GRIT | April 2020

What is GRIT?? For those of you who have been following my personal or Ladybug Wellness Facebook pages, you will know that on April 4 2020, I joined GRIT. I had no idea what exactly I was getting into. I knew something about a workout a day, and writing. Once I got into the group, I realized I had found my tribe!!

This page is here to share my daily writings from my April Journey of Transformation through GRIT. Please excuse profanity… this is raw and real…
It was on the second to last day of the challenge that I realized that there are recognition awards. I was awarded Unit MVP for my team!!! I was speechless and humbled!! Also, at least two of my writings were used by team mates in their business newsletters!

Yes there is a workout a day, a high intensity but strategically designed workout using an efficiency of time and target techniques. Plus a context writing to post after the workout. I have been seriously out of shape physically and my first day I was feeling pretty lost, but having completed the April 28 day challenge, I am loving it and continuing on with a full membership. This StoryAthlete community minded program balances Mind, Body, Business, and Relationships like the four wheels of a car. If one goes flat, the whole car is screwed. Same goes for Life. The only competition is yourself, but you have a team of accountability partners. Want to join me in this journey? No excuses allowed. Have you got the GRIT to commit to a 28 day challenge?

Read about Story Athlete and Sign up here

April 4 2020: “StoryAthlete Finds A Way”

My brain and body, or heroic self/ lesser self had an argument today:

HS: YAY!!! After several months of encouragement from Greg Horn and Heather Compton, I finally got signed up!!! GO ME!!

LS: What. The. F*ck. are you doing?? What did Ryan’s kid say? …. F*CK x 7 :/

HS: Oh come on, its spring time. It is time to get your shit together and actively shed this weight.

LS: I have created my quiet little life and I am happy here.

HS: It is just a workout per day, facing challenges, and some writing. Remember when you used to carry a 50lb pack and walk several hours a day? Remember all the things you have accomplished in life? You can do this!!

LS: please don’t trigger those past traumatic memories. I died of exhaustion back then. I broke my body.

HS: That was 4 years ago. You have mentally and emotionally healed from all that past. You can do this! Just need to get the physical aligned.

LS: I got paired up with the Team Leader though. If I die doing this, he gets the burpee curse!

HS: Ya, so?  When have you ever quit anything? You’re a survivor!

LS: There was that one course I dropped… I couldn’t wrap my head around it :'(

HS: Counselor said that was an audit, not a quit. Doesn’t count.

Mid first round:

LS: WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING? Your heart can’t handle this. There are people your age that have died from heart attacks!!

HS: Just breathe. Rest if you have to. Keep going. You have all the energy tools to get through this.

LS: I think my lungs collapsed. I don’t think I am doing this right.

HS: You’re fine. You watched the video 3 times. Did you think you would be graceful the first time with 70 lbs extra blubber in the way? When was the last time you actually worked out besides walking?
LS: Last year yoga class? I got thru 2 rounds now and I am dying already. :'(

HS: Just push thru one more. You’re doing fine.

LS: I thought you vacuumed yesterday. You missed a popcorn kernel by the coffee table. Why did you use 20 lb weight to start? Dinner smells wonderful….

HS: Hey Scrat!! FOCUS! Dinner fuel can be your reward. Suck it up Cupcake, one more round!!

LS: I got thru it. I want an ambulance. Oh no wait… not under these isolation conditions. Please Master be gentle with me…

HS: You did it. Did you die? Now fuel up and rest, my Precious. We’re up for another challenge tomorrow… or we’ll get out the lotion… A Story Athlete finds a way….

April 5 2020  “Finding opportunity in crisis”. This is the story of my life. I have always been a survivor. Some of the hellish things I have endured in life haven’t killed me yet. Adversity forges inner strength. I may not have thought that at the time of going through hell, but I learned to turn things around. The worst trauma you have ever endured in life is often the key to your own life purpose.
My ancestors survived the wars and the Depression. Our family has learned resourcefulness all along. What came as easy knowledge to us, was an opportunity to share with others. Now with the current global state, our family is taking this crisis in stride.
I survived childhood sexual abuse. I have had poor relationships, 2 failed marriages. Nightmares for years. I saved little sayings and quotes of inspiration for myself and my friends who turned to me for a shoulder often. They thought I was wise. I can only laugh now at how I have gained that wisdom. Wisdom comes from poor choices and experiences. I have plenty of those that developed into twisted humor mixed with compassion and understanding. When the internet came along, I created a website to share this inspiration. Little did I realize how much this inspired others I didn’t even know across the world.
I raised four kids alone while working 2 jobs. I thought I had failed them in not being a stay at home mom to care and nurture more directly. Turns out, the independence they learned was a opportunity for their own growth. Two are managers, and one has traveled all over Europe and earned a History degree.
When I finally broke down in 2008, my life took an amazing turn. I started taking courses and understanding the dynamics of my life. I shined a light on the wounds of the past and turned it into my gift of being able to empower others. I published my condensed biography in 2017 to inspire and encourage others to turn their wounds into their gifts. I got a “Plan B” in place to retire early and live my passion as an energy practitioner.
Back in February, my intuition was going off like crazy to offer “remote group energy balancing sessions” to my clients. I took a chance and set it up. Great feedback so I expanded to offer to anyone interested to join in. Then this whole lockdown thing happened. Crisis mode for so many people. Now I understand why my intuition wanted this group thing going then. It is the perfect opportunity for newcomers to experience energy balancing when it is exactly what so many people need right now.
I worked at a “good job” for 26 years. 12 of those years was outside in all sorts of weather conditions. I have had the corners of my eyes frozen shut, icicles on my eyelashes. Pushed past the point of physical exhaustion. I left before I completely broke my body like others had done in staying too long. I learned to train my mind to find a happy place to cope through physical pain.
Despite all these good things, the only thing left is that my body has been in crisis mode for the last few years “taking on the weight of the world”. This extra weight is frustrating me like the anchor it is. This is not at all in alignment with ME. I am thankful to have taken this opportunity to join Story Athlete. In just two days I have realized there is a whole group of like minded souls here.
My body and mind are in crisis mode with these workouts. But this is my opportunity to go thru a bit of hell and to turn my crisis into yet another opportunity to inspire and encourage others. Thank you!!

