“A picture is worth a thousand words”

The picture on the left is of my first born son, Caleb, and myself when he was almost 9 months old. At this time I was working the over-night shift as a full time RN in the NICU 4 nights a week. On the nights that I would work I would leave my house at 6:30 pm not returning home until 8:00 the next morning. So many thing took place in my son’s life during those hours that I was gone including bath time, story time, bedtime, waking up and getting off to daycare.

My passion for taking care of miniature people and advocating for the rights of those that don’t have a voice of their own was alive as ever. I had no intention of ever quitting my job as an RN. But I would be lying if I told you that I wasn’t resentful that I was missing out on those special moments at home with Caleb and Andrew.

Long story short… I continued to work as a nurse for the next few years until after my second boy was born. Once I had two little boys running around, and my husbands works schedule became more demanding, we decided that me staying home with the boys was the best thing for our family.

I quit my job and became a full time SAHM. At first it was great! I got to spend ALL my time with the boys and devoted myself to taking care of my family. But over time, I started to feel like something was missing. I knew in my heart that even though I loved being at home with my kids, I was just not cut out to be a full time SAHM. But I also knew that I couldn’t go back to my job as a nurse. I needed flexibility, freedom from working evenings, weekends, and holidays, and the ability to be on call for my family at all times.

So, I started on a dead end road trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life next. Needless to say I didn’t get very far.

In the mean time my best friend, Liz Love, approached me about joining her health and fitness accountability group. It was August of 2014 and Caleb was just about to start 4 year old preschool. It was just what I needed- something for me.

I started out doing the 21 Day Fix and drinking Shakeology daily. I began to see and feel changes in my body that I didn’t think were possible. Friends and family started asking what it was that I was doing and I couldn’t help but share with them this amazing program that had just fallen in my lap. They all hopped on the healthy train and joined Liz’s challenge group with me.

That was when Liz approached me about becoming a coach.  My initial though was, “No way! I could never do what you do. I know nothing about nutrition and fitness and why would anyone want me to be their coach anyway!?”  But that didn’t stop her from gently nudging ;-). Every week, or so, she would insert the coaching opportunity in to our phone conversations. Meanwhile, I was desperately searching for a “job” that I could do that would be flexible enough for me to be home in the evenings and on the weekends, but would still pay enough for it to be worth it.

I vividly remember the conversation that would change my life forever. I was just chatting with Liz and filling her in on my struggle to find that something that I was looking for. That something that would make me feel alive again. She listened to be from start to finish and then again said, “Gina, I just really think you should consider becoming a coach.”.  That was when it finally hit me and my attitude about coaching completely changed. All of sudden I had a fire lit inside of me and I just couldn’t sign up fast enough.  It was perfect, I was loving the 21 Day Fix so much, so why would I not try to help other women like me make a change to their mind and body for the better? So that was that and I haven’t looked back.

Fast forward 16 months to the photo on the right <3.  What can I say, other than the woman on the right is a completely changed person!  The woman in the picture on the right is inspired, excited about life, confident, and passionate.  She takes time for herself, found a career she loves, has the opportunity to travel for work to amazing places with amazing people, is building her own business and contributing financially to her family in a BIG way!!! In the last 16 months I have evolved in to a happier and healthier wife, mother, friend, leader, and above all, version of ME :-).

Sometimes I ask myself the question, “What if I would have ultimately said NO?”. I just cannot imagine my life with out Beachbody and coaching!!!