I'm a life coach!

“It’s the possibIlity of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.” -Paulo Coelho

Holy crap you guys, I did it.

I’ve graduated from the Beautlful You Life Coaching Course and I’M OFFICIALLY A LIFE COACH!

(If you want to learn more about the path that brought me here and how I decided to take this leap, you can read Part One of the story here).

I can’t believe I’m writing this post. This whole journey has been incredible, challenging, and full of highs and lows but in the end the most rewarding and self-empowering experience I've ever had.

I’ve been so full of emotions and adrenaline and happiness all week that it’s been hard to focus and put my thoughts into words, but I’m going to give it my best shot because I want you to know that whatever crazy scary thoughts, dreams, or goals you have hidden deep within your heart? YOU CAN MAKE THEM HAPPEN. I want to challenge you to say yes to yourself and go for it, no matter what that path looks like for you.

How am I feeling right now? Unstoppable. And so overwhelmingly grateful.

Last month I wrote about how I was going through some mega growing pains (and I know that life will throw me more in the future since I’m a comfort zone stretching junkie), but for now, I think I’ve successfully expanded into this new bigger version of myself and can let myself simply be here and explore my new territory for a while!

WHAT’S NEXT FOR MY BUSINESS

So what does this mean for my coaching business? Nothing is really changing, it's just getting bigger, better, deeper, stronger.

I've always been a little bit of a rebel inside, driven to take the road less travelled and stay true to myself, so I'm going to do something that I don't think anyone has ever done before and use Beachbody as an alternative business model for my life coaching business. 

For now, I’m planning to incorporate the skills and tools I’ve learned into my existing biz in order to help women transform on a deeper level, beyond health and fitness.

This was always my ultimate vision when I first became a Beachbody coach, because helping women lose weight isn’t my sole passion - but helping them get out of their own way and live bigger and happier lives lights me up. Health and fitness is a huge part of that process because it’s an easy and accessible place to start taking care of ourselves. When we respect and honor our physical bodies and test our own limits, we create positive energy and confidence that seeps into every other aspect of our lives and makes us happier and better in our jobs, relationships, mindset, ability to react to triggering people and situations, ambition, everything.

Starting in August, I’m infusing my existing monthly challenges with more one-on-one time with me, and a higher quality experience that truly reflects where I’m at and what I want to share with other women.

I want to CONNECT on a deeper and more personal level with women who are at the place I was a few years ago, working through their own quarter life crises.

Women who have big dreams or even just a restless energy calling them to live bigger, but who feel overwhelmed, stuck, or trapped inside their own heads and need some encouragement, accountability, and tough love to get out of their own way and become the happy, healthy, and confident person they’re meant to be.

I want to help women learn how to be their own best friend. To wake up every morning feeling excited and purposeful, spend their day sharing their gifts and talents, and go to bed content and full of gratitude. To know for certain that who they are is enough.

If you want to work with me -- you can learn more about my brand new Courageously Authentic coaching experience here!

I’m also going to continue to grow and develop my coaching team Inspire Joy with a focus on leadership mentoring and helping women create abundant, authentic, and successful heart-centered businesses using Beachbody as a platform.

The beauty of partnering with Beachbody is that it’s a proven system and framework for success. We can talk all night about warm fuzzy feelings and making dreams come true and get high on inspiration, but there’s a practical component to turning visions into reality - because let’s face it, dreams need money. We all have to pay the bills. We all need financial freedom in order to follow our hearts, pay off debts, and give back to the world in a bigger way.  (You can read more about my intentional decision to quit my non-profit career for network marketing).

Beachbody is also a community, a family, a support system and a safe space to share your journey with other people who get it, because your friends and family probably won’t get it at first, and until you are strong enough to believe in yourself it’s easy to give up when the going gets hard unless you are part of a support system of other growth-minded, ambitious visionaries.

Our team Inspire Joy is a dream incubator.

God has given me this business and this team of women for a reason: to grow and stretch me into a leader and create a movement that's much bigger than myself. This is my ministry right now, and I’m so freaking grateful.

For the first time in my 20's I feel like I've reached the end of my "striving/seeking/wandering" quarter life crisis phase and am finally growing into the BEING phase where I can simply be myself, accept myself, and create a life and business that directly reflects my values, strengths and passions. I've found my tribe, my purpose, but most of all I've been able to let GO of the pressure and anxiety to do more and be more. Because I am enough. And I figured this out just in time, cause I turn 30 next year, EEK! Lol.

