The problem is so many people think and feel they should not have any difficulty going through life. The solution is we have to be willing to learn to be resilient because difficulty does exist.
Life is hard and I have been through my fair share of difficulties. Unless you are in my inner circle or personally in my life you probably do not know most of what I have dealt with and how I have overcome it.
The key though is I am resilient. I am emotionally resilient. I am physically resilient. I am mentally resilient. I am resilient.
I am pretty sure I have been most of my life but I didn’t always acknowledge it. But, if I am not willing to acknowledge that I do get knocked out and that there is something inside me that helps me get back up, I am truly missing out on helping others!
What is the hardest thing you have gone through? A partner cheating? Sexual abuse from someone you knew? Rape from someone you knew or even someone you didn’t know? A divorce? Abuse in a marriage or relationship? Financial ruin? Self-abuse?
The list of things is endless, how you respond is not.
I am a hot air balloon. I can be high up in the sky and see God’s artwork, which I am a part of and I can be down deflated on the ground where no one can see me but those who are close. But no matter where I am, I have the potential to fly high and go far, I just have to light my resilient fire.
Have you had times where you have no idea how you are going to keep on going? Maybe you are on the ground now and need help getting your fire lite again. Ask to join my inner circle by clicking here!
A couple years ago I wrote a blog post about the difference between a legitimate network marketing business and a pyramid scheme! This week, one of my awesome team members and friend wrote this amazing post about the same thing. The best part for you is that it is much shorter than what I wrote! (each link is a different post)
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There’s a crazy myth floating around that I need to clear up once and for all.
I hope this doesn’t cost me any friends. (Maybe I’ll even gain some!) 😁 If this information somehow offends you, I’m going to put a link at the bottom of this post to an article posted by the United States Federal Trade Commission and you can see that I’m totally 100% on point with what I’m saying.
“Pyramid Scheme”
For some reason, this is a nasty stigma that cynical or uninformed people assign to others who:
– Have a home based business where they sell a third-party product – Assemble and train a team of others who have chosen to do the same thing – Earn income from both their own sales and the sales of some of their team members
Bottom line:
LEGITIMATE COMPANIES with a tiered payout and distribution structure are super-common, totally legal, and a fantastic, ethical way for companies to get visibility for their goods or services. It is sophisticated word-of-mouth “advertising.”
PYRAMID SCHEMES are illegal and get shut down by the government very quickly when they pop up. I’m going to paraphrase some of what is discussed in detail in the article at the bottom of this post.
So-called “pyramid schemes” promise members profits based primarily on recruiting others to join their program, NOT from selling any real goods or services to the public. Some pyramid schemes may sell a product, but they often simply use the product to hide the fact that the majority of the money paid out to participants comes from high buy-in cost for new recruits, not from end product sales to the public. Two things to be aware of that pyramid schemes are notorious for are (1) requiring new recruits to purchase a bunch of inventory up front that they won’t use and will probably not be able to re-sell and (2) money is made from the high sign-up fees of new recruits, not from legitimate product sales to the public.
In pyramid schemes, the people at the “bottom” spend a bunch of money on high buy-in costs and (possibly) a lot of products that sit in their garage, while the people at the top collect from everyone below, selling hype, and cracking the whip on people to bring in more and more new recruits at astronomical buy-in fees. In order to make any money, the newest recruits need to go and try to get a bunch of other people to spend a fortune to sign up, rather than actually getting customers who like the product and want to purchase it. It is very high pressure with a lot at stake.
Pyramid schemes are few and far between and get shut down quickly by the FTC. By far the vast majority of companies with a multi-tiered distribution and payment model is are totally legitimate. In the article below from the Federal Trade Commission, there is an entire section about successful, legal companies that use multi-level distribution and payment models.
I’ve been working with in this type of business for nearly 15 years and it’s been AHHH MAZ ING. Not perfect, but really, really great.
✅ Yes, I have a home based business. ✅ Yes, I market a product that my family has benefited from and uses. ✅ Yes, I help other people learn how to do the business if they think it’s a good fit. ✅ Yes, I receive commission if I do my job well and the people I have taught are successful. 🚫 NO, I am not gullible, brainwashed, desperate, foolish, lazy, or part of a pyramid scheme.
The “pyramid scheme” accusation used to hurt me. Then it would just annoy me. Now it REALLY ticks me off.
Why does it tick me off? It’s not because I can’t handle a little social pressure. I’ve developed a thick skin and can recognize misinformed people the second they start talking. It ticks me off because it hurts people I care deeply about. These are men and women who are taking more control of their family income and working hard with legitimate and thriving companies who are getting shaken up unnecessarily by the biting comments of people who don’t have a clue what they are talking about.
I hope this informed and well-researched post will help these people as well as those who may have never taken the time to learn exactly what the difference is between an illegal pyramid scheme and a legitimate business with a multi-level type distribution and payment structure.
In my opinion, companies with a multi-tiered distribution and pay-out model are the next logical “evolution” of authentic, decent, and ethical marketing.
