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15 Incredible Ways to Find Strength from Within

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Everyone has situations in life that require inner strength to get through. You may feel like you don’t have that kind of inner strength. Here are 15 ways you can find the inner strength you need in your life.

Inner strength is staying power and resilience. It involves courage and tenacity to withstand difficulties. Studies show that inner strength is essential for good mental health and a sense of wellbeing. It’s a huge component is healing.

How to find strength from within

There are many ways to cultivate your strength from within. These 15 suggestions are just a few of the many ways to grow more resilient and tenacious.

strength from within1 – Find hope

When you possess hopefulness, you feel more optimistic about your life. You expect good things to happen in your life. This expectation of good things allows you to have confidence and calm in your life. When people lose hope, they worry about all the bad things that could happen. Spreading hope gives the people around you a sense of peace. Hopeful people are more involved with helping others because they possess the confidence to spread their positive attitude.

2 – Don’t dwell on your past mistakes

Everyone makes mistakes. Beating yourself up about your past mistakes is never productive. It traps you in a cycle of guilt and shame. Cultivating inner strength means you can admit your mistakes and move on. You can learn from your mistakes so you can avoid doing the same thing again.

3 – Decide to have a different view of challenges

Inner strength affects many areas of your life. It equips you to view life and its challenges with mental toughness. Mental fortitude helps you view challenges as opportunities to grow and find new solutions. You don’t let hard things get you down but rise to the occasion. When you think about people you know who are successful, no doubt you’ll see people who have gone through a lot of setbacks and hardships just like you. Most of these people have in common that they possess an inner resilience and the ability to not give up in the face of challenges.

4 – Learn to be courageous

Courage doesn’t mean that you aren’t afraid, but it’s the choice not to allow your fear to rule your life. Courage means you do something despite your fears. Getting stuck in a negative attitude that tells you that you can’t do things causes you to be more passive. You’ll be less apt to try new things out of fear that you’re going to fail. Don’t allow fear to prevent you from stepping out of your comfort zone. Whether it’s taking a new job, choosing to be a stay at home mom, or moving to a new location, cultivate the courage to help you gain strength from within.

5 – Cultivate your faith

Faith helps you get through difficult times by giving you a sense of inner strength and peace. Faith in something outside yourself helps you overcome your fears and feelings of inadequacy. Knowing you can pray and pour out your heart to God gives you a sense of peace and confidence in life.

6 – Take responsibility for your actions

When you have inner strength, you’re not afraid to admit or take responsibility for your actions.

You’re secure enough to say, “I messed up.”. It can be hard sometimes to be honest with yourself and others, but it’s actually freeing. Taking responsibility for your actions helps you have mental toughness. So, if you make a mistake, you admit it and then move on. You’ll be stronger for it.

pop meme7 – Find a community of people

Gather with a group of people who will support you and challenge you to grow. Finding community is essential for gaining inner strength. As you live life with others, you learn to help them and receive help. You learn how to listen to other’s thoughts and find ways to communicate your thoughts and ideas. When you isolate yourself from others, you lose out on the dynamic of shared experiences. You’ll find valuable friendships and have a sense of belonging.

8 – Resist fear

Today, fear is a huge driving force behind many people’s decisions. Fear is never a good motivator. Fear negatively impacts your mind and health. In fact, studies show that fear contributes to heart disease, autoimmune diseases, anxiety, and depression. Having inner strength gives you the ability to step out to face challenges rather than to give in to fear.

9 – Free up your mind

Learn to remove negative thoughts from your mind.  Frustration overwhelms your brain and weighs you down, so you can’t think straight. It distracts you, so you can’t get things done. Practicing mindfulness can help you focus and become more decisive. Focus on what’s good and true. Other ways to free up your mind include

  • Reading
  • Exercise
  • Trying a new hobby
  • Journaling
  • Breathing exercises

10 – Get physically fit

Your mind and body are connected. Have you ever noticed how athletes possess an inner mental strength that helps them overcome physical challenges? Athletes not only need a strong body, but they need mental toughness to win. They find strength from within by cultivating their inner strength from within. Making your body strong by eating a healthy diet and exercising doesn’t seem like it will do much for your mental strength, but it will boost your inner strength. You’ll feel better physically to overcome challenges in your life better.

