I Am A POWERFUL Woman

More Joy. More Peace. More Power.

Tag: success

Baby Step Your Way to Clean Eating Step 2

August 22, 2013 / / 0 Comments

Baby Step Your Way to Clean Eating Step 2

by Heather Dietel

Heather Dietel

Last week I shared Step 1 of how to baby step your way to clean eating.
You can read the full post here.

Step 1: Track what you are doing now.
You must acknowledge what you are eating and drinking now before you can change it. It can be as simple as writing it on a piece of paper or you can get fancy and download an app for your phone. Track it all for 1 full week. Salad dressing, salt, sodas, drive thrus, take out, trips to the vending machine, everything that passes through your lips. Make a note of how you feel throughout the day. Tired, energized, bloated, excited, happy, or whatever. Note this before and after each meal or snack.

Start with tracking. Figure out where you are and where you want to go. Don’t think about how much weight you need or want to lose. Focus on getting healthy. Focus on only bringing fruits and veggies into your house. Focus on not eating from a menu as much as possible.

On to Step 2

Step 2: Pick 2 or 3

Pick 2 or 3 things you are willing to change/give up/reduce for the next week to test your vices. Alcohol, cheese, vending machines, fast food, soda etc. If you go out to eat or get take out 4 times a week then go for 1 time instead of 4. Or if you always get a large fry, get a small. Write down all of the ways you can improve your current plan. If you drink 6 diet cokes a day cut 1 or 2 out ore place them with something else.

I’m happy to help you get started on a targeted nutrition plan or a get you in an accountability group to help you stay on track. It is my mission to help people get healthy and fit. I’ve been the unhealthy person and I know how it felt. I want everyone to feel as good as I do now and know it is a lifestyle.

Create your free account and reach out to me today.

Stay tuned for Step 3 of 5 on how to Baby Step Your Way to Clean Eating next week.

Heather Dietel

Heather spent most of her adult life miserable, lazy, unmotivated and overweight. Beachbody helped her reach a new level in her life physically, financially, and mentally. Now she wants to share her success with family and friends and help as many people as possible achieve great results. You can connect with her through her website Heather Dietel Fitness and her facebook page

Hey POWERFUL women! It’s Sarah. I continue to be inspired by Heather’s success story. She was recently able to quit her full time job back in June, because of her success with Beachbody. She now works her own business full time. Woohoo! I found this post she shared on her website, about taking a leap of faith, so inspiring. I am looking forward to reading even more about how Heather transitioned into healthier eating/fitness habits and being inspired to make some healthier choices myself. Heather will be back again next Friday with Step 3 of Baby Step Your Way to Clean Eating. Now to figure out what 2 or 3 things I am going to give up this next week. Since the majority of stuff I put in my mouth is bad for me, this shouldn’t be too hard. What’s it going to be for you? Share in the comments or over on fb. We can encourage each other!

Sarah Boucher blog picture

Sarah Boucher happily encourages women to find their power daily at I Am A Powerful Woman. Come join the conversation there.

Find Your Power

April 21, 2013 / / 0 Comments

Find Your Power pic
Find Your Power

Do you feel like all you have ever known is struggle? Even though you can count your blessings until you are blue in the face because you do realize you are blessed, at the end of the day, you still feel like you are struggling–struggling to live peacefully with your spouse, to be consistent with your parenting, to encourage your children to get along, to stay on top of things at work, to keep the house decent, to pay the bills, to make ends meet, to ever get ahead? Are you ready to Find Your Power and move beyond struggle? I sure as heck am.

I have written blog posts that talked about the reality of my situation where I said, if you want expert advice in finances, organization, business, or healthy eating, don’t come to me. When J.K. Rowling said, “And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life,” I can relate. I know my situation could get worse, but I’m at rock bottom of what I have experienced in my life so far. I am 34 years old and I feel like someone just handed me an encyclopedic sized book entitled How To Be A Grown Up.

I feel ridiculous when other women compliment me on my parenting, “Girl, I don’t know how you do it? Five kids!” The whole time we’re conversing, I’m thinking how glad I am that they can’t see what a wreck my house is or my bank statement. My neighbors know all about my parenting because they see the ugliness my kids display in the front yard as they yell all sorts of obscenities over who gets shotgun. Guess what? My teenagers aren’t allowed to cuss but they do it anyway. Compliment me now. Since my husband left 8 months ago, my children and I have had more McDonald’s $1 menu meals and bowls of cereal for dinner than I care to admit. I make $100 a week babysitting. Yep, that’s right. The face behind I Am A Powerful Woman is a babysitter probably making less than my teenage colleagues.