Please let me explain why.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
HERE IS THE ORIGINAL “FLOW” OF PRODUCT DISTRIBUTION:
In the past, MANUFACTURERS would create a product in their factories and then ship it to NATIONAL WAREHOUSES. The NATIONAL WAREHOUSES would store the products until they needed to be shipped to REGIONAL WAREHOUSES. REGIONAL WAREHOUSES would keep the products until they were needed as inventory in LOCAL RETAIL SPECIALTY STORES. LOCAL RETAIL SPECIALTY STORES would put the products on the shelves. CUSTOMERS would see company-produced advertisements in media and come to the LOCAL RETAIL SPECIALTY STORE to purchase the product. In most cases up to 60% of what the customer pays is simply to cover the cost of moving the products from factory to warehouse to warehouse to store and to pay for the advertisement. That’s a huge expense.
(Example: Nike factories in China MANUFACTURE millions of Nike brand shoes. They ship tens of thousands of shoes to NATIONAL WAREHOUSES all around the United States. They are then sent out to REGIONAL WAREHOUSES so they are closer to the stores that will eventually purchase and re-sell them. Nike LOCAL RETAIL SPECIALTY STORES in your local shopping mall place orders from the regional warehouses for a few hundred pairs that end up on their display racks. CUSTOMER sees a $5 million 30-second Nike ad on TV during the Super Bowl, and the next day goes to a LOCAL RETAIL SPECIALTY STORE to pay $190 for their new Nike shoes. Approximately $114 [60%] of this is to cover the cost of moving the shoe from factory to warehouse to warehouse to store… plus that snappy ad he saw during the Super Bowl. 👟💸)
This isn’t the most fabulous system, but it is generally pretty standard marketing. And of course this isn’t just for shoes… you can substitute most any other type of physical product out there for the Nike shoes.
1950s EVOLUTION OF PRODUCT DISTRIBUTION
In the 50’s and 60’s there was an evolution. LOCAL RETAIL SHOPS were replaced with LOW COST DEPARTMENT STORES (think WalMart, etc.). Now you could buy shoes, and hammers, and mayonnaise in the same store instead of going to a shoe store, then a tool store, then a grocery store. Among other changes, they centralized distribution and found low-price suppliers. This also cut out at least one step at the end of the distribution process, saving money for the end customer.
1980s EVOLUTION OF PRODUCT DISTRIBUTION
In 1983 and 1984 Costco and BJs were founded and there was another evolution. REGIONAL WAREHOUSES were replaced by these MEMBERSHIP ONLY BIG BOX SUPERSTORES. Sure, there weren’t as many of them as the large department stores, but for an annual membership fee, you were allowed to go directly into the warehouse to do your shopping. You could buy the same sorts of things that were available in the large department stores, but in larger quantity, with less packaging, and the cost was even cheaper because the products didn’t need to be moved as much. Plus, advertising costs decreased with this step as well. Instead of needing to market to everyone in the country, a company would only need to market to the people who happened to be members of the big box superstore (think about that little Costco flyer that is sent to your house once a month. A lot cheaper and targeted than Super Bowl ads.) 📦💵
2000s EVOLUTION OF PRODUCT DISTRIBUTION
In the early 2000s, online retailers like Alibaba and Amazon swept in, connecting customers directly with manufacturers from their PC or smartphone. Websites like Etsy also popped up and allowed people to sell their wares to other customers. This was a MAJOR breakthrough in distribution because suddenly there was very little advertising or distribution costs. And with Amazon Prime, shipping was really affordable to people who used their service on a regular basis. It’s no wonder that a couple years ago Jeff Bezos, owner of Amazon, became the richest man in the world! He understood that if he could find a way to connect customers directly with manufacturers he could turn huge profits—and it was incredibly scaleable. He could sell other people’s products for slightly less than would be charged in another brick-and-mortar store and make a mega profit, plus the profit from under-utilized Amazon Prime accounts really adds up, too.
AND HERE WE ARE WITH THE LATEST EVOLUTION… THE MULTI-LEVEL DISTRIBUTION MODEL
These companies have been around for a long time and many have been fine-tuned for decades. A handful of companies (I can tell you which ones) have totally nailed it. These are consumer-to-consumer businesses, marketing fantastic consumable products that are both timeless and in demand by the public. These companies have created a business model that encourages customers to not only be educated about and use their products, but also to have the option to be compensated for sharing their own experiences with others if they wish. In return for a referred sale, the company pays the customer some of what would normally be spent on expensive advertising or the cost of moving products from warehouse to warehouse. The part I love the most is that customers who want to create a higher income for themselves can be compensated for effectively teaching other customers how to share company-created information about the product as well as their own experience. Advertising dollars from these companies are not spent on a expensive psychology-driven, hypnosis-inducing marketing campaigns that utilize just the right colors, sounds, and carefully crafted marketing messages that make you feel an irrational preference to buy their stuff over that of a competitor. No—with this business model, advertising dollars are paid out to customers who really like the products, can offer their own experiences with other people, give an honest recommendation, and share in some of the profits if the person they are talking to decides to make a purchase. It’s totally win-win-win.
Good companies get in trouble when their representatives start going crazy and exaggerating or making false claims. We’ve heard about a few of them in the news lately. Thankfully, the companies who I have kept my eye on are really monitoring their partners to make sure that no one is over-promising.
