourself? Hop over to the Facebook page and let me know!

Tomorrow is kick of day and I will start it off by sharing some of my measurable goals for this 90 days. 

90 Day to Transform Me

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. ~Melody Beattie

Greetings everyone!

Those who have read some of my past blogs know that for me I view life as a series of changes that we go through. Some are energizing and wonderful while others are unexpected and not so great…and of course there are ton in-between ones also! Since the last time I wrote here, I went through a couple huge life changes. I finished up my Master’s degree from The College at Brockport in Public Administration with a concentration in Nonprofit Management. I got engaged to my boyfriend of three years, I moved out of my “small town” to the City of Rochester and I started a new job as the Director of Youth Ministry for a catholic parish here in Rochester. All of this while retiring from pageants and turning 26^th.

Turning 26^th as had a huge impact on me, and I am still starting to understand and sort through the impact of this new stage in my life. This birthday symbolized for me the end of my “college career” and starting my real life as an adult in a way.  And it has been a very odd feeling, for someone who felt like they matured pretty quickly growing up the idea of being so resistant to becoming a “real adult” seemed odd and confusing to me.

On top of all that, no one tells you how your body starts to change in your late 20s! Those who feel the desire can flip back through some of my old blogs and see that battling my weight has been a struggle throughout my life and it has seemed to get harder the older I get!

I have been lucky enough to find a really great transformational approach to food and also helping to recharge my body called the Advocare 24 Day Challenge. I will speak a lot more about that in my next post however I am on day nine of my 4th time through the program and it really has helped me start to look at food, eating and my body in a different way.

The change at how I look at my body really made me starting thinking about my life in general.  No one tells you what this stage of your life is going to be like, because for everyone this is a stage of true personal journey.  Just think about how at the same age, people are at such different stages. People I graduated high school with for example, some are married with children, some single, some traveling and some are still living at home! So this is defiantly a time where there is not road map for me to follow in my life and I need to make it up as a go.

In the middle of all, I also am struggling starting in a new profession and learning what my life is called to do. I am a big believe that I never what to do something because it makes a lot of money or makes me famous but rather because what I am doing is meant for me and also will positively impact others. I don’t want to be famous I want to know that my life and what I do creates meaning in the world. Now how am I supposed to clearly do this for others, when truthfully I am not sure where I stand with myself right now?

So all this lead to a breakthrough (or crazy depending on how you look at it) idea, why not devote 90 days to myself, improving myself physically, mentally, emotions and spiritually?

Novel idea, I mean how many self-help books, coaching programs and day time talk shows deal with this topic? For me it means it’s something people are interested in and if I am searching for a way to figure out who I am, and all these books are about it I can’t be alone. So then I thought, why not start blogging about this?

So now to come up with what I am going to do? Here are the areas I want to focus on over the next 90 days:

Physical Transformation: Some of my major goals in this area are to tone up, lose body fat and also start transforming how I eat. I am really concern with the amount of chemicals we put into our bodies and want to dedicate myself to making positive changes in this area as much as possible. Small Goals: Drink 8 glasses of water a day, track and start getting the proper amount of sleep of 7-8hours whenever possible

Mental Transformation: I know I kind of mocked self-help books but I think coming to terms with where I am at this part in my life and who I am is very important. I am becoming a different and new “me” if you will so I need to start figuring out what’s important to her. The purpose in this area is to allow for emotional healing, reframing my thinking and moving forward. Some steps towards this? Daily Affirmation, I am a firm believer in needs to reinforce daily in your brain what you want to be. So over the 90 days I will not only create an affirmation for myself, I will say daily and I will back in up with journaling and other ideas I find along the way.

Spiritual Transformation: I truly believe in the power of God in our lives and have my own personal practices as a Roman Catholic. However I feel like being so involved in planning and making spiritual awakening open to others, I really have started to let go of focusing on me. This is one area I have a pretty developed plan on, I took spiritual formation as a class last semester and tomorrow will post my promise to myself that I will follow through with over the next 90 days.

So come along the ride with me, the office start date is August 1^st, stay tune for more information and this crazy journey.