Our guest today, Esther Avant, shares a statistic that 80% of our inner thoughts are negative. She believes, this is one reason it is soo difficult to take what she calls, compassionate ownership, of our health and lives. Esther is a sports nutritionist, personal trainer, health and weight loss coach and Owner of EA Coaching. She provides holistic health and lifestyle coaching and specializes in helping women, generally over 40, reach their health and weight loss goals. She supports them by helping them learn and master the exercise and nutrition "Big Rocks," and taking complex and overwhelming topics (like menopause!) and simplifying them so that the individual feels ready, willing, and able to take meaningful action.

But, our conversation with Esther focuses on so much more than just the obvious aspects of exercise and nutrition and, instead, focuses on the less well understood components of mindset work and lifestyle change.. We take a deep dive into the root cause of our own personal roadblocks to change (in general) and our continuous habit as women to show up for EVERYONE else, BUT ourselves.

Esther teaches us that we have to start to rebuild trust with ourselves by consistently making and then fulfilling the small...then larger commitments we make to ourselves. In doing so...we prove to ourselves that we can show up, withstand things that are difficult, push ourselves out of our comfort zone and thrive. We CAN DO HARD THINGS ladies. We HAVE to do hard things to live the life we aspire to. Esther believes if more women prioritized their health, they’d be able to use those same principles to unleash the confidence and focus they all need to leave their mark on the world

EA Coaching has helped hundreds of women realize that they're not too old, it's not too late, and they don't need to accept, "maybe this is just middle age."

In this episode, Esther teaches us:

1. Making lifestyle changes that stick requires showing ourselves the same compassion and empathy we would show to another person whom we love an care about.
2. Getting to a place where you love your body is a process that takes time. While we're navigating these shifts, take time to control and curate what you're exposed to on social media because what you consume has an impact on your progress and self-talk. The noise is not improving your life.
3. Be intentional about who you surround yourself with and curate your own "advisory board". Taking compassionate ownership of your life and health is easier when the women you surround yourself with are practicing the same habits.
4. We don't realize the number of complex issues at play that prevent us from changing our habits and shifting our lifestyle. These can range from the "food centric" nature of social society to more deeply rooted internal narratives where we tell ourselves we are a priority or that it isn't worth the risk of failing...again.
5. When we continue to make commitments to ourselves and then NOT follow through, we begin to lose trust in ourselves. Taking compassionate ownership of our lives and healths means we have to rebuild trust in ourselves, slowly but surely, and start showing up for ourselves the way we show up for everyone else.

You can find more about Esther at:

Website | www.estheravant.com

Facebook | eawellnesscoaching

Instagram | @esther.avant

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