I would LOVE to hear what other people think of women over the age of 20 wearing yoga pants after finding out about this Rhode Island man’s rant. The town of Barrington has a yoga pant parade planned as a huge slap in the face to this narrow-minded individual, and to that, I say BRAVO!
Click on the link below to read more about the backlash in the community following Alan Sorrentino’s letter:
‘Yoga pants parade’ planned after man’s letter to the editor
I purchased a Galaxy Note 7 in August because my HTC One was in its final days, and I had to replace it. While at the kiosk looking at phones, I was persuaded by the salesman to purchase a Note 7 because he believed it was the very best phone available, and that it would best handle my social media and business requirements nicely. Upon his suggestion, I ordered a Galaxy Note 7, which I received on August 12th.
Though the Note 7 was larger than any other cell phone I had ever had, it was love at first sight for me. The operating system, the screen size, the slim profile, the stylus functions, and all the other fun features made my heart sing. And that iris scanner? Pure genius. I happily and quickly got to know my Note 7, equipped it with a cool case and screen protector, and babied it, wiping it down daily with a soft cloth. It was like finding the perfect man.
I then got an alarming email from Samsung on September 2nd, informing me that 35 Note 7 units worldwide had either caught on fire or exploded. What…? Oh no, I guess it was too good to be true, having a perfect, awesome phone. Instead of a great phone, my Note 7 was being accused of being the incredible exploding phone.
I continued to get emails, then texts, informing me that my phone was an explosive device and was putting me and everyone in my path in danger. I finally gave in and turned in my beloved Note 7 on September 15th for a Galaxy S7 Edge. What is so infuriating is that mere days after transferring everything over from the Note 7 to the S7 Edge, I got a text (on the new S7 Edge) that Samsung was issuing replacement Note 7’s in the coming weeks. Oh yes, gotta love Murphy’s Law.
I really like the S7 Edge. But I ADORED the Note 7. It was just like the perfect man. Perfect in every way. And perhaps just a little too hot! Even the replacement Note 7’s are still catching on fire:
Now that I have been in the 50 zone for a few months, I can honestly say that I actually like it! Here are a few reasons why I am completely comfortable with being 50 years old…
* I still get carded. In fact, I have been asked for ID when purchasing alcohol more frequently now than a year ago. And it’s not because I am purchasing booze with more frequency either. I have even gotten carded while with younger friends who did NOT get carded. It’s bizarre and very cool.
* I can still rock an outfit and not only be a head-turner, but a neck-BREAKER. Gotta have goals!
* I can take care of myself and don’t panic if I am faced with a challenge. However, I am completely grateful when someone comes to my aid or shows concern for my welfare. I am so blessed to have wonderful, true friends who have my back as much as I have theirs!
* I can usually discern very quickly which opportunities and situations are legit and which ones are a waste of my time. With age comes wisdom, and my gut instinct has proven consistently to be a foolproof guardian.
* I don’t wait for things to happen…I MAKE them happen. When I was younger, I had a tendency to put more faith in others coming through for me. Over the past few years, I have adopted the attitude that I can only depend on myself, so I have pushed myself to become a solo mover and shaker. It’s pretty tough navigating alone, but at least I trust the person at the helm!
* I trust that time will always makes things unfold organically. This makes struggling through difficult times much more manageable. I know that situations will always come to a resolution eventually. Whenever I have any doubt, I think of what my grandmother used to tell my mom and her siblings when times were rough: “Don’t worry, after bad comes good.” What a wise woman.
* I no longer care if someone has a problem with me sporting a miniskirt, a bikini, or a curve-hugging dress. My thought is, I still have it, and I have every intention of flaunting it. Sorry if that offends some people, but the folks who have a problem with such attire can’t take away my resolve to celebrate what I have worked so hard to maintain.
* I realize that life isn’t over just because I hit a certain chronological marker. If anything, I am just getting started!
As I was speaking with one of my patients earlier today, I was struck by the fact that she said she had no time to do anything, and that her work schedule was so stacked that she felt like she was unraveling. I suggested that she take a moment at some point in her day to just sit still and BREATHE, without any task or agenda. Her reply? “Oh, I don’t even have time for that!”
It seemed unreasonable to me that this woman wouldn’t even take a few SECONDS for herself just to breathe, take momentary break from the maddening rush of her life, and just be in the moment. It’s not that people can’t stop and breathe, they WON’T, because they have been led to believe that remaining on the hamster wheel of life all the time is a necessary sacrifice for all the success they hope to achieve. The sad truth is that those brief moments of stillness enable the spirit to reset and restore balance to mind and body as well.
