"It's always sunny...       sometimes you just have to choose stay above the clouds."

Sometimes happiness is a feeling...but, at ALL times, happiness is a choice. 

Flying above your problems...First stop, the beautiful city of Amsterdam. Where dreams of cafes, coffee shops, and ungodly foods all come true. 

To start my 30th year of life I decided to do something fun and exciting, something solely for me.  So often I find myself basing my decisions off of other people, what they want, what they need, or what they'll think of me if...

Goodbye young Sarah, there's a new, bold, old Sarah in town and she's got some life to live.  These past couple years have been somewhat of a rollercoaster ride of emotions, and I had a solid eight hour flight to reflect on a whole lot of things (mostly because my 5 foot body could barely  fit in the tiny space the airlines gave us and also because the man beside me definitely forgot to shower the last 3 months, but hey....that's okay, it happens.) 

I looked outside the window as we were flying 35,000 feet in the air and saw something pretty breathtaking.  Below the clouds you could see lightening and rain, there was a huge storm going on - but as I looked straight out ahead we were flying in whimsical clouds with sunlight shining through ever so majestically.  This little image made me reflect on how similar that was to my own life (and yours too, maybe?).  Sometimes we go through different storms, where we are being rained on and the wind is going crazy and there is no sunlight or peace in sight...or so we think.  But little do we know, if we could just rise above that storm (or the things in our life that are causing the storm, the people that bring us down, the unnecessary drama at work, people who choose to hurt us...etc) we would see that the sun never left.  It's always shining - we simply must choose to put ourselves in a position where the clouds don't have an effect on us...aka 35,000 feet in the air flying to a beautiful European country thousands of miles away- am I right?!

Many of you know me because of my career as a personal trainer. I have worked with a lot of clients in person and online and I absolutely love my job. I wanted to start this blog mostly for me and my own thoughts - because let's face it, I need to hear my own advice most of the time. I am much better at giving advice than taking it, and this is a form of therapy for me that will allow me to read what I need to hear. And if you are anything like me, (which I know many of you are because I've worked with you as a client) maybe you need to hear some of these things too.

My past trip to Europe really opened my eyes to a lot of things. It made me realize how much I allowed my own excuses and issues to hold me back in life. I can see that there have been many times I chose to be a victim of my circumstances instead of a victor. When people in my life hurt me or used me I got into the fetal position crying over and over again "why me...why me", when in reality I was walked over and used because of ME....yet I never took responsibility for it. Because honestly...it's easier to be a victim, it's easier to blame other people and make them the villain, because seeing yourself as the cause of your own demise is really...really hard.  

You see, we sometimes don't get to choose what happens to us. BUT we ALWAYS get to choose how we allow it to effect us. We have to start taking responsibility of our own life. If you are unhappy with your job, DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. If you are unhappy in your relationship, DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. If you are unhappy with your physical health, DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. If you are unhappy, DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!!  This trip overseas was something I chose to do for me and only me. Did all of my clients want me to leave for three weeks, no of course not. Did my family want me to fly across the country by myself and stay with someone none of them ever met, no of course not. Did my bank account want me to take a 3 week sabbatical and buy all the flights and coffees and food the world had to offer, that is definitely a HARD no right there. But guess what, I chose to do it all anyway because that's what I wanted to do.  

Sometimes being selfish is OKAY. Because when we are constantly doing things for other people we are going to deplete ourselves so much that there's nothing left for ourselves or anyone else. So in the long run, being selfish in a way can make you better at being selfless. Because you have more life to give others when you fill your own bucket with what makes you thrive, what makes you flourish, what makes you the best version of YOU.

Stop allowing the clouds to blind yourself of the sunshine, the fresh vitamin D your body is craving and needs...stop allowing people to bring you down, rise above the negative, rise so far above that the clouds have no effect on your life anymore.  Now, I'm not saying we should all drop everything and fly across the world...although that's not a terrible idea.  But what I am saying is do something today that is going to make your light shine brighter.  We all have one life to live, don't waste it living as a background character of someone else's story.  Create your own story, be your own hero, live your own life.  We all have to stop playing the victim, to take responsibility, because with that responsibility comes this overwhelming feeling of freedom and control of who you are and who you are choosing to become.  

So here's my new blog...my thoughts as I drink my morning espresso. And if you think it can help you, read on sweetheart. Follow me along as I begin this 30th year of my amazing, beautiful, crazy life.