What I learned from "The Art of Fear" (book review!)

“If your dreams don’t scare you, they aren’t big enough.”

You’ve heard that quote, right?

It sounds inspiring, but what if your dreams are TOO big?

What if they scare you so much that you’re paralyzed with so much overwhelm and fear that you can’t take action to actually achieve them?

To an extent, that’s what’s been happening with my life over the last couple of years.

This post is half book review, half stream-of-conscious braindump of some thoughts and feelings that have been on my heart lately.

I’ve become an expert at dreaming, goal setting, visioning, planning, strategizing, and envisioning a crazy amazing and limitless future for myself.

But the problem is that I’m too good at dreaming, I always have been. My dreams have been an escape from reality.

Deep down it's hard for me to believe that I'm good enough or worthy of my dreams, so I procrastinate and keep myself in my comfort zone by gaining more education and training, making plans, and making sure that my next dream is JUST out of reach so I can always have something to work towards without actually giving myself permission to go for it and dive into the discomfort of taking emotional risks and facing my fears (of rejection, success, going out of my comfort zone).

Change is hard, even when it's good change!

Will I even like or recognize who I am once I arrive at where I want to be?

Will I like what I find?

Will I like the person I become?

Will other people like me?

Will I lose my friends or family…will they accept me if I change and grow?

I know that they accept me for who I am right now, so that must be good enough, right? But deep down I still want more. I know I’m made for more. I am not made to play small, to hide my gifts and talents, to limit myself and my potential by not “going for it.”

I want to listen to my HEART, not my head. But I have listened to my head my entire life, so I’m not really sure I can 100% trust my heart and intuition. That I can trust myself!

That’s why I was intrigued by this book, The Art of Fear.

Tagline: "Why conquering fear won't work and what to do instead."

YES PLEASE! Teach me the ways!

If I really want to create the life coaching business of my dreams, buy a house, raise kids, move somewhere with mountains, share my art with the world, write a book, start a charitable foundation with Ben (my ultimate dream is to be a philanthropist! Well, my real ultimate dream is to be the princess of a small and wealthy nation buttttt I already screwed that up by not being born or marrying into royalty, oops), I need to start taking action now.

Even though I am so far away from where I want to be and it’s messy and uncomfortable and awkward. I hate feeling like a beginner. I love control. I love knowing what I’m doing, feeling competent, and having a level of success underneath me. But it’s a catch 22because in order to gain the confidence I need to reach my dreams, I have to do the messy work NOW…

I’ve always been driven by fear. Not in a good way.

I am realizing that the fear never goes away (new levels, new devils!). So I am looking for new ways to deal with it.

I loved this book because it was a new perspective on how we hold ourselves back. The author, Kristen Ulmer, is a former extreme skier and "fear addict" who now teaches people the tools to build a healthy relationship with this complex emotion.

She doesn’t tell you how to overcome your fears, punch fear in the face, feel the fear and do it anyway...which was refreshing to me because I know that at least personally, fighting my fear just makes it more aggressive and that is what leads to panic attacks, no thanks!

I need a gentler approach.

I wanted to learn how to make fear my friend instead of my worst enemy that holds me back.

I know that personally, anxiety (for me) is generally unused creative energy. When I get caught in my head, I start overthinking and under-acting. Once I get into action, no matter what I’m doing the anxiety and fear goes away because my brain feels that I am doing something

Disclaimer: I received a free copy from the publisher to review with this post, but I feel like it was a sign from God because I NEEDED to read this book. It came at a perfect time.

WHO THIS BOOK IS FOR

• Anyone who is tired of being controlled by their fear (or any other manifestation: anxiety, stress, overwhelm, anger, over-thinking, etc) and is ready to get emotionally uncomfortable and do the hard work to build a new relationship with themselves. Because in order to reach our potential (in life, love, relationships, career, everything!), we have to love and accept ourselves including our “negative” sides and darker emotions.
• Soul searchers who want to discover their purpose and potential as a complete and whole-hearted human being.
• If you love Brene Brown, Jen Sincero, Martha Beck, and similar authors.
• If you want to get out of your head.

WHAT I LEARNED FROM THE ART OF FEAR

1. Everything we know about fear is wrong.

Our relationship with fear is the most important relationship of our lives, because it's the relationship we have with ourselves. 

