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This morning my family experienced a life-changing, near-death experience:
I learned three things as a result from this experience:
1. Decide what’s important
2. Prioritize around it
3. Put God & Family first!
…but most importantly, I was reminded of this very important life and business lesson:
Praying for you and your family today.
I recently had the chance to catch up with my best friend from college.
Even though almost 10 years had passed since we’d seen each other, we picked up right where we had left off! Over dinner with my husband and a friend of hers, the conversation quickly became reminiscent.
Things were going beautifully until her friend asked, “So what’s this I hear about cliff jumping in Greece?”
Oh no. Here we go.
Back track about 15 years prior when she and I decided to celebrate our college graduation with a trip backpacking through Europe for a month. Being more of a daredevil than myself, she kept prodding me to go bungee jumping, but I had promised her mother I would let her do no such thing.
But then we got to Greece.
There were no bungee jumping opportunities in Corfu, but there was the chance to jump off a 60 foot cliff into the clear, blue sea.
For some reason I thought this sounded much safer and I agreed.
Neither of us got terribly banged up from the cliff jumping itself, but when I went back in the water to retrieve the plastic flip flop she lost, I stepped on a sea urchin!
With spines embedded in my heel, I hobbled around the rest of Greece and Italy reminded by the adventure that would live on in our minds forever!
Of course, looking back on it all these years later, it may not have been the wisest of decisions. However, if there is anything that reminds you how fully alive you are, it’s propelling yourself into the air, not knowing when the free-fall will end!
But now as a wife and mother, those things I didn’t think about as a teenager are the very things I need to deeply consider for the sake of my family.
In fact, we often take things like safety and insurance for granted. But it wasn’t until months after my husband changed jobs that we realized he no longer had life insurance! In fact, I hadn’t had life insurance since we moved to Nashville over 3 years ago!
We never want to think anything tragic will happen to us, but we can’t afford to wait until it does to protect our family.
When we recently moved houses, we made sure to purchase new home, auto and yes, even life insurance.
In honor of Life Insurance Awareness Month, the nonprofit LIFE Foundation is giving away great prizes for the best Life Happens moments. You can enter the contest any time before Friday, October 7th. Make sure to encourage your friends and family to vote for your story as the Life Happens moments with the most votes will win (voting ends Friday, October 14th). First place will receive an Apple iPad® , second place will receive a $350 Apple gift card and third place will receive a $150 Amazon gift card.
Life Happens. And while you can’t control the future, you can take steps to protect the good things in life. Take a look around The LIFE Foundation website and learn more about how life insurance can help safeguard a secure financial future for those you love.
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of The LIFE Foundation. The opinions and text are all mine. Official Contest Rules
“God never tells us to do anything without giving us the ability to do it.” Joyce Meyer
Yesterday I took a walk.
It was the first walk I had taken a long time.
I’m not saying a walk on the treadmill or just walking to and from the mailbox. I mean a walk around the neighborhood for the sole purpose as getting a little fresh air & some exercise.
You see, since we’ve come home from Florida, I’ve felt paralyzed. We haven’t even unpacked yet, and to be honest, I don’t know where to start.
I feel like we didn’t get to spend a lot of time with the kids over the past two weeks, so I’ve tried to be there for them more both at home and at school these past few days, but that also means that our house is a small disaster and my work is falling behind too.
When I went outside for my walk yesterday, I realized it wasn’t only the inside of my house that needed help, but also the outside. As I walked the neighborhood, I saw that our lawn had become so over grown, it was obvious it hadn’t been tended for awhile.
Well I coveted some of our neighbor’s lawns, it also made me realize that just because something is beautiful on the outside, doesn’t mean there aren’t issues on the inside.
Because we are new homeowners, we don’t yet have a lawnmower, so I called my friends at Time Dog and they were able to screen a number of lawn care professionals for me. I’m glad they were the ones doing it, because as it turns out, there were many wrong phone numbers, no answers, straight to voicemail, and people that were not the nicest to deal with. Yet another reminder that just because you ask for help doesn’t mean it’s always that easy!
Finally, at 3:30 yesterday, a kind man and his wife rode in on their trailer to take care of our lawn. I wish I had a before picture, but here is the after picture.
Sure, the shrubs still need some tending, and there are some brown spots from where the grass got scorched from the sun, but as I walk through the neighborhood this morning, it reminded me that we are all given a chance to start anew every day.