April 6 2020: “I Light The Wick of Possibility For Others”  That’s me! Clarification from yesterday, I have survived much in my life, but I have not always been a “survivor”. Eons ago I was a complacent, naive doormat. Victim energy big time. Poor me.
I still had an inner light though. Just needed some encouragement. I was fortunate to have some wonderful people come into my path that were lights and beacons for me.  Everything wonderful in life is just on the other side of Fear. Conquer fear and nothin can stop you!
Once I started on my real personal growth healing journey, my inner light shone much brighter. I had an Akashic reading. They base it on birth details. Step back here: When I was little, we used to go on many road trips through my birth town. Mom would always point up to Hankin Mountain in Smithers BC and tell me that I was conceived at that forestry lookout, on a bet. My father had taken a job up there. The last guy went cabin crazy so my mom was sent up with my dad. His buddies made a bet, and here I am. By the way, I published this part in my bio LOL… mom loves me :p …).
Ok, back to Akashic record reading. This birth detail apparently means that I was one of 800 souls who came here to encourage the world. I think I am living that purpose now.
Fast forward to me taking courses and getting out of my shell, and setting some respectable boundaries etc.  I decided to start my business Ladybug Wellness. I had a thing for ladybugs, had a theta moment, and got the name I loved. At the time, I had a mentor who encouraged me and told me I would go far. She also kept telling me I have a very strong energy. (almost overpowering and abrupt at times?). Well, she looked at me one day and told me that it was no mistake I got the ladybugs. Her explanation was that when Mother Mary’s energy came to Earth, it was too strong for the Earth to handle, so it came in through the ladybugs. Yesterday, I mentioned that my website was started to share my collections with friends. That is all still there in the back part of my site. Ladybug Wellness with  Jackie’s Compilations. It is part extensive resources and part online biography. Anything that has ever helped me in life is in 22 years of collections there.
So, my “lighting the wick of possibility for others”, is all in my website. Yes there are some awful stories out there that worse than mine, but for me, I know that if I can overcome what I have had in my past, and turn it into a shining light of hope for others… that is a wonderful flame of possibility that shines bright for the entire world.

As Def Leppard says: Take my hand, we’ll make it I swear, Livin on a Prayer!!

April 7 2020  “I am a marketer”. My first thought is “oh hell no I am not!”. I am pretty sure my problem with marketing is past experiences with pushy door to door salesmen tactics, and the nefarious MLM spiels of wannabe direct sales people who end up with piles of merchandise to meet their quotas when they can’t convince people to buy the latest craze item that they really don’t need. Then there’s environmental waste flyers demographically targeted to low income, instant gratification type neighborhoods that end up leaving people broke because they have poor money management skills. I saw enough of that in my 26 postie years. Not to mention how heavy those damn flyers were and not calculated into our weight totals. A little bit of resentment there I think. UGH!
I have been to a few leadership and business type conferences. It was great until they said that their marketing tactic was to bombard people with information and emails and flyers until they caved. Some “rule of 7” thing? Personally my brain shuts down and runs after the second attempt to bombard me with these “marketing tactics”. That is just a horrible invasion of boundaries in my opinion.
In short, I really have a problem with convincing people to buy merchandise, or services, or whatever, unless it is something they will actually use and appreciate. That they will receive a benefit from the sale as well, not just money in my pocket. I did sell an MLM spice mix line for 12 years. It is a consumable product that people will purchase again and again. I loved the products myself, so marketing for me was just sharing my favorite products. I never did make a whole lot of money but my cupboards are full of the products I like.
In the book Power vs Force, Dr David Hawkins talks about everything being a vibration. A business also has a vibration. A business run on corporate greed and mainly money focus has a low vibration and will not succeed very well. A business run on honesty and integrity, that looks after its employees etc would have a higher vibration and in turn be more successful.
In my energy clearing services, I also can clear “business energy” and those sessions can be quite interesting. Maybe a company is a good company, but has picked up “bad energy” along the way. This can be corrected and create positive shifts. in my world, everything is energy. Energy must flow and when we remove the energetic blocks, everything flows better.
I suppose I still need to work on my own issues with the idea of “marketing”. In my business now as an energy practitioner, I need to market and sell “me” as to why someone would want to work with me, and ascertain if they feel they can benefit from my services. In that sense, I have found that my “why”, my “purpose”, is the main attraction behind “marketing” me. That is where word of mouth advertising, referrals, reviews and relatable stories can be the best and most sincere marketing method. I prefer to think of it as “sharing my passion”. So, yes “I am a marketer” in that sense.

April 8 2020 “I Embrace 37x Growth”
I must admit that in my Reiki room, I have all of my course certificates hung on my wall. I’m not trying to brag with this display, it is to remind myself how far I have come.
I have had several clients see that wall and in awe they tell me they want to be like me. I explain to them that our personal growth journey is a journey, not a destination. It took me YEARS to earn all those certificates. And really, they are just pieces of fancy paper with my name on them. What is behind that is a whole ton of learning. But even that is not of importance. It is the APPLICATION of that knowledge that has propelled me forward. And it has all been baby steps.
If someone had told me at age 16 where my life would be now, I would not have believed it for a second. I was a teen mom who got married to escape a totalitarian father and a past of various emotional and sexual abuses. My husband was going to rescue me! More kids, more emotional abuse, flat broke and on social assistance. I had jumped from the frying pan into the fire!!  It was only after a failed second marriage that finally clued in. When a first marriage fails, you can blame the other person. When a second marriage fails, it is time to look in the mirror and see the common denominator.
I read books and started pinching my pennies towards paying for courses. I learned to clear my own energy of anything hindering my own progress and I moved forward, in baby steps.
Little did I know the Universe had a bigger plan for me. Heaven sends a feather, then a brick, and if you’re still not listening, you’ll get the Mack truck. Yup. I got that one. :/
When life threw some more curveballs in 2016, I left my corporate job at the post office to step into Plan B and live my passion as an energy practitioner. In leaving that job I had been in for 26 years, I went to a counselor. She told me that some people are Book Smart/ Life Dumb, or vice versa. She said I have a good balance of both. That really got me thinking of my life at that point.
Wayne Dyer spoke of an analogy common amongst inspirational speakers. He said that before we come to Earth, we decide with God what our purpose will be. God had asked Wayne what he would like to do in this life. Wayne said, “I would like to teach people how to be independent”. God said, “Ok, we’ll give you an alcoholic father, and absent mother, you’ll grow up in orphanages all your life, and then you can teach people to be independent”.
Oh MY GAWD!!!! THAT is why I went thru such freaking hell when I was little. I know and understand those horrors. I learned to heal myself and now I can show others how to overcome their past traumas. But it has been a long journey of progress and growth. When we stop learning, we die. Just like a heart rate monitor, there are ups and downs. This is life. We don’t want to flat line. We move forward, we learn, we grow, we apply, we plateau, and we move forward again. All in baby steps. Otherwise known in Story Athlete community as the 1% growth pattern, that in turn embraces the 37% growth rate.