If you’re personally not comfortable buying from someone you know, that’s totally fine. But please don’t cry wolf on our businesses. It’s not classy. If you are leery of “pyramid schemes,” I hope that this little exposé of mine sets your mind at ease. Chances are your friend on social media, or your sister, or your co-worker is just sharing a product that they really like and are not in a cult. 😂
This is my story, this is my life! I have lived with many autoimmune disorders but I was never told that is what I was dealing with. After many medications and specialists a friend offered me nutrition. Slowly my life went from misery to victory.
I still have days where I struggle but I am living life on my own terms. I am able to provide solutions to others who have a need for health and financial relief. I am able to help families who struggle to get nutrition into children get nutrition into them with ease.
This is my story on how I found a solution that helps my health and our family.
Transparency is not easy to do, especially when it comes to healthy and weight. Who wants to put it out there for the world to see how much you weight, put photos up and invite them into what you hope to do and the struggles to accomplish them.
I say the struggles because it has been a struggle for me. From a young age, I was and still am an emotional eater. When I am not an emotional eater, I am a bored snacker. When I am not a bored snacker, I starve myself. So as you can see, I have not had the best relationship with food.
So today on January 1, 2019, I got up and went into the bathroom. I got these clothes on and got on the scale. I took a photo of the weight. I went into the living room and have my Bella take a set of 4 photos. Then I went and created an image. It has taken me almost 10 hours to post this.
It takes vulnerability, bravery, transparency, confidence, and a willingness to be hurt to post this. I am not happy with my current health. I am not happy with my current activity level. I am not happy with my current eating habits. I am saddened by the actions of those around me when they to try and guilt me when I won’t try a bite, or won’t gladly accept the treat they got me, because if it hurts their feelings I no longer care because this is about me. It is about me being here for my children, my family, my grandchildren, and the best one of all: FOR ME!
On January 7th I am starting the healthy living revolution nutrition program. I am already implementing a lot of these things and today it created a lot of tears. When Bella asked for a snack from the store and I said, “sure but it has to be a healthy one.” And she picked fruit gushers and I said, “not healthy”. I gave her a long list of options and threw her tears picked nothing over healthy. It is okay, it is a process, for all of us.
So, welcome to my journey, my whole health journey. If anyone would like to join me on this journey, comment or message me. If anyone is curious what the Shred is about, let me know and I can add you to a group that has every question answered you could think of. If you just want to watch, I hope it helps you on your journey and encourages you.
Even with everything I had known and all the videos I had watched – I am blown away at how fast everything has grown!
Last night I even picked some of the food off from it and ate it with my veggie burger! In THREE WEEKS!
If you have been on the fence about the tower garden, I highly encourage you to get it! Go here and get it!
There is nothing that is as impressive as having a TG of your own, growing your own fruits and veggies and herbs and flowers and picking it to eat during the THIRD week of growth!
It just blows my mind.
Have questions – please ask me! We have one right now because that is all we purchased but to be honest, I see us purchasing the family set before summer is over in 2018.
Not only is this saving us money on our food bill, this is helping our end goal of becoming healthier, helping our end goal of helping others become healthier and it is amazing!
I am a stay at home mom whose children are in school full time now. I felt like I lost my purpose. My husband, Jack works in a factory that doesn’t have room for growth or advancement. Neither of us really wanted me to go back to work full time. There are still opportunities to volunteer in school, because the kiddos are young we would need daycare for the summer and with autoimmune issues for Jack, Bella and myself there is a lot of time I am at home with children missing school. But we were not saving, we didn’t go on vacations, we were not buying food on a regular basis and we were in debt. So I knew I had to find a way to contribute to our household income. Then we found this amazing company and we were flooding our bodies with whole food nutrition. We were getting healthy and we decided we wanted to join the mission to help others get healthy, have fun doing it and offer a financial solution for others as well. Now we work the business together, we are working on getting out of debt and I am still able to stay home while contributing to our income. One of the best parts is for the first time in ten years, Jack and I were able to get away for a weekend to build our relationship and our business. Jack still works for the factory but we see a future and retirement with our business! The best part is we get to help others realize and achieve their dreams as well!
That is my business story. I also have a personal story about what the product has done for me. You see this past weekend we did get away. We were able to build our relationship, we made new friendships and we worked on our business.
I wish I could find the words to express every feeling I had but I am not sure there is a way. A team member looked at me at the end of the weekend and asked me what I was thinking right then. I looked at him and said, “I’m overwhelmed and could cry.” which then I did proceed to cry.
You see, I have been a part of just about every kind of network marketing there is out there. I have been to meetings, training’s, boot-camps and events. People were nice at them. They would talk to you but I never felt like I belonged.
Then as I am crying I proceed to say, “I felt like I was a part of a community. I felt like I belonged. It didn’t matter where you were in your journey in the company, everyone here just wanted to make sure you had the tools needed to succeed. They didn’t care if you were on their team, they didn’t care if you just started, they wanted to talk to you, to embrace you, to make you a part of their family and I feel like I am home.” It truly overwhelmed me.
I hugged top people in the company. They answered any and all questions. Their why’s still make them cry, even after 20+ years in the company. They have a passion to help others get healthy, reach their goals and see their dreams come true. It was something I have never had before in my life.
It was a weekend filled with a lot of emotion. When we first got there, I was so anxious because even though I knew some of these people, I didn’t know them. I had no idea what the weekend was going to be like. I was a nervous wreck. Then I walked in, saw people for the first time in person and felt at ease. Within 10 minutes of being there I had hugged three people.
