Feeling Overwhelmed With Life

                      Anxiety happens when you think you have to figure out everything at once.
                                             Breathe. You are strong enough, you got this.
                                                             Take it day by day.

Do you feel overwhelmed?
Do you feel physically exhausted?
Do you feel mentally drained?
Are your relationships not working right now?
Are you are workaholic?

I talk to a lot of people that are feeling overwhelmed in today's world.

In order to bring some more balance into our life we first have to acknowledge that balance is important to us.

Then we have to take the risk of changing our life, if we want to feel better.
We can't keep on doing the same thing day in and day out, and expect change to happen by itself.
We have to make the changes that we want in our life.

WE have to take a good look at ourselves and be totally honest where we are and then set some realistic goals.

We must have goals in evert area of our lives.

Business/Career
Finances
Relationships/Friendships/ Family
Health/Wellbeing
Personal Development
Spirituality

Then we have to deal with any area that are taking too much energy and put them in perspective, align them, so we have energy available for all areas.


                                          Life has many ways of testing a person's will,
                                               either by having nothing happen at all
                                              or by having everything happen at once.

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Make Your Dreams Happen!

                                             A dream doesn't become reality through magic.
                                              It takes sweat, determination and hard work.

I love to read books and articles about personal development and I also love to listen to podcasts and watch videos on YouTube on the same subject.

But we can't just be listeners and readers. We eventually have to become doers. We actually have to apply what we have learned. In other words, we have to go to work.

We must take action. It doesn't matter how much we know if we don't put it to good use. We have to make sure that we got a game-plan to go with our wishes and dreams, otherwise they will always be wishes and dreams.


                                          Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try. 


Why should we try?
Why not? What else are you going to do with your life?

Why me?
Why not you? Some people have done the most incredible things with a limited start.

Why now?
Why not now? Why postpone your great future any longer? Get going today. Make a new effort.


It's time to apply all that we have learned. We must go to work. Set goals. Embark on the journey that will lead us to our vision for our life. We must follow a well-defined plan.

We  must enjoy our life as we seek to improve it. Seek knowledge, so that our value to ourselves and others will increase.

Discipline time, which is in limited amount. Don't waste our time on things/people that are not in alignment of where we want to go in life.


                                      There is no telling how many miles you will have to run
                                                            while chasing your dream.


Examine associations. We become like the people that we spend most of our time with. Who are we spending a lot of time with? And is that OK?

Stop doing what is easy. Do what actually will bring the achievement that we seek. Commit ourselves to ourselves and to do the work that it will actually take to achieve our dream for our life. Never accept less than we can be.


                                       If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.


Think of two actions that you have been putting off. Two things you need to do but you keep putting them off.

If you would take action on these two things right now it would immediately change the quality of your life.
What are those two actions?

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You Can't Fix Yourself By Breaking Someone Else

                                               It's a lot easier to hurt others with our pain, 
                                                    than to deal and sit in our own pain. 
                                        That's why we hurt others with words and actions. 
                                                             Or we hurt ourselves.
                                                                  - Brene Brown

The majority of people do not intend to hurt or harm others.
However, many do cause harm, not because if their intention, but because they are too stuck in their own pain and suffering to consider the needs of others.
Hurt people will hurt others.

These people are not in a state of love.
They cannot love themselves and others. In others words, they cannot give away what they don't have.


                                           "People who love themselves, don't hurt other people.
                                                           The more we hate ourselves,
                                                     the more we want others to suffer."
                                                                      - Dan Pearce


Some people can't love us.
And it's not because we are unlovable. It's because these people's capacity to love is impaired. Often these people are so scared to get hurt that they are constantly protecting themselves from further hurt by avoidance, neglect, rejection or trying to hurt others before they can hurt them.

I have learned that some people we just have to learn to love from a distance.
It doesn't mean that we don't love them but they are so unhealthy to be around and their lives are so filled with drama, and maybe addiction that the only thing we can do is to let them go and love them from far away.
     

