As many of you who follow me on Facebook know, I have decided on a name and a logo for my fitness studio.

Phoenix Fitness with Body By BrendaT

I thought long and hard about this, and then it just came to me.  I have crashed and burned so many times in my life where health and fitness are concerned.  And although I have kept aware of it, which has kept me from letting go completely, I am actually kind of in a valley on my journey right now.  Be it the stress, the menopause, the RA, whatever, I don’t make excuses for any of it, I simply keep adjusting until I find what is right for me.  Maybe that means backing off a bit, maybe it means kicking it up a notch.  I’m not sure yet, but I will keep working to find my new balance.  I WILL RISE up from the ashes of yet another low, because I am a survivor!  I will not go quietly into  the night, I will move forward with the burning fire that is deep within me lighting my way!

You see, not only is it my passion to help others on their journey, but it is my constant mission in life to find my own way to stay fit and healthy.  I want to work my hardest to overcome my genetics and not accept the diabetes and heart disease that should be destined to be my fate.  Do they have to be part of my life?  I don’t know for sure, but I am going to continue to fight against them!  I have not been able to completely escape the RA and arthritis, but I continue to fight!  They have tried to send me back to the ashes, but I refuse to quit!

A friend sent this to me on Facebook last week.  It spoke to me in a way that moved me to tears.

I will NEVER give up!  “born to do the impossible”, I will ALWAYS have HOPE in my heart!  The Coach Jimmy is my Beachbody Team Leader.  A few years back, he referred to what we do as Beachbody Coaches as Deliverers of HOPE!  We show those who feel that health and fitness is a hopeless dream, that it is not!  Just 8 years ago, I started as a 37 year old woman who had struggled with her weight her ENTIRE LIFE!  I remember my pediatrician scolding my  Mom constantly about me being too fat as a kid. Which only made me feel more low and turn to my buddy, COMFORT FOOD for some consolation. But I digress.  8 years ago, I made a decision that I did not want to live my life like that anymore.  I was almost 300# and my confidence was nonexistent!  But I made a decision, and I invested in my health, with money, sweat, and a LOT of tears!  I was an obese, chain smoking, depressed, comfort food addicted, drunk couch potato! Those are some pretty big hurdles to overcome.  Not to mention that I had failed at everything I had ever tried.  It was a joke in my office about how long I would be there, because by 24, I had already had about a dozen jobs. ***I have now been at that job for over 20 years.***

In the past I have lost and gained back hundreds of pounds!  I have battled depression from a very young age.  I have survived being abused by a man I trusted as a child.  I have survived being put in a psychiatric ward when I was 9 with all good intentions to save me after a suicide attempt, only to be verbally bullied by my psychiatrist and molested by a few of the adults on the ward for the entire time I was there.  When I was 17, I became pregnant by my 15 year old boyfriend who I loved very much.  But when we lost Marian the day after my 18th birthday, things changed.  I changed.  I became cold.  I became distant.  I became detached from the desire for love, because I felt it was just a painful illusion.  As time passed, I did find the ability to love again when I met Tony.  And although I can tell you from the depth of my soul that I LOVE my husband more than anything in the world, beyond him, I have always struggled(and unfortunately still do at times) with letting people, sometimes INCLUDING HIM, get too close.  It takes a lot for me to trust, and even more for me to let someone in to see all of Me. But I am learning to open up as my confidence grows.  One thing I learned being a part of Beachbody, is that your #1 habit should be CONSTANTLY working on Personal Growth!  I am always listening to some kind of Personal Development book or podcast, or doing some kind of course to help me build my confidence and trust in the fact that I am a good person and that I do deserve great things in my life.  Including working with Dr Mcayla Sarno, which is huge for me, because as you can imagine, I don’t trust “shrinks” very much.

When I say CHOOSE Happiness, I speak from my personal beliefs, because I myself must choose it every day.  Every day I have to FIND the great before the bad gets a hold of my brain.  If I let the bad in first, my day is shot in the arse!  So if you think I am a bit too rainbows, puppies, and unicorns in the mornings, maybe I am!  But every morning I wake up thinking of everything in my life I am grateful for.  Right now, for instance, I could focus on my fears. I could focus on the fact that I am up in weight and down in cardio endurance.  I could focus on the fact that it takes me anywhere from 10-30 minutes to get out of bed every morning due to the pain and stiffness in my body.  I could focus on the fact that I have went in debt up to my eyeballs building my studio.  But NO!  I choose to focus on what is good in my life right now.  I CHOOSE to BE Happy and get out there and do the relentless work that it is going to be successful in my passions!

Because HOPE will “always have a home in my soul!”

I truly believe that when you give attention to having good health and fitness, you will be more successful in ANYTHING you want to do!  If you are ready to stop waiting for your storm to pass, please contact me at bodybybrendat@outlook.com and I will help you find your best options to be successful with your health and fitness.  Be it through Beachbody and getting on a program and Shakeology(which I can honestly say has been  my saving grace on the nutrition front as of late with as busy as I have been), coming to classes at my studio starting next month, or a combination of both!  We will find YOUR best solution together.  And no matter which way you go, the option of a support and accountability group will always be there.

I HOPE to talk to you soon!

#RiseUp #TeamPhoenix #DeliverHope