Inner strength qualities

Finding strength inside yourself involves growing in character qualities. Here is a list of the unique qualities of those people who possess inner strength.

  • Courage: You are willing to face scary situations, not in the absence of fear, but despite your fears. You attempt difficult things even at personal risk.
  • Curiosity: You want to learn about new things. You ask questions to understand better. You don’t assume you know everything, but you’re willing to learn from others.
  • Kindness: You seek others’ welfare. You’re ready to help others in need.
  • Love: You choose to show love to others different from you as well as those like you.
  • Intelligence: You value learning and understanding. You aren’t intimidated by new ideas.
  • Creativity: You have the ability and desire to come up with new solutions to problems. You look for unusual solutions that no one else has thought about or tried.
  • Gratitude: You find things to be grateful for every day rather than complaining about what isn’t right. You make an effort to thank the people in your life who have helped and inspired you.
  • Leadership: You step up to lead when necessary, whether it’s at home or work.
  • Prudence: You choose wisdom over recklessness.
  • Humor: You can laugh at yourself. You know how to use humor to defuse arguments or division. You don’t take yourself too seriously.
  • Humility: You know it’s not all about you. You know your limitations and like to acknowledge other people’s successes and strengths.
  • Integrity: You can be trusted. You will do what you say you will do. You keep your promises.
  • Teamwork: You can get along with people to get a job done. You can keep your ego in check enough to follow another person’s leadership.
  • Spirituality: You have faith and believe that something bigger than yourself is overseeing the world.
  • Persistence: You don’t give up when things get difficult. You have tenacity.

strength from withinFinal thoughts on finding strength from within

Everyone needs inner strength to face the challenges in life. You may feel like you don’t have enough strength to face difficulties. These suggestions can help you grow in inner strength. It won’t happen overnight. Inner strength takes time, and it’s often gained through hardships or making mistakes. Some of the most successful people are those who have faced defeat but didn’t give up.

They found inner strength within by getting back up and trying again. You are stronger than you think, so don’t give in to fear or anxiety. Find ways to cultivate curiosity, courage, moving past your mistakes, and getting physically fit. All these things can help you grow in inner strength to become the person you want to be.

5 Ways Looking Down On Others Destroys Your Self-Confidence

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Do you ever find yourself thinking you’re above other people? Do you tend to think others are worse than you or find fault in the people around you? It’s a big mistake! Looking down on others can destroy your own self-worth.

If you relate to those statements, then, unfortunately, you’ve been killing your own self-esteem! But how?

5 Ways Looking Down On Others Destroys Your Self-Confidence

Here are five ways looking down on others destroys your self-confidence and how to stop it in 4 ways.

looking down on others1.    You Don’t Focus On Yourself

Focusing on looking down on other people also means that your attention is fixated on other people in general. It takes away the time that you could use to spend on yourself. That can easily cause anyone to lose touch with who they are.

Being confident involves being a little selfish about yourself. It means taking the time to focus on who you are, be aware of your strengths and weaknesses, and making yourself feel good about yourself and in general. You can’t do that if your attention is too busy being spent on random others.

2.    You Get A Skewed View Of Others

Social comparison isn’t an inherently negative thing if you’re doing it correctly. Learning to reasonably take note of what you appreciate or admire in others can inspire you to do better and change positively.

Of course, the issue is that looking down on others isn’t the “correct” way to do this. It means you’re only finding fault in other people, and you can’t learn from what you dislike about them.

