The Incredible Power of Not Giving a Flip

I’m a mom of four kids. If you know anything about being a mom, we give everything we have to our kids. The kids come first. I’m also a wife of many years, and the best part — I’m a people pleaser.

You can kind of guess how that worked for me. Which is to say, it didn’t really. Or rather, it worked OK for everyone else, but things didn’t end up so great for me. It meant ending up at 427 pounds, unhappy with life, and in a ton of pain. It was pretty clear that something had to change, and that change needed to come from me.

It also meant that I hit a wall, when the doctor told me I was going to die if I didn’t lose weight, and preferably have bariatric surgery.

In short, I was going to have to up-end my entire life. The way my family eats. The way I exercise, the way I eat and prepare food. I also was going to have to change pretty much everything in my life. Vitamins, hours I work, everything.

What I didn’t realize was how transformative the entire experience would be. I put myself first for the first time ever. I took my vitamins. I exercised. I got sleep. I started picking and choosing clients.

I lived life on my own terms. In fact, I quit caring what anyone else thought, or wanted. I put myself and my own care in front of the kids, the husband, the clients, and guess…