fitness – Coastal Carolina Soap Blog

Why Health is Important

It’s been almost five years since I started embracing the healthy coastal lifestyle. It’s been a little over two months since my family and I started following the Mediterranean eating plan. And it’s been about nineteen hours since my tween and I last did a dance fitness workout together, which is always fun and affords us time for meaningful conversation. She noticed that I’ve gotten smaller, which is wonderfully affirming. We talked about finding her “why.” She likes doing this workout with me, but beyond that, how does it benefit her? What is her “why”?

First I shared my “why” with her. This is part of my story from three years ago:

I quit with the denial. My body was telling me there were some serious issues – my knees, especially. Then I started noticing problems some of my heavier family members were having – sleep apnea and diabetes. (I knew a guy who was a pretty young fella with weight-related heart problems and apnea; he died in his sleep one night.) I’m a big fan of vicarious learning if it’ll keep me out of trouble, and I took advantage of the learning opportunities. Truth for me includes realizing that my family has to take care of me later if I don’t take care of myself now. Why put that on them sooner than necessary? My knees stopped hurting when I dropped weight; my sleep got sounder when I conquered my anxiety and learned mindfulness (which has also helped with weight loss); and since I’ve started yoga, my ibuprofen intake has dropped from 5 tablets on cardio days (2x per week) to fewer than 5 per month.

Now I take turmeric supplements to help with inflammation so can’t safely take ibuprofen. Even so, I’m more likely to take acetaminophen for monthly discomfort than for anything at all health-related. Being active and taking care of my body has made it healthier.

As I state in the quote above (it’s from a Facebook comment on a post I’d put up), part of my “why” is so my family–especially my daughters–won’t have to worry about taking care of me any earlier than necessary. Conversely, I want to be able to continue showing up for them. If I’m healthy and active, then not only will the quality of my life be good, but so will the quality of our family life. They are my “why.” This is a choice I’ve made completely on my own. None of them said I was fat/obese/overweight, and none of them told me I need to lose weight. If I were doing it for them, then I’d have no motivation to stick with it. Instead, I do it ultimately for me. My choices just happen to benefit them, too.

As my daughter and I danced like no one was watching and talked, she shared her “why”: “I’m building up stamina for soccer.” She’s a phenomenal goalie and defender, but she had the opportunity to play forward last season and loved it. Defenders run in sprints; forwards have to be able to run up and down the pitch continuously, which requires stamina. Since she’s hoping to play offense again this season, she has to be ready to run. Her “why” is to better her game, and that’s a darn good reason to me.

What’s your “why”? What motivates you to stay with your healthy lifestyle choices? Could you use some help and motivation to get with it or stick with it? Let me know in the comments below. I’d be happy to cheer you on!

Investing in Good Health

You’ve probably heard that good health is an investment in your future. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle can increase your life expectancy by decreasing your chances of developing illnesses related to poor health such as heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Additionally, certain lifestyle choices can also impact your odds of developing certain cancers. Those are most definitely the long-term benefits to investing in a healthy lifestyle.

However, most people want to see some small return on their investments, too. After all, you get monthly or quarterly statements showing you the health of your financial investments, be they savings funds, retirement accounts, or stock performances. When it comes to our physical health, we like to see some progress. We don’t want to have to wait until we’re decades older to see the return on our investment in our health. We can enjoy it then, and our families, I’m sure, will be happy to share in the benefits.

Because I like to see smaller improvements and dividends. I choose to think of my calories as debits and credits, and I invest those. Each day, I burn a certain number of calories, and I ingest a certain number of calories. The calories I ingest are my “debits.” The calories I burn are my “credits.” My goal each day is to finish with more credits than debits, just as we want to do with our financial investments. When I’ve earned a lot of credits through exercise, then I feel comfortable expending some of them in a sweet little something.