April 9 2020 “I commit to the process”
Years ago my kids went with a friend and her kids to see the first Ice Age movie at the theatre. My kids came home and told me I was Scrat. I asked my friend who was Scrat. She laughed and agreed with my kids. The nickname stuck for years and years. Why? Well Scrat always has his eyes on that nut, and all sorts of things get in the way, but he still manages to catch that nut once in a while. I am a redhead Taurus. I am a survivor. I WILL find a way to my goals. But life has given me lots of curveballs.
The key to life is adaptability to handle life’s ups and downs but still reach your goals.
I did manage to raise 4 kids alone while working full time. I managed to work two nightshift jobs for 2 years while keeping them in activities as well. How? All I can think is that I did have a process of sorts with a calendar and commitments and obligations. But home life was somewhat in shambles. We constantly had a Mount Washmore. I could not manage to get all the appropriate dinner dishes on the table at the same time. Some things in my house were well organized and other things were not.
It was when I came across a website called Flylady .net that I finally managed to get more of my life and home organized and to reach my goals more efficiently. When you go into the website, it looks like it is all about housework and CHAOS (can’t have anyone over syndrome). There is a psychological reason behind why you start with shining your sink. FLY means Finally Loving Yourself. In baby steps, Marla Cilley shows you how to build a control journal and to step into routines.
Routines are a process. If you don’t do A first, B probably won’t fall into place very well. This concept is in all areas of lif1e. You put clothing in the washer, and then the dryer. You cream butter and sugar first before adding eggs in making cookies. The “chemical process” of ingredients just works better. You consult and create a contract before working with a homebuilder so you know everyone is on the same page.
While I know all this information after years of trial and error, I still can get sidetracked easily. Dear ol Scrat and the shiny things. Still, I have accomplished much in life knowing my own internal process of making a plan for something things, spontaneously jumping into other things, and sometimes just staring at a wall until I get my bearings and motivation.
When I make a list, and step into the process, goals become more attainable even in baby steps. For that reason, I have committed to the process of GRIT. My “nut” right now is to shed this frustrating fat suit anchor, and I know this GRIT process will be the key to achieving that goal.

April 10 2020 “I share my Religion”.
So many thoughts here. I grew up in the Pentecostal church, with a totalitarian father and a very sheltered upbringing. Wasn’t allowed to go to dances, play cards, have any rock music in the house. So many restrictions.
Fast forward through some personal growth in my adult life. In Philosophy class, I mentioned the quote, “Religion is for those who fear hell. Spirituality is for those who have been there”. The resulting discussion took up the rest of class. Religion is a set of restrictive doctrines. You want in our group? You accept and follow these doctrines. Spirituality is a process of finding and aligning with your authentic self, and aligning with your understanding of a Higher Power.
As an energy practitioner, I am well aware of the energetic implications of words as well. Religion has been associated with so much negativity, control, and abuse through the ages. For this reason, it can be a “trigger” word for unhealed, unaware people.
Years ago, a few coworkers convinced me to allow one of our regular customers to do a “birth chart” reading for me, as she did these as a hobby. One day I was working on counter and she came in, directly to my counter and said, “What you see is what you get, eh?”.

Excuse me?

She explained that most people have a “mask”. A face they show the world, a face they show their friends, a face they show their loved ones, etc. She said that my chart showed that I had such a thin line that it was like I do not wear a mask at all. I am the same with a king, than I would be with a peasant. Makes sense. I do NOT have any shred of a poker face. At all.
What I have found in business is that my authenticity is what attracts some clients, and repels others. While I understand the concept meant here by “sharing my religion”, in my line of work as an energy practitioner, it is my job to assist my clients to find their own detrimental belief systems, to release those, and to uncover their own truths, to empower them in the highest and best way. I prefer to not cloud them with my own beliefs. Therefore, in my understanding of words, I do share my authenticity quite openly, but notsomuch my “religion”.

April 11 2020 “I seek to understand”.
After all the things I have been through in life, and all my psych classes, there was a meme I came across that made me laugh out loud.
“You know too much psychology when you can’t get mad because you understand everyone’s reasons for everything”.
When life starts out with trauma and all sorts of “why me?”, this lack of understanding can keep us stuck in life. It also helps to understand that lack of knowledge is not necessarily ignorance.
Life is all about continuous personal growth. In an immature state, we often react to situations and upsets. As we mature, and seek to understand the world around us, other people, and ourselves, we progress to a point of being an observer of life where we can respond rather than react.
Understanding someone else’s reasons for their actions, can also be the catalyst to being able to forgive past transgressions that also stunt our own personal growth.
We can even get to a point of realizing that everything and everyone around us is our mirror. Everything that triggers or annoys us, is an unhealed aspect of ourselves.
Seeking to understand is the key to life, to personal growth, and to building better relationships. I definitely seek to understand as much as I possibly can through life.