Just because something seems overgrown and insurmountable in your life doesn’t mean it has to stay that way. I went to bed early last night because I wasn’t feeling well and when I woke up early this morning, I felt inspired to get back on my routine and start tackling things one at a time.
As I listened to Joyce Meyer on my walk, I was reminded that what God calls us to he will equip us for.
I would offer you this simple encouragement today: don’t give up! I know this life is not easy, but I also know that we are not guaranteed anything past today. So the best we can all do is to get out there and give it our all.
Go ahead, see what a difference a day can make.
His mercies are new every morning.Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. ~ Lamentations 3:22-23
Where in your life can you make a difference today?
I think if we’re honest with ourselves, all of us would agree that we each seek to live a fully charged life. In fact, I challenge people everyday, whether through my blog, media outlets or individual conversations, to “maximize your memories and pursue your passions”.
Yet when I was recently asked to read & review the book “The Charge” by Brendon Burchard, I was initially skeptical. I wasn’t looking for a href=”" or href=”" book to add to my to-do list, but I decided to give it a chance and took it on a recent trip with me.
I’m glad I did.
“The Charge” starts out with a simple yet profound message that sets the tone for the entire book and immediately captivated me: “This book is an unapologetic assault on boredom, distraction, mediocrity, withdrawal and living a href=”" life”.
What followed was author Brendon Burchard outlining his 10 href=”" that compose a ‘new framework for thinking about human motivation’, all the while, supporting his statement that ‘a Charged Life is a consciously designed existence that feels evenly engaged, energized, and enthusiastic.”
I know, I know…it still sounds a little ethereal, doesn’t it?
But trust me, Burchard provides research and practical steps for leading such a life as eloquently as he outlines personal experience and motivational tips. I could barely get through a single page without turning down a corner, outlining a sentence, or re-writing a thought that I wanted to focus on in my own life.
Little did I know, I’d actually have the occasion to put some of these principles into practice so soon…
At the end of the very trip where I started reading the book, I found myself stuck in an airport for 12 hours thanks to Tropical Storm Debby. As we finally pulled away from the gate to take off many hours after our original schedule, I got a sinking feeling that perhaps I wasn’t meant to fly that day. Realizing there wasn’t much that I could do to stop the plane at that point, I paused to pray and immediately started writing a letter to my family in the back cover of the book:
I won’t burden you with the letter in its entirety, but at the time I started writing this letter to “my precious family” it was 10:35 at night and I had just finished reading page 83 of the book where I’d been asked to write 3 words about who I am and 3 words about how I treat others.
I started this exercise by originally coming up with adjectives that described myself in business, but then quickly realized that I can never be successful in business if I’m not first successful at home. This is an excerpt of what I wrote:
Instead of some of the words I originally thought of (leader, communicator, connector, entertaining), I began to think of words like ‘loving, consistent and loyal’. Above all, I want you to know you are loved by me, not because I tell you so, but because you feel it deep within your bones. I want you to be confident that I will be consistent with each of you in the manner Christ created me to be. And finally, I need you to know that I will always remain loyal to you and our family. You make me better each day just by being you and I count it such a privilege to be a part of your lives… Ultimately, regardless of what we hope to achieve in live, we have to envision it. As Burchard outlines in Chapter 8, “The Drive for Change”, the first step in making any change in life is to have “a defined vision for what you want to accomplish”. It may sound simple, but it is in fact very necessary. If we ever hope to achieve change in our lives, we must be bold!
And so, from a skeptic who didn’t think I needed one more book to tell me how to live my life, I now admit to you that I am grateful for this manual that does not dictate how to live, but instead has guided me through the process of challenging why I do what I do…and has inspired me to do it better!
How will you start living a Charged Life today?
Well now you won’t have to wait long to find out!
You can now order your free copy of The Charge today!
Also, share with us what makes you feel most alive for a chance to win a High Performance Academy Online Seminar with Brendon Burchard, author of The Charge (valued at $1,000).
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Burchard Group Sponsored Conversation. The opinions and text are all mine. Burchard Group Sweepstakes and Rules.
First of all, let me say a big thank you to everyone who has offered prayers, tweets, phone calls, Facebook messages, meals and more for Dad Cone…they are noticed and greatly appreciated. When I walked into the hospital this morning, the front desk person that checks in all visitors commented with, “Rick must be really loved because he’s had more visitors than anyone I’ve ever seen!” – so we are truly grateful for everyone who’s gone out of their way to make him feel loved, both in person and virtually, these past few days.