There are those days, though–and admit it, we all have them–when it’s cold, grey, and rainy outside, and all I want to do is curl up with a good book. There are also those days when it’s blazing hot, and I just want to lie under a fan and move as little as possible. If I eat too much on those days, then I’m going to wind up with more debits (calories consumed) than credits. The trick is, on those days, to know about how many calories my body will burn with no help from me (just over 1400) and eat fewer calories than that.

Other days, though, I’m killing it. I’m weight training and doing cardio and practicing yoga. I’m burning calories like a spoiled rich girl burns her dad’s credit card at the stores. Some exercises, like weight training, has the added benefit of burning calories even after the workout, as sore muscles heal and repair themselves in the day or two following. Those days, I happily end up in the black, calorie-wise.

I’m far from perfect; just motivated. There are those days when food is too good, lava cake calls me, and I haven’t been motivated to do much all day. These days aren’t the best, but I don’t let them get me down or discourage me. I accept them for what they are and resolve to get back on track the next day. At the end of the week, my report shows I’ve been burning more calories than I’ve consumed, and over time, that helps with the weight loss and strengthening that has helped me be healthier, get stronger, and become fit enough to do mission work and a 5K. Down the road when I’m decades older (hopefully), I’ll still be here and healthy enough to be active with my children, grandchildren, and maybe even great-grands.

These little investments now will lead to long-term benefits down the road. Thinking about that helps me stay motivated and show extra kindness to myself. After all, it’s about the healthy coastal lifestyle, not the healthy coastal “this week” or “this month.”

Subtract to Add

The healthy coastal lifestyle is more than just right eating and moving our bodies. It also involves keeping our minds, hearts, and spirits healthy, too, and that’s what I want to speak about here.

I love people. I’m called to minister to people and enjoy being around them. Caring for people isn’t much of a hardship for me. However, since I can discern spirits, it’s important that I protect my own spirit from getting overwhelmed.

And it was getting overwhelmed. You know how some people just put off negative energies? That’s what was going on. Then you realize that, though you may have liked someone and genuinely cared for them, their energies were beginning to be more than your heart, mind, and spirit could tolerate.

Last semester, I welcomed a friend of my younger daughter into our homeschool. By midterm, this was starting to feel like not the best choice. By the end of the semester, the Spirit told me loud and clear that things had to change. I had been neglecting a lot of things in my life–my daughters, my exercise disciplines, and my sleep. My poor husband was suffering, too, because he wanted to talk to me at night, and try as I might, I couldn’t sell him on the advantages of getting up with me at 7:00 a.m. to talk to me in the mornings instead. I functioned on six or seven hours of sleep for months.

When I subtracted this something that started off as a good thing but turned bad, I became liberated. I reclaimed myself and my time. My family got my spare time again. Shoot, I had spare time again! With no morning alarms, I could catch up on my sleep, luxuriating in the sheer joy of snuggling in bed just a little longer on cold winter mornings. Now I’ve reclaimed up to an hour a day most days to exercise and have gotten back into a fitness regimen with cardio, weight training, and two types of yoga with a day or two rest days a week.

As time has ticked on from those days, I’m noticing even more positive changes in me. I’m sleeping soundly, often sleeping eight hours straight without even getting up in the middle of the night. I have tons of energy to get things done, including sewing and exercising. Probably the best benefit, though, is having so much extra time with my girls. School days fly by, leaving time to spend with either or both of my girls and sometimes a friend or two. My stress level has dropped, my anxiety-related facial tic has gone back into hiding, I feel light, often dancing freely around for no reason at all.

I have often spoken of gaining things to add to the healthy coastal lifestyle–adding exercise, sleep, meditation, or healthy foods. This lesson has taught me that subtraction is also necessary to living the healthy coastal lifestyle because we can’t find room to add good things until we subtract some other things, perhaps things that create mental, psychological, and spiritual clutter in our lives.

As we embrace whatever this year holds for us–and who in the heck knows at this point, am I right???–let’s be willing to let go of anything that’s not serving us. Maybe it’s an activity, maybe it’s a relationship, maybe it’s a habit. We need to be willing to ask ourselves, “How is this benefitting me?” If it’s not, then we need to give it the Elsa treatment and just let it go. If you’re like me, you’ll find greater gains will replace the loss.