April 12 2020  “I master situational strategy”
When I saw this context for today posted last night, my brain did that run and hide, “oh hell no, too much logic thinking there for me”.
Pondering over my own thoughts with this context now, I realized this is how I got through life until now.  How many times (every day!) we are faced with dilemmas to sort through and to achieve our goals. This is the art of adaptability. I am a redhead, Taurus, half German, lil bit Irish, ex postal worker. I WILL find a way to get ‘er done.
I raised four kids. Four different personalities, and one was never diagnosed ADHD but had all the traits. You can try to parent each child the same, and there are some ground rules, but when their personalities are completely different, and their mental capacities and maturity levels are all different you must find ways to master situational strategy and deal with screams of “life’s not fair” when they inevitably compare each other and try to mutiny mom. Now as adults, I am proud to say they grew up with a decent understanding of life.
I raised kids all while working full time, then taking courses to start my Plan B exit into living my passion. Now, working with clients, I can thankfully run much on my intuition and background training to be effective with their sessions. The “business” end of things though requires situational strategy in how I interact with each client, and in how I run my business.
In that context, I think (humbly) that I still need some work on “mastery”, but I do pretty ok on handling Situational Strategy”.

April 13 2020 ” I invest in my ambition”
Day 10 and I am still here!! 🙂
I was a welfare teen mom eons ago. Pretty stagnant, and not at all a fun place to be in life.  So many of those years raising my kids and working full time, I got burnt out. It took me a while to realize it is about self respect boundaries. I needed to invest in ME. Sure we want to be giving and compassionate, but there is a reason the airline safety talk tells you to put on your own oxygen mask first. If you can’t breathe, you can’t help anyone else either. That means even your kids. What can you give these small dependant beings when you can breathe for yourself.
But as a welfare mom, hello, I could barely feed all of us. It takes money to invest in ourselves right? Ya, sometimes. Baby steps. I did seminars for the women’s centre on smart shopping and resourcefulness. I had a reputation of being the Coupon Queen in my home town. I stretched a dollar quite well. I went to garage sales and found self help books. I made friends with inspiring people that I admired and I learned from them. I got a good job, but we lived in a low income housing complex and I still struggled to pay bills. I watched documentaries on videos. Inspirational magazines in waiting rooms.
I found all sorts of “free” resources to expand my knowledge and skills. My job paid for computer courses. I made my own website to share my compilations of resources to help other struggling people trying to find their way. I invested my “pennies” into bigger returns of expanding and investing in ME. Then came actual further education courses. I paid good money to learn from those who had invested in themselves and it was worth every penny to learn their knowledge in shorter time than it had taken them. Sometimes I made payments. Sometimes I gave up or postponed something else to put my money into these priorities. But inch by inch, I moved forward. Energy must flow, and these investments in ME have paid off well.
Now I am at a place where I teach my skills and share my share knowledge as a Reiki Master teacher. I ask my clients to “invest in themselves” in working with me. I remember one fellow, after a session had said “and 3635 more”. I asked him what that meant. I guess I had told him it took me 10 years to get to this point in my personal growth with energy work. I had to explain then that I learned as I went along in my growth, I had learned along the way. He was getting the benefit of working with me NOW, with all my acquired skills. The comparison would be better described as I had take a chisel to a my mountain, but a wrecking ball to his mountain, in a much nicer way of course.
Personal growth is a life long journey. When we stop learning, we die. The best investment we can ever make, is to invest in our own ambitions. I am thankful for all the rest of the GRIT warriors to keep me accountable to this newfound investment in myself as well.

April 14 2020
5 K day + F3. Modifications squat – chair burpees.  My phone meter says I need 9456 steps, so I did that, in my house today. Yucky wind and rain outside. Did a 40 step loop around my hallway, living room and dining room. Yup that is way over 200 loops in 1 hour 23 minutes. Finisher F2.
Context: “I Know The Importance Of A Tribe”.
I was a skinny mini all my life, even after 4 kids. Never had reason to exercise outside of running after rugrats and working full time. Then, whatever happened around age 40, the pounds started packing on. Doesn’t make sense when I was walking all day with a pack for 12 of my working years.
Over the years, I had friends but never really reliable ones. I learned to do so much on my own. Road trips, concerts, even going for a loop walk around town when I was working inside. That was my exercise at that time. But most often alone.
January 1 2020 I signed up for a “lifestyle change” program. You could post your progress in the online group, but so many people whined and complained and fell off their wagon. I never was assigned a partner. You guessed it. I didn’t do anything with it. Hardly even checked in over that 3 months.
Greg and Heather have been nudging me for a few months to try GRIT. I finally took up the offer. I felt behind the first day, but soon realized I fit right in with my kind of accountability people. I am pretty sure one of my first comments on someone’s post here was “You’s my tribe Hunny”.
Day 11 and I am still here. That is the importance of a tribe. Thank you.

April 15 2020
Metrics: Sandbag Palooza F2, Finisher F2
Context: “I Commit To Do Hard Shit”.  What a fitting context for today. I was down on myself for leaving my workout until late in the day yesterday. Not a good idea for me to mess up MY evening time with a workout and getting myself all worked up then. But I got it done so I don’t punish my team with giving up. I forgot to take my water bottle to bed with me last night. Ended up waking up groggy and dehydrated, totally messed up my morning. Ugh.
But I made a commitment to myself and to my team. This isn’t really hard shit but it feels like it today.
Hard shit is when I grew up with a totalitarian father. He wasn’t the only factor in my early life, but I lived in fear for years. Walking on eggshells like a mine field. One wrong step and you’re dead. Nightmares.
Hard shit is when my plan of escape backfired and I became a teen mom. Hard shit is when I still graduated with a toddler and pregnant with my second at age 19. Hard shit is when I learned to stand up to a judge to protect myself and my kids, then endured a nasty divorce and raised four kids alone.
Hard shit is working in -40 Celsius in a snowstorm with frozen eyelids a few times just to earn money to feed the family as the sole breadwinner. Or emergency overtime you cannot refuse. Or working 2 nightshift jobs, seven nights a week for 2 years.
Hard shit is losing loved ones when they are in their prime of their life, when all my trauma training went out the window for a while. But as the matriarch of our family, I had to pull myself together.
I hated my father for years. It is also hard shit to face up to the fact that he grew up in the war. He was only repeating a cycle of abuse with me. It is only when he passed that I realized the true gift of my harsh upbringing in being able to face the hard shit. Yes it is a GIFT. Adversity forges inner strength. And that is my gift.
I hated that “good job” for a while as well when I was pushed past exhaustion. But it fed my family for years. For that I am thankful.
Hard shit may be hard when you’re going through it. But the other side of fear is where are all the rewards are waiting.
Commitment to hard shit is the only way to really get ahead in life. And commitment to hard shit and gettin ‘er done is better than being committed to an insane asylum. It’s just a different perspective. (Cue Napoleon Dynamite “They’re coming to take me away aha”).