                                                 "Our prime purpose in this life is to help others.
                                             And if you can't help others, at least don't hurt them."
                                                                       - Dalai Lama
      

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Your Mountain Is Waiting - Melanie's Story

                                                           Resolve says, "I will."
                                      The man says, "I will climb that mountain.
                   They told me it is too high, too far, too steep, to rocky and too difficult.
                                             But it's my mountain. I will climb it.
                  You will see me soon waving from the top or dead on the side from trying."
                                                                - Jim Rohn

Melanie Michealchuk conquered her mountain!!!
Her mountain was Kilimanjaro. A dormant volcano in Tanzania. It's the highest mountain in Africa with a summit about 4900 meters or 16,000 ft. from it's base.
On July 11 of this year, Melanie reached the summit.

So who is Melanie and why did she want to conquer this mountain?
I first me Melanie at a Conroe Chamber networking breakfast in Conroe, TX, in December of last year. Melanie is a fitness/health coach working for Curves both in Conroe, TX and Huntsville, TX. And since I am a Life Coach and work a lot with the health and wellbeing of people Melanie, and I connected right away.

We later met for coffee and in February I headed up to see Melanie at Curves in Conroe and I had a BioAge test done. If you don't know what it is, here is a BLOG about the one Melanie did on me.
http://karinglannstam.blogspot.com/2019/02/your-body-is-reflection-of-your.html

While Melanie and I got to know each a little more she shared with me about a dream that she had had since her early twenties. She wanted to hike up to the summit of Kilimanjaro. In her twenties she had read some article about a woman setting a big goal and climbing this mountain and it struck a chord with Melanie and she could never really get it out of her head. But as for many of us the dreams that we have in our early life, sometimes gets to be put on the backburner because we get a career going, get married, have kids. Life happens and we push that goal away and say to ourselves that someday I will do that.

Melanie and her husband are both Canadians, from Edmonton and they have two children, both boys. In 2005 they moved to The US because of a transfer that her husband got. He is working in the oil business.

Melanie tried some different jobs here in the Houston area. She has been in the printing business. She taught water aerobics, taught pre-school and she told me that she dabbled in real estate for a while but didn't feel like any of those jobs was something that did fit her.

At this time challenges were also happening in her marriage. She and her husband Dan, were drifting apart and this pushed Melanie into depression and she gained 60 pounds during a 6 year period. She told me that she was self-soothing instead of dealing with her relationship problems with her husband. Neither Melanie nor he husband wanted to address the disconnection they were experiencing in their marriage.

Then something happened. Her husband started a course with Landmark Worldwide. This company is a personal and professional growth, training and development company, focusing on people achieving success, fulfillment and greatness.

After her husband finished the course Melanie saw big changes in him and she decided to check it out herself. So she too joined Landmark Worldwide for a long weekend workshop. After completing this course Melanie noticed great growth in herself and she decided that she wanted to work with empowering and inspiring other people. Both Melanie and her husband took charge of their lives. They decided that they needed to change and they both took action to do so and today they are having an amazing marriage again and Melanie has lost all the weight that she gained.

In December of 2017 an ad for Curves showed up on Melanie's radar and she got an interview with them and at that interview she was offered the job. She is still with Curves and she loves her job. On a daily base she gets to help people taking their life to a new level. Becoming healthier and stronger and more empowered.

Last year this dream of hiking up to the summit of Kilimanjaro was surfacing again for Melanie and she made a decision that it was time to accomplishing this goal that she had been thinking about for over 25 years.

She knew what she wanted. And she had a very strong why she wanted to do it. Having a strong reason for wanting something will allow you to get through obstacles, setbacks and distraction on the road to reaching your goal.

Melanie created a game-plan and set a deadline of one year to accomplish this goal. Then she took action on a daily base. She had to prepare physically by hiking, biking, running and swimming. She also had to save money, because it would take money to accomplish that dream. She had to find a company and a guide that she could hire to assist her in reaching the summit. She also had to prepare mentally and emotionally, because our mind is going to tell us on a daily base that we can't accomplish our goals.

Melanie worked hard on herself and her goal and I am so excited that she accomplished her dream on July 11, when she stood waving at the top of her mountain.

Did she have obstacles on her way to reaching the summit of Kilimanjaro? Of course she did. Many of them. Originally she was going to do this trip with 2 other friends, but they backed out and she had to go at it alone. A wall of doubt got the best of her a couple of days before it was time to leave and on her way to the airport here in Houston she almost turned around. She didn't have the right shots and had to get some at the last minute. They lost her luggage with her hiking shoes and her backpack, but she got it back. Yes, it's never going to be easy but I know she forgot all about her obstacles and setbacks when she stood at the summit waving at the world.