You’ll Topple and Poot

It’s no secret that I enjoy yoga and have incorporated it as part of my healthy coastal lifestyle for many reasons – relief from anxiety, flexibility, strength, and balance. As everyone who’s ever practiced yoga knows, other things come out of a yoga practice.

Our adorable little town offers free exercise classes – cardio and yoga practices – and this time of year, especially, people want to explore these classes. While cardio is pretty new user-friendly, yoga is a lot more intimidating. There’s the image of lithe, flexible, young bodies contorting and moving in smooth, fluid ways while incense burns and New Agey music plays in the background. So often, people are scared to try yoga, because they think they’ll be the klutzy elephant in the room full of swans. I was like that one time, too.

One May, I was working an event and happened to be almost right across from the local yoga and wellness booth. During a lag, I scooted across and chatted with the ladies working the booth, and they told me that the classes are friendly for all levels and there are modifications available. Their words gave me the assurance I needed to dare to try the class, and it’s been a good choice ever since.

There was still the fear that I’d make a total fool out of myself. Early on, I toppled over. Another time in my first year of practice, I was coming out of a deep yoga squat and went head-first to the hardwood floor surrounding my mat. People look at you when you fall, but mostly it’s out of concern. I’ve seen far more experienced yogis than I topple over. Once you accept the fact that it’ll happen – that you’ll lose balance and topple over – you’re free to focus only on your flow.

Another thing that makes people give up on yoga is not having consistently perfect practices. It is very common for someone to be able to balance better on one side than the other within the same practice. It is also common for a yogi to balance great on one side but not have that same balance during their next practice. And sometimes, there’s just no balance at all on either side during a practice when you were nailing it perfectly in your previous practice. Being aware that this is normal keeps newbies to yoga from dropping out, thinking they’re failing at yoga. It is called yoga “practice” for a reason.

The other thing that drives new yogis away from practice in fear and embarrassment is the inevitable gas passage. This exchange from Bridget Jones’s Baby sums it up perfectly:

I think of that last line every single time I’m in yoga practice and getting that feeling. The fact of the matter is, sometimes, in certain poses, it’s just impossible to clench your sphincter while holding the pose. Perhaps, though, yoga allows for the body to do what comes naturally to it. With standing twists, sitting twists, and lying twists, the intestines get massaged and the stuff in them moves as it should. One evening, I was just finishing up the final stretching segment of a cardio/pilates workout. We’d been flat on our backs as it ended, and as I rocked up to a seated position… Yep. And it was loud. Thankfully, the workout flush hid my blush, and I apologized. The teacher quipped, “Better out than in.” It’s true, though. While we think of passing gas as uncouth and most definitely not lady-like, our bodies aren’t supposed to hold gas. This is why we come equipped with mechanisms for burping and pooting.

As you ponder your fitness goals for 2020, they may include yoga. In fact, I hope they do. It will improve your physical and psychological health and is a key component of the healthy coastal lifestyle. Remember some key ideas, though. (1) Everyone’s a beginner at some point. (2) Everyone at every level of experience topples over and falls or, at least, loses their balance. (3) Some practices go better than others. (4) Everyone poots during practice. Remember these and give yourself some grace, and you’ll be able to relax completely in the no-judgement-zone that is yoga practice.

Accomplishing a HUGE Goal

This truly wasn’t one of my goals when I started embracing the healthy coastal lifestyle a little over three years ago. I had no idea at the time that I’d push my body to the lengths I would, trusting it to take me all the way to the finish line.

A little over a week ago, I completed my first 5K. That may not be entirely accurate. I participated in 10Ks when I was a tween/teen for charity, and I took part in the Walk for the Cure 5K fifteen years ago, again for charity. This was my first “official” 5K, complete with bib and medal.