April 16 2020
“I am a chameleon”
For me this is the Art of Adaptability.
I have had friends and acquaintances over the years who have had a rigid “plan” for their life and goals, then life throws a curveball and they are screwed royally.
I was always just winging it all thru life. Dodging curveballs left and right. Thankfully I grew up pretty resourceful (AKA poor, but I didn’t know that at the time).
Little did I know that my ability to “course correct” was my advantage over the rigidity and failures I witnessed in other’s plans for life.
I always have an emergency kit and a backup plan, plus the attitude that we’ll always survive and get thru anything. This is the Art of Adaptability. I am a Chameleon.

April 17 2020
“I Prioritize Asset Creation”
I thought I had been doing well juggling my clients and booking appointments manually, by myself.  But one day I had five different time zones for my appointments and I screwed up on one. Thankfully I was able to fulfill that appointment obligation but it was a lesson learned that I need to streamline my booking so I can devote time to actual services instead of stressing myself out with the mechanics of booking appointments. I invested in an online scheduler. I am not very techie, so it was a learning curve for me. All this time later, I have no idea how I managed before! I do not have to calculate time zones. I do not have to waste time figuring out my schedule to fit in a client session. I don’t have to remember to send a reminder or follow up email to each individual client. The scheduler does it all for me. I tweak the settings and let ‘er run.
I also invested time in making a monthly newsletter. A way to reach all of my clients and followers in one evening of writing.  Again, time invested has produced returns and engagements.
Prior to actually starting my business, I took courses and invested in ME and my own knowledge and skills. I am my own best asset.
I now have joined GRIT and I look forward to learning more about prioritizing my best assets and moving forward to be able to serve others more efficiently in the best way possible.

April 18 2020
“I am my own therapist”.
I am an energy practitioner in several modalities. My past story is one of childhood trauma. Trauma keeps us stuck at the age of the events. Our personal growth journey is a lifelong path of learning and healing. Although I am at a point in my life of turning my experiences into a service to others, I still must work on myself to be in the best frame of mind to work with my clients. I am my own testimony of my work, because I am my own therapist. This is self respect and self care.
As my own therapist, I am also wise and experienced enough to realize that I am always growing and learning. I also recognize that my own maturity depends on the company I keep, and the other therapists that I work with. I am blessed to be surrounded by wonderful practitioner friends and business associates that I can work with, and learn from. Thank you.

April 19 2020
“I struggle well”
Muahahaha! That is my Lesser Self laughing at the idea of struggling “well”. Life can throw curveballs and knock us completely off balance. I am pretty sure I have not always struggled “well”. We learn as we go though.
There is an analogy I like to use about trauma. Each event is like a ship in a glass bottle. Each time an upsetting event happens, we put the pieces together in the bottle and place it on a shelf. Whenever a new upset happens, those glass bottles fall and shatter on the floor and we seem to relive everything all over again. Over time we get more efficient at putting everything into glass bottles and putting them back on the shelf, but they are always there and always fragile. When we begin our real healing journey, we start to put those pieces back into Plexiglas bottles, and eventually we can close the door on the storage room memory bank that holds those bottles. There are no longer any triggers that pull us into the oblivion of glass shards, compounded pain, and an overwhelming disorganized mess.
Personally, I have found energy balancing and clearing to be the most effective method of overcoming the past, and in turn, this helps us to “struggle well’. We will always have upsets and struggles through life. Just like a heartbeat, we need ups and downs to appreciate life. We don’t want to flat line so the best way to deal with life is to learn to struggle well.
In Girl Guides, we learned to “Always be Prepared”. That motto has served me well, but I have expanded to say “expect the best, but prepare for the worst”. Where focus goes, energy flows, so we don’t want to focus on the worst scenarios, but it is wise to be prepared. Always have a backup plan and an emergency kit, then focus on the good things and expect the best.
I have often felt behind. Books I want to read; courses to take; and priorities of home, family, and business obligations. I have learned to trust Divine Timing, Baby Steps, and the 1% journey. This means that all things will happen in their due time, as I need them in my Heroic Self process of struggling well.

April 20 2020
Metric: 12 minutes of death ( I actually managed to follow along better today!!)
Finisher: 30 Roxanne chair squat burpees
Context: “I am an Entrepreneur”
The first thing we think of “Entrepreneur” is branching out in business alone. Is that really what it is?
I have always had an entrepreneurial spirit. I was the oldest of 4 girls, and the joke was that I was raised as the babysitter because there is such an age difference between me and them. I got to stack firewood and I got to be drill sergeant at chore time.
I had a paper route as early as I can remember. I was in Girl Guides. Age 13, I sold Regal Greetings and Gifts. Age 15, I sold Avon under my mom’s name as the youngest consultant in Canada at the time. Age 15 I also had my first job as a fast food cook. Then I left on maternity leave age 16.
Did life end there? Nope. New challenges, new dependants but I still graduated and got a good job to support my kids. 26 years later, I retired early and started my own business living my passion. All because I had a plan B going with earning a psych degree and taking many courses to better myself rather than staying stagnant in that good job until death.
So, entrepreneur can mean “business ventures”, but really it is the spirit of being committed to personal growth, and creating life in such a way that you can live your passions. It means doing the hard shit and facing challenges head on to break new ground and embrace a better future for yourself and your loved ones.
Yes, I am an Entrepreneur.

