No matter who you are or what you do, if you are a human with a functional brain and bodily system, you experience stress. From CEO’s to scientists to stay-at-home moms to bus drivers, stress affects us all. Because of this universally shared experience, we are bombarded with advice articles on “best ways to eliminate stress,” “how to de-stress,” and there are so many products sold that promise to help make you melt or “bust” the stress out of your life.

Over the last few years, SAD, otherwise known as Seasonal Affective Disorder, has gained recognition and been the butt of many a meme joke on social media— but one of those jokes that everyone painfully relates to… it me. While nothing will completely take away those feelings magically, there ARE a lot of factors we can manage in order to support our brains and bodies during this (literally) dark time in our lives when feeling seasonal depression.

…But the other day as I walked out of my therapist’s office onto a sunshine-doused sidewalk with spring blossoms scattered about, I closed my eyes and stood there for a moment; overwhelmed, not only by my gratitude to my situation that allows me to see a therapist regularly again, but also the fact that I started on this journey some 5 years ago. I was then reminded that May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and it finally felt like the right time to talk more in depth about my process with therapy over the past few years and why I think there is not a single person on this earth that can’t benefit from it in spades.

The concept of confidence was demonstrated and told to me in so many different ways while growing up. Particularly in my formative years, while struggling to transition out of an athletic career that was all I had known my whole life, knowing who I was outside of the bravado of competitive skating was a completely disruptive experience. All I desperately wanted was to feel confident and comfortable in my own skin, so I started chasing after what I had been told what confidence truly meant.

After reflecting on what helps root my self-confidence now, I narrowed it down to these 5 specific habits that I've established over the years to help me gain genuine self-confidence-- and I hope these help you!

I always love the concept of taking stock of the progressions that have happened in a given period of time in order to appreciate and remind myself of the bigger picture, but I didn't think I wanted to write a 2017 recap post until yesterday. I did little recaps the past two years (2016, 2015), but this year I want to do a little bit of a different recap than just taking this past year into stock. I want to remind you that it is a New Year, yes, but you are the same amazing you you've been in all the years past-- and that is the same person entering 2018.

This is not just a post about paying gratitude and wishing everyone a happy Thanksgiving-- while I will do that here as well, the series of events that happened over the past 36 hours made me think about gratitude in a deeper way. 

The word, "gratitude," is thrown around so often nowadays in this age during which people are realizing more and more how integral our mental health + mindset is to our quality of life. But the concept of what it means to live with gratitude and having an active practice of gratitude tends to get a little muddled up along the way. And sometimes the way we describe it can feel...

Going to work, eating dinner, flopping in bed with some Netflix going, wake up, repeat; it's a vicious and mindless cycle that can make it feel like you never have time for yourself to just take a breath. I know, because I've been there. I've grown to understand the enormous impact a solid nightly routine and wind-down can have on your stress and overall health...

Well. Just did two things I've never done before. I posted a video of myself deadlifting yesterday on my Instagram Stories, and then I just posted a full-body mirror selfie on Instagram for the purposes of this message. Recently I asked one of my old co-workers from Equinox and trusted fellow trainer to train me and program for me. This may come as a surprise or even might make some of you confused-- after all, I'm a trainer, so why on earth would I need someone to train me?

I'm sharing this with you all today because I want to dispel the negative stigma around asking for help. 

Two primary reasons: Firstly, I am busier and more stressed than I've ever been, leaving me very little brain + energy left to be a coach to myself. My second reason is that

Of all things, a tweet about the recent Bachelor finale got me thinking about how we as a society regard the display of emotions. During the finale, the bachelor had to break up with one girl before he went onto propose to another, naturally (lolz), so this girl gets her heart broken on national television; which, is feasibly quite a mortifying and emotional event.

Then former contestant of the show applauded the runner-up on Twitter as "the strongest bachelorette I've ever seen. She didn't fall to pieces after all that. Bravo." 

...Wait. So if she...

We all fail. I'm not talking about the inevitable life failures that happen. I'm talking about the fact that we tell ourselves that we fail, all the time. And that is the one way we sabotage our contentment in life.

Don't think you do this? Sounds ludicrous, right-- why would you tell yourself you fail, all the time? Have you guys thought any of these things, even just this morning?

It's that time of the year again! Blue Monday has come and gone, and research shows that by the third week of January, more than 50% of New Years Resolutions will have faded away. It's understandable- it's cold and drearier out than usual, that initial boost of motivation for your New Year goals have faded and your willpower is struggling. 

With this cold I'm currently on the struggle bus with not helping things, I'm right there with ya.

I was going to write a post on tactics on beating those unmotivated feelings, but then I realized I've already written a lot of posts about getting your mojo back-- so today, I've rounded up some of my favorite motivational blog posts to help you get back into your groove! I'm dividing things up into different categories, so you can find what you're most in need of now or some posts to bookmark for later. Without further ado, here we go!

Before you start jumping down the rabbit hole of 0 to 60mph New Years resolutions, a juice cleanse/detox, or any type of “health reset” I want you to pause for a moment.

If you're in need of some bigger changes with your health that you've been scared or reluctant to start, ask yourself these 4 questions to help you roadmap your way to lasting success. But if you're generally pleased with where you are and just have a couple habits you'd like to improve upon or if you just want to start one little step at a time, I've got 8 easy hacks to kickstart your health.

Happy Wellness Wednesday!

Last week, I shared a bit of my personal experience on why I was hesitant to begin practicing meditation, and how I reluctantly started to meditate. This week, I want to talk about the factual reasons why I commit myself to this practice and hopefully inspire you to think about how it can benefit you and your life too...

If you've been following me for awhile, you are well aware of how important the practice of gratitude is to me. I firmly believe that it is crucial to everyday happiness-- and the physical and mental benefits of practicing gratitude have long been backed by science.

As I mentioned yesterday...

We live in a world of non-stop stimulus. Alerts from texts, emails, tweets, snaps, 'grams, and that's all just from our smartphones. Electronic screen time takes up most everyone's days in such a massive way that most of us don't want to really acknowledge. Because, face it, it's depressing that we spend more time with our...

My original body judgment/shaming post is still one of the most popular hits on my blog. I didn't think I needed a follow-up piece to it, because I had shared the majority of how I felt about it in that post. But more things happen, and unfortunate problems like these in our society don't just tend to disappear altogether. So, rather than assuming that things will change, I want to help CHAMPION this change. Problems don't change until we change them...

I write a lot about happiness. And health, and balance. 

The other day, my friend, Mary Catherine of Better Ice Creamed, posted this quote by Hugh MacKay, author of The Good Life: 

"I actually attack the concept of happiness. The idea that—I don’t mind people being happy—but the idea that everything we do is part of the pursuit of happiness seems to me a really dangerous idea...

We have a serious problem on our hands. This happens incessantly around me, particularly amongst New Yorkers, and I am certainly guilty of falling into the trap sometimes. But the more I ruminate about why we do it, the further I am actively distancing myself from this. 

We love to play the victim. Millennials especially love to use exhaustion and 4 hours of sleep as a badge of honor of how...