It was a sultry, humid day in the Bahamas. Our cruise ship had been delayed arriving in port, so we didn’t get as early a start as hoped. We were truly hoping to be done with the walk by 10 before the heat really set in. That didn’t happen. We couldn’t even dock until 9:30. Half the ship’s guests were disembarking down the same gangplank as we were, and then there was the half-mile trek from the ship to the starting line, again amongst hordes of fellow travelers that slowly thinned as we passed each beach spot.

By the time my younger daughter and I got to the starting line, it was nearly 11:00 in the morning and the 5K was already twenty minutes underway. It was a warm and humid 84 degrees with a heat index in the 90s (I didn’t look, because I didn’t want to know). My tween and I were set, right down to the bibs safety-pinned to the backs of our shirts.

The track was mostly sun-exposed with just scant pockets of shade. We were lucky to have intermittent breezes to help cool us down. I had my phone’s fitness app to track my progress. I’ll spare you the details (We passed a pink flower. We passed a sign warning people to stay on the trail, etc…). Although my daughter and I ended up getting separated, I waited beside the trail when my app said we had just under a half mile to go so we could finish together. When we finished, my app didn’t show the 3.1 miles I was expecting for that distance, but instead, 3.4 miles – and this was on top of the half mile or so we’d had to walk to the starting line, not to mention the trek from our room, using the stairs, of course.

At the 2/3 of a mile left (WOOHOO!!!) mark, I announced it to my fellow walkers. One responded, “You sound excited about that.”

“There’s a big, beautiful, blue sea just over there, and it calls me!” I sang the last part from the song from Moana. They’re Disney people, so they got it.

I’d seriously considered finishing the walk, ripping off my shoes, socks, and phone, and plunging, fully dressed, into the Caribbean Sea. I practiced the modicum of restraint required to resist doing that. Instead, we went into the bathroom to change into our bathing suits. This was a feat in balance and coordination. You know how hard it is to put a bathing suit on, anyway? Well, imagine that but add in sweat-dampened skin, a decent-sized bathroom stall, and standing on sport sandals; additionally, being solitary, my daughter and I couldn’t help each other make the necessary adjustments. Once properly changed, we stepped around to the side of the building to the showers and flushed all the sweat and salt off of our skins. The rest of the day was a smorgasbord of delightful flavors and carefree frolics in the sapphire blue sea.

At the finish line. My smile is looking a bit manic here.

I never planned or expected to participate in and finish a 5K. With my knees giving me so much trouble, including having a blood vessel burst behind my right knee the first day of our cruise, I wasn’t sure how the 5K would go. We had been active all week with stair-climbing, swimming, walking, and exploring volcanic caves. Yet, all that activity kept my knees moving. (A body in motion tends to stay in motion. Basic physics.) Even though I found myself wishing I’d heat-trained throughout the summer, I was still proud of my time – under an hour with an average speed of 3.6 mph – and proud of the fact that I did it. Even being a little slack, I’d kept myself in good enough shape to meet this new goal.

Hopping Back on the Fitness Wagon

Yoga poses — Yoga has been a constant for me in living the #healthycoastallifestyle.

This blog hasn’t been the only area in my life where I’ve been slacking off in the last few months. It’s like everything I’d been grooving on in my life that I’d been neglecting really gelled in the past few weeks. Whether it’s slaying the cleaning, developing new soap creations, or exercising, I have reclaimed these things for my life with boldness and renewed energy.

The #healthycoastallifestyle has been one area that has suffered the most in the past months, and that has had the most significant impact on my life. Spring should’ve brought gorgeous weather for getting out and walking, but temperatures climbed quickly, as did the humidity. When I went for my annual check-up, my vitamin D levels were low, which is suprising, given how much I’m usually outside. Early summer brought scorching temps, though low humidity levels. It was simply unbearable being outside for more than a few minutes. I kept up with my yoga practices; they’re essential to my physical and mental health.