Fear itself isn't the problem -- it's how we react or interpret it. Fear is an emotional and physical response produced by what Ulmer calls our "lizard brain," our amygdala, our oldest part of our brain in terms of evolutionary history. Our Lizard Brain is constantly on the lookout for anything that might kill us, and it can't distinguish the level of the threat so it sees mortal danger everywhere! It communicates by sending physical sensations of discomfort (aka FEAR), which trigger our fight or flight instinct.

This in itself is fine, except that our "thinking mind" creates stories around the feelings our Lizard Brain is sending. Our thinking mind is that voice inside our heads, basically who we believe ourselves to be. It's the furthest thing from our body and intuition, but it creates stories that shape who we are and create our perception of ourselves and reality.

The thing is that there is really no such thing as "good" or "bad" emotions, but if an emotion feels uncomfortable, we label it as "bad" and then do anything to shut it down, avoid it, try to let it go, or overcome it. But it will never go away unless we allow ourselves to feel and experience it fully!

The good news is that when we allow ourselves to feel our emotions (good and bad), they usually run their course in 10-90 seconds and then we're on to the next feeling.

Therefore, if you aren't actually in physical danger, practice feeling into your fear/anxiety/overwhelm/anger/stress and see what happens!

I've been practicing this and it honestly works.

Close your eyes, take a few deep breaths, and notice the sensations in your body and where fear is showing up. Breathe through it, notice what's happening, remember that you are safe, and allow it to tell you what it wants to say and then move on.

2. Repressed fear causes all sorts of issues.

Because feeling our uncomfy feels is so hard, we’re pretty much all struggling with repressed fear.

Judging yourself or other people, blame, having an overactive crazy mind, not being able to sleep, stress and anxiety, mental or mood disorders, burnout, physical problems, feelings of unworthiness, all of these and pretty much any emotional hang-up comes from fear.

Suffering = discomfort x resistance

It’s not the discomfort itself that’s causing suffering, but our resistance to feeling the discomfort.

So even though it sounds counterproductive, accepting the discomfort and leaning into your fear is the only way to truly release it.

3. How to build a new relationship with fear and yourself

This was my favorite section of the book. All is not lost!

To build a healthy relationship with fear, it’s not about accepting our fear (because that leads to passivity), but about honoring it. Listen to what it is telling you, because it just wants to keep you safe.

Stop vilifying your inner critic and think of her like your no-BS bodyguard or best friend.

Let the fear give you the message, and then instead of immediately reacting or running away, respond wisely.

Do you feel anxious about a big presentation or interview at work? It’s ok – your fear just wants you to be prepared and do your best. So instead of getting in your head, channel that anxiety into focused energy so you deliver your presentation with an edge.

Because at the end of the day, that’s all that fear is. Energy.

If we use it to motivate us instead of paralyze us, we’ll go farther than we ever thought possible.

I have so many more thoughts on this book and this subject in general, but I’m going to let it all marinate and practice on myself.

That’s another important thing to remember: When we push ourselves out of our comfort zone and expand, we’re going to then contract a little bit in response. So if you ever have a “vulnerability hangover” after a big day, don’t freak out, just give yourself time to grow into the new and bigger version of yourself that you’re becoming.

You are stronger than you think!

xo Anna

Wanna chat more about this topic? I’d love to jam with you! Click here to send me a note.

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Grab a copy of The Art of Fear here!

Purchase Links: HarperCollins | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

About The Art of Fear

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Harper Wave (June 13, 2017)

A revolutionary guide to acknowledging fear and developing the tools we need to build a healthy relationship with this confusing emotion—and use it as a positive force in our lives.

We all feel fear. Yet we are often taught to ignore it, overcome it, push past it. But to what benefit?  This is the essential question that guides Kristen Ulmer’s remarkable exploration of our most misunderstood emotion in The Art of Fear.

Once recognized as the best extreme skier in the world (an honor she held for twelve years), Ulmer knows fear well. In this conversation-changing book, she argues that fear is not here to cause us problems—and that in fact, the only true issue we face with fear is our misguided reaction to it (not the fear itself).

Rebuilding our understanding of fear from the ground up, Ulmer starts by exploring why we’ve come to view it as a negative. From here, she unpacks fear and shows it to be just one of 10,000 voices that make up our reality, here to help us come alive alongside joy, love, and gratitude. Introducing a mindfulness tool called “Shift,” Ulmer teaches readers how to experience fear in a simpler, more authentic way, transforming our relationship with this emotion from that of a draining battle into one that’s in line with our true nature.