If you're currently feeling stuck, alone, afraid, or in a funk, I want you to know that I feel you. I see you. And I know there IS light at the end of the dark confusing maze, if you keep showing up day after day and doing the work to figure out who you want to be.

Put your loyalty in your DREAMS, not your fears, even if no one else seems to understand...they don't have to. You're on this journey for YOU, and everything is happening in the perfect time, so be open to the lessons and stories that are happening in the struggle as you evolve and grow.

When we’re challenging ourselves to grow and evolve, growing pains are part of the process and they’re going to show up as fear, self-doubt, and a little voice in your head telling you that you’re not good enough and doomed for failure. These fears get louder and louder the closer you are to breaking through your own limits, and they’re a sign to KEEP GOING. Breakdowns happen right before the breakthrough - like a thunderstorm that blows over to reveal a gorgeous double rainbow. Let the emotions blow through you and trust that you’ll be ok.

At the end of the day, it’s not about what we achieve or accomplish in life, but rather who we become in the process.

You are becoming someone truly beautiful and powerful beyond measure.

xo Anna

p.s. Want to keep up to date on my adventures and offerings? Make sure we're virtual Pen Pals!

p.p.s. If you have questions about coaching, BYLCC, Beachbody, or working together, shoot me an email to chat!

On growing pains and breaking out of your comfort zone

This is how I feel right now.

WAAAAAAAAAA --> get yourself together Anna --> *rolls eyes* you're FINE, girl

Today I want to dump my heart and get real with you about GROWING PAINS, and what it looks and feels like to go out of your comfort zone and chase your dreams.

Do you ever look back at all the decisions, experiences, and choices that have brought you to where you're at right now? Life is CRAZY, I'm telling you, crazy sauce.

When I started this blog SEVEN YEARS AGO, I just wanted to have an online journal to share my life with my family and friends as I moved across the country for grad school. Since then, I've obviously graduated, moved back and forth across the country multiple times, got married, struggled through unemployment and a quarter life crisis, moved to Chicago, worked a bajilion jobs, quit my job, launched a health and fitness coaching business, and am now exploring my potential and purpose and going pro with this dream of mine: to create a thriving community of empowered women and establish myself as a life coach and brand.

I've always thought of life as an adventure and started reading (or more accurately - obsessively consuming) books like The Boxcar Children and The Chronicles of Narnia by age 6. These stories instilled in me an enormous imagination, sense of independence, and an unshakable belief in myself, and I've always known deep down that I can create anything I want or need, and that there is magic and possibility hidden all around us. I've never hesitated to follow my heart and make a pivot when I don't like the direction I'm headed.

However, the older and more entrenched in "adult society" I get, the harder it is to make these pivots and change course. It's easy to let the noise of the world distract us and pull us away from our heart and our intuition, and right now it's happening again and I'm caught in the crossroads between what my brain is telling me I SHOULD be doing, and what my heart is telling me I MUST be doing.

It's like a rollercoaster.

I've been caught in the "should's" so many times, like when I quit my job to follow my heart almost two years ago and thought I had to be an OFFICIAL ENTREPRENEUR ACHIEVING ALL THE GREATNESS! so I started to put a lot of pressure my blog to be a marketing tool for my business. 

Even worse, I put a lot of pressure on MYSELF to be instantly successful at being a full time coach and entrepreneur, just like I found success at being a student in school. I didn't want to admit that I was terrified and struggling, because I thought if I wasn't showing massive success, no one would want to work with me.

But the reality is that there's no such thing as overnight success when it comes to entrepreneurship. It was a hard lesson to swallow, and hard to admit that I have to be a beginner and put in the work before I can create something really great.

And guess what?

The work is messy. It's not glamorous. It's a hard long slog, like training for a marathon. All we see on social media and online are the shiny success stories, but we don't see the years of hard work, failure, mistakes, late nights, tears, breakdowns along the way.

I want to share the full picture, not just the tip of the iceberg. I don't want anyone to ever think that success came easily to me, and most of all I don't want to perpetuate the myth that overnight success is to be expected, or that you're a failure if chasing your dreams is hard and messy.

Reaching goals and working towards a vision that's so much bigger than yourself requires dedication, consistent hard work behind the scenes, and SO MUCH PATIENCE.

I want to stop putting pressure on myself to create the perfect polished content, and start sharing more of what I'm going through and be completely honest and open. I want to document each step of this crazy adventure I'm on so I can look back at how far I've come and also so I can show you what it ACTUALLY looks like to chase your dreams and build a heart-centered business from scratch. (Spoiler: it's exhilarating, messy, and downright terrifying).