We spent a lot of time being active as we focused on cleaning. While my phone didn’t acknowledge my progress (it generally stayed on a table), I felt it. This week marked a new energy in my lifestyle. Cooler morning temperatures leave me no excuse for not lacing up first thing in the morning to walk. Yesterday morning I dug out the weights for the first time in months and did some upper and lower body training. Then, yesterday evening, I embraced every masochistic tendency I ever thought of having and did a half-hour core-strengthening pilates workout. I’m pleased to say that I can actually move, laugh, breathe, and bend over.

I am a little achy but I’d forgotten how glorious it feels feeling strong again. When I was at my peak, I moved in confidence and strength, and the months of being lax on my cardio and weight training had taken some of that from me. But now I’m back and it’s back! I felt it this morning as I’ve moved around the house.

In the intervening months, I maintained my weight by watching what I ate and keeping my calorie intake lower than my calorie burn – for the most part. I messed up some days, and that’s OK. There were also many days in there when it digitally looked like my numbers were flipped, but I knew I’d burned way more calories than my fitness app thinks I did.

While it would be so easy to just give up now, to admit defeat, that isn’t a happy place for me to be, and I’m not a quitter. While I may get lax attending to things in my life that are important to me, I never give up on them completely. That mindset and attitude has breathed new life into my healthy coastal lifestyle, my home, and my business.

What do you do when you’ve gotten slack on meeting your life goals? How have your turned your momentum back around? Let us know in the comments below.

Healthy Coastal Lifestyle – Year 2

It’s the end of my second year of living the healthy coastal lifestyle, and I’ve met all but one of my goals. I had a weight goal that I’m still striving towards, but considering it wasn’t my primary goal, that’s OK.

In the last year, I’ve added high/low impact aerobics and yoga to my previous routine. I’ve hit plateaus (OMGosh, how annoying are those!?) and reduced my daily calorie intake a bit more each time. I learned that I have anxiety and have added routines (not just yoga) to my life to help reduce that. In May I had a complete physical, including full blood panel, which gave me some additional insights in how well I was doing in taking care of my body. In short, it’s been a very health-ful year.

In year one of my HCLS, I went on a mission trip and the knee I’d rehabbed the previous year did great. This past spring, I went back to Washington, DC and put even more steps on my pedometer, and it was as if my knees had never hurt at all. A couple of weeks after that trip, I wore the black velvet choker to our anniversary dinner I’d striven to wear again.

Hubby + me. I’m wearing the choker in this pic.

I’ve noticed some incredible changes in my body over the past two years!

I’ve lost over half my targeted weight. This isn’t a gross loss; while I’ve burned fat I’ve also built muscle. It’s frankly disgusting to think about the mass of fat cells I’ve lost – we’re talking the weight equivalent of 3 gallons of milk! And those fat cells took up a lot of space (fat has a great deal of volume). I’ve replaced some of those pounds with muscle, which has less volume. Think of the difference between a pound of feathers and a one-pound brick; they weigh the same, but the feathers take up considerably more space than the brick.
I have greatly reduced my reliance on NSAID pain-relievers. With the advent of yoga in my life came increased calm, increased mindfulness, increased flexibility, and decreased pain. Before starting yoga, I would have to take two tablets before aerobics to prevent pain (hopefully) and three more at bedtime to help control pain and swelling overnight. I haven’t had to take NSAIDs at all, either prior to or following my high/low impact aerobics classes.
I enjoy greater strength. While I still do and enjoy weight training and toning, yoga builds strength in different ways. To the casual observer, it seems wimpy – holding poses, balancing, etc. However, to the yogi, yoga requires a great deal of strength. Core strength (the power in the back, sides, and abdominals) is essential to the balancing poses of yoga. Arm and upper body strength are necessary for poses such as downward facing dog, tabletop, and plank.
My clothes (very annoyingly) don’t fit well anymore. They’re loose and I’ve had to start wearing belts to prevent public embarrassment. While I’ve replaced some of my too-big clothes, it seems pointless to go out and buy a whole new wardrobe when I’ll have to buy still more clothes after I hit my goal.
Can we talk stamina? I have more energy than I used to. Part of it is from losing the weight, but another part is from building up my cardiovascular health. I’ve walked at stiff paces for 3.1 miles and barely felt it. Yet, my heart was beating at a robust, fat-burning 150+ bpm. That stamina and energy have also translated into other parts of my life. I’m more active during the days, no matter what’s going on.

