WELCOME!

Women Owning Wellness (WOW). If you’re reading this, that tells me you’re curious about WOW and I’m happy to entertain your curiosity! As I was proofreading my content this morning when I created this new site, I shared some of the information about WOW with my three boys. One of my 9 year old twins says to me, “I don’t get it. It doesn’t make sense.” Now, perhaps that could be because he is 9, and my ornery son, or really it could be that I wasn’t explaining very well to him the definition of WOW. Either way, if he doesn’t get it, perhaps you won’t either, and so I’m going to do my best to delve into why I created this platform.

First, I’m not selling you anything. Not yet anyways. Yes, I am a certified CrossFit L2 Coach and adept at nutrition counseling, and could very well program or remote train you as a client. While I enjoy those ventures, and they may be built into WOW at some point, that’s not really what I’m after as the motivating factor behind starting WOW.

In short, I enjoy making others feel valued and good about themselves. That’s the simplest way I can explain my calling. Is that odd? Perhaps. But when I have been asked about what do I feel is a God given gift…it’s truly probably that. I have always naturally been the person that people come to for reassurance, guidance, a listening ear, advice, feel good atta boys, and frankly, it comes very easily to me to be that person. I don’t want to sound arrogant or that I have all the answers; Lord knows I have my long list of screw-ups. But I liken being that person, to an athlete who God blessed with an outstanding jump shot; or perhaps the natural talent to glide through the water as a swimmer, or a child who sits down at a piano and can just play. It’s unexplainable how or why they can do those things, and they may not know why as well. For me, engaging, bringing together, encouraging, building up those around me and wanting people to really feel a part of something is what comes as second nature to me.

So that’s my gift? I think so. No, I am ready to say that I know it is. I didn’t ask for that gift, but I have known I was different in that way from an early age. It was almost pattern-like that everywhere I went, random people started telling me their life stories within 2 minutes of meeting. Yes, I am more outgoing than most, but people generally are fully disclosing lots of personal information to me within a short period of time. For some reason they felt comfortable or compelled to do so. I just asked the questions and they just kept talking. This used to annoy my husband greatly as it would at times take away from the moment/experience at hand. Now he just laughs and knows it’s par for the course in my presence. Another example I can share is that I literally can feel the energy in a room full of people upon arrival. Instead of focusing on the actual gathering or the event or purpose, my soul immediately can determine who is uncomfortable, guarded, needs reassurance and I will quickly try to figure out how to make them feel connected or that they belong. I don’t think about doing this when I am, it’s just an affinity to feel what others are feeling. It’s how I’m wired. With that being said, it’s one thing to have a gift, and another thing to use your talents to help others. If I can utilize this gift or calling to help others, then I should. I also as a woman of faith, am called by my Savior to do so.

For quite some time now, I’ve felt that I was super close in really capitalizing on what I was good at in a way that truly served others. Super close meaning. yes I’ve had some successes and things I’ve felt have helped change lives. When I am coaching others, in that very moment or essence of when an athlete accomplishes a feat, it felt satisfying and filled my cup. However, nothing really has absolutely struck me in the way this project does. WOW could be called a project (which I just did), but I like to think of it as a movement, with no end in sight. Projects have deadline and rules and for those who know me, I cannot stand schedules, rigid guidelines and so forth. Look at my inbox sometime on my phone if we’re together, and you will see how badly I struggle with those (what I feel are) nuances. Therefore, WOW is more about the continual evolvement of empowering women to own their wellness.

That all sounds fancy and frilly, but in short WOW is about trying to be our best. Wellness includes physical, emotional, occupational, social, environmental, and spiritual health and well-being. Each one of us should aspire to have all of these in harmony, but the framework and plan to achieve that harmony is different for every single woman out there. I can’t type out what wellness means to you, because that is unique to you and you only; think of it as your fingerprints. No one else in the entire world has your thumbprint; and no one else on this planet will have ever share the exact same definition of what wellness means to them. If wellness isn’t a value yet in your life, I’m hoping we can get you there! What this means is that by owning our wellness, we are saying that we get to decide what all of the above aspects should look like, feel like, and be like. Your desired outcomes when it comes to all of those pieces in the wellness puzzle will look different than mine and they SHOULD. I’m still hoping to be a bulky, muscle laden woman who has big guns and after a lifetime of working on bicep curls, I still have not achieved that outcome…yet. Ha! Upon you reading this, maybe you laughed, maybe you thought (me too!) or perhaps you even said ugh, I don’t know why she would want to achieve that.