Yesterday one of my fave mentors Cassandra Bodzak shared a story on Instagram of a lobster outgrowing its shell and it resonated with me SO hard. You see, when a lobster gets too big for its shell, it goes through a period of discomfort and maybe even pain before it finally sheds the shell. Then it's left extremely vulnerable, soft, and exposed and has to go behind a rock and hide to wait until the new bigger shell grows and hardens around its bigger self.

I'm not sure if this is biologically sound BUT that doesn't matter, it's a story. All that matters is that holy shit I'm feeling a lot like that cute little vulnerable lobster who is in between shells right now.

As Cass said, "We can only expand so much in our shells and then sometimes we need to crack that shell open and feel quite raw and vulnerable for a bit while we figure out while our new more expansive shell grows. This process is beautiful and magical. I've been going through it pretty intensely the past couple months and when I first recognized what was going on, it came to me like I was trying to fit my foot into a shoe that looked good but didn't fit. It's not easy or pretty to kick the shoe off and run barefoot for a bit while you find one that fits (or attract one) but it's SO much better than the pain of continually wearing a shoe or a shell that's no longer working for you."

Yes, yes, and yes.

This is me right now, and I'm sharing this post in case you can relate too. Sometimes we just need someone else to shine a mirror on ourselves so we can understand what's going on in our lives. 

Over the past year I've gone through the terrifying, painful, and uncomfortable process of breaking up with the "old Anna," the Anna who found value in achievements and external validation and was addicted to work and striving, who never quite felt like she was good enough because the more she accomplished, the higher the bar was set.

I've shed my old shell, worked with multiple life coaches, filled a stack of notebooks with brain-dumps, dreams, and fears, read dozens of books, invested in courses and programs, and I've grown exponentially over the past year.

I'm gaining a lot of clarity and confidence on who I am and how I want to be of service to the world.

But to be honest, I'm feeling extremely vulnerable and scared right now as I grow into this bigger version of myself. I'm running barefoot.

I don't want to hide anymore, but I'm scared of being seen. I'm scared to let myself fully shine and share my dreams, just in case I fail. Just in case no one listens or cares.

I'm feeling super vulnerable, but that's ok because I'm aware of what's happening and I'm trying to give myself lots of grace and patience as I work towards growing into this new shell.

Here are some of the lessons I'm learning along the way!

How to grow THROUGH growing pains

1. REMEMBER GROWING PAINS ARE A GOOD SIGN THAT YOU'RE MOVING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION. 

Whenever we do something that's outside of our comfort zones or set a big scary goal, we're figuratively breaking out of our old shell and forcing ourselves to grow.

When we grow and challenge ourselves, we will start to experience growing pains that manifest as doubts, fears, insecurities, and a mean voice telling ourselves we can't do this or we're not good enough,

If we listen to these growing pains, we start to believe that we're doomed to fail, and we end up self-sabotaging, even though the voice inside our head isn't true! Fears and doubts are to be expected and they're like little nudges reminding us how important this big new adventure truly is.

2. DON'T BELIEVE THE LITTLE VOICE INSIDE YOUR HEAD LATE AT NIGHT.

This is SO SO SO important to understand, especially because our fears and growing pains usually hit us when we're feeling extra vulnerable, tired, or run-down (like late at night)!

Opening yourself up to success and bigger, greater opportunities is going to crack open the door to the darkness as well, but your light is SO much stronger than the dark. Use it to illuminate the next step. Just one step at a time, like driving in the dark and using your headlights to light the way.

3. THE CLOSER YOU ARE TO A BREAKTHROUGH, THE MORE UNCOMFORTABLE YOU'LL BE.

Your fears and insecurities and doubts will feel the strongest the closer you get to where you want to be, because they're making one last ditch effort to hold you back.

Breakdowns are usually followed by breakthroughs, so don't be thrown off when everything is going perfectly one day, and then you feel wracked with anxiety the next day. Par for the course!

4. GIVE YOURSELF ENDLESS PATIENCE AND GRACE.

Lean into the discomfort. Take deep breaths. Carve out white space in your schedule for down time to let yourself relax and be present. Surround yourself with other people who are going through the same types of growing pains, because in community we find strength and courage. The more we isolate ourselves, the louder the Fear gets... so remember that you are never alone.