Many people who seek social comparison go about it this way or in a toxic manner, seeking only to seek self-esteem boosts or self-enhancement. The problem with this is that they do so via distortion to gain inauthentic positive thinking out of it. This means they:

  • Make upward social comparisons, where they look “up” at others, to justify their poor performance: “They’re so much better at this than me because they’ve been training for years, of course, I’m not doing as well!”
  • Make downward social comparisons, where they look “down” on others, to make themselves feel better: “I’m not actually doing that badly, look at her – she’s way worse than me!”
  • Completely avoid making any comparisons or making certain types of comparisons if they don’t want an honest self-evaluation: “Whatever, who cares how I’m doing, it doesn’t even matter!”

This is a form of psychological denial. It skews reality in your favor but makes you dependent on that skewing, forming a vicious downward spiral. You begin to need these biased comparisons to feel good about yourself, as you’ve not tried to find confidence in more productive ways.

3.    You Define Yourself By Others’ Standards

The standards of other people are their own. When you look down on others, you’re performing acts of comparison, but that comparison means you’re focusing on how they conduct themselves. It may not seem like it, but you’re tangling up their standards with yours.

Take, for example, social media. Most studies reveal that seeing someone doing well or achieving something on social media can often reduce self-esteem and positive thinking, even if you also feel happy for that person. So when you see someone doing well on social media and look down on them, it’s pretty easy to fall into that trap regardless.

Acting high and mighty doesn’t stop you from subconsciously comparing yourself to others. To put others down, you have to be performing some comparison. Of course, those comparisons are pointless. Each person is battling their own demons and focusing on their own growth. Putting any link between your journey and theirs is a surefire way to damage your self-esteem by these arbitrary standards.

4.    You Don’t Accept Yourself

While it’s fine and healthy to make decisions about who you want to spend your time on and who you don’t, there’s a line to be drawn at deciding if someone is “worthy.” A lot of the time, these kinds of thoughts and put-downs are a projection of your own trouble accepting yourself.

Self-acceptance is the key to self-confidence. Putting others down wastes energy on your non-acceptance of others. It shouldn’t matter if you accept others or not – all you have to be at peace with is yourself and who you are.

5.    You Don’t Think About What Makes You Who You Are

True self-confidence comes from the ability to love all the parts of you and accept them for what they are. If you’re putting others down, you forget that they have their own factors that make them who they are, just like you do. Unfortunately, that also often means you don’t think about what makes you unique! For example:

·         Your Past

Your past may have pain, messiness, or even just some things you aren’t proud of in it. Owning that past gives you better insight into how other people are shaped by their own pasts and will often make you feel less comfortable looking down on others.

·         Your Future

Looking down on others is short-sighted. You’re seeing someone as a static, non-changing being, not as someone who will grow over time and become better and stronger. It often means your view of yourself is similarly short-sighted, but the fact is that you have a lot left to experience. If you focus on that, you’ll see yourself in a new light.

·         Things You Can Be Grateful For

Let’s face it – almost no one who actively spends time looking down on others is paying enough attention to all the things they can be grateful for. Gratitude is a highly positive thing and can improve your entire mental state, including yourself-esteem. Don’t waste energy on put-downs; focus instead on being thankful.

How To Stop Looking Down On Others In 4 Ways

empowering quotes1.    Use Empathy, Not Judgment

Putting others down means judging them. It’s not uncommon for someone’s judgment to be an automatic or knee-jerk response. It’s true that in many cases, the capacity for positive empathy has to be learned if it is not genetically present from the start. But there’s no better time to start learning than now!

The key to this is realizing that you don’t know someone’s story. You don’t know what they go through, how they feel, or what they thought when they did something odd or unusual. You need to replace those thoughts with other ones by catching the judgments and stopping them. Here are some examples of empathetic replacement statements:

  • Judgment: “Wow, they’re very heavy. They must be unhealthy.”

Empathy: “They may be going through a rough patch, may have a medical condition, or maybe their main focus isn’t on their weight right now. They deserve basic respect and decency, regardless of size.”

  • Judgment: “I can’t believe they would just let their kid throw a fit in public.”

Empathy: “Parenting is such a difficult job, and kids have tantrums for all sorts of reasons. They look like they’re doing their best to handle the situation!”

  • Judgment: “They seriously didn’t do this correctly again? They’re definitely not trying hard enough!”