I learned so much. I heard new things I had never thought of before. I realized things I knew about but didn’t put as much importance on, needed to be important. I connected with my husband, we laughed a lot and we got to do a few things together other than learn more about our business.
Have you ever felt so overwhelmed by what you just were able to do? I am an emotional person to begin with but this was just so amazing. I was truly beyond blessed with this opportunity. I was even more blessed because Jack was able to go with me.
I was given, well everyone was given, some writing tasks for homework. I have not gotten to them yet but I am pretty sure I know where they will take me and I am proud of it. I have always wanted to feel as if we are financially secure. I was never really certain what that would mean. In the back of my mind I know I want to provide food, a house, and to be able to care for those around me. I have said often I just want to be able to pay our bills and put food on the table but the truth is I do want more than that. I do have goals and they are not small ones.
I have goals in life. One of the biggest goals is to be able to give more financially. I want to help teens go on mission trips they may not have gone on. I want to help families put food on their table’s because no one should ever struggle the way we have. I want to help our church’s community recovery program thrive for the kids program. I want to be able to give more to our church and community.
I went into the weekend already knowing that the capsules had changed my life. I went into the weekend already knowing that the business had started to change our lives. I left the weekend knowing that as a family, we have made the best choice we could ever had made for both our health and our wealth.
We are pulling the trigger and getting ourselves a tower garden! Wonder how the tower garden works? You can watch this short video that gives an overview:
We have decided it is time to start really saving on our grocery bill! Have been contemplating this move for 16 months now. Before it didn’t make a ton of sense because it was just pretty much myself and ADam who would be eating the fruits and veggies. However since we have been taking our capsules and chews their tastes are changing!
Here is a video with actual customer reviews:
Are you wondering why a tower garden is a better choice verse a traditional garden? There are five researched back benefits to aeroponic gardening.
Tower Gardens can increase yields of up to 30%
Plants grow up to 3x more quickly
Tower Garden uses up to 98% less water
A vertical design requires 90% less space
Pollution and pests are less of a problem
If you would love to read the whole article where this has come from click here!
One nice thing is that with it being summer, I can stick it outside for the rest of the warm weather. Then in the winter we can get the lights on and move it indoors.
Have you ever just been so excited for something? It is almost like I’m a little who can’t sleep because Santa is coming to leave presents under the tree!
Are you looking for a way to help your grocery budget while still eating healthy? Do you love to garden but hate the weeding and getting dirty (I do!)? This could be the perfect solution for you!
Are you worried because you live in a small space? We have talked about that here in our house as well. However we know it isn’t that big. In the winter we are going to put it in the kitchen at the end of the cupboards. I have a couple friends who are in apartments who have them in their living rooms in the winter and then our on their deck in the summer.
I can’t wait to start sharing photos of the growth from our own tower garden!
I have been questioning who I am and if Jack and I are doing the correct things lately. Making a choice to do certain things don’t always make us popular with family and friends. That would cause me to question if it was the correct choice. I do not need their approval for the life we have chosen because we are doing it after prayer and conversations with God. We have His approval, we have Him leading the way and while I would love to have others approve and see what we see, we do not need it.
We made the choice over four years ago to supplement our income with a work at home business. We were heading one direction and we still use those products, we still sign people up but it isn’t where God was leading us. A little over sixteen months ago, we actually got on board with God and where He wanted us to go long ago. Things have still been a bit of a struggle but the best thing is, we are in sync now and we do not need to apologize for what we are doing. You do not have to agree with us, but do not stand in our way.
Sixteen months ago we decided to change our health and join a business. Sixteen months ago, we had a lot of options in front of us to pick from. Sixteen months ago, we made the choice that our health was so important that we were going to give food a chance to see what it could do. Sixteen months ago, our lives changed.
We went with a company that makes products that are safe for all ages. We went with a company that doesn’t have a warning label on it for if you overdose. We went with a company that doesn’t tell you to check with your healthcare provider if you are pregnant, nursing, a child, on a blood thinner or any other medications. We went with a company that doesn’t have a warning label telling you it is not intended for children under the age of 18. We went with a company that doesn’t have a label telling you to call poison control for accidental overdose. We went with a company that doesn’t have a label stating that if you are under two years of age you can not take it. We went with a company that is making health a priority for all ages.
We thought long and hard and decided we wanted to be able to help ALL people, ALL ages, and not have to worry about them overdosing because they taste so good. We truly care about others and have a passion to help EVERYONE and the best thing is WE CAN!
We used to buy vitamins at the store. We used to buy supplements at the store. I had to keep them up high, out of the reach of our kiddos, the dogs, the cats, and even us. How in the world did I ever feel safe giving my children something that could be fatal? Have you ever taken the time to read the labels on children’s vitamins? I don’t think I ever really did because if I had read that an overdose could be fatal to my children, I would not have bought them! I was just doing what I was blindly told to do, give your children vitamins because there is no way they are getting what they need from food.
That is true, we do not get all we need nutrition wise from foods at grocery stores. We have talked about that before here and also here. So we are told to supplement what is missing from our diets with vitamins. Thankfully our family has found another option, one that if my children overdose on it all they are doing is getting more fruits, veggies and berries. There will not be the possibility of any of us ever having a hospital stay from overdosing on our supplements, because we choose whole food based nutrition.