April 21 2020
“I Harness The Who”
In years past, I have not had the most reliable people in my life. I have managed to do many things alone, and had to figure things out on my own as well. For the most part this has worked well for me, but I recognize that effective delegation is an essential part of a viable business. Thankfully, as I have grown in my personal and professional life, I have been blessed to have much more reliable people come into my life.
As an energy practitioner and sole proprietor, I have found that it is essential to have a network of other reputable practitioner friends. I believe that there should not be any competition between Holistic wellness practitioners because we are all unique with our experiences and with our education. It really is a client’s comfort and choice that is most important.
I know “who” in my network has a specialty field of expertise and I can feel confident referring my clients to the best person that fits their needs. I am also very appreciative that I have received referrals from other practitioners as well.  This is how we “harness the Who” in being the best we can be for our clients and for our own benefit.

April 22 2020
“I protect my time”
SQUIRREL!!! There is a very good reason why my nickname ended up being Scrat, Chipmunk on Acid, and Ferret on Crack. No I have not taken the path of drugs at any time in my life, but I have been pretty scatterbrained.
Raising four kids alone and dealing with four different personalities, life’s curveballs, and working full time on someone else’s clock.
I was never a good union worker. Efficiency is not rewarded, you only get more work piled on to meet your time quota. That was inside work. Outside you had many other factors like weather and daily changing volumes, plus you were obligated to forced overtime as well. Days passed quickly and I barely scraped through other responsibilities.
When I started my Plan B in taking courses towards a new career and retirement, life was one hell of a juggle. But there’s that saying, “the more you do, the more you can do”. It is supposed to mean that someone who prioritizes their time can get more done. I did, but maybe not the best quality of myself put forward at all times. So many of my friends have thought that I am always so busy with taking on courses, new learning, road trips, and concert events. I may seem busy, but that is my rest and spurt mode. They have no idea how many times I zone out and stare at the wall in between all these “accomplishments”. We need down time, and “meditation” time in order to be productive. I do all my wellness stuff, but my form of meditation is blasting 80’s metal and dance mix tunes on a Zen highway, or staring at a wall zoned out.
Where am I now? Four years after retirement I am living my passion working with clients, and living life as I please with road trips and concerts… well.. until the lock down. My lesser self has had so much resentment to my former life of working my ass off to the point of exhaustion, that I have gotten lazy, and fat. Not a good place to be. In the car analogy, my mental, emotional and spiritual wheels have been running fine, but the physical has fallen flat. So, that imbalance has affected my priorities of protecting my time.
I am thankful for GRIT and the accountability I have to my Team. I am pumping up that Physical wheel and getting it running smoothly again. I hurt. I spend too much time in recovery mode, but it is getting better after three weeks of the 1% journey. I am looking forward to being able to take on all of life effectively, and even better than before as well. Right now, it is time to go crawl under my rock and sleep and heal so I can manage tomorrow’s workout and another step forward.

April 23 2020
“I embrace failure”
I have failed at pretty much everything I tried. Failed relationships, failed marriages, failed parenting, failed a couple courses and tests.
I did life backwards: Had a kid, got married, then graduated and had more kids. I juggled so much I thought I failed my kids in the worst way.
I am pretty sure I could write an entire book on embarrassing moments. When I started my healing journey with energy balancing, “failure” came up many times because I had believed I really had failed. But did I really “fail”? No. I had attempts that didn’t work out, and I found ways to make things work. These are lessons in resourcefulness, not “failure”.
The most successful people in life, the masters in their chosen game, have often failed more times than an amateur has even tried. What holds people back from trying? Fear. Fear of embarrassment.
But everything that we strive for, everything worthwhile to strive for and accomplish in life, is just on the other side of fear.
Like Nikki Sixx says in “Life is Beautiful”, we cannot appreciate the good without the bad.
We have a choice: Forfeit Everything And Run, the lesser self’s way out, or we can take the path of the Heroic self and Face Everything And Rise! I choose to Embrace Failure, and RISE to be my best self and to then embrace Success.

April 24 2020
“My Story is my Greatest Asset”
We are all unique. We each have our chosen life journey, our own life purpose.
Although others may have had similar events in their lives, we are unique in that our choices have shaped our unique stories.
My story was one of childhood trauma, teen motherhood, failed relationships and ongoing nightmares. My choices in moments of desperation were what turned my story into one of overcoming challenges and turning wounds into gifts that serve my own life purpose of encouraging and empowering others.
Without my unique story, what reason would a potential client have in wanting to work with me? My experiences have shaped my knowledge and skills that will resonate with the right people that are meant to be in my tribe.
In my work with energy balancing, the point is to let go of the past story and to create new empowering stories that serve our highest good in a more beneficial way.
My previous story of hardships are only the background, which lay the groundwork for the most poignant life lessons which lead to my new story of triumph and success. I have created my own beautiful life, and I can now share my story to empower others. In this way, My Story is my Greatest Asset.

April 25 2020
Day 22 and still alive. I dunno about breathing at the moment :/ I am looking forward to the day when I can up the newbie level without getting so winded and this commitment taking up half my day. Psych myself, workout, die in recovery til I can breathe again and write, then post. Baby steps. ThisIsWorthIt.IAmWorthIt. Energizer bunny is down for the count today…
Context: “I am willing to ask for help”
Having grown up the oldest of four girls as the babysitter, having punishments for imperfections and missed details, having to do so much alone…
Nope I was not willing to ask for help. I can do it all alone, and no one can do it better than me. This carried into my adult life and was the way I dealt with life’s curveballs too.
I didn’t have the privilege of reliable friends or other people in my life to lean on very much, if at all.
This, I now know, is the version of my lesser self I have gladly left behind.
More so in recent years, as I have healed my past and moved forward in personal growth maturity, I have been extremely blessed for new friends and associates to come into my life that have been an inspiration of strength and resourcefulness, mentors I could trust and lean on. These friends have taken the solo flight pressure off me in ways I could never describe or voice in words my gratitude.
Through this path of life, we can rest in the knowledge that it is never a sign of weakness to ask for help as our Lone Warrior Western  society has previously taught us. We find that many others out there struggle with similar issues as our own, and we are all individually unique in our skills and knowledge. The sharing of our struggles is what makes those burdens seem so much lighter to carry.
As my Heroic Self develops, I am blessed to know that when I step up to ask for assistance any time I need it, my requests will be enthusiastically met with “I am here for you”. This gives me the strength to also be ready to “be there” for my tribe as well.