Empathy: “Different people have different learning speeds and styles. Maybe this hasn’t been explained to them in a way that they understand! I should talk to them about this.”

2.    Be Motivated By Others

Instead of looking for reasons to scoff at others, search for reasons to be motivated by others. In other words, seek out the good in people! Find things you admire about them and that is positive about them, then use this as inspiration to drive yourself forward. You’ll find that you experience a much brighter life when you have this perspective, and this is a mark of high self-esteem. For example:

  • Take note of the leadership skills of your manager, who you usually look down on for being strict
  • Compliment your friend’s best qualities and seek to learn from them instead of scoffing at their weaknesses
  • Be inspired by the business drive of someone you usually roll your eyes at for showing off their designer clothes on social media

3.    Stop Considering Differences As Bad Things

People are different and unique. The world is full of individuals who aren’t like you. That’s just a fact of life, and it doesn’t mean they are better than, worse than, or even requiring comparison to you.

Diversity is a beautiful thing, and the world would be terribly boring if everyone were the same. Try learning and internalizing these facts:

  • What works for one person will not work for another.
  • People respond to events and circumstances in different ways.
  • An inability to understand someone’s point of view doesn’t make that point of view bad.
  • Uniqueness isn’t a personal attack on you.
  • Differences aren’t a sign that something is wrong.
  • The world’s ideas of “normal” are arbitrary and don’t need to be abided by

4.    Be Kinder To Yourself

At the end of the day, the way you talk about and look at others is often a projection of how you talk about and look at yourself. So if you find yourself always putting down others, it’s likely that you put yourself down – and you deserve better than that!

Learn to refocus the way you perceive yourself and others at the same time by being more compassionate to yourself. Change the way you think about and talk about yourself. Here are some examples:

  • Negative thought: “I may be awful at this, but at least they’re worse than I am.”

Re-focused thought: “I have my fair share of flaws and weaknesses, and so do they. We also both have our own strengths where we can shine!”

  • Negative thought: “I’m such a lazy person. Luckily, I still do more work than them.”

Re-focused thought: “I’ve been struggling with these tasks and need to get to the bottom of why. Am I overwhelmed? Do I need a break? Maybe they do too!”

  • Negative thought: “I can’t believe I made such a bad mistake. Well, they made an even worse one last month, so we’re even.”

Re-focused thought: “Mistakes are normal, and everyone makes them! A little embarrassment is worth the lesson I’ve learned.”

looking down on othersFinal Thoughts On How Looking Down On Others Destroys Your Self-Esteem And How To Stop It

The way you treat others is often a reflection of your character and mental state. And, beyond just that, it’s also simply cruel, unfair, and rude to look down on the people around you. Respect others, and you’ll find that respecting yourself comes much more easily!

Meet a Couple on a Mission to Make a Kinder World by Rescuing Animals

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We can all contribute to a kinder world in our own unique way. One couple decided to bring more compassion to the planet by opening an animal sanctuary. Sadly, many animals don’t get treated with kindness and love as they should.

Especially with farmed animals such as chickens and cows in large, commercial farms, mistreatment is common. Knowing the horrors of Big Agriculture, the couple wanted to save as many animals as possible.

This Vegan Farm Makes A Kinder World For Animals

kinder world“We opened on July 19, 2020, and in less than a year, we’ve rescued 35 farmed animals from either the animal agriculture industry or abusive circumstances,” says Rian, founder and president of Uncle Neil’s Home, a 501(c)3 nonprofit sanctuary for rescued farm animals.

The sanctuary located in Bridgeton, New Jersey, is home to cows, chickens, goats, ducks, and more. The couple has full-time jobs outside their farm life, but dedicates all their time after work to the animals. They’ve been vegan for a few years but felt they could do more to usher in a kinder world.

Rian says:

“Many years ago, we began our rescue journey with a dog rescue until quickly realizing that being a voice for the voiceless doesn’t just apply to the animals that we are conditioned to consider family and welcome into our homes, but to all living beings.”