There are a lot of options out there. There is a lot of confusing facts out there when it comes to health products. When you read your labels, when you choose a company (for business, health or both) do you know what you are putting into your body? Can you read all of the ingredients? Where do the ingredients come from? Do you know what the ingredients are or do you need to google them to find out? Does your supplement enter your bloodstream and is there solid research to back it up? Is there scientific evidence to prove that it is does healthful things for your body? Has the product ever been researched at all? Does it have a food lable (nutrition) or does it have a supplement label?
Those questions are something you should always ask yourself before you start on anything. Maybe once you have read what is in your supplement and done your own research you are okay with a product. That is great but you should never just be blinded by what others tell you to do. I have done that for far to long and now that I know better, I make the choice to put our health and wellbeing first!
Yes, we have a business but we also have our health because of it. Not everyone wants a business and there is nothing wrong with that. I do highly encourage you though to think about your health. Ask those questions for yourself, make sure you are happy with the answers you get! This is about you and your family, where are you being lead? Are you okay with using products that if your children or grandchildren get into it could put them into the hospital? Are you okay with using products that if you take to much could put yourself in the hospital?
I know the answer for this family is, no we are not okay with that. It is really one of the reasons I love this company. I can make myself a shake and if my children want some of mine, they can have it! If my pregnant friend comes over and wants to try it, she can have it. If my nursing friend comes over and wants to try it, her and her baby can enjoy it. If my children want me to make them a whole shake that they can have all to themselves, there are no issues and they can devour it!
We had a lot of excuses as to why we went the route we did long ago. We just followed blindly. We were told it would heal us. We just wanted to feel better. We could not afford it. These things at the store are just so much cheaper. How is it possible that product ABC could be so much different than this one.
We have run out of excuses because now we know the truth. When you take time to do your own research. When you take time to really learn and think about what is going on and what choices you are making. You have to own what you do and what you do not do, that includes what you put into your body.
We no longer try to please others in our life by doing what they want or they suggest. We make the choices to put into our bodies actual food. What are you going to do with the knowledge you are gaining? Don’t waste it, use it and make well informed choices about your health and wellness for you and your family.
Make no excuses for your choices. Just make sure you are asking the correct questions, getting answers that benefit you and that you are comfortable with. Be educated and informed!
In our home we are coming into a scary season. Even with all of our hard work and dedication to get things just so, we are not where we need to be. I wish I could control everything in my life but I know that instead I should be walking hand in hand with Christ.
We have been preparing for this time in our lives for almost 6 years now. Each time we get things under control and on the upward swing, everything typically goes to pot. Prior to the past sixteen months, when things would go to pot, I would have a complete breakdown. I would lose my mind, fall deeper into depression, my body would fight against itself more and my pain levels would shoot upward and I would shut down.
I was someone who was giving up. I saw no hope. I saw no solution. I could always find an excuse for why something would not work. I was literally giving up before I even tried. I was someone I didn’t even want to be around myself. When you don’t want to be around yourself and you can’t get away from yourself your only logical option is to sleep and withdrawal.
Here we are, not where we need to be but I am not giving up. We don’t have the time we had a year ago but we still need to somehow figure out how to make it work. I finally feel like I am a person who is going to fight for what we need. I am going to keep moving forward. I am going to keep on doing what we need to do. I am going to accomplish things for me and for my family.
This isn’t about proving anything to anyone. This is about knowing that we are going in the correct direction and we are to going to give up. This is about knowing that we are responsible for working with Christ to make His Will for us a reality. It is the gut feeling that we are doing the right things but we need to help fight for us just a little more.
Sometimes you need to just have a good ol’ complaint session with a friend or two. You need to let it all out. You need to be able to stop holding it together for everyone and you need to stop wearing your mask. You need to tear the mask off and you need to get it out. Sometimes you need to do that so you can stop hyperfocusing on the bad things, and so you can focus on the solutions and how to move forward.
I have really come to learn that there are different types of people. You have those who accomplish, those who talk and dream, those who complain, those who are stagnant, those who wallow, and those who suffer in silence. Do you know what all of these people have in common? No matter what where they are at they have told themselves that they, “Can Do Anything” or they, “Can Not Do Anything” and either way, they are 100% correct.
Your mind is a very powerful tool. I know everyone had heard it before and I have heard and probably given all the excuses as to why that is a crock of poo. But it is the truth. If you really want something, there are ways to get there. It doesn’t mean it will be easy, it doesn’t mean it will be quick, it doesn’t mean that it is going to be handed to you on a silver plater but there is a way.
We do not want to be where we are going into this season of life. We have been working towards solutions (yes we are doing many things to prevent it). I do not have complete control of the others who have added to our situation not being where it should be but I am not allowing that to stop me from going forward.
I could complain all the time. I could allow myself to be miserable. I could make excuses. I could convince myself what is the point in trying. I could convince myself I am not able or capable. I could convince others I am not able or capable. I could let others wonder why I continue down the path of craziness. Or……
I could pick my head up and just do it. I could find a way to fight and make our life different, better, easier, and even more enjoyable. My happiness is not about what I have or where I vacation or what I don’t have or even what others have. My happiness comes from knowing I am fighting, I am doing what I am supposed to do, I am moving forward and I am able to give to others.