April 26 2020
Metric: Stretch day!! Rice Krispie body recovery day!
Context: “I Evolve the Machine”
I have always loved science and human nature, this is why I love energy balancing.
The Lesser Self is that whiny voice that holds us back from our true and greatest potential. That voice wants to keep us safe, based on its skewed perceptions of familiarity, comfort, and keeping things the same.
Nothing is the same though. Change is the only constant. Through energy balancing and clearing, we can detach that emotional charge to past upsets and correct the skewed perceptions of that Lesser Self voice.
This is when our Heroic Self can really take the stage and move us forward in personal growth maturity. The Heroic Self runs best as a Get ‘Er Done kind of Machine. When we remove the “sludge” of inflammation through our bodies –whether it is physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual — and run our bodies on high octane FUEL, we can evolve our meat sack vehicle in the highest and best way.
Personal growth is a life long journey of learning, healing the past, and moving forward to our best life’s purpose. FUEL means ongoing mental knowledge, removing emotional toxicity from our lives, getting aligned with our purpose spiritually, and choosing the most beneficial foods to give our meat sack vehicle the best nutrients for the best performance.
I still have work to do in each of these areas, but I am Evolving my Machine!

April 27 2020
“I am the 5%
Being the odd one out is nothing new to me. I have never quite fit into the usual cliques of society. I have learned to go solo on so much of life. This is not always “fun”, and has sometimes been a bit lonely.
Adversity forges inner strength though. In these alone times, we can find our deepest fears and face them head on. I had a fear of heights, so I jumped out of a plane. I was claustrophobic, so I learned how to scuba dive. I am still not sure that was the best way to face those fears, and I don’t think I really got over those fears despite my extreme actions. However, I did have a great experience and I learned how to push my own limits of fear.
Every great thing we want, every great reward, is just on the other side of fear. I learned to Face Everything And Rise.
The Lesser Self is full of BS excuses, and a lack of priorities and integrity. The Lesser Self is the weakest link, the quitter, and no one likes a quitter.
People who strive to face their fears head on, to pursue a life path committed to personal growth, to get ‘er done no matter what, these are the ones who stand by their word. These are the 5% that you can count on. These are the ones aligned with their Heroic Self.
I am very blessed to have found a tribe of these 5% kind of amazing people. StoryAthlete Warriors are willing to step up, to be committed to themselves and to others. We are not just “being”, we are Becoming the best version of ourselves that we can be!
We are a tribe of Heroic Selves committed unwaveringly to our own personal growth, and to our chosen purpose to carry the torch that lights the way for others to find this honored path as well.
The back of my van says, “If you’re not living on the edge, you’re taking up too much space. No Fear!” This has become a motto for me. Because I AM the 5%!

April 28 2020
Day 25 Still getting winded, still about as graceful as a beached whale but I am still here and plugging along!!! GO ME!!
Context: “I hold the pen”.
DARN RIGHT I HOLD THE PEN!! I create my life. Holding the pen means I can rewrite my own past to triumph over past trauma. it means that no matter what stands in my path, I can course correct at any time to create the best possible outcome. It also means I create my own future by the choices I make now.
Today was a Scrat kind of day. Nothing bad, but all sorts of shiny things sidetracked me. I got things done, just in a scattered manner. It was my own fault. I stayed up in bed reading late. My plans of sleeping in a bit were thwarted by a horny little Northern Flicker using my metal furnace vent to call for a mate. Little does he realize that the drilling sounds echo through the whole house and wake up a cranky wrong species at 5 am!!
My Lesser Self won out my half asleep morning so I didn’t get my 5 k in as I had wanted to. Plus it was raining. Ugh. I forgot to reset my calendar availability last night, so I had some impromptu appointments booked in. Working with clients always gets my energy on top of the world, so Heroic Self got back in the game!
How to get my 7000 steps in later in the evening? Put on some 90’s dance club mix tunes and get my booty shaking around my house doing fast dancing loops around my dining room, living room, hallway. Got my happy vibe on, and took me back to “Jackie’s corner” of the dance floor back in party days. One of my party tunes? 2 Unlimited – No Limits. I was wanting to go to their concert in June. That has been cancelled now. But I can blast my tunes in my living room and dance my little heart away. Plus I get in my steps!
“No no there’s no limit!
No no limits, we’ll reach for the sky
No valley to deep, no mountain to high
No no limits, won’t give up the fight
We do what we want and we do it with pride”

My fave part of the lyrics is also a good motto for me, holding my own pen and creating my life, NO LIMITS!