Now let me rewind. Ricky, the kids and I all arrived safely in Florida about 6pm last night (as did Ricky’s younger brother, Ryan, who had driven all through the night from New Orleans to arrive there yesterday morning. Ricky’s sister, Katie, and her husband, Steven, had already flown in the day prior and immediately went to dad’s side along with his other Florida family). We stopped just briefly at Ricky’s mom’s house to pick her and Ryan up so we could head down to St. Mary’s together.
In typical Rick Sr. fashion (Ricky is a “Jr.” 
, he was graciously entertaining several visitors, including family and friends he had lived around most of his life (Ricky always admits he got his ‘entertaining gene’ from his dad!). I let Ricky, Anita and Ryan go up to the room first so they could have some private moments with him before the kids came in. I distracted them downstairs by making “Get Well Soon” cards for Pappy. I think they did some pretty amazing work, if I do say so myself:
After about 15 minutes, I took them up to see Pappy and they proceeded to lighten the mood and provide some comic relief all around. At one point, the nurse walked in to find Britton scaling the door frame with his head touching the ceiling, Dad with his little dog in his lap on the hospital bed and all of us just carousing and looking like we were waiting to get reprimanded! Luckily, they didn’t say anything and we continued to visit while people came and went until visiting hours ended at 9pm.
To be honest, Dad Cone looked better than I thought he would. He seemed exceedingly grateful to be surrounded by friends and family, while also looking anxious and overwhelmed with the situation at hand.
This morning, the doctor proceeded to show the siblings the actual MRI of the tumor that is taking over his brain…and when I say taking over, I mean taking over. The mass is actually swelling and encroaching on the brain stem. We’ve learned he has a matter of weeks to live, possibly a month or two.
The neurosurgeon advised that instead of doing an invasive surgery that could in and of itself kill him, to instead take him home and enjoy the comforts of his surroundings: the food, family and friends he loves. Heck, even someone who’s not sick would get depressed after sitting in that hospital room for days on end!
While he still may elect to go in for a biopsy, Hospice has been called in to help him manage the pain as well as whatever other challenges he may face in the days to come.
I read an amazing post today by Greg Surrant on Michael Hyatt’s blog that was entitled, “Why Aren’t You Dead Yet?”. In it, he referenced a book, The Noticer: Sometimes, all a person needs is a little perspective
To be honest, we have no idea about what lies ahead. I guess none of us do, really, but in this case, what we do know is that we have been given the gift of time to make the most of every moment Dad Cone has left on this earth.
So as I continue to ask for your prayers and support for the Cone family, I’d also ask you to ponder this question, “What contribution will you make to life today?”
Read the first post on Driving to Florida to see Dad Cone to hear the story from the beginning
I don’t know what it is about 2012, but I’ve personally witnessed many circumstances that have reminded me just how brief life is. Events and relationships I once took for granted have dissipated before my eyes.
But even if I hadn’t experienced these life-changing events, I’ve come to realize that I’ve been living a complacent life when it comes to my own health. The soundtrack of “I’m too busy”, “I travel too much” and “I’m not a professional athlete any more” finally ran its course. I had to step back and realize that if I wanted my children to grow up to be truly healthy, both emotionally and physically, I had to stop simply talking to them and start living it out before them.
But how do you change years of bad habits and complacency? Worse yet, how do you make major life changes when the choices you thought the choices you have been making were good ones?
I can tell you what you cannot do: go it alone. If you got yourself into this position, chances are you’re going to need help and guidance to get out.
It’s for this reason that I’m excited about the The MapMyFitness Quaker Challenge. Quaker Oatmeal has always been a staple in our family, so it would only make sense that they would come up with a tool to help equip people in their journey to improve their heart health one step at a time…and track that change!
When the end goal seems to big to get to, you must break it up into bite size bites (oatmeal pun intended 
). When you join the The MapMyFitness Quaker Challenge, you’re given a FREE tool to track those goals and steps you’re taking to get there. They’re challenging all of us to complete just 15 workouts in 30 days for a chance to not only win some fabulous prizes, but ultimately gain the best prize of all: life-long health!
Joining the The MapMyFitness Quaker Challenge is my first step towards becoming a healthier me. Now I’m curious to know, what motivates you to stay healthy?
For your chance to win $750 complete these two steps:
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Quaker Oats Company. The opinions and text are all mine. Official Sweepstakes Rules.
The long awaited results of my week 3 weigh in with Blue Sky MD are finally here!