This season we are coming into is scary but I am not scared the way I used to be. Yes I still have down days, but I vent to those who love me and understand where I am coming from. Then I get up, put my big girl panties on and go kick bum. Each day isn’t always fun because sometimes it requires losing some sleep or not spending as much time with my kiddos as I would like to but in the end it is so I don’t have to do all of that for the rest of my life!
So where are you at in your life? Are you someone who would fight for what they need to get done so things don’t stay the same? Or are you someone who is going to sit back and just complain and let opportunity pass you by while you give up?
No situation is permanent unless you have told yourself it is. There is nothing in your life that can’t be changed unless that is what you have told yourself. You have the power of your life. Yes there will be situations brought on by others that you can not control but you have control over how you deal with it and what you do to change it.
Do not be someone who shuts down and gives up hope. Once you lose hope, all your other happiness and joys are not far behind for leaving. Be a fighter. Stand up for yourself and change your situations if you are not happy with them. Drop the excuses and find a way to make whatever it is work.
You are capable. You are able. You will do whatever you have told yourself you can or can’t do!
I have been using the whole food based nutrition capsules for over a year now. I have talked about them before and how thankful I am for them. Life has changed, for the better. I still have bad days, we all do. However I am totally blessed to be about to move on with life, move forward with life and not stay huddled up in bed (although the last two days I have wanted to because the minute I step out of my room, I am dripping with sweat. We don’t have central air and only have a window unit in our room).
I used to avoid people. I used to avoid so much. I didn’t realize how much I was missing. I didn’t realize how much life was passing me by. Even though I have felt a nudge for a while about youth, I have pushed it down and pushed it aside. I was so embarrassed by my looks that there was no way I was volunteering to be with teens. I would look at myself and wonder how they would see or hear anything other than my face that was so full of pustules, redness and pain. I couldn’t see anything past my face, how could anyone else!
Today I was talked to a couple different people. It is so hard for some to understand these are not supplements. I so often hear please tell me the DRA (daily recommended allowance) or how is this any different than me going to the store and buying fruits and veggies. I eat healthy and I take vitamins. I wish I had a magic wand to help someone’s eyes be opened to see the difference.
These are dehydrated, crushed up, put into a capsule (or chew) fruits, veggies and berries. This isn’t broken into a million pieces, and put it back together in a different form using chemicals and who know what other products to make it a supplement for what you don’t get from the real thing. Even when you eat healthy, you are still not getting what you need. There are a lot of reasons for it but some of the basic ones are
In order to get fruits, veggies and berries to the stores on time, they are picked very early. This way they are able to be packaged up, packed up, shipped and to the store about the time they are ripe.
Fruits, veggies and berries get 90% of their nutrition in the last week to few days prior to the food being ripe. So if they have already been picked, weeks (and sometimes months) before they are rippened, they are no longer getting nutrients from the sun or the soil.
Soils are depleated of nutrients from farmers not rotating the way they should and using harmful chemicals on the foods to keep pests away.
A lot of our foods come from genetically modified organisms (GMO) and that includes our seeds.
Often photos say way more than words ever can. I was scrolling though Facebook and saw this.
“A friend shared this and it was too good not to pass along.
•Vitamins Vs. Wholefood•
“So I decided to share with my friends how vitamins are “dead” with no living enzymes…I used a powerful visual and took 3 separate bowls of creamy cooked quaker oats and in one I crushed up a Centrum vitamin ..in the 2nd bowl I crushed an Alive vitamin (which you can see should be called (Dead) and in the 3rd bowl I opened one Garden Juice Plus capsule and one Orchard Juice Plus capsule. The Centrum and Alive crushed tablets that were stirred in the bowls and left for over two hours looked like hard putty and could easily be held upside down and stuck to the bowl. The bowl with the Juice Plus turned the oats to liquid ….why?????? Because it IS ALIVE!!
Juice Plus has living enzymes and is real produce that gets into the cell …it’s food….not a hard synthetic fragmented man made vitamin tablet. Sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words.
Save yourself the unnecessary expenses of MultiVitamins and just get what’s truly affordable & your body will recognize:) Whole Food Nutrition in a capsule!
EAT REAL FOOD…TAKE JUICE PLUS. :)”
Are you spending money on supplements? Do you know that your body only utilizes about 25% of them? Let’s just look at what that really means. If you purchase a bottle of multivitamins and you spend $20.00 on it (I have no idea how much a bottle is but I do know I used to personally look for the cheapest bottle I could find because what did it matter, they were vitamins!). If your body is only able to process 25% of what you take daily and that bottle lasts you a month you are wasting $15 a month. Now how many different supplements do you actually take monthly?
When I was taking vitamins I know I had a lot of different ones: B’s, multi, D, E, and the list goes on. So it wasn’t just finding the cheapest one, it was finding the cheapest all of them and my body wasn’t using even half of what I was putting into it. That is really sad to think about.
These capsules are whole food based nutrition which means that my body is using 100% of them. I am no longer wasting money. My body is taking it all in, breaking it down and using all of it. Plus it is something I can tell is happening! I feel it, I see it and there is no denying that it is helping me as a person.
