Getting to the Good Stuff: Life :)

Re-reading my last few posts, I realized I often start my posts saying how long it's been and how crazy life has been. Well, it certainly has been a while, and life was really crazy for a while but things have slowed down and a lot of wonderful things are happening :) So here's the scoop!

Steven graduated in August of 2014 and found a job a couple months later working for a physical therapist. He couldn't have been happier with how things worked out and has gained lots of experience he's needing to apply for grad school this year. He is still working there and loving it, getting almost 40 hours a week between all the shifts he picks up on call. It's been fun to watch him dive into work that he enjoys so much. Plus all of his clients and co-workers love him. He's going to be a great therapist someday :)

Steven's action shot at graduation. I need to get better pics from his mother haha.

Soon after my last post, I left the group home. I found a position with a Brain Balance Center in Utah doing administrative work. I had originally applied for a more treatment oriented position but with my past at State Farm, they wanted me as the Administrative Director instead. While this job was less taxing than the group home, I soon started to notice some issues with the management. I was removed enough from it that I thought everything would be fine though. Fast forward a few months of long hours and promises of things calming down, and I started to feel more skeptical. My Center Director loved me though and gushed about my work ethic and soon I was offered an opportunity to locate temporarily to St. George where I could be trained as the Program Director to cover another employee on maternity leave. I decided to accept the offer but was suddenly let go less than 2 weeks after I got there. This came as a blow mostly because it was so unexpected and unjustified. They also chose to notify me of my termination the morning of my great grandmother's funeral, which they were completely aware of. Sounds great, right? I won't try to explain the situation more because even now, it just doesn't make any sense.

So I packed up my room at my grandparent's house and drove back to Provo. I was advised to take advantage of unemployment benefits and signed up the next day. I immediately started applying to jobs and about a week and a half after losing my job, I was offered a job as a full time case manager with Wasatch Mental Health. A position I'd been looking at since before I even graduated from BYU. With a start date halfway through January, I was able to take nearly a month off, with benefits, to just recharge from the crazy year I'd had. It was SOOOOOOO nice getting to enjoy the holidays without stress, work, homework, anything! Just Christ, family, and great things on the horizon.

Since that time I've adjusted to my new work schedule and am still loving my job. After a year of crazy hours and complete exhaustion, my health is improving and I'm being able to focus on my weight loss and exercise goals again. Every time I "restart" my workout regimen, I like to reflect on what did and didn't work for me from my past attempts. Here's what's working for me now:

FitBit!!!! I got this as a present from Steven and have absolutely loved it! I've already sold a couple different people on it now and get questions about it all the time. I'm pretty sure FitBit owes me some kind of commission at this point. It's easy to use and provides such valuable information in keeping track of your work. I lost 6 pounds in the first couple months without even exercising. In the past few weeks I've added my workouts back in and despite the inconsistency so far, I've already lost an additional 2 pounds. For me it's all about the numbers and accountability and my FitBit does wonders for me there. Ok, I'll stop now cause I could literally write a whole post about this.
self check in's- Every night I review my stats for the day and record them in my planner. I have a system down and it only takes a few minutes buts it's super satisfying and I find it helps keep me focused and motivated to get up the next day and do it all again!
competition and rewards- I've always been curious about fitness groups and wanted to get involved in one. Unable to find anything just right to join, I decided to make my own! Steven and I teamed up with a couple we hang out with all the time to set goals, check in with each other, and compete against each other. We set up a google doc to track all of our stats for the week and have planned rewards we earn if we reach our goals. I've learned a lot about goal setting from this and will post more on this later ;)