Guess what, the beauty is that we don’t have to agree on how we achieve wellness for our own selves, or how we pursue it, or even what the end result looks like! Our commonality as WOW Women is that we want to support each other in our individualized wellness journey, whatever that looks like for each of us.

The physical example about muscles was easy, but let’s delve into more of an emotional wellness example. If you feel most alive, energized, and passionate about making scrapbooks….then make them! I know nothing about scrapbooking, nor does it interest me. But if it fills your feel good cup and you find enjoyment, fulfillment and emotional satisfaction and an overall sense of well-being by scrapbooking…full steam ahead!

The relevance to these two examples is that I’m not going to define what wellness is for YOU. You get to decide that. WOW isn’t going to define it for you either. No one else has the power to tell you what your best life looks like. Nor should they. This must come from within. Once you set forth on a path to make your wellness a priority, then you can begin to orchestrate a plan, and by trial and error, what is working or not working for you. There’s no blueprint to find wellness. Sure we can tell you to exercise 30 minutes a day (whatever the official medical industry standard is), eat your fruits and veggies, and get a good night’s rest. Those are all good choices to help you achieve physical wellness and I would honestly encourage everyone to try those things. But I’m more interested in finding out what makes you capable of living your best life. There’s no room for blaming others or shirking responsibility when it comes to our wellness as WOW Women. Some of you may stop reading this right now after that sentence! That’s okay with me. I am a true proponent for choices, accountability and responsibility. WOW’s foundation is actually based on personal accountability at the core.

Now, now, before you think I’m being too harsh, all I’m saying is we all have “stuff”. I would define “stuff” as any of the bad stuff in our lives. Absolutely everyone of us has had challenges, trauma, trials, yuck and things that have impacted who we are. Some of it was absolutely beyond our control as children or even adults and it shaped our well-being. I do not want to discount that and want you to feel affirmed that you were shaped by those events. However, this I know. We can’t change what has occurred in the past nor can we change others. But the freaking amazing and absolutely invigorating and relentless feeling that I can’t shake, is that we can change ourselves! Yes, we have the power to change. Yes we have the ability to choose hundreds of times a day what we say, how we act, how we react, how we plan, how we think, how we schedule, how we eat, how we move our bodies, how we connect spiritually, and so forth. That in itself is called freedom. We have the freedom to make choices. Friends, that gets me fired up and giddy inside. Freedom is POWERFUL!

If you’re still reading, I applaud you as I know I am rambling. Owning our wellness is a choice. We get to choose and design a life that makes us well (hopefully). If you don’t like something change it. If you are unhappy try something else. If you are overwhelmed, ask for help. Know you are not alone in this quest and that you will make mistakes trying to achieve wellness in your life. Along the way, life won’t always leave you feeling like that last day of school before summer break (throwing papers in the air, shrieking with excitement about the freedom from scheduling and rules), you catch my drift. But if we at least acknowledge that we have the power to choose a life well-lived, that can be our starting point, our baseline if you will. When we establish the baseline for what we want our wellness or life to feel like, then we have hope, we can dream and we can start to work daily on small items to improve our sense of well-being. Hope is one of my favorite feelings in the world.

I loved writing this, and I hope it provided clarity and perhaps inspiration for you to write down, what you want your life to be like. I remember doing that as a kid in elementary school…”In 20 years I will be…” Perhaps you did that assignment too? Either way, bust out the piece of paper and write your list down now. “At the present, I want my life to be….” Time is fleeting and hopefully you are feeling a sense of urgency to start owning your wellness today. If not now, when?

Much love-

Jen