Influenced by Ulmer’s own complicated relationship with fear and her over 15 years as a mindset facilitator, The Art of Fear will reconstruct the way we react to and experience fear—empowering us to easily and permanently address the underlying cause of our fear-based problems, and setting us on course to live a happier, more expansive future.

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Photo by Meaghan M. Golden

About Kristen Ulmer

Kristen Ulmer is a facilitator who draws from her tenure as the best woman extreme skier in the world for twelve years and from thousands of hours facilitating clients on the subject of fear. Her work has been featured on NPR and in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, USA Today, Outside magazine, and many other publications. She lives in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Find out more about Kristen at her website, and connect with her on Facebook and Twitter and Instagram.

I was provided with a free copy of the book to review, but all thoughts and opinions are my own!

Simple healthy habits that make a big difference (SuperLife Book Review)

Hello friends! I hope you're having a bright and happy week, even if the sun has gone MIA like it has here in Chicago. Oh, January.

I haven't done a book review in way too long, so I'm excited to share my thoughts and reaction to the book SuperLife by Darin Olien!

When I was contacted by TLC Book Tours to participate in a virtual book tour for this paperback release, I jumped at the chance because I've actually been drinking Darin's delicious superfood supplement Shakeology for almost three years now, and have heard him speak live at our annual Beachbody coach summit.

Here I am being a total SuperLife cliche - drinking my superfoods and writing this review!

• As an ex-science nerd (I have a BA in Biology!) it was fun for me to learn more about why superfoods are important and get a deeper perspective on what it really means to be healthy, including the complex chemical reactions and the science behind how our bodies function and why certain nutrients are so vital.

Our bodies are seriously amazing! It's very empowering to know that we can take control of our health and avoid, prevent, or heal from chronic illnesses or issues by making simple daily decisions.

"Health is created one choice at a time. It really is that simple! Once you know what healthy choices to make, you repeat them over and over again. That's how health becomes a lifestyle."

Darin takes a holistic view of health (as opposed to western medicine, which has a specialist for every system and body part). In this book he lays out an overview of five "life forces," or the main factors and processes that drive our health and wellbeing on a cellular level, and then explains how we can optimize that cellular health by our food and lifestyle choices so we feel awesome. He also shares lists of beneficial foods and a ten day sample eating plan, which actually looks delicious! No starvation detoxes here.

He explains that the key to optimal health is to fulfill these life forces, which is a relatively simple fix because it all revolves around what we put into our bodies.

The 5 life forces

• Nutrition
• Hydration
• Oxygenation
• Alkalization
• Detoxification

In the book, Darin gives a thorough explanation of each force and how our bodies operate, and then a checklist of simple things we can do to take care of ourselves.

I like how he combines the detailed scientific background with realistic actionable steps, and the tone of the book is in his relaxed California surfer vibe. Lots of nutrition based books can come off as preachy or make you feel like a bad human being for not being as enlightened as the author, but I appreciated that SuperLife takes a pretty simple and casual approach to the hard science.

Instead of recapping all the complicated details for each life force, I'm going to focus on my personal takeaways and what I learned from this book, including some simple healthy shifts that we can all implement into our routines to immediately feel more energized and vibrant!

What I learned

• What's in Shakeology! All the superfoods are sustainably sourced by Darin from small farmers throughout the globe, the true definition of "fair trade."
• Frozen produce is good when you live in the tundra of Illinois and don't have access to fresh local organic veggies year round. Yay!
• We eat too much protein! Protein in plants is more bioavailable. Meat is hard on our systems. Beware of the Paleo diet… in reality, our ancestors ate mostly plants because meat was very scarce and we had to hunt for it.
• Vitamins and nutrients from whole foods are easier for our bodies to assimilate. Taking supplements in the form of pills is not the best, including calcium! This is why shakeology is so great - it gives us all the nutrients in a whole foods source :)
• Eat more fat!
• Some foods are acidifying to our bodies, and we need to make an effort to eat more food that is alkalinizing (aka fresh veggies and fruit).
• Why hydration is so important - and there's a difference between feeling thirsty and cellular dehydration. 
• Exercise - "Don't try to beat your body into shape, and don't stress about it. You're supposed to feel great. That's the only thing that counts. It's not about the perfect body or the perfect workout routine. You just need to show up for your own life."

At the end of the book he provides a list of foods and their main nutrient properties, and also shares a sample 10 day eating plan that actually looks pretty delicious. II'm definitely going to be trying some of the recipes!

