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As my move to Fayetteville looms closer, I realize that there are so many areas that are unfamiliar to me. I am outside my comfort zone and don’t know what to expect. How can I prepare for the unexpected? How do I get through the normal day to day living that is still going on within the chaos? I am seeking and accepting help in various areas to ease me through this transition. I have pulled in advice from Stephanie, a client turned friend, who has been in my position before. She and her husband have 3 children ranging in age from preschool to high school. She was an elementary school teacher and a fitness instructor before moving from Long Island to Cincinnati several years ago. Her experiences in those positions help her understand what she needed to do to keep a focus on nutrition and fitness even when she felt like she had no time throughout the moving process.

Children have different learning styles and what works for one student does not necessarily work for another. You have to take a lesson and modify it to fit their needs. As children turn into adults, they don’t automatically begin learning the same way or have the same needs as everyone else. Each adult also has their own way of learning and is at a unique position in their journey to be healthy and fit. Their approach to fitness and nutrition needs to be tailored to them.

Keeping fit is something that came naturally to Stephanie. Their move in conjunction with general aging made it hard to stay fit with all the barriers thrown in her path. She had to develop new friendships, find a new place of worship and start all over finding pediatricians, general physicians and specialty doctors for a health condition which causes her pain and difficulty moving. Even hair and nail professionals had to be searched out to find the right fit. She was out of her comfort zone and her priorities shifted. It was a stressful time and Stephanie focused on her kids to help her gain control. Her children knew that before the move, their mom had worked out, stayed fit and taught fitness classes. If she lost herself with the move and stopped those things that were important to her, her children would be lost also and struggle with the transition. By continuing her fitness pattern in whatever way she could, even though the move made it very difficult, she was showing her kids that it was possible to continue doing what was important despite new barriers. She was modeling coping behaviors for them that would help them in the present and down the road as they grow up and moved out on their own.

Due to her Rheumatoid Arthritis she was not able to get as much exercise as she would have liked. She needed to focus on her eating and nutrition habits. Feeding her whole family healthy meals has always been a struggle for her so, with her move, she decided to pull in the help of a professional. That is how she became my client. Her preschooler has some specific needs, so she also is getting help for him from an occupational therapist about his eating habits. She knows a trusted professional can help you to work on reaching your goals at an appropriate pace. They can help you take a step back and get out of your own head to see that you are making progress.

It doesn’t haven’t to be a move in life that pushes us outside of our comfort zone or throws extra barriers in the way of accomplishing our goals. The same can be said of career changes, marriage, having babies and many other life events. We need to remember the long-term impact of our short-term decisions. If we throw up our hands and say forget the workout or let’s go out to eat again, we are not helping our children learn. We need to think about role modeling