If you are like my patient, you are doing yourself a major disservice by constantly moving and not allowing yourself to rest, even for a few seconds. Even the most creative and driven people in the world find time to enjoy their surroundings, pause in the midst of chaos, and realign with themselves. All you will do if you insist on going full guns all the time, without a moment to rest, is burn out your adrenal glands, damage your immune system, and set the tone for depression and anxiety.
For only a few seconds a day, you can enjoy the gift of being in the moment. What’s even better is that you can indulge in such moments throughout the day, between projects, meetings and chores. You can even do it upon waking, right before you start the ignition in your car, while standing in line at the grocery store, or just about anywhere.
We can often be our own worst enemies, laying sabotage upon our own best efforts. The basis of such subterfuge is our own fear-based collection of thoughts, and can be more damaging than any efforts made by others to trip us up. What’s the solution? Banish your fears!
Before you allow that monstrous pull of trepidation pull you into the muck, get into the habit of replacing every single negative and self-defeating thought you have with a positive, hope-filled one.
Yes, every single one.
Perhaps you are doubting your ability to complete a massive work project, and you find yourself grappling with the feeling that you won’t be able to complete it in time, or that you will do a shoddy job because you feel rushed. Instead of feeding that insecurity, tell yourself:
“I CAN do this. I WILL do this.”
Do this repeatedly until it begins to sink in. Allow your positive thoughts to take up space in your mind, so much so that they push out the negativity.
The last thing you should ever do is to knock yourself down. Someone who is bound and determined to succeed quickly learns how to push away negativity from haters, and never allows a bad day to destroy the success plan which is in place. Successful people have a can-do, will-do attitude which has very little to do with overall intelligence, talent, or opportunity.
So stop beating yourself up, push away the haters, and go for your goals!
I freely admit that I chuckle to myself whenever I hear people say that they wish they had the discipline to work out on a consistent basis. It’s not that I am insensitive to the rigors of busy schedules, because I spend my days running from place to place, multitasking and barreling through tons of tasks, errands and responsibilities. But I set aside about an hour per day, six days per week, to go to the gym, and I train HARD and HEAVY every time. In recent months, I have also managed to fit in two aerial hoop classes each week. The main reason why I am so consistent about exercising consistently is that it is a priority, as important as brushing my teeth and showering on a daily basis. As a matter of fact, I look forward to my gym sessions as a way to begin each day, which is why Sunday, my rest day, is a bit rough for me and throws me off my usual daily pattern of waking up and heading straight to the gym.
Perhaps you are one of those people who believes that there isn’t time to work out, and you continue to allow your schedule to annihilate any chance of working out. The thing is, if you actually made working out a MUST instead of something to fit into your schedule as it allowed, you would find a way to get your butt to the gym and follow a plan. I have definitely noticed that people who want to reach certain fitness goals are much more successful in reaching them when they follow a specific regimen which provides guidance and structure. Making promises to yourself like, “I will go to the gym on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 6 am to 7:30 am”, or “I will drive straight to the gym after work every day” can be a great start to adding discipline and consistency, but you need to follow through and hold yourself accountable.
I am not kidding when I say that you need to put your workouts into your schedule! Enter your workouts on your iPhone or your Google calendar so that you have the time blocked out in your schedule. Don’t allow other things to interfere with the time you have allotted for exercise either, because when you do that, you reinforce the idea that exercise is not that important and can be pushed off. Those of us who are committed to a fitness way of life don’t allow life’s little hiccups to interfere with our gym time. It’s that simple.
One day last week, as I was walking from my car to the office, I passed by two construction workers who were standing on the sidewalk. As I walked by them, one of the workers remarked, “I hope I don’t sound inappropriate, but you walking by us just made my day.” I turned back, smiled and said thank you, to which he tipped his construction hat and smiled. I then resumed my walk to the office. That was it. No horrid cat calls, no wolf whistles, simply a nice compliment without any creepy vibes.
My general experience is that men who take the time to share comments with me out in public tend to be the nicest and most respectful men. They just deliver a compliment, without going into an awkward space by either trying to ask me out, or by making inappropriate comments or sounds. They seem to understand that while women enjoy being complimented, they do NOT like being objectified or hit on.
At the other extreme are guys who use social media platforms to display their tackiest and most disrespectful behavior. I can’t even count how many ridiculous direct messages I have received through Facebook and Instagram over the years, but there have been a lot, and the accounts have all been blocked. Sometimes it starts out with a nice comment, like “you are so beautiful”, but then morphs into “hey baby u so sexxxi I wanna f*** u”, quickly earning that individual a BLOCK. What I’d like to know is how many women are out there who actually respond in a positive fashion to this kind of talk? Are there women out there who are insecure enough to encourage this type of exchange?