Overall thoughts

If you're a perfectionist and tend to take everything you read literally and get obsessive about your food, take this book with a grain of Himalayan rock salt. Remember that Darin is writing from his personal perspective, and he's made it his life mission to be obsessed about his food. He also lives in southern California.

I love how he talked not just about food, but about other habits that have an effect on our systems, including stress! Stress is acidifying to your body and bad for you not just mentally and emotionally but also on a physical level.

Regarding food stress - it's better to enjoy dinner with your family or friends and eat the bread and pasta … than to make a big deal about your self-imposed food restrictions and feel guilty for eating something "unhealthy" every once in a while (obviously if you have an actual intolerance that's another story). It's ok to position yourself as the health freak at the office and in your family, but don't be annoying about it. As soon as your family and friends realizes that this is your lifestyle and not just a passing phase, you'll start to influence them by your own choices. Lead by example, not by preaching… just like Darin!

Make the best choices you can with the options available to you, and don't make a big deal out of it. Healthy eating is simple, and I think one of the biggest reasons it's so hard for us is because we constantly try to overcomplicate things.

Eat more plants, trust the process, be patient and don't expect your body to drop 20 pounds in one month. Change takes time, so focus on how you're feeling and make more decisions that make you feel good.

How to achieve balance? Just be aware and mindful of what you're putting in your mouth and make sure you're eating MORE good stuff and fresh whole foods than processed foods.

"Every bite we take is a decision: healthy or unhealthy? Will this food nourish me, will it deliver something needed to my cells, will int enhance my well-being? Maybe the answer won't always be yes. But what happens if we make more good decisions than bad ones?"

Food is not an emotional or moral decision…it's science.

We already know exactly what we should be eating, so it's not about finding a fancy new special meal plan. Just make smart decisions that you know are good for you! It's that easy.

"Instead of relying on willpower to resist junk food, just eat better and the cravings will vanish, I promise."

I've learned in my own experience that when you focus on eating MORE healthy food (instead of trying to use your willpower to cut out the treats and junk), your preferences and taste buds actually change and your body becomes more sensitive. After a while you won't have to rely on will power at all because your body will actually start to crave the healthy stuff, and junk food doesn't even sound good…if you do eat it you'll feel like crap, which will make it easier to say no next time.

Focus on small shifts, instead of trying to overhaul your entire life, because changing habits takes TIME in order to avoid feeling deprived.

Darin ends the book with a list of his "Daily Simple Fixes," although some of them are more simple than others.

When you ready this book, I recommend making a "to do" list of all the lifestyle changes, and ranking them on a timeline or spectrum of what will be easiest vs. hardest FOR YOU, based on where you're at currently. It's unrealistic to completely change your entire lifestyle in one week and we're all on different levels when it comes to our health and wellness.

Maybe you're already vegan, live in California, and buy all organic food. Maybe you live in the Midwest like me, your current diet consists of Lean Cuisines and bagels, and you have no idea what tempeh even is.  Neither scenario makes you a better or worse person, but you'll have to approach the book differently and give yourself the appropriate time to shift your mindset and habits based on where you're starting from.

Here's my personal action plan after reading SuperLife, ranked from what things that will be easiest to the stuff that's going to take me a while to evolve into!

LOVE IT - easy to implement

+ I've already stopped drinking diet soda, caffeine, am using Shakeology daily, exercising regularly, eating healthy fats (my HDL good cholesterol is 93!) and have cut back on processed grains/bread and sugar. Go me!

(If I can do it, you can too. Seriously, I love food and I was never active growing up. The 21 Day Fix nutrition plan structure was super helpful in helping me adopt a more whole foods based diet, mindful eating, cutting out sugar and junk without even missing it, and teaching me how to meal plan, and I highly recommend trying the program if you want to get started without feeling overwhelmed or deprived!)

+ Drink a big glass of water first thing in the morning.

+ Less coffee, more green tea. I've already given up caffeine but I still love my daily decaf coffee habit. Since coffee is acidifying to our bodies, I'm going to start slowly experimenting with replacing it with green tea. I don't think I'll ever completely cut coffee out of my life but at least I know that it's important to balance it out by eating lots of alkalinizing foods!

+ Keep drinking Shakeo and eating as many raw fruits and veggies as I can

+ Being more active in my daily life. Making an effort to get outside for more walks throughout the day (which is tough with Midwest climate)

+ Experimenting with eating less meat and trying more vegan recipes. I love beans, grains, produce, and plant food, but it's easy to default to the traditional dinner of meat and a side of veggies. I have several awesome vegetarian and vegan cookbooks so I'm going to play around with them and spend more time on weekend meal prep chopping veggies and cooking grains and beans in bulk so I can easily throw together a power bowl for lunch or dinner.