What healthy steps have you taken to meet your fitness and health goals? Drop a comment below and share what goals you’ve met so we can celebrate with you.

Strong is the New Skinny

I shot this quick video last night when I got home from Dance2Fit. This is real, y’all – sweaty, no makeup, hair pushed back in one of my daughter’s soccer headwraps to keep the sweat from dripping into my face.

I’d gotten home after a 75-minute workout, during which time I’d downed about 20 ounces of water. I wasn’t perfect; I missed steps and kicked right when everyone else was kicking left. Two things happened last night, though, that really fired off some pride and humility in me. First, the instructor praised how low my squat was – right after praising this other lady who was also killing the held squat. The cool part is, I admire and respect that other lady’s fitness level and how she does the class. She’s been doing Dance2Fit for years and really has the routines down. The humbling part came after a grueling 3-4 minute arm workout. I was walking around my spot and stretching out my arms when I happened to notice a new lady to the class was copying my stretches. Just like I watch the lady I admire, this lady was watching me. You can bet I was a lot more attentive to how I moved after that!

Genetics and a life of not making the best choices both ensure that I’ll never be skinny – not without some really dangerous behaviors or extensive and expensive surgery. And that’s OK. I’m getting stronger with every workout, be it high-impact aerobics, weight-lifting, cardio, or yoga.

For ages, society has equated skinny with healthy, and in some cases, that is certainly true. However, skinny isn’t the only shape healthy takes. While far from skinny, I’m in the best health of my life, not just judging by strength, but also by the numbers – blood pressure, cholesterol, resting heart rate, and glucose. I celebrate my healthiness and my strength, even while I continue to slim down my silhouette.

How are you building strength, whatever stage in life you’re finding yourself? Drop your response in the comments below so we can celebrate and encourage you.

Starting with the Finish in View

No secret… I walk a few times a week. I’ve walked in pretty-chilly temps and I’ve walked in weather where I begin pouring sweat as soon as I step out of the house – like walking through the sauna that is North Carolina in the summer. I don’t walk because I like freezing my butt off or sweating out two pounds of liquid in under an hour. In fact, if I could get the same benefits from not-walking, I would in a heartbeat, but the truth is, I can’t, and walking really does have a whole lot of benefits – psychological, holistically physical, emotional, and even spiritual.

When I start my walks, within the first quarter mile, I mentally plan my route and start thinking of the very end – that last quarter mile when I can start slowing it down, check my pulse, log in the time and calorie burn, and get more comfortable. I think about which route I’ll follow. It’s always the same four streets, but depending on how I walk them, it can be 2.5 miles or 2.8 miles. It may seem silly to think about finishing my walk before I have barely begun, but envisioning the end helps motivate me through every step and prevents me from taking short-cuts – skipping that little bit of .2 mile or not going down that short street.

Similarly, thinking about the end of a business venture from the outset helps a business owner work towards that goal, that completion, that teleos. As we celebrate 15 years of soapy business, I reflect back on those early days, and I did not have an end-game in sight. It wasn’t until several – SEVERAL! – years down the road that I began to think about things like having a brick-and-mortar store and passing my business down to my children. That particular route requires certain steps and a certain amount of time, just like when I opt for “route A” of my walking choices. Going the B&M route means striving to build up the revenue to sustain such a venture, taking into account overhead, staffing needs, retail traffic ebbs and flows, and so forth. Passing the business down to my daughters requires teaching them every aspect of the business, not just the technical aspects, but also the passion and the why.

