Tag: community

bullying, parenting, Uncategorized

You don’t have to be perfect to be

Katrina Russell

I have to admit I had a “check myself” moment the other day. As you know I have been working really hard to get healthy. I have been taking nutrition classes. I’ve been working out. I’ve been following the Beachbody* programs, boxing, Zumba*, meditation… and so download-5on. I have been spending the last year learning about and practicing good health as much as possible, yet I still felt like I didn’t have a right to really consider myself a coach because I am not thin. I felt like no one would take me seriously because of the way I look… then I realized that’s bullshit.

I may not be a size 2, but I have lost over 30lbs, and many inches. I have added muscle, lost fat and brought my cholesterol levels down by 50 points. I am a healthy person… my jean size just hasn’t caught up with me yet.

It’s funny. I am certified as an Integrative Wellness and Life Coach. I am in the process of becoming certified as an Integrative Health Coach. I truly believe that you can do and be anything that you want, and if I had someone like me as a client I would encourage the person believe in herself and to understand that you don’t have to be perfect yourself to be able to help other people. This is fundamental. Yet, here I am… holding back because of my own insecurities.  images-10

So that’s the end of that craziness. I am not going to let my fears dictate my life. I may not be perfect, but I am very passionate about getting my health on track. I am very proud that my son comes down and does the 21 day fix with me. I want to share as much information as possible with the world so that the current health crisis gets under control. People complain about ISIS. They complain about guns. Do you know what really kills people? Heart disease…. strokes… diabetes and other “natural” causes that aren’t as natural as they seem.

What I have realized is that it’s less important what I actually look like and more important what I’m DOING about it… and in the last year… that’s a lot. I don’t ever want my son to experience what I went through. I never want my son to find me dead because of a health complication that could have been avoided, and with my coaching, I hope no one else has to either.

 

 

 

Love, parenting

Valentine’s Day Angst

Katrina Russell

This may be a day late, but I just wanted to comment on some of the posts that I saw coming up on my feed about Valentine’slove.jpeg Day. I wish that I could say that I was amazed by the self deprecation and angst that I was seeing, but unfortunately it seems fairly par for the course. People were either pitying themselves for not having a love interest or they were acting jaded, expressing detest for the “fake” holiday.

I find this whole thing rather heartbreaking. The fact that people have such disdain for a day that is meant to celebrate love. I have not always been in a relationship, but I have always felt loved. When my father was alive he bought me a card, and for a long time, candy, every year. Now I have continued the tradition with my son, though I get him books not candy.

The day may have started out as a mating ritual, and Cadbury and Hallmark may have commercialized it, but that doesn’t have to change what it means to you. It hasn’t changed what it means to me. images-9

Those of us that are in relationships often feel like it’s being pushed upon us, especially men. My boyfriend said this to me last year. He said that he thought it was a stupid holiday and that he shouldn’t feel as if he’s forced to show me that he loves me. That he can do that any day, why should the calendar dictate when he expresses himself? I asked him, “oh, really? So you feel like you show me that you love me everyday?…. when was the last time you and I went out ALONE together?”…. He paused… grabbed his phone and made reservations.

It’s not that he doesn’t love me, it’s that life that happens everyday that gets in the way. We both have work. We both have classes and the gym, and our 3 year old. I know that we take each other for granted a lot. It’s just the nature of things. Thanksgiving is a day to remember all the things we have to give thanks for. The fourth of July is a day to celebrate all the freedoms that we have. Birthdays are designed to celebrate our lives.. if only for one day. Months, years, decades go by so fast, we need a reminder… we need to take a moment and appreciate what and who is important to us.

charlie-brown-happy-valentines-cute-greetings-animated-gif-2.gifMy son is in school and they all exchanged valentines of some sort. Remember when you did that? Remember when it was a day to tell your best friend that they were the bestest? As we get older we begin to define ourselves by our relationships. If we are not in one, or it is not the kind that we always imagined we feel somehow less than. For those individuals Valentine’s Day feels like a personal attack. We tend to forget about all the people in our lives that truly do love us. Our family, our friends. I can tell you that I would do anything to get another silly card from my dad.

 

Love, parenting, Uncategorized

Four little words from my almost four year old… that made it all worth it.