Seriously, guys, if you find a woman beautiful or hot, and you don’t know her, please don’t be gross. We ladies truly don’t like it. All you are doing is giving your gender a bad rap. If you can’t keep it clean, then you should keep your words to yourself.
The last few weeks have been NUTS. I am talking about day after day of so many shifts in my schedule and demands on my time, that I am torn in many different directions, and cannot focus on a darned thing. When this kind of chaos ensues, I begin to lose items, certain basic vocabulary terms escape me, and I feel like I am rushing by everything and everyone, like a bullet train zooming through a bustling cityscape.
For the life of me, I can’t find a gray tank top which I had recently purchased and put…somewhere. I honestly can’t remember where. This isn’t like me, because I am VERY organized, to the point of having all of my clothing organized by color, sleeve length, etc. So why can’t I find that gray top?
I literally run around in my bedroom, grabbing for clothes, rushing, trying to keep up with the stressful demands of being in so many places all the time. It’s starting to get old. Forget about having time to read a book, or watch a TV show, because by the time the dust settles from the crazy days I have been flying through, the notion of blissful sleep is so seductive that I don’t want to do anything else.
What keeps me from unraveling is the consistency I demand with my eating habits and my workouts. I am not joking about this. Despite the insane schedule I have been juggling lately, I still weight train six mornings each week. I attend lyra class one to two evenings during the week. My meals consist of clean foods like chicken breast, salmon, tilapia, green beans, asparagus, brown rice, quinoa, avocado, almonds, oats, and Greek yogurt. I have been drinking plenty of alkaline water. I have also been consistent about consuming MitoXcell every morning (I LOVE this supplement and intend to post more about it when I get a chance to breathe!), and I also take my regular supplements (like turmeric, CoQ10, folic acid, etc.) daily. My energy levels have been decent, and my mood has been generally great, with only a couple of stark exceptions.
There are two days next week which I have designated as clean up and organization days, and I desperately need them. During those days, I will perform the deep cleaning throughout most of the house which the housekeeper always neglects, I will reorganize cabinets and drawers, clean up the garage and patio, and find that gray top!
One of the reasons why people tend to look forward to the weekend so much, besides being away from work, is the ritualistic imbibing of alcohol and consumption of rich foods which many tend to engage in. I have clients who will follow a sensible and healthy meal plan during the week, only to abandon all self-control, put on party hats and eat and drink during the entire weekend.
I will explain to you why this practice is a sure way to keep you from attaining your fitness goals. When you drink large amounts of alcohol, say 3 drinks or more, your body gets a sudden influx of alcohol which puts your body’s metabolism of nutrients to a grinding halt. Why? Because the body cannot store alcohol and must use it immediately as a fuel source. What happens with nutrients is that they are converted to fat and then stored in fat tissue for later use, so alcohol essentially prevents the body from utilizing fat. High consumption of alcohol also impairs the cerebral function (specifically the prefrontal cortex), flattening inhibitions and increasing the appetite. That is why you will often crave greasy foods when you drink, because the body turns to rich foods to replenish nutrients. The combination of increased appetite and behavioral changes are enough to get you to eat a calorie laden, fatty meal which is then stored as fat.
I enjoy the occasional cocktail and as a result will never tell people to avoid drinking altogether. However, I have several recommendations which will minimize the fat deposition which alcohol consumption triggers.
1. Always eat a meal with PROTEIN, FIBER and HEALTHY FAT before you begin drinking to offset the surge in blood sugar which occurs with alcohol consumption and to slow the absorption of alcohol once it is introduced to the gut.
2. Drink two glasses of water for every drink of alcohol. Alcohol is a diuretic, meaning that it will dry you out. Because of this, it is important to maintain a high level of hydration to offset the diuretic effect.
3. Limit consumption to 1 or 2 drinks in an evening. This will keep calorie consumption down.
If you’re like most people these days, you barely have a moment to catch your breath as you power through your day. You may be powering through meetings, working feverishly on projects, taking your kids to their activities, making dinner, etcetera, without pausing to wonder WHY you are doing all of those things. You just DO them, because you’re supposed to, right? You probably also tend to expect everything to run smoothly, which of course may topple over at any given time.
The thing is, if you never stop to wonder why those little glitches occur, you may be missing an important message. Sometimes things just line up in the oddest ways, and what you might think is a disaster is actually a wonderful opportunity to start fresh. Wonderful, magical, serendipitous things are always occurring, and if we pay attention a bit and slow our roll just a bit, we can begin to appreciate how amazing and frequent those moments are. Like a chain reaction, one small event can cause a cascade which opens many doors, changes your focus and direction so that you explore something you might never have thought to explore before, and enables you to grow as a person.
Pause for a moment, pay attention, and observe.
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