What you tolerate becomes your norm.

What you normalize influences your belief system.

What you believe determines how you show up as YOU in this world.

For most of my professional and “corporate” careers (which has spanned the better part of 14 years) I tolerated things (aka never questioned things) like pay I wasn’t satisfied with, long hours, and intense hustle culture. I didn’t take vacations. I worked when I was sick. And I never EVER said no. Over the years this became my working norm - and it created the internal belief that if I wasn’t working myself to the bone, burning the candle at both ends 24/7, and always available at the drop of a hat, then I wasn’t DOING enough and I wouldn’t be SEEN as enough by my employers, employees, or colleagues. If I wasn’t doing the very most? Well, I’d be disposable. Worthless.

This year has been transformative in more ways than I can count.

Giving birth and becoming a mother does that to you. But what I perhaps didn’t expect was how my pregnancy and postpartum journey would forever alter my perception of exercise and movement.

I had a beautiful birth plan.

It included soft lighting. Flameless candles. An inspiring playlist. A birthing tub. Hypnobirthing techniques. The ability to walk around and change positions as needed (aka not stuck laboring in a hospital bed).