STUFF I'M STILL WORKING ON

+ Continuing to work on my attitude! Practicing gratitude, mindfulness, yoga, and doing more things that make me feel happy and centered. (I know you're probably thinking, "I suck at yoga and meditation." Well, duh. That's why it's called a practice.)

+ Slowly adding more and more organic produce and sustainably raised organic meat into my diet. I'm a thrifty Midwestern girl and my default mindset is "what's the cheapest or best deal?" so it's going to take me some time to get used to CHOOSING to spend more money on our food…although I know it's an investment that will pay off in the future with reduced medical costs.

+ Soaking my nuts and grains

+ Eliminate sugar

+ Slowly transitioning to natural plant-based cleaning products, make up, and toiletries.

+ Try the Ultimate Reset!

LEAVE IT

Here are the "fixes" that were a little out there for me...

+ Drink only distilled water, and "vortate, love it, and structure it" to infuse it with positive energy. 

+ Not wearing sunscreen (I will get my Vitamin D with a supplement to avoid skin cancer!)

If you're open to learning more about how you can feel amazing and invest in your long term health through making simple lifestyle shifts, or if you're interested in nutrition and learning more about the science of how food choices affect your body, I highly recommend this book!

Purchase Links: HarperCollins | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Author Links: Website, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up (book review)

I’ve never thought of myself as a naturally organized or tidy person. I leave my clothes on the floor, I’ll start doing dishes but won’t finish them, I ignore piles of old papers and random junk, and folding laundry is the woooOOOoooOOrst! I’m more of a big picture thinker, and don’t like to focus on details, which is why when I was applying to graduate programs I quit biology for geography, trading microscopes for landscapes.

However, I’m type-A enough that I know I feel best in a clean, uncluttered, and organized space, and my Pinterest boards reflect that inner desire ;) But I haven’t been able to bridge the gap between who I am and who I want to be, so “purge closet,” “de-clutter,” “organize office” have been items on my to-do list for literally months and years and I end up feeling stuck and trapped. Mostly because the sheer thought of decluttering is so overwhelming! I don’t want to face the emotional investment that comes with deciding what to keep and what to discard. I’m a very sentimental person and I also have a resourceful side (which I credit to reading all the Boxcar Children books when I was little), a talent for creating something out of nothing, for looking at an object and imagining a dozen different possibilities or uses for it. Plus I have a physical aversion to waste! So if something might be useful down the road or is attached to memories or sentimental value, I can’t bring myself to throw it away! 

Do you get it?

Ben and I always complain about the lack of storage space in our apartment, but our apartment is not even that small. I just have so much random CRAP from past phases of life wasting all the storage space, stuff that we haven’t even touched since we moved here three summers ago. So the things I actually use on a regular basis are just crammed into shelves and corners. It’s stifling!

Now that I work from home, I’m learning just how important my physical environment is to my confidence, mood, and general ability to get shit done. I can’t think or work in a cluttered, messy space, but decluttering the apartment has been on the backburner as I’ve been focusing on building my business and figuring out my life. You know, the big picture things. Decluttering and organizing doesn’t feel important or urgent, so I just avoid it.

Over the past couple months I'm finally reaching a good place with my confidence, business, health and fitness, and social life, but I still felt “off,” and was still struggling with anxiety and dissatisfaction. Everything was good, I knew it was good, but it still didn’t FEEL good and I couldn’t pinpoint why. In April I took a coaching business training course with my Beachbody team. One of our assignments was to complete Chalene Johnson’s balance assessment, in which you rank your overall satisfaction in 10 core areas of life. My lowest score was "environment and surroundings" because I’ve never really loved our apartment, even though I spend almost 24/7 in it. 

Wait. Could my cluttered, messy apartment really be the last thing holding me back from accepting myself and finally overcoming the self-doubt and anxiety? BOOM! It was like a giant lightbulb went off in my head.

Enter: The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.

Have you heard of this book? It's apparently wildly popular right now, and was recommended to me by my friend/old supervisor, my life coach, and a couple bloggers I respect, so a few weeks ago I picked it up at my local bookstore on a whim.

OH MY GAHHHHHHH it’s legit, you guys. Magical, life changing, the whole shebang. I read the entire book in one weekend, then took three full days to tackle some major tidying. I went through my clothes, personal possessions, books, papers, fabric and art supplies, and office. I still have to deal with the kitchen and bathroom, but I already feel like a whole new person.

