Yes or No

 Hello Fit Fam,

    Welcome to the wonderfully random but maybe interesting thoughts of a stay at home fitness professional mom! That is my self proclaimed title!

    In today's blog post I want to dive into a topic that is a little different from my fitness/stay at home mom life and talk about a book I am reading that I have found to be extremely eye opening and a little bit challenging to me. Long story short I have been attempting to do the 75Hard Challenge (thank you Andy) with some success but also a lot of failure! This has led me to start reading which I NEVER do. That is probably why if you are reading my website or my blog posts you have already found a ton of grammatical errors. I accept my faults and live with them. That is beside the point of todays blog post. What I wanted to talk about is saying yes and saying no. 

    I recently had a big life change about 7 months ago where I had to say yes to an amazing opportunity but at the same time say no to a life I had known for about 5 years. I was working full time when my daughter was born and was given the opportunity to stay home for 3 months on maternity leave, which I realize a lot of people are not given in America. Some other countries value time with their children and ofter up to a year of maternity/paternity leave but it seems to not be the focal point for most American companies. This time was so amazing and precious and changed me in so many ways. Honestly it is probably why I am where I am today.

    As I got ready to return to work I was faced with leaving my daughter and having to rely on others to take care of her. This is the norm for a working parent. I always knew I would return to working full time but it definitely challenged me and brought tears to my eyes knowing every day I would have to leave my daughter with someone else and go to work. I was going to be missing the small moments. Not the big, first laugh, first steps, first words moments, but the small everyday moments that make you cherish your children even more. The moments where they simply put their hand on yours. The moments when they make a random noise that they have made a million times but somehow is still just as cute as the first time they did it. Those are the moments I was going to miss the most. 

    After returning to work for no more than 2 months, I was doing well. I was happy to be back around adults, actually getting dressed instead of staying in my pajamas, and having adult conversations. Also sometimes just getting out of the house can be life changing! But my husband presented me with an interesting opportunity for our family. He wanted to pursue travel nursing which meant 1) We would have to move from out home of 5 years 2) I had to quit my job of 5 years 3) I would be staying home with our daughter as a full time stay at home parent. 

    I was presented with 3 yes and no options. 1) Say no to our our house, our friends, and our lives that we had built over the last 5 years. 2) Say no to working my full time job, which sucked and I miss it every day. 3) Say yes to a brand new job that I had never done before and honestly am still figuring out every day! It turned out to be one of the best decisions I have ever made and don't regret it for a second but it still had been a roller coaster of emotions and challenges all because I said yes and a couple noes. 

    So why am I saying all this. In my most recent read, "Let's All Be Brave" by Annie Downs, I came across a chapter called "Say No". It talks about having to say no to things in life and what doors that can open up. The proceeding chapter talks about saying yes and what doors that can open up in your life as well. It's funny but she made a point about when you say no, which we all need to learn to do more in life, we are also saying yes to something else. And when we say yes we are ultimately saying no to countless other options. 

Imagine you are on a path that divides into to paths. If you chose to go right you are saying no to go going left. And if you chose to go left you are saying no to going right. But inversely if you say no to going right you are saying yes to going left and if you say no to going left you are saying yes to going right. I know that sounds stupid but think about it in your daily life. How many times do you chose something day to day that requires you to say yes or no to a choice. What things are you ultimately saying yes to or no to?

    I want to leave you with this passage that really made me stop go "Whoa!". "A lot of courageous noes make for some beautifully brave yeses. And I guess we never know which ones come first until we are standing at a crossroads right? It may be easier to determine the yes route, knowing it means saying no. Or maybe it is the no you are sure of, so that tells you where to say yes." ~ Annie Downs page 99 of Let's All Be Brave

    So today think about your decisions and figure out when to say yes and when to say no. Be confident that saying yes or no will lead you down the correct path. When faced with a crossroads don't shutdown or be afraid, instead be brave. Be brave that a yes or even a no is the right choice for you.

~ Stay Calm and Exercise On ~