Melanie did not do it alone. She had many people that helped her accomplish her dream. She credits Landmark Worldwide and Curves for a lot of her success.

She had an amazing guide by the name of Elly Anase with Kili Dreamers, here is their link
https://www.kilidreamers.com/?fbclid=IwAR0jK-zvT3QqvR3R3DlkIS6UUTWvbB9-I_6xAfmg0rl7U_6Jq8tZk1dEnVs

and she could not have done it without his expertise, help and encouragement.
And of course her whole family and friends were also cheering her on to reach the summit

Amazing job Melanie!!! You did it!!!

What Is Your Mountain?

                                      Written by Karin Glannstam - Life Coach & Author
                                                            www.karinglannstam.com

I Don't Know, Right Now!

                                                    Everything will work out in the end.
                                                           You don't need to know how.
                                                      You just have to trust that it will

Sometimes we just don't  know how something is going to turn out before we start. And sometimes when we are in the middle of something, we don't know either how it will work out. We simply have to believe that it will.

We can plan all we want but sometimes we can't plan everything and we just have to say.....I don't know what to do next and I am not sure how this will turn out. I doesn't mean that you should stop what you are doing but you have to get comfortable in not knowing exactly what to do and say "I am OK, with not knowing right now."

Yes, of course it's nice to know everything in advance, but a lot of times that isn't possible. Sometimes we have to just let go and say.....I simply don't know, right now.

Just because you don't know how every single step of your journey is going to unfold, that shouldn't stop you from getting started. All you need to do is to get clear on what you want and then take the first step.

All you need to do is to put one foot in front of the other and keep taking the logical next step toward your goal. And trust that answers and resources you seek will appear.


                                                                Use what you know.
                                                  Don't worry about what you don't know.

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Pathways To Health

                                                        "Take care of your body.
                                               It's the only place you have to live."
                                                                - Jim Rohn

Your health and wellbeing is tied to your success in life. It's going to be hard to perform well if you are not properly taking care of yourself.
When you are taking excellent care of yourself you will be more productive, creative and you will have more energy.

I believe that most of us have been there at some point in our life, where we have been neglecting our health. It's easy to push our exercise to the following day when we are running out of time in our busy schedule. But we must remember that pursuing our dream will require all the energy that we have, so staying in shape should be a priority. Your dream is worth it.

Make sure that you find an exercise that you enjoy doing, or chances are that you won't do it. Sometimes it might be great to switch things up a little so that you won't get bored with the routine. Find a workout partner is another great way to hold yourself accountable or hire a personal trained that will be waiting for you at the gym.

Make sure that you schedule time to exercise on a daily base, even if it's only for a short walk. Take the elevator instead of the stairs. Park far away in the parking lot when you are going to the store. Schedule some stretching exercises for 5 minutes every hour, if you are sitting down a lot during the day.

Make smart food choices that will give you a lot of energy. Spend a little more time in the kitchen., cooking your own meals. Eating out a lot isn't great for your health and wellbeing. Designate one day a week to be in the kitchen and cook a lot of food that you can freeze and later warm up quickly for a healthy meal. Health is not very complicated. Make it simple and fun. Get the whole family involved.

Make time for mental health. Make sure that you allow 7-9 hours for sleep and also that you have some downtime before you go to bed to allow your brain shut to shut down and get it ready to relax and prepared for bed.
Stay away from using electronics 1-2 hours before you go to bed. Don't bring your cellphone to bed with you. Create a space to relax in and turn down the lights to allow your body and your mind to calm down.

Limit stress. What can you give up? Maybe it's time to reassess your priorities? You don't have to help everyone and especially not at the expense of your own health and wellbeing.
Yoga, meditation, soft music, hot bath or reading are all excellent ways to relax and to limit stress.

Spending time with friends and family is a great way of feeling connected, reducing stress and increasing your health and wellbeing. Healthy relationships will make you feel like you can conquer the world.


Bottom line is.... that you must love yourself enough to live a healthy lifestyle.

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