I won’t give too much of the book away, but it’s written by Marie Kondo, a Japanese personal organization consultant. She describes her method of decluttering and tidying a home for the long haul--no more just rearranging your stuff, hiding clutter in drawers, or falling back into old habits. Her system WORKS. It’s not emotionally overwhelming, and the sense of zen she infuses into the process makes donating or throwing things away feel respectful and oh so good.

Basically, you tidy by category, not by room. You start with clothes and accessories, then move onto books, and on down the list, going from items with least sentimental value to more value so you can be objective and don’t overwhelm yourself from the beginning.

When you begin a new category, you find everything that fits that category in the house and dump it onto the floor. Then you go through each item one by one, touching and handling every single object, and make a split second intuitive decision by asking yourself “Does this spark joy?”

If it doesn’t spark joy (or hold intrinsic value or necessary purpose), it goes bye bye! It’s as simple as that.

In the end, you’ll only keep your absolute favorite things. You don’t have to worry or be afraid of being forced to give up what you really care about, because it’s totally up to you, the decision is literally in your hands. The point is to live simply, surrounded only by objects that bring you joy and happiness. It is SO liberating!

I ended up donating three garbage bags full of clothes, dozens of books, downsized my shoe collection to around 23 pairs, organized my fabric stash, and have a space for everything! My once-small closet feels organized and spacious.

What I learned about the tidying process

-How to get rid of gifts or sentimental items without guilt.

-How to overcome the “it might be useful” or “I might wear it someday” trap.

-How to be systematic and productive instead of getting distracted, spending 2 hours down the rabbit hole of looking at old books and pictures, and giving up.

-How to finally say goodbye to old books, notebooks, and course materials!

-How to fold and store my clothes to take up less space and make everything visible.

(Here's a visual of the "vertical folding" technique, featuring my pj's/tank tops and bottoms.)

-How to say “thanks but no thanks!” without feeling guilty when a family member tries to pass down stuff to you.

-How to turn decluttering and tidying into an ART, not a chore.

What I’m learning about myself in the process

+ I am an "all or nothing" person, and that is OK!

I'm an enthusiast, passionate, all-in. When I do something I do it right, no holds barred. I love Marie's philosophy that you can't use the Pinterest approach of tidying for 20 minutes a day because you end up driving yourself crazy with a never-ending to-do list. You have to go all-in and take on your entire home in one fell swoop.

This helped me release a lot of guilt about how I think I "should" be running my business and life. Breaking things down into small daily actions sometimes is MORE overwhelming to me than getting it all done at once. (even follow ups, business stuff.) Having a huge daily to-do list with lots of little things gives me tons of anxiety, while having one or two main focuses everyday helps me stay calm and fulfilled! So I've re-structured my work schedule to create weekly and monthly systems instead of trying to do everything every day.

+ I have a personal style!

It emerged after I purged my closet of all the clothes I don't care about. I love black and dark colors, ivory, lace, florals, stretchy pants and leggings, flowy tops, comfy-classy-boho-sporty. I do not like to wear jeans, buttoned downs, brown, or pastels.

+ Deep down I AM a neat and organized person, and I do have the power to take control of my life and happiness instead of playing victim!

It’s SO liberating to say good-bye to past phases of life, old memories, and trappings of previous stages that no longer serve me. I got rid of all my grad school and college papers and articles...it was hard because so many years of blood sweat and tears went into those things, but they also were infused with so much stress.

I shared my 3 day tidying binge on Facebook and inspired several of my friends to read the book too. It’s an emotional process and I think it would be really fun to have an accountability group for support, so I’ve decided to add an optional Book Club component to my June Bootcamp for anyone who's interested in tackling a total life overhaul next month! We'll be making room in our lives for POSITIVE changes and habits by removing negativity and clutter.

We’ll set healthy habits, learn how to fuel our bodies with delicious nutrient dense food, build self esteem and work on developing a positive body image, learn how to love ourselves for who we already are, motivate each other, and most of all have fun! 

Make room for the good stuff in your mind, body, and life. You owe it to yourself and the people you love!

+ You can learn more about my Bootcamp here.

+ If you’re interested in joining us, please contact me here so I can get to know you and chat about your goals!

+ Enrollment is open until June 2nd.

Have you read this book? Let me know what you think in the comments below!

xo Anna