Most of us can probably agree that we have a special place in our hearts for our pets. When we don’t have that connection with other animals, it’s harder to see them in the same light. However, the reality is that all living beings deserve love, regardless of how we’ve been conditioned to treat them.

Rian says that after rescuing their first dog, they started opening their eyes to animal cruelty in general.

“So, when we rescued and nursed our dog Uncle Neil back to health in 2018, it was impossible not to think of the countless other animals who needed our love and protection just like he did. He inspired us to take that love and spread it to other animals in need.”

How Veganism Brings Us To A Kinder World

Being vegan and rescuing animals (if you’re able) can create a kinder world

Of course, everyone’s dietary needs and preferences are different, so we’re not saying everyone should go vegan. However, at least cutting back on animal products and opting for more fruits and veggies can benefit your health and the planet as well. Studies have shown that eating a lot of meat can contribute to heart disease and other health problems.

Not to mention, raising animals for meat requires huge amounts of feed and water. Most importantly, the majority of meats sold in supermarkets come from factory farms, where animals are abused and mistreated. Unless it’s grass-fed or humanely raised, it only perpetuates the animal cruelty so rampant in modern society.

If you can’t rescue animals (as most people probably can’t), you can still make a difference. What you put on your plate each day is totally in your control, and the dietary choices you make can help to create a kinder world.

 

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A post shared by Uncle Neil’s Home (@uncleneilshome)

“We were already vegan and abstained from using and exploiting animals, but we wanted to do more. My fiancé (and cofounder) and I purchased a farm and turned it into a safe haven for rescued farmed animals,” Rian said. “We named the sanctuary Uncle Neil’s Home in honor of Uncle Neil. And, we began our mission to rescue farmed animals and give them a lifelong home, while educating and advocating for a vegan cruelty-free lifestyle to make this world a kinder place for all beings.”

The rescued animals at the sanctuary seem to love their new life. Rian and her partner have created an atmosphere where the animals feel cared for, loved and appreciated. They treat the animals with kindness, and they provide the couple with companionship, in return.

“Our residents love being brushed and pampered. They love fresh fruits and vegetables, basking in the sun, relaxing and simply enjoying their freedom,” Rian says.

A Kinder World Starts With Us

We all want to enjoy a peaceful, happy existence. However, it’s our choices and actions each day that keep us from achieving this as a collective. Many problems exist on the planet, but we can tackle them by working together. One way to create a kinder world is by treating people and animals as we would want to be treated.

“There is no moral justification for causing harm to others, especially the most vulnerable beings on our planet. We must recognize that all animals are capable of emotion, feeling love, pain, and joy, bonding with others and forming complex relationships just like you and I do,” Rian says. “We have a choice to make every single day. Approach others with kindness, or with violence. We encourage you to choose kindness to help us make this world a safer, happier, more positive and peaceful place for all.”

 

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A post shared by Uncle Neil’s Home (@uncleneilshome)

As the couple navigates owning a sanctuary, they’re considering allowing visitors or volunteers to come help. It does take a lot of work since it’s just Rian and her partner for now. However, saving the animals and providing them with a loving home is 100% worth it to them. If you’d like to receive updates on the volunteering situation, make sure to follow their Instagram page.

Also, their sanctuary relies on donations from the public to keep operating. If you’d like to donate to help them out, you can do so here.

Final Thoughts On a Kind Couple Who Started A Vegan Farm

We all have our own ideas of how to make the world a better place. For Rian and her partner, opening an animal sanctuary seemed like a good path to take. They’re both vegan, so they already care deeply about animals. However, they wanted to take things a step further and rescue animals from abuse or neglect.

Today, they have 35 animals that they love taking care of, even though it’s hard work. They’re continuing to learn as they go, and hope to inspire others to treat every being with kindness along the way.

Farm Animals Enjoy a New Life at a Vegan Sanctuary

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Unfortunately, not all farm animals get to live out their lives naturally or humanely. In our modern world, many of them live in horrific conditions, especially at commercial meat and dairy farms. Not only do the animals suffer greatly, but it takes a toll on our environment as well.

