Carol’s Self-Portrait

It’s been a remarkable journey and almost impossible to fully capture and express the changes I have experienced since adopting a life style of clean living and eating. Unless I’m talking to my coach I wonder if other people “get it”. Can I really describe how different I feel and capture the essence of my transformation? I’m going to start my story out as an artist’s first attempt at a self-portrait. I think it will be a better visual testimonial than trying to communicate the spirit of my transformation without a relatable example.

Before my journey with GT started I was looking for something, restless and uneasy, not entirely sure of what I wanted. It was as if I were looking through old closets that hadn’t been opened in years searching for clues about who I was and how I got to where I was emotionally, spiritually and physically. Possibly during that search I found an old self portrait that had been abandoned after many frustrated and failed attempts toward completion. The canvas definitely needed to be dusted off, the early attempts had some background and shadows filled in, but didn’t capture the essence of my full potential as a healthy happy human. I decided it was time to patiently pick up the brushes and paint tackle this one more time. If I took the time and had patience and love for myself I just might be able to render a painting that would capture all of me, my mind, body and spirit.

I think of my GT coach as one of the great master painters. She helps me develop each brush stroke with kindness and patience until I slowly become better and better with loving each part of me. So much has gone into the work we have done together. None of the time has been wasted. Unlike most of my life situations, with GT each step backward brought a clearer understanding of health. Each challenge brought growth. I’ve come to welcome new thinking and stretching my beliefs.

When I started GT my coach met me where I was at with how I ate and what I believed was health.  From there every week I learned more about what an amazing machine my body could be if given the right combination of food, rest, exercise and divine appreciation for myself and others. I’ve learned that there is so much more to health than food choices. I’ve changed the way I look at living by intentionally adding gratefulness, accountability, responsibility and love to my daily routine. It’s impossible to measure where I’ve had the biggest growth, most weeks it fluctuates between emotional, spiritual and physically improve well-being.

I’ve learned about the right combination of foods for a healthy metabolism. Now I have enough protein in my house to get through the week and even gracefully share my grass fed beef with family that really doesn’t care about how the cow ate. I happily spend more money on food than I do on cute shoes. This is a total shift in priorities. I journal my food and meditate and put quality time in to prepare my food each day so that I have the food I need when I need it. I’ve overcome ideas that seemed so impossible and are now second nature, like bringing my food with me to restaurants and letting people know that I eat a little differently. And maybe, some of them are interested in hearing more about my new style of healthy living.

One of the biggest challenges for me was exercise. I believed that I didn’t like exercise and fought it all the way to finally giving in and doing air benches and push-ups! I’ve made changes to how I view medicine. I was positive that I needed an over the counter medicine and for years continued to depend on the drug even though I knew it was hurting my health. I finally trusted that I would be ok without taking the drug daily to relieve symptoms that were most likely there because of the food I was eating. Just recently I stopped myself driven need for the drug. After that breakthrough I fully understood the power of detoxing. I know live headache free with no medication. The power elegant thinking and trust is what got me to that amazing realization.

Now I feel like I’m in kindergarten and can’t wait to get to junior high. I still have a lifetime of growth ahead of me, but I have a plan and a loving and patient coach to help me along the way. Prior to GT, I was restlessly searching for a better me, anxious about many of my habits that were grabbing ahold of me and winning in a life size game of tug of war. I had tried and tried to get to a healthier me and kept on hitting a dead end. Looking back at my dusty unfinished self-portrait I have a feeling that I found exactly what I was looking for when I found GT. I was looking for a new healthier, happier and joyous me. I just needed some help getting every piece of me captured and transformed so that when the picture was done it would fully portray the best me possible. I hope that my “new portrait “will be around for generations to come. My true self and spirit will sparkle through my eyes, my smile will tell the story of my emotional health and my physical health will shine through my confidence and love of myself and my smaller, but wonderfully curvy hips.

That’s my amazing and miraculous transformation story!!

Carol D, Chicago