All of that to say that I don’t have it together. I’m surviving, but I don’t want to survive. I want to give my life my best shot. I want to have a plan for my family’s success and if I don’t make it, who cares. I will have tried my best and had fun doing it. I am ready to find my power in each area of life that needs work (which is every area honestly, and I think we all would agree that parenting needs to be first on the list of areas to tackle, what with the cussing kids in the front yard and all that) and excel.

Find Your Power

My strengths going into this Find Your Power phase of life are that I use Self Care daily to stay grounded in my well being in the midst of some pretty major trials, and I REALLY believe in possibilities for myself and others. If there was a Queen of Possibility, I would be it or next in line for the throne behind Oprah.

My focus for the rest of 2013 is Find Your Power! I will be sharing my own journey in finding my power, resources that I find useful, and ideas that I implement that work. If you also are on a journey to Find Your Power, please stay connected. Comment below or come to I Am A Powerful Woman and share where you are and what has worked for you.

I Am A Powerful Woman was never about me and how powerful I am. It was always my intention to encourage others to grow in their power as I was growing in mine, because this power is in all of us.

This is our year POWERFUL woman! Find Your Power!

I believe in you!
Sarah

Sarah Boucher

I’m Not Listening To Experts

March 1, 2013 / / 0 Comments

I Am A Powerful Woman
I’m Not Listening to Experts!

I’m not listening to experts! You can’t make me! I am so stubborn when it comes to making changes even if the change is going to revolutionize my life. Why is that? Why do I think I am more intelligent than the experts in a particular field? It does not matter what area of my life will improve, I’ll have some excuse (maybe more than one) as to why I can’t follow their method to victory.

My mom said that I was such an obedient girl until I reached my teen years. Maybe I am making up for all of those years. The teenage rebellion wasn’t enough to satisfy the rebel within.

When it comes to applying an expert’s knowledge in my life, I turn all infantile. I throw myself to the ground and a tantrum ensues.

I Am A Powerful Woman

But I don’t want to get up early to…pray, meditate, plan, write, clean…

meditating

You name it, I don’t want to get up early and do it–even if it is something I really would like to do at some point in the day. I do not want to hit the ground running and be productive for whatever reason. I do not want to get my life more organized so I can enjoy peace. I prefer lugging around this bucket of stress and chaos. I don’t want to exercise and eat healthy . I would rather age and feel it.

How ridiculous is my stubborn will?

Unless I am committed to _______, I am going to fight it with every bit of my being.

Time to Change

To quote the Brady Bunch, “When it’s time to change, then it’s time to change.” Peter Brady could not keep his voice from changing and I must not keep my life from changing. I know too much now. Knowledge is power and, “and with great power comes great responsibility.“ (Thank you Peter Parker’s uncle.)

“Knowledge without application is meaningless.”
Thomas Edison

It is so true. You can hear about Dave Ramsey, take his Financial Peace Course, and know the program inside and out, but unless you take action to control your finances, they will remain a mess. You can learn all about Flylady’s Fly Journal, but unless you take action and practice organization, your house remains a mess. Knowing “more more” about Jesus doesn’t make you a Christian. Any change requires knowledge and action.

It’s time to listen to the people who have been there and done that. That is why they are called experts. This week I am going to think about the different areas of my life (mind, body, spirit, finances, relationships) and follow some expert advice. I can be obedient. I have done it before. I just have to embrace my inner one to twelve year old.

To sit back, know what I know, and continue to not change is a crime against myself and my family punishable by being at the end of my life, looking back and saying, “If only I had_______.”

I am on a mission to get on top of my life. I’m pretty sure if I quit saying I’m not listening to experts but seek their wisdom instead, that I will accomplish this goal.

That’s what the experts say to do anyway–to start listening to experts.

Comment below or come over to facebook and tell me whose expert advice you followed and how it changed your life.

 

Goofing Around
My photographer/oldest son is so much fun to goof around with.

Sarah Boucher

Take Action! Mother Teresa Did!

July 14, 2012 / / 1 Comment

It was time to take action!
http://www.freedigitalphotos.net

An excerpt from my journal two years ago.  This was the turning point in my life–when I finally decided it was okay to be me and that it was time to take action.

February 8, 2010

I have too many thoughts racing through this mind of mine.

Is it wrong to pursue your dreams or are we supposed to live quiet lives doing the work of Jesus?

I know that success is measured differently.  A lot of people measure success by “stuff:”  How big your stuff is, the amount of stuff you have, being well known, and what mark you’ve made.  Others measure success by the goodness of a person:  she was such a servant, she was such a hard worker, she shared with others, she was a good…

My goal has never been to be the most well known this or that person but we all have dreams of greatness.  I read today on Steve Chandler’s website that some people choose to play it safe and never “do” anything so they will never fail.  His view and that of James Barrie is that the most successful people are failures.