Take off the pressure and give yourself credit for the work you're doing. A lot of times we're so focused on getting EXTERNAL results that we ignore the changes and growth that's happening on the inside. Just because you can't see it or tangibly track it doesn't mean the growth isn't happening. This is why I love journaling (and blogging)! It's a great way to look back and remind yourself how far you've come.

5. STAY IN ACTION.

Keep moving forward, and try to do one thing every day that will get you a baby step closer to where you want to be. No step is too small! Heck, when a baby takes its first steps it's the most miraculous and exciting thing to witness ;) 

6. FIND SUPPORT!

This is the most important thing to remember. You are NOT alone. When we start to isolate ourselves, the negative voices in our head get stronger because they want us to believe we're all alone. When we find other people who understand what we're going through and can encourage us to find the positive and reflect how far we've come, the fears start to melt away and the whole terrifying process of growth becomes more fun.

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

-Marianne Williamson

Know that wherever you are on your journey, I'm right here in the trenches with you :) And guess what? WE ARE SAFE. Unlike the cute little lobster, no one's going to eat us (mmmm lobster...). So let's take off the pressure and do our best to have fun as we grow into our new shell, ok?

Stay tuned for more updates and news because I am SO excited about what's in store for this blog, myself, and YOU.

xo Anna

p.s. Speaking of growing and getting support, I just opened doors to my July Inspire Joy Challenge accountability group and I'm SO excited to work with the women who are joining me to commit to our health and fitness this month. I have extra butterflies because this is the LAST Challenge Group I'm hosting before I graduate from my life coaching course and officially re-launch my business in August eeeeep! I'm still dreaming and scheming what Coaching With Anna 2.0 is going to look like, but know that if you want to take action, NOW is the time to get your beautiful self in the door -- click here to book a complimentary call with me!

Roasted Sweet Potato Salad with Tahini Dressing

Back in January I had one of the biggest "OMG PINCH ME" moments in life and was interviewed by one of my favorite mentors Jess Lively for her podcast The Lively Show. It was a huge honor to share my story and be featured on the show that has inspired me so much over the past 3 years, but the best part of that experience that I couldn't have predicted has been the fall-out!

I've been able to connect with so many inspiring women who are also fangirls of Jess' "life with intention" message, and some of them have even become friends over the past few months. One of those friends, Alex, also lives in Chicago, and a couple weeks ago we met up in person for a lunch date at Thrive360, a new healthy food fast-casual restaurant downtown. I'm obsessed with all the fast-casual places popping up around the city, because giant salads and epic veggie bowls actually bring me joy (yup I'm a healthy freak and I shall wave my flag proudly!)

It took us probably a solid 15 minutes to absorb the extensive menu at Thrive360 (anyone else struggle with menu decisions??) and one of the super friendly staff members gave us samples of their roasted sweet potato salad while we were making up our minds.

I'm not a huge potato salad fan, but I looooove sweet potatoes, and this version was SO GOOD I immediately decided to recreate it at home.

Here's my version -- it turned out delicious! The mint is a surprisingly delicious addition, and tahini is good on anything. You can find it in the middle eastern or Mediterannean section of most grocery stores.

This recipe is perfect to bring to a summer potluck, 4th of July party, or serve alongside anything grilled. It would also be tasty dish as we move into fall or winter! I'm definitely putting it into my rotation.

Roasted Sweet Potato Salad with Tahini Dressing

inspired by Thrive360
Serves 6-8
[1 yellow, 1 tsp on the 21 Day Fix]

Ingredients

• 3 medium sweet potatoes
• 1 small red onion
• 1/4 c fresh mint

Directions

Preheat oven to 400*F. Peel and dice the sweet potatoes into bite size chunks, spray with cooking oil, and bake for 45 minutes, flipping once or twice. 

While the potatoes are baking, chop the red onion into tiny pieces and chop the mint.

Let the potatoes cool, then combine with the onion and mint in a big bowl, and gently toss with the tahini dressing. Serve at room temperature.

Tahini Dressing

• 1/4 c tahini
• 1/4 c red wine vinegar
• 1/4 c water
• salt and pepper to taste

Combine tahini and vinegar in a jar or shaker bottle, and shake or whisk to combine. Add water (1T at a time) until the consistency is pourable, a little thinner than a typical ranch dressing. If you add too much water, just stir in another T of tahini to thicken it back up. Making dressing is more of an art than science! Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Let me know if you give this a try this! I topped it with some dill to make it prettier for the pictures ... and that was a tasty addition too. Any summer herbs would be good!

xo Anna