According to PetPedia, here are some statistics about factory farming:

  • Globally, farmers breed about 70 billion farm animals for consumption.
  • In the US, 99% of farm animals live in factory farms.
  • The majority of antibiotics globally goes toward feeding farm animals.
  • Chicken today contains 220% more fat than it did in the 1950s.
  • Dairy cows on factory farms have a lifespan of only 5 years. Then, the production facilities slaughter them for meat.
  • 94% of Americans say they believe the animals bred for consumption shouldn’t suffer.
  • According to the EPA, factory farming causes more water wastage than any other source in the US.
  • Around 260 million acres of forests in the US were harvested to produce fields for farm animals.
  • In the US, it’s estimated that 40% of agricultural emissions come from factory farms.
  • Farm animals living in factory farms grow at a rate three times faster than normal.
  • Dairy cows spend the majority of their lives pregnant, as the farmers need a steady supply of milk. They only get to rest a few months between pregnancies.
  • In 2007, dairy cows produced 20,000 lbs worth of milk.
  • Around the world, scientists estimate that two-thirds of animals raised for food come from factory farms.
  • 35,000 miles of river in 22 US states have been polluted by waste from raising cattle, poultry, and hogs.
  • 90% of the Amazon rainforest harvested in the last 50 years went to commercial livestock production.
  • Farm animals consume 70% of freshwater globally.
  • Farming cows produces the largest amount of methane.

The impact of factory farming

Because of the horrific consequences of factory farming on animals and the planet, many people have chosen to go vegan. Not only did Mackenzie Sullivan and Billy Graydus choose a vegan lifestyle; they opened their very own vegan sanctuary! Here’s their story.

“Ellie Mae Farm Sanctuary is a vegan farm animal sanctuary. We’re dedicated to rescuing, caring, and providing a home for neglected, abused, and abandoned farm animals.”

How the couple started rescuing farm animals

Mackenzie says she first met Ellie Mae (who she named the sanctuary after) when she was 4 months old. She had to pick a farm animal to train for an event for an animal science course at the University of Connecticut. After being with her a few months, she grew very close to Ellie Mae.


“After the course was over, she was auctioned off and a local farmer purchased her,” Mackenzie said. “I was able to visit her for the next three years. Soon after, she was impregnated, and when I found out Ellie Mae was pregnant, I knew I had to do something to save her and her soon-to-be calf.”

From their website: “When Ellie was almost two years old she was artificially inseminated and on September 16, 2018 she gave birth to a baby girl who we named, Zee. Once Zee was born I could not rest until I knew those two girls were safe. I was finally able to convince the farmer to let me have them. So we bought a trailer and moved the two girls to our first property in May of 2019.

During this time I visited as many sanctuaries as possible and interned at a sanctuary in New York. I continued to learn more about the injustices that farmed animals endured every day and grew ever more passionate about saving as many of these beautiful animals as possible. With my incredible partner, Billy, we started the sanctuary and decided to name it Ellie Mae Farm Sanctuary, after the girl who changed my world forever.”

Mackenzie says the animals give her a sense of purpose and keep her motivated to continue rescuing farm animals. Because so many of these animals receive abuse in factory farming, she wants to save as many as she can. She believes all animals deserve safety and equal treatment.

Cows can form bonds with humans much like dogs can

“We work hard each day so that the animals are able to live out the lives that they deserve, the lives that they want to live.”

Currently, they have three cows living at the sanctuary: Ellie Mae, her calf Zee, and another adult cow named Blackberry. They also adopted and rescued an 8-year-old Lab mix named Nala! As animal lovers, they will invite as many furry friends as possible onto their farm. Now that they’ve had the cows for a while, Mackenzie and Billy have grown close to them all.

“You learn how to communicate with them and how different each animal is from the next,” Mackenzie says. “My absolute favorite thing is knowing that they finally begin to trust you and you can give so much love to them, and they will also give you love in return.”