My life transformation journey with Blue Sky MD is in its third week and after losing almost 7 pounds the first week, I honestly expected better results since then, but it hasn’t quite turned out that way:
Once again, I didn’t lose quite as much as I was expecting. You heard the story: started my monthly cycle, ate out a few times, lots of days away from home….blah, blah, blah.
But seriously, I think I look pretty good, don’t you?
Every day I’m able to fit into new things that have been hanging around in my closet so lonely for all these years. Even my shoes are falling off of my feet! (I forgot to ask them if that part is normal – I think a few people thought I was drunk walking around the Christian Chamber meeting the other day because I kept tripping out of my shoes!).
So here are the official numbers for Week 3:
Weight: 168.0 pounds (down .2 lbs)
BMI: 27.1 (down .1)
Fat %: 37.2% (down .7 points)
Waist: (We’ll measure that next week)
Hips:
So once again, even though I lost fat pounds/percentage, I gained/held water weight. (Maybe I should stop drinking so much green tea before my weigh in!)
The other big issue this week, at least in the eyes of the nutritionists, was that I did a 24 hour fast. In their minds, it stopped all the good things I’ve been working on with my metabolism and sent my body into starvation mode again. However, our family had some important decisions to ponder, so even though I hadn’t fasted since I started the Blue Sky MD plan because I was afraid I might come across something like this, I knew it was something this circumstance required. Hey, you do what you gotta do, right?
This also reminded me that while I’ve been encouraged that most of the people I’ve met at Blue Sky MD share my faith, they are obviously focused on the weight loss goal at hand, as is their job to do. While I can’t say I blame them, to be honest, I was a little disappointed in their response to my decision to fast. It is my honest belief that you have to keep a bigger picture view on life and as for me, I made the right decision for my spiritual, emotional and physical health this week…even if it didn’t seem that way to the medical community. (Now don’t get me wrong, everyone is still sweet as sugar there, just differing opinions on this subject obviously 
I do want to say thank you for all of you who have been cheering me on this past month – it helps knowing you’ve got my back! I am curious though: has my experience with Blue Sky MD made you want to check them out or are you more the “Good for you, Sami – I’ll do my thing while you do yours” type?
My life transformation journey with Blue Sky MD is continuing strong, but you may find my week 2 weigh in a bit unexpected:
Nothing happened!
Here are the numbers for Week 2:
Weight: 168.2 pounds (still)
BMI: 27.2
Fat %: 37.9% (down 2 points)
Waist: (I learned that we wont measure again until week 4)
Hips:
So while I did end up losing 2 pounds of fat, it looks like I gained 2 pounds of water. That could be due to a few things, which I won’t bother speculating here. I did also add weight training back into my routine this past week, so my muscles could be holding on to more water too (here’s hoping that’s it!).
Considering that my week was much busier and on the go, I guess I should be happy that at least I didn’t gain any weight back this week! I did eat out twice, eat at people’s houses twice and add more calories back into my diet, so that all plays a factor.
But the biggest issue (in my opinion) was that I wasn’t journaling my food as closely as I should have been. While I was writing things down, I wasn’t totaling my calories and carbs as I went along, which led my guessing what I should eat at the end of each day – leading me to actually eat too few calories on some days and not enough protein on others.
I was also reminded (& consoled) by my friend Kara today that this was typical of week 2 of weight loss – just look at what happens on the Biggest Loser every season You lose a lot of weight in week 1 and then your body kind of goes into shock on week 2…well I’m here to tell you that I’m going to wake it up again!
After I had a little while to process the weigh in, I recorded this response:
It may not have been the response I wanted this week, but I’ll be damned if I’m not going to learn from it and have a stronger week as a result of what I now know.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. It’s the people at Blue Sky MD that really make the difference in this journey. I hope you get a chance to experience them as well!
