All in mindset

A Better Path to Self-Care for the Holidays

A Better Path to Self-Care for the Holidays

Stephanie Ondrusek
mindset

Loving yourself looks different for everyone, and it's important you find what it looks like for you.

For some, it's strength training. It can be meditating. It can be yoga. It can be cooking. It can be your favorite show on Netflix. It can be a manicure and a bubble bath and a glass of wine.

Those acts of self-care are important parts of loving yourself, for sure, but this picture is not complete. The ultimate act of loving yourself, in my opnion — the one ring to rule them all, if you will — is to protect your energy.

Fitness Doesn't Have to be a Punishment.

Fitness Doesn't Have to be a Punishment.

Stephanie Ondrusek
body image, workouts, mindset

Fitness doesn’t have to be a punishment.

It’s not the Visa for food binges. No debt collectors will come calling.

You’re allowed to move in a way that makes you feel good, simply because it makes you feel good.

You can discover your desires, your fears, your passion, and your power in the gym, all without changing a damn thing about your body if you don’t want to. And you can change and sculpt your body without the current iteration being “bad,” “wrong,” or, “gross,” if you so choose.

Strength is Not Just the Iron.

Strength is Not Just the Iron.

Stephanie Ondrusek
mindset

We tend to think of strength in one context: how much can you lift? But strength is so much more than a number on a bar.

Strength is more than an ego boost; around these parts, we spend a lot of time discussing being more than a number, and this is no exception (a sometimes difficult shift, as we realize that "not defining ourselves by a number" means ANY number, even ones that prop us up. We're more than our abilities. We have inherent worth begotten simply by birth.).

Fitness Can Be About More Than Getting Smaller

Fitness Can Be About More Than Getting Smaller

Stephanie Ondrusek
body image, Bold Body Initiative, mindset

Toning, sculpting (coolsculpting?), shaping, firming: they're all the same.

They're words used to indicate physical transformation. I can get on board with that: you're powerful beyond measure, and you have the power to show up in your body (and in your life) exactly as you see fit.

The issue I take, though, is that those are almost exclusively used to give us all the same goal: getting smaller.

Fitness is about SO much more than that.

I Tried Something New Recently.

I Tried Something New Recently.

Stephanie Ondrusek
Bold Body Initiative, mindset, offers

I did a new thing recently.

Due to injuries, stress, and poor-quality sleep, I've been moving my body in new ways. It's been a process of relearning how to tune in — something that is relatively easy for me under some heavy weight, but, I've noticed, is not so natural (at least not without a steady stream of judgment) in other mediums of movement.

I've been doing some #mediocreyoga for about 6 months (which you've seen intermittently in my Instagram stories, if you're playing along!), and earlier this week, a new class was advertised that was beginner-friendly. I'm also in a new area, so, I figured, why not?

And just like that, I took my mediocre yoga out into the world.

Why I Don't Do Before-and-After Photos Anymore

Why I Don't Do Before-and-After Photos Anymore

Stephanie Ondrusek
body image, Bold Body Initiative, mindset, offers

I'm not into before-and-after photos, because I don't believe in comparison.

Not even of the "#youvsyou" variety.

I've found them to be damaging for many people: implying that smaller is always better, or that the "after" version of you is somehow more worthy, the new standard against which you should measure from now on.

I'm constantly changing, and the past iteration of myself isn't bad or wrong or less evolved. She's just different.

How to Get Started (You've Been Thinking About it for a While Now).

How to Get Started (You've Been Thinking About it for a While Now).

Stephanie Ondrusek
coaching, mindset

"But HOW?"

I get asked this question a lot, and it's a fair one.

HOW do you start strength training if you've never felt like you belong in the gym before?

HOW do you eat just a few bites of "bad" foods?

HOW do you wake up in the morning and not hate on your stomach?

HOW do you dance when you're a clumsy dancer, or write when you're an unclear writer, or love when you're an insecure lover?

There aren't always easy answers, and, "just start," while true, isn't very helpful in the swirling overwhelm.

"Steph, Can We Try That?"

"Steph, Can We Try That?"

Stephanie Ondrusek
coaching, mindset, Bold Body Initiative

Rigidity in our programs keeps us uninformed: it keeps us enslaved to a program or a personality dictating our goals to us and promising that their methods are best. We don't give ourselves the opportunity to be our own best teachers—to explore, to experiment, or to say, "that's not my jam."

Allowing my body the space to not be perfect showed me that I actually don't have to be perfect anywhere. I know what's best for me, and I can change course at any time.

How to Stop Hating Your Body

How to Stop Hating Your Body

Stephanie Ondrusek
body image, mindset, offers

I've discussed it before, but it bears repeating: the language you're using has a tangible impact on your perspective.

Many clients come to me unhappy with their bodies, desperately hoping that the program I present will hold all the secrets to body change, and, as a result, happiness.

They're disappointed to find out that it doesn't always work that way (I do write great programs, of course, and ones that will help you find joy, but most people are surprised to discover that getting their dream body often feels different from how they thought it would.).

Liking our bodies (and ourselves) is an inside job, one that can't be completed in an hour a day at the gym and a salad every night for dinner. It's a practice, and it often feels unreachable: how many times have you asked yourself, "how do I go from hating everything about my body to loving it? LOVING it?"

It seems a million miles away for a lot of us. It did for me.

Stop Playing Small. Unleash Your Power.

Stop Playing Small. Unleash Your Power.

Stephanie Ondrusek
coaching, mindset, offers

If you're a woman, it's highly likely that you've spent at least some time training to shrink.

The gym is male-dominated territory, and in no place is this more prominently displayed than in the weight room.

The free weight area is often full of grunts, stringer tanks, gallon jugs, backwards hats, and egos, with the women relegated to the 5-pound dumbbells (you know, for toning.).

We've all paid our dues: every woman I know has spent hours on a treadmill, elliptical, or stair stepper, not feeling a workout is complete until there are puddles on the floor, wrapping ourselves in waist trainers and sweat bands to hasten the process, always hoping to...get smaller.

How to Make Friends with Your Body

How to Make Friends with Your Body

Stephanie Ondrusek
mindset, feminism

Are you tired of advertising campaigns convincing you that you've been doing this wrong the whole time? That a bottle holds the key that you've been missing? That you're not capable of figuring your goals out on your own?

You've been taught she can't be trusted, but that couldn't be further from the truth.

Your body – often demonized, rarely celebrated – is wise.

Stop Calling Yourself Gross.

Stop Calling Yourself Gross.

Stephanie Ondrusek
coaching, mindset

An exercise I do with many of my clients is an examination of the words we choose to describe ourselves.

Many women come to me feeling things like, “gross,” “large and in charge,” and/or, “disgusting.”

I've been there, too, impugning my thighs for spilling over the sides of my chairs, deriding my stomach for flowing over my waistband, slamming my shoulders for ripping the seams of my shirts.

You're not alone in this shadow, but you also don't have to stay there.

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