Katrina Russell

Sometimes I don’t want to work out… there, I said it. I know it’s shocking… I mean.. I have to be the only one. Sometimes I would much rather sit on the couch with pizza and forget about all my problems.24e43f106024cc11_belly-fat

But I go and I do it. Whether it be a 21 day fix on my TV at home or a boxing class at the local gym or a Zumba class at the local dance school, I just keep going. There is good and bad to both. At home it’s harder to get motivated. I can always just do it later. In classes you’re surrounded by 20 sombelly-fatethings with already perky butts that make me feel less than.

Not long ago I was at one of those classes. It was the end of the class. We had just been jumping and  and twisting and sweating… a lot. We had just hit the floor mats to get to the core part of the exercise when my 3 year old came running over, looked me straight in my sweaty, nasty face and said, “You look beautiful, mama”… Those were the best core exercises I’ve ever done. He was the perfect reminder of why I do this… I am getting healthy not for me, not to look hot with a perky butt.. but so that I can be there for him. I’m already beautiful in the eyes of anyone who matters. I want to live long enough to be beautiful for my grandchildren too. Something my parents didn’t get to do. lose-belly-fat1

bullying, Love, parenting, Uncategorized

You’re not good, you’re not bad, you’re just nice!

Katrina Russell

After watching the movie “Into the Woods” I downloaded the soundtrack from Amazon. I was really in love with the music. But as I was driving around in my truck listening to the words I was really taken-a-back by them.

images-8There is one scene in which the witch sings to the villagers, “you’re so nice, you’re not good you’re not bad, you’re just nice”, and I was really hit by those lyrics. I feel like that’s how society has turned. We are all about being PC. We are about making sure not to offend anyone. We “like” each other’s pictures. Click out “friend” requests and “share” all of our most funny and or touching moments.

Then we bash, shame, and bully anyone who dare make a mistake or disagree with us. We complain about druggies and losers using the system and stealing our money. We blame entire groups of people for isolated problems. We go out of our way to prove that we can do no wrong while everyone else is useless and unworthy.

I was driving to the mall the other day and I saw an old lady fall on a curb. I watched as a couple of people walked right passed her. Then I saw a young couple, probably in their late teens, stop and help her up. By the time I parked and got to the door she was sitting/leaning on the decorative column. I was so glad to see this transaction. I have seendownload-3 so many shared videos of people in distress and others either walking by or actually stealing from the injured party. The teens left and I waited with the woman till her daughter got there and was able to take her home. This seemed like a no brainer, and yet, common decency seems to have gone the way of the do-do.

Everyone wants to believe that they are so good and so nice, but when was the last time we actually DID something good? When was the last time that we gave without expecting something in return? When was the last time we thought of the other person’s perspective before throwing out insults? We are a download-4predominately Christian society and lately we have been throwing that around like it’s the answer to every question…. we have to fight to say “Merry Christmas”. We have to fight to save marriage and babies.. and so on and so forth. But the whole meaning of Christmas… the whole purpose of Christianity is to not judge, to not hate, to do for others.

Now I’m not just speaking about the Christians out there. This is the true meaning of Humanity. To love unconditionally. To help where and when needed. Not just those who look like you or talk like you or live in a way that you agree with, but to love and accept everyone’s differences, and to help those that can’t help themselves. Maybe then we will know what it is to be GOOD and not just NICE.

bullying, Love, parenting, Uncategorized

DON’T GIVE IN TO THE DARK SIDE

Katrina Russell

rogue-one-a-star-wars-story-1600x900-poster-hd-2757-1170x550I went to see Star Wars: Rogue One the other night and I can’t stop thinking about the plot of the whole series. The whole good vs evil, right from wrong and where the line is drawn. There were plenty of people who were living in the Empire that were just living their lives as usual, following the laws of the Emperor and Darth Vader because that’s the what was expected. Lucas even named the army “Storm-Troopers” after the Nazis. I can’t help but relating this to modern day society.

We are lucky. We live in a society where, to this point our freedoms are pretty much in tact. We can say what we want, believe what we want and not have to worry about being killed or retribution. There have been multiple generations, at this point, who have grown up to this movie… applauding the Rebels for doing their part to defeat the Empire.

As Americans we can relate to not only fighting the evils of the Storm-Troopers but of being brave enough and strong enough to stand up for our rights and free ourselves from images-4an imperial forces that used our resources for their own selfish means. Yet we are so quick to just accept the evils of the world today. We are so quick to blame victims and believe the powers that be. Here’s a hint, if anyone, anyone is preaching hate as a whole, then they are not the person to be listened to.