At the Dollywood Opryland Press Conference
I didn’t want to day to end before I share some important life lessons learned from an impromptu press conference today. While my day started out with a mini-breakdown & crying spell, it ended with a press conference and photo opp with Dolly Parton! If I had known what I was getting into when I left the house today, I might have done a few things differently. In retrospect, here are the things I learned and wanted to pass on that I’ll take with me from today’s experiences:
1. Dress to Impress
You never know who you’re going to meet when you leave the house. It seems like the days I wear my pajamas to drive the kids to school, thinking I’ll never get out of my van, are the exact days I need to drop off something or end up meeting someone. Case in point – I had to run out of the house today and barely got a brush through my hair, much less make up on. I ended up having to go to the radio station, record two videos and get photographed with Dolly Parton. Safe to say, I’ll rethink my morning routine from this point forward…
2. Fully Charge your Electronic Devices
Being a frugal girl, I can’t stand leaving things plugged in all night long. That being said, I usually leave the house with just enough juice in my phone so that it doesn’t die on the way to school and I figure I’ll charge it up when I get home. The problem lies when it’s a day like today, and I never get to return home, much less end up at a press conference at the Grand Ole Opry that I need to use my phone to both shoot pictures and video with. Charge. Charge. Charge away!
3. Include Your Spouse
This press conference was such a well kept secret, that most of us didn’t receive an invite until the day before. When I showed the email to my husband, he mentioned wanting to join me. Because we do so much as a family at Opryland, he often accompanies me on their press conferences (plus I make him man the video camera I didn’t think it was that big a deal, but this time he really seemed set on coming with me. While sometimes it can be very easy for me to separate my blogging life from my family life, I appreciate any time Ricky wants to jump in the mix with me, and today told me to trust my instincts…and listen to my husband more!
4. Make Your Passion Work
Two things were obvious to me more than anything else about Dolly Parton today: She loves what she does and she recognizes what her strong points are (and what she needs to leave in the hands of others). Dolly is a VERY passionate and talented individual who loves who she is, what she does and where she lives. There is no mistaking it! She was quick to speak when she felt comfortable and she was equally quick to step aside and put someone else in the spotlight to showcase their strengths. When you make your passion your work, your work becomes less of a job and more of an extension of your everyday life. I strive to live this way every day.
I realize some of these are more serious than others, but still equally important nonetheless.
Have you ever found yourself in a similar circumstance when you least expected it? How did you handle it? What did you learn as a result?
Curious how my life transformation journey with Blue Sky MD is going? Check out my week 1 weigh in:
That’s right! I lost 6.8 pounds in my first week with Blue Sky MD!
Here are the numbers for Week 1:
Weight: 168.2 pounds
BMI: 27.2
Fat %: 39.6
Waist: forgot to measure waist & hips this week!
Hips:
(You can visit my first weight control post to find out my starting stats if you want to fill in your at-home game piece
I have to be honest, week 1 wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be (or as everyone made it out to be). Sure, I had my moments of food boredom and fatigue (check out day 4), but fitting into clothes for the first time in a year more than made up for it! (Read day 3)
I am MORE than excited to let you know that not only do I get to increase my calorie and carb intake this week, but I can also add in all the fruits & veggies I found it so hard to avoid in week 1.
Now mind you, I still cannot eat starchy vegetables (corn, sweet potato, etc) and I have to watch the portions on some fruit (for instance, did you know just a half of a banana has 15 grams of carbs???), but I’ve already treated myself to a HUGE salad with cilantro, pecans and feta. YUM.
The most important thing I learned at this week’s weigh in was that yes, I was most likely a carb addict. While I didn’t indulge in a lot of bread or pasta, my favorite foods that I thought were healthy (honey, Greek yogurt, Kashi Go-Lean cereal, just to name a few) are actually VERY high in carbs; so it’s not that they’re not healthy, but I’ve learned I cannot consume them in unlimited amounts just because I deem them so.
Bottom line: this week I was counseled to make sure my carbs don’t exceed 10% of my calories. So even if I choose to indulge or cheat a little (which I haven’t yet – well, except for that feta stuffed mushroom that the Copper Kettle cooked when I was on Talk of the Town on Wednesday – it was SO worth it!), I just need to make sure the total carbs don’t exceed that 10% mark this week. Totally doable.
Another thing I’ve loved about Blue Sky MD is that I feel like a person and not a patient; an individual and not a number. Both of my appointments, I’ve been taken care of very promptly, but I’ve gone WAY over my budgeted appointment time (due to all MY questions)…yet never made to feel like I was being rushed or had to leave. I have been educated during every step of the journey by their team of nurses, dieticians and patient specialists. I actually look forward to going each week
I did finally make a decision about the natural hormone therapy, but I’ll tell you more about that this weekend. I did also take my front/side/back pictures again, but it’s hard to tell much of a difference right now, except from the side view. I’ve lost that puffy/bloated feeling that’s been hanging around for so long, so that’s a victory for me!
What about you – have you called for your free consultation with Amanda yet? You won’t be sorry you did!
