Small Changes or a Full Overhaul?

If you’ve been with me for the last two years, you know I’ve been on a journey of going all in on prioritizing my physical health the way I have for my mental & emotional health. 

And most likely, it’s in a different way than you would expect. 

In anything I do, I want to find the more simple, effective & flexible ways to do things. Extra bonus points if I can personalize it to what fits me & my authentic journey. 

For my physical health, I wanted to address the root cause of WHY I wasn’t maintaining consistent movement or balanced eating habits for the long term. I am normally a person who doesn’t have trouble keeping commitments to myself but this was particularly challenging for several years. 

I was on an endless loop of exercise routines, challenges, thinking that I had to be following a program in order to get the results I wanted AND I just got bored with movements after a time. 

For my eating habits, it’s no secret that food & drinks are the center of how I experience the world around me. Add in one on one conversations with someone & I’m sold. 

I also continued struggled with being “too tired” to make food which lead to a lot of eating out because it was simpler. 

All of these things I listed above are not necessarily “bad” things - there is space for all of them, but they were not serving me in becoming the person on the outside that I felt like I was on the inside. 

The truth was that I had tried doing as much as I could on my own, but now it was time to lean on people who were skilled & professional in the areas I wanted to change. The biggest thing I was looking for is someone who would listen to my hopes, my lifestyle, the things that lit me up, & would create a plan & actions that were personalized to me, Lauren Varel, & not a blanket cookie cutter plan of care. 

Two years ago, I started seeing a functional medicine doctor, shout out to KCIH, who helped me being my body back into alignment through high quality supplementation & adjustments in my diet. This alone did wonders for me - the foundation was solid & now it was time to focus on my nutrition & movement. 

One year ago, I started working with Nicole Gomez. I had followed her for years & admired how she shared in an empowered & individualized way. I signed up for a 6 month program with her, without even knowing the true impact that working with her would create. While there was accountability & thought behind the workouts etc that she created for me, it was built out of flexibility & love, not out of perfection.

Over the next 6 months, I was able to lean on Nicole’s expertise & trusted that she had my best interests in mind when I went through countless unexpected challenges but also navigating through the natural changes of routines month over month.

My time with working with Nicole one on one took a pause & I was on my own through the winter. I will say that I navigated that season (and the bitter cold) better than I have in the past, but then one day, I realized that I wasn’t necessarily feeling my best anymore. I sent Nicole a somewhat panicked message asking if I should just go back to what we did when we first started working together or if I should go back to what I was doing at the end of our program together.

She gave me some very good advice. She said, “let’s try doing small shifts back to what we were doing at the end of your program for a couple of weeks & then let’s see if we need to make any shifts. If you were to go back to what we were doing at the beginning of your program, it will further confirm the mindset that in order to feel your best, you need to be in a deficit”.

AKA » The lie is that in order to feel your best, you must be without.

The truth is, little shifts of intention, can lead to not only feeling your best but also enjoying life to the fullest. Little shifts of intention are enough.

Turns out, I felt a million times better three weeks later. Just by small shifts of intention.

So the next time you feel like you need to overhaul something in order to get to where you want to be - take a moment and figure out what are small shifts that feel doable & move with intention towards the person you want to be come.

I’ll be here in your inbox helping you get there.

Cheers,

Lauren

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Everyone needs a little support in their life. Here are some of my favorite ways to support myself emotionally, physically, & mentally while I boldly design my own aligned life.

• If you want to build self-confidence & gain clarity on your next right step. Download my Fitting in to Flying Free guide.

• Right now, I am wearing this necklace to remind myself to be grateful for every season I find myself in while also bringing positivity & balance

• If you are struggling to figure out your next right step or want your own roadmap to the life you want to create. Download my Alignment Roadmap template. This template will help you identify what’s important to you, the steps to get there, & encouragement when you need a reminder.

• The Growth Day App is a personal development guide in your pocket. I use the morning & evening journaling prompts as well as listen to the mini-podcast each day to keep my mind in a state of moving forward with confidence & clarity.

• Without fail, I will drink Ryze Mushroom Hot Cocoa before bed each night. I kid you not, it has worked to increase the quality of my sleep when so many other products have not.

• If you have ever felt on the outside or had a nudge to do something different than what is expected of you. Come join us in The Unconventional Woman’s Club - a membership based community designed to support women who feel like they don’t quite fit into traditional molds. It’s a space for women seeking clarity, confidence & connection as they design a life that aligns with their true selves.

You deserve to live the life you desire - let’s do this together.

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