Last year in the midst of the rebrand, the brick-and-mortar suddenly became less important to me, and the girls have no desire to run a soapmaking business, though they love making soap. They love the creativity and the design aspects, and the chemistry of it fascinates them, but that’s as far as their enthusiasm goes. So, it’s become time to work with another end-game in mind.

To be honest, I haven’t entirely worked that out, yet. Part of the rebrand involved an increased focus on wholesale and private label, though retail is still a very strong part of my business. At this point, though, I’d more love to have a separate work shop than a full-blown B&M. I’d enjoy the space separate from the house to make, wrap, and store my products. The completion of my business now would be having a strong business to sell off in – ideally – one huge chunk to someone who’d love and nurture it as I do. Again, this route requires a certain path, a certain set of steps, a particular journey to traverse.

Without the finish in sight, I could just meander along, making this product or that product, selling whenever, pushing for sales when I felt like it and ignoring my business when I didn’t. Similarly, when I walk for my health, having a defined time frame and route ensures I do at least as much as I need to, and it also restricts me from following whims that could take me on long treks – not that that would necessarily be a bad thing, but when the family is expecting me to be gone a certain amount of time, being gone for 2-3 times that would cause them to worry.

Goals are essential, but goals without a defined end are just nebulous scratchings on a dry-erase board, the result of moments or hours of brainstorming. As you set your goals, whether fitness, business, or lifestyle, determine to look at the end. It’s likely not the end, but it is an end, often that of a chapter before the next beginning.

Pushing Through

I didn’t want to do it. Despite knowing I must get some much-needed exercise today, it was a struggle getting out there. My legs were still feeling remnants of the abuse from earlier in the week, it’s less-than-warm outside, and I have some business-related computer-based matters that need my attention in addition to planning tomorrow evening’s soccer practice. Yeah, I put it off. Even after my older daughter “helped” me out by grabbing my sneakers and workout clothes for me (without my asking her to), I still found another ten minutes’ worth of reasons not to strike out.

But finally, I could put it off no more. Though the sun was out and the sky was a vibrant, cloudless blue, the wind stabbed through my top like knives and stung my cheeks. The muscles in my legs were still a bit tight. I was cold. All I wanted was to be inside in my warm, fleecy bumwear in front of my computer with a mug of hot chocolate getting work done. For about fifteen seconds, I gave serious consideration to turning around and going back home. But sheer determination and nothing short of stubbornness kept me going.

I did it. I did it for 47 minutes and almost 3 miles. I did it despite the bitter wind and my desire to be warm inside. I warmed up and kicked my heart rate up to my perfect target rate. Best yet, I had that time for my brain to be free of distractions, which gave it room to plan my soccer practice, formulate a new direction in my business, and mentally draft this blog post.

Business requires us to push through sometimes, too. I’m facing hours of website work this weekend, which is my absolute least favorite thing to do for my business. It has to get done, though. Other business owners may love that type of stuff but hate dealing with the public (my favorite). Regardless of what your least favorite task is or how much you may not be feeling one of your more enjoyable ones, as business owners, we have to push through and get things done.

The past month has stymied my drive and creativity, and in the evolution of my business, especially over against changing technologies, I have to push through yet again with a new angle and a new way of connecting with my customers. I love my customers, talking to them and hearing their stories, but that is one thing I really miss about not doing as many events – I just don’t get to connect with them like I used to. Sure, blog posts and emails are great, but it all too often feels like a one-sided conversation.

To that end, I am going to be launching a brand new Facebook group just for Coastal Carolina Soap Company’s customers, whether you have bought from us or you just love our brand story and want to stay connected. The link will be going out very soon, so be on the lookout for that. Maybe my blog posts come right to your inbox, or perhaps you see them on Facebook, Twitter, or some other social media outlet. You can find out about this incredible new group by subscribing to this blog or also by signing up to receive our emails (one of which handily contains links to each blog post for the month).

We hope you will join us, and we look forward to connecting with you in new and exciting ways beginning next week!

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