My struggle has for years been is it wrong to strive for something that doesn’t seem to have a holier purpose or is it a waste of time?  Is Blue Cotton a “waste” of time?  What is holy about the business of t-shirt printing?  God has used that business to bless many families.  Does everything under the sun have to have a divine “purpose?”  Are we all selling ourselves short?  I am more and more under the opinion that God made every person creative.  He gave us gifts and we shouldn’t be afraid to use them?

I have chosen to be a stay at home mom.  I’m not very good at it and it shows.  My husband is worried, my in-laws are worried, and my mother who has always been supportive is worried.  I love home schooling.  At the same time, I have dreams upon dreams.  Dreams of volunteer work, t-shirt sales, photography business, writing, motivational speaking to women and teenagers, dreams of real estate, and living in a house shaped like a foot, dreams of living outside the box.  Dreams that will not let me be.

There is the “prosperity gospel” that some Christians embrace and others think is hogwash.  Maybe there is a balance in there somewhere.

Take Action! Mother Teresa Did!

My big thought for the day is whether someone is a Mother Theresa or a Donald Trump, a Joel Osteen, a Madonna, or a Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar–whether a person is famous for wealth or well known in a community for good deed doing–all of these people are doers.  They all took action at some point.  They may never have had lofty goals of wealth and fame but they are recognized because they are people of action.  Anyone we may admire, we admire because they did something.  They adopted a child or children, they worked with broken marriages, they wrote an inspirational book, they lived out their faith in spite of ridicule, they lived selflessly.  That Mother Theresa–did she ever!  But SHE TOOK ACTION!!!  She was a nurse, a teacher, a nun.  She made decisions and SHE ACTED.

I am going to use success tools to be the best I can be at the job I have chosen.  It may look foolish.  I am going to challenge myself to be more than just a loving mom and wife.  I am going to learn how to use my time wisely and serve those God has placed in my life.  I am going to practice photography and writing.  I am going to one day motivate other women to be able to stand on their own, to be women of joy, to not struggle and be weighed down by worry.  I am going to motivate my children to be successful people.  They will love God first and as a result make good choices for their life.  First, I have to figure out how to stand on my own, to believe in myself, to do the things I want to do, to create what I want to create not to be a creature of reaction.  I will do these things if God allows me to do them.  My first priority is to my family.

Steve Chandler says the people that think about money the most are those without any.  It is so true.  I am tired of going without.  I have lived the quiet and humble life.  I want to be pleasing to God but I don’t think stifling the passion he gave me is pleasing to him at all.  I was meant for action!  I will take action! I wish everyone could see the condition of my home at this writing.  They would laugh and say, “You are going to do these things?  Ha–Good luck!”

Unleash Your Power

May 21, 2012 / / 0 Comments

Every one of us is as POWERFUL as ROSIE is!

We are as capable and POWERFUL as the woman we admire most!

How exciting is that?!

Everything we admire about women like Oprah, Maya Angelou, Helen Keller, Princess Di, Rosa Parks, J.K. Rowling, Gloria Steinem, Mother Teresa–we have what each of them have or had inside of us!  We were all born with that very same capacity to do great good and creative things in the world and we can access it.  It’s inside of each of us right now.

Take a minute and let that in!!!

Now, grab a pen and paper and write down a list of the women you admire most and what they do or have done that makes them someone to look up to.

Look at your list.

Those women do not have more value in the world than YOU do because of their talent or things they have accomplished in their lives.  You have just as much value to me as any one of the women on that list, regardless of what you may have accomplished or what you have failed at.  It does not matter.  You have VALUE and YOU are loved! (and so am I!)

Now, write your full name at the top of your list!

This I Am a Powerful Woman mindset is a new way of thinking for me.  My life feels like  a THRILLING adventure because of it!  Because of the POWERFUL transformation I went through, I believe it is ABSOLUTELY essential to support you in achieving the same result in your life.  I cannot enjoy this new way of living knowing that you may be feeling as insecure, lonely, and overwhelmed as I was two years ago.  I was mostly miserable and now I am mostly exuberant!

I am not an expert in anything but my own experience.  My life from the traditional definition of success, screams struggle and impending failure.  That’s okay.  I’m on a journey and it’s really just getting started.  I’ve got BIG goals and my story is not complete.  I invite you to follow me as I continue to grow and to grow along with me into your own POWER!  I would LOVE nothing more than to be on this journey together!  Sign up below for my weekly newsletter.  You will get an update from me and I will pass along resources and programs that will inspire and be of use to you in your journey!

UNLEASH YOUR POWER!

 

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