How much does your health mean to you? I was trying to do the right things, part of the time but I was going about it the wrong way. Truth is we were made to eat fruits and veggies and berries. Our bodies were created to use them for food, nutrition, healthy, energy, healing. I was not getting enough of anything in order to get well. I had to take lots of medications to try and fix what was wrong. The problem for me was, each new medication had its own new side effects that required another new medication.
I felt like a walking pharmacy and at times I had to think really hard about what I was on the medications for. Was it something I had gone to the Doctor in regards to my body? Was it something that probably was for a side effect from a medication? My life was becoming a joke. Add to all of that, I had turned to emotional eating. That might not have been such a big deal if I was allowed to eat healthy foods (I love salads) but I was also on warfarin/Coumadin for a clotting disorder. So my list of what I could and could not eat was long for that. Then add in having IC, IBS, kidney stones, ulcers, rosacea and all my other diagnosis’.
Part of the problem with being told what to eat and what not to eat is that we were not created to avoid these things. We were created to use them. I sat down with my doctor one day and we went over the list of things that were on my “no eat” lists. Do you know I had about 5 things I could eat on that list but they were all limited to small amounts once a month. So what it came down to is that I was expected to live on water!
What does health mean to you? How much does your health mean to you? No truer words have been spoken that I have come to believe: You either pay for your health now with good choices or you will end up paying later for your bad choices. What do you want to do? I had to learn the hard way and was paying for my poor health choices at an early age. No more! What about you?
I have talked about before how I didn’t make the wisest choices growing up. As a matter of fact, I typically went against my gut feeling and did the exact opposite of whatever I should be doing. I know that most kids at some point start making their own choices, right or wrong because you have to learn somehow.
I haven’t made the right choices about a lot of things. At times it had to do with me being defiant and just wanting to be an adult making my own choices. Other times it was because I was so desperate to be approved of by others. One of those times was when I married my ex.
You see I had always made wrong choices in my parents eyes. When I got engaged, I think they were happy. I remember talking to my sister in law after I left my ex. She said something about how they all thought he was the answer for me and then they found out different. I knew though, before we got married that we should not be getting married.
I talked to others about backing out. I talked to my ex two weeks prior. I recall laying on the couch in the living room, crying because I knew it was a bad choice. His response was something along the lines of I would have to be the one to tell everyone because he and his parents and my parents had spent so much money on this wedding, it wouldn’t be fair to those people. After speaking with others, I ended up getting married to him. My gut said no, my head said maybe, my heart said I hope it works and my drunk self said to hell with it.
Not even a year later I went to my parents house. I had gone to a woman’s domestic abuse shelter. I had filled out the form. They accepted me into the program. They gave me a business card for an attorney who worked with woman from the shelter. I went there to tell them that I wanted to leave. I was told that it had not even been a year and I really needed to give it a chance. When the call came from the shelter and the attorney, I told them both I had changed my mind. I wanted my parents to be proud of me and if I left, I wasn’t going to have that.
I really tried to make things work. I am bipolar and I own that. I have been on many medications. I have been hospitalized. I have attempted suicide. I was a self mutilator. I was an check out of town with alcohol, sex and cigarettes. I had been with the same psychiatrist since 1999. She would change meds, she worked with me, she helped me get counseling and always tried to point in me the correct direction.
I reached out to support groups. I tried to get us both into marriage counseling, but he didn’t need help, it was me because I was mental. I started a blog writing about what was going on. It had become my only outlet. I didn’t feel as if I could be open or honest with those in my life. They didn’t think I was capable of making good choices or decisions and no matter what I did, I always felt wrong. One day a long time friend messaged me and asked me if I realized what I wrote about was abuse. Yes I did was my response.
She kept after me in subtle ways. She would message me after I would post. She would encourage me to seek out help. She wasn’t alone though, my psychiatrist knew and she encouraged me, in different ways. She suggested I get this book called, Why Does He Do That, Inside The Minds of Angry and Controlling Men by Lundy BancroftI did get it. I did read bits of it. It only confirmed what I knew from before we got married. It made me sad. It made me question my ability to make wise choices.
Funny to put that down. I was so certain I didn’t know how to make correct choices, I got married to make my parents and others happy and approve of me, even though I knew it was a bad choice. And here I was questioning my ability to make wise choices because I got married. I didn’t get married for me, I got married for others and I knew it was wrong. So me questioning myself, made me question if I should really even be considering leaving.
If you go back just a ways, I had told my ex I wanted a divorce. I asked him if it was possible for me to not pay for everything he expected me to pay for so that I could save to get a place to live. A hour later, he came upstairs with all of the bills in the house split telling me I would have to pay for half of them. I had just paid all of the monthly bills, he had just given me a check to put into our joint account (we had separate accounts and all the bills were paid from my account, he would approve them for the amounts I wrote them out for, then he would give me a check to deposit into the bank and then I could mail them out. Sometimes it resulted in me having to rewrite checks because he would refuse to pay late fees and others things. Those were my responsibility) to cover those bills. He let me know he had done a stop payment on the check until he received enough money from me to cover half the monthly bills. Every bill I had mailed out bounced that month. I had so many NSF charges and I also had to pay a fee for depositing the check and then him doing a stop payment on it.
I was mortified. I was lost. I was on disability and worked a few hours for him. I didn’t even make enough to cover half our monthly bills each month, let alone the other things he was no longer going to cover. I was responsible for the boys, their clothing, medical and the food the three of us ate. Some of that I was already responsible for, but when you don’t have a lot coming in to begin with, it can only stretch so far.