April 28 2020 Jackie Rioux: Bracing for the Canadian exchange cost on membership here but I am ALL IN for the long haul… I know I am supposed to be here because 2 months ago this would not have worked out for me. Something shifted and opened the doors YAY!!
Adam Davidson: Jackie Rioux the exchange rate for us is the stuff of nightmares lol
Adam Davidson: That’s the Truth GIF
Jackie Rioux: Yes definitely. I am trying to think on a karmic debt/ energetic level with money exchange. In that sense I am right on track and good things are coming to me always. This is a worth it kind of investment

April 29 2020
“My Routine Kills Indecision”
Scrat from yesterday has got a deer in headlights look right now… Routines?
Yes routines. Often the first thought of routines is boring rigidity. Stuck to a time schedule and no fun whatsoever.
That is no way to live life passionately, and can overflow the stress bucket of perfection.
But wait. Does it have to mean a strict time schedule and a boring life?
No, when you think of routines as an instilled habit rather than a rigid time clock, we can bring in a sense of freedom.
I raised four kids. There is a saying “Raising teenagers is like nailing Jell-O to a tree”. I can whole heartedly vouch for that! I thought I had my ducks all in a row, but those ducks scattered in every direction, all at once. This is what it was like raising four teenagers with four different personalities, as a single mom working two jobs, and having said ducks in several after school activities. Chaos amplified!! It was learning to dodge life’s curveballs every single day. Plus I took on going back to school.
How did I do it? Work and activities were on a time schedule yes. Everything else was a list of priorities and instilled habits. Household chores, groceries, meals etc were all an estimated time value in the days time slots.
My personal care routine is an instilled habit. Having my personal care tools in the same spot as well as keeping belongings somewhat organized and minimal is essential. Having vehicle keys and the days necessities readily available also is essential. Just ask my kids what happened when my hair pick and van keys had been moved and I could not find them at 530 am before work. Yup. Redhead unleashed and a tirade ensued to find these items NOW. That only happened once thankfully. They don’t like that side of mom, and neither do I.
Four years into retirement now, as an energy practitioner, I never want to go back to those stress filled days of corporate slave routine on someone else’s schedule. I respect my body’s needs for rest and repair. I appreciate sleep. I am on my own timetable. Yes I keep my schedule of client and business appointments as a top priority. Beyond that, my simple routines and my instilled habits are what keep life flowing easily.
Cognitively, when we train our brain for simple routines and habits, we can put our focus and energy towards more complex things such as our life goals and towards stretching our minds in new learning.

April 30 2020
Day of GRIT: 27 of 28
Metric: 12 MOD
Finisher: F3
Context: “I reflect on my results”

We’re at Day 27 already?? Really? I didn’t die?

Coming into this GRIT community back on April 4th, I felt lost and overwhelmed and not sure what the heck I had signed up for. I screwed up a techie step so got in last into my group. I found a team of welcoming accountability partners and settled in for the long haul. Settled in is probably not the right phrase. I was so out of shape physically that my first day was a whole lot of swearing. I hurt for days and was waddle walking. My son told me I sounded like a seal “ow, ow ow”.

I have been a holistic energy practitioner for several years now. I retired early from a physically exhausting job as a mail carrier four years ago. I find it amusingly ironic that my GRIT partner is a mail carrier on the other side of the country. How did the Fate Gods line that one up?

As an energy healer, I have worked extensively on myself to align my emotional, mental, and spiritual self. I have been down on myself that my physical self has been neglected too much and I have gained stubborn weight. Through energy balancing, I have realized how much resentment I carried towards that former exhausting job, and how I resented exercise as a result as well. Again, how ironic to be paired with a mail carrier here who understands first hand those exclusive frustrations!

My first 12 minutes of death was more like a half hour of determination. After the first week, the ouchies lessened, and I managed to keep up a little better. I could be so down on myself because I used to be in so much better shape, but reading about “Fat Ryan” having to be in recovery mode after a simple workout made me feel better to just keep plugging away. I am not a quitter so that was not an option for me. Besides, I promised Adam no burpee curses. I have kept my word.

As for the transformation in me. I am still here! I feel like I have found my tribe and I am signed up for the next three months! The first few days, my workout, writing, and recovery time seemed to consume half my day. I am getting better and will continue to get better. I am no where near a point of taking videos or sharing pictures yet. I have not shed any weight to speak of, but my skin is getting tighter. The thunder flabs are more comfortable jiggle bits.

I have posted some of my writings on my Facebook pages and I am appreciating the feedback of “write more!”. I am thankful and appreciative of CJ’s knowledge he shares through FUEL. Some I have learned previously, but not quite in this simplified, understandable, and executable version. I have so much hope now!

I am still trying to wrap my head around Ryan’s income strategies, but again, I have so much hope in the executable explanations!

I am thankful so much to Greg Horn and to Heather Compton for the continuous encouragement to join GRIT. I had told Greg that I have been the type of person through life to “JUST JUMP DAMMIT!”. So yes, I said my prayers, I jumped in both feet, and I am still here. I appreciate this community so much and I look forward to expanding my mind, and shrinking my waistline in my own personal growth journey with each of you.

Comments: Nataša Martinec I love your writing and find your perseverance amazing and inspirational. Yes, please continue writing

May 1 2020
“I expect the unexpected”
WE DID IT!! I DID IT!! Day 28 BOOYAH!!!
I am so thankful for my team of soldiers that did not give up on me or themselves through this month’s challenge. My Rice Krispie body needed a stretch today so I did the F2 of this Spartan Bonus. I could probably do more, but I will post F2 for the record and maybe do more for me later 🙂

I didn’t expect to get through GRIT. I didn’t expect to get this far in life. If you had told me at age 15 where my life would take me, I would have never believed it for a second.
Life is an amazing journey of ups and downs. Life is our heart beat in many ways. Figuratively and literally.
Through all of my experiences, I have come to learn to let go of rigid expectations and trying to control the outcome. Goals yes, but pick a destination and enjoy the scenic tour when it comes up — because inevitably it will.
Be prepared for the worst but expect the best scenario. When we go through life in this way, we can subject ourselves to the most amazing seemingly impossible miracles.
A few months ago, GRIT seemed intriguing, but not a possibility. A door opened, I got in unexpectedly, and now look at me go!!
This has been my life for the last several years. When we take that first step towards our own personal growth journey, the path unfolds in a symphony of synchronicity. The people we connect with. The books, courses, and knowledge that comes into our awareness. It is like a pin ball machine of bells and whistles and opened mystery doors of miracle phenomenon. This is exactly why I encourage “say a  prayer, and JUMP DAMMIT”. Trust the good things will come in the most unexpected ways!
This process of life is exhilarating! It is a light house beacon to others to join the path as well. “Take my hand, We’ll make it I swear, Livin’ on a Prayer”.

On to May 2020 GRIT, Join me in the next page…

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