Are there bad people in the world? Sure. Do horrible things happen everyday? Sadly, but that is not the norm. That is not what humanity is all about. Some say that one religion or another preaches hate and violence, but if you actually learn about a religion then you will learn that is not true. People can skew their message to mean anything. At church the other day our priest discussed how Joseph had the option to have Mary killed for being pregnant… but he did not choose that. People are their choices.

I’m watching Star Wars: The Force Awakens now. I’m watching Han Solo square off with his son. (I’m not going to give this away to those who haven’t seen it) His son makes a choice in that moment. He is using this choice to grow stronger in the Force… the religionimages-5 of that world. But as anyone knows, the force is neither good, not evil, it’s how they use their power that matters.

It’s time we stopped accusing and blaming anyone for what we see on the outside, and start seeing people as their actions and what we see on the inside. That includes looking in the mirror.

 

Aleppo, bullying, Love, parenting, Uncategorized

Love begets love

Katrina Russell

I was watching some horrible videos on Aleppo the other day and my boyfriend asked me images-2why I bother to watch such horrible things. They are so depressing, why do I put myself through that? I feel like that is most people’s view of Aleppo and other horrible things that are happening around the world.

There was an election last month and the winner of that election had a firm stand that Muslims are terrorists and that we should not take one refugee from any Islamic Nation. That’s very easy to say for people speaking hypothetically. It’s easy to sit in your comfy house, in your safe city, eating all the food that you could need and knowing that your babies are tucked cozy in their beds.

But that’s not what the rest of the world is experiencing. “1st world problems” has become a tagline for many things. “My iPhone broke #1stworldproblems” is very common. Most Americans today think that they have it rough if they don’t have a new car, or a big screen TV. They believe that America is a land of special people who have somehow earned the right to be better than others. That what happens to people in other countries, especially people with darker skin of other countries, is not our problem. They never look these babies in the eye and say, “Nope, you can’t come here.. you have to stay and die, because you’re not as good as an American”.

I don’t want to be one of those people that looks the other way. I don’t want to choose a political side over a human life. I want to do as much as I can to help as many people as I can. During this last election the Republicans were saying that Obama and Hillary created ISIS by leaving a power vacuum after the wars, and maybe they did. But the point is not who created the situation. The point is how can we solve it. I have posted before that hatedownload-2 begets hate, and that is true. There are all these people, politicians, news casters, and just Joe Shmo on social media spewing hate about how bad Muslims are and how they deserve what they get and we shouldn’t help them after everything that they have done to us… but no one seems to take into account what we have done to them .

Yes, 9-11 was tragic, every moment of that day has been seared into my brain. Being from Boston, I knew people who died on the plane. I understand why we needed to get justice for that act. I don’t see how starting a war with entire countries and bombing civilians that weren’t involved is getting justice. We managed to take Osama Bin Laden through intelligence, not brute force.

Recently there was a young man from Ohio State who lost his mind and went on a rampage with a knife and his car and killed his fellow classmates. He said that he was doing it because he was so “sick and tired” of the hate directed at him. Many people have used this as yet another example of how all Muslims are about hate and want to kill everyone… but that’s not the story.. the story is that he was sick and tired of the hate. That there are plenty of normal loving Muslims, Jews, Christians, Native Americans, Blacks, Gays… and any other culture out there that just want to be left alone, but hate is thrown in their face everyday.

I am lucky. I am white. I was raised and continue to live in upper-middle towns. I am images-3straight. I have a wonderful amazing son, who is also white. We are Catholic, and he goes to Catholic school. We are not rich, but we have what we need. But I understand that I am lucky. A few hundred years ago my Irish ancestors were not so lucky, and we have to remember what we are doing to everyone else in the world, because in a few hundred years who will be left and how will they be treated.

We watched Hitler try to kill off the Jews. We watched Stalin try to kill off his own. African nations and tribes have been killing each other for years. Every time we hear the stories we claim to be horrified, but we never step in till it’s on our own doorstep. Well, with society as it is, Social Media, the Global economy… everything is our door step. We need to stop treating people who happen to live in other places as the enemy. We have to start taking care of our own… Love begets love as well.