After two weeks of misery. I gave in. I begged for forgiveness. I told him I was wrong, I didn’t want a divorce, that I would do whatever it took to make it work.
Now fast forward again and here I am getting ready to leave. I had gone to the shelter and been approved because of a huge bruise on my stomach from a remote he threw. I had told two friends (they were married) and the only reason I told them was because I was using their basement to store some things for the boys when I left. I wrote letters to my parents, his parents and to my ex. It was the hardest thing I had to do, not saying anything to anyone.
However each time I had tried to talk to someone about this exact thing I was shut down. I was wrong. I was making a bad choice. I needed to try and make it work. I would be stuck with a bill that would take me over a year to recover from. I had to do this, by myself because at that point, everyone I tried to talk to, made me feel as if I didn’t know what I was doing.
My gut had been telling me for six years that I wasn’t supposed to be here. I was finally doing what I needed to do and I was leaving. I did leave and I did mail the letters out and left the one for my ex on the table in the kitchen. I didn’t know what was to come but I knew it would be its own battle.
The YWCA no longer had attorneys who were doing pro-bono work for them. I had to find my own attorney. I had parents on both sides who didn’t understand why I didn’t go to them for help. I had a brother who would not have liked the ultimatum I gave to my ex if it was him either (mind you I had tried for years so, yes it was an ultimatum). I had two boys who had no idea what was going on and me, broken, alone, afraid, scared and knowing I was making the right choice.
Now fast forward again to current time. The divorce took almost five years to complete. By the time the divorce was final, my legal bill was, well lets just say more than I have ever made in a lifetime. He did write a lot of it off and I was very thankful. My ex was supposed to sell the house and pay me a certain amount of money. It never happened. Recently we had to make a hard choice (if you can call 2015 recent) about our financial life.
I was tired. I was worn out from tying to make things work. We had done a lot of things. We lived off credit cards and my disability when Jack was out of work. We tried doing Dave Ramsey’s way (Financial Peace University). We did debt settlement. We tried many times, many ways and when we finally felt like things were going well, lawsuits started. We had been lied to by the debt settlement company and my world crumbled again. After speaking with my attorneys, we finally decided to file for bankruptcy.
You would think, it would have ended all the craziness, but it didn’t. We just had no idea where things were going to go because of it. My ex owed me money. My ex wasn’t paying me money. My ex’s money was considered an asset. It was one thing after another. Basically, here we are in 2017 and we still have an open bankruptcy on our report. Things we didn’t put on our bankruptcy, died and we still owed money on it. Roof leaks and even though we paid someone to repair it, he didn’t repair it and went out of business. The list goes on.
I was reflecting backwards. Had I not been so worried about other people. Had I been listening to that gut feeling. I was so focused on being loved and approved by everyone, I forgot that I was the most important one. I was so convinced by everyone’s disappointment and disapproval with what I did that I didn’t know how to make good choices.
My gut feeling, it hasn’t been wrong. I knew when I was doing wrong. I have come to a point in my life where I know that my choices won’t make everyone around me happy. It makes me sad that they feel they know my life better than I know my life. Yet, I am at a point where I know that my gut feeling, it isn’t gas, it isn’t bad Mexican food, it isn’t IBS or monthly cramping. It is a sign, a knowing, a foretelling of what will come if I pretend it isn’t there.
If I had not gotten married, I can’t say where my life would be at, but I can say I would not be in this exact predicament if I had listened to me and not wanted to make everyone else happy.
Do you ever have a gut feeling and dismiss it for fear of what others will think of you? I had a reality check this past week and it really opened my eyes. My gut it isn’t wrong. When it is pushing me to or from something, there is a reason! How about for you?
Last night I even picked some of the food off from it and ate it with my veggie burger! In THREE WEEKS!
I am a stay at home mom whose children are in school full time now. I felt like I lost my purpose. My husband, Jack works in a factory that doesn’t have room for growth or advancement. Neither of us really wanted me to go back to work full time. There are still opportunities to volunteer in school, because the kiddos are young we would need daycare for the summer and with autoimmune issues for Jack, Bella and myself there is a lot of time I am at home with children missing school. But we were not saving, we didn’t go on vacations, we were not buying food on a regular basis and we were in debt. So I knew I had to find a way to contribute to our household income. Then we found this amazing company and we were flooding our bodies with whole food nutrition. We were getting healthy and we decided we wanted to join the mission to help others get healthy, have fun 
doing it and offer a financial solution for others as well. Now we work the business together, we are working on getting out of debt and I am still able to stay home while contributing to our income. One of the best parts is for the first time in ten years, Jack and I were able to get away for a weekend to build our relationship and our business. Jack still works for the factory but we see a future and retirement with our business! The best part is we get to help others realize and achieve their dreams as well!
relationship, we made new friendships and we worked on our business.
you were on their team, they didn’t care if you just started, they wanted to talk to you, to embrace you, to make you a part of their family and I feel like I am home.” It truly overwhelmed me.
people for the first time in person and felt at ease. Within 10 minutes of being there I had hugged three people.
house, and to be able to care for those around me. I have said often I just want to be able to pay our bills and put food on the table but the truth is I do want more than that. I do have goals and they are not small ones.
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