Mackenzie says that they will keep advocating for them and sharing their stories to spread awareness of a vegan lifestyle. They want to encourage others to make better choices to reduce the suffering among all beings, as well as the planet.

Final thoughts: a vegan lifestyle has a positive impact on farm animals and the planet

Humankind uses much of the land on Earth for agriculture, it makes sense to go vegan to reduce our environmental impact. While this lifestyle may not suit everyone, even eating less meat can make a big difference. If you do choose to eat meat, try to buy from sustainably sourced farms. As for eggs and dairy, make sure the box or carton says “humanely raised.”

We can all make kinder choices each day for the animals, our health, and the planet. No matter what foods you eat, choose as many ethically sourced options as you can. And, if you have the time and resources, you may consider opening a sanctuary as Billy and Mackenzie did! Plenty of farm animals out there desperately need a new home.

Inspiring Woman Loses over 100 Pounds to Improve her Life

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If you have fitness goals but struggle with motivation, this inspiring woman may help kickstart your journey. Rayy Syymone ended up losing over 100 pounds naturally, completely transforming her life and mindset. She now works as a certified personal trainer and became the face of 24 Hour Fitness on billboards across the country! We hope her story will encourage you to take that first step toward a healthy lifestyle and a happier you.

Rayy began her journey at 275 pounds; she felt unsatisfied with her lifestyle and partner and wanted better for herself.

“I just wanted to make something of myself this time around,” she says.

Back in 2017, she decided to embark on this fitness journey, not knowing where it would lead but determined to see it through. Rayy wanted to feel comfortable in her own skin and have more energy in her daily life. She knew the journey would push her limits mentally and physically, but she felt ready for the challenges.

“The reason why I started my journey is because I got tired of being in a body that just did not belong to me.”

She decided to hit the ground running and signed up with a personal trainer in the beginning of her journey. The exercises definitely challenged her, but she noticed changes in her fitness levels relatively quickly.

“My personal trainer put me into a lot of HIIT exercises, strength training as well as cardio,” she says. “So, my heart rate was up, I was sweating a lot, and I was doing a lot of exercises that I never knew I could actually do with being my size.”

This motivated her to take a huge step forward in her career as well. After seeing her results, she wanted to help others take charge of their health and become their best selves.

An inspiring woman becomes a fitness coach after losing 100 pounds

“So from that point on, I ended up becoming a certified personal trainer and now I actually train a lot of clients, and it’s been the best thing ever.”

However, her decision to become a personal trainer didn’t happen right away. First, she had to increase her own fitness level and change her mindset, which proved quite challenging. Getting motivated to workout most days of the week felt exhausting, but she stuck with it.

“In the beginning, it was very hard. It was hard to get up,” she says. “It was very hard for me. It was hard to stay committed; it was hard to stay on the schedule; it was hard to make that a part of my life; it was hard for me to actually know that my health was important.”

However, despite these struggles, she knew she had to keep going. She wanted to become her best self and really push past those limits. Deciding to make herself a priority, this inspiring woman did whatever it took to get healthy. Rayy realized if she didn’t take that leap now, her health would only get worse down the road.

“I had to learn how to make time. You know, making time is really not easy, but I had to make time in order to make sure that I live,” she said.

Oftentimes, people struggle the most in the beginning since the body isn’t used to so much resistance. However, just as diamonds need pressure to form, humans also require challenges in order to grow. We learn valuable lifelong lessons by making the decision to transform ourselves for the better. Through these trials, we also learn a lot about our strengths and capabilities.

Biggest lessons and positive changes that came from Rayy’s fitness journey

“The biggest obstacles that I faced throughout my weight loss journey was accepting and loving myself, and starting where I am or where I was,” Rayy said.

She also had to learn to become her own best friend and go at her own pace. She realized that patience and positive self-talk rather than beating herself up mentally would get her much farther. Rayy knew that lasting changes would happen only if she treated this as a journey, not a race.

“It’s something that you’re doing for yourself, by yourself, and you’re going to learn a lot of things along the way.”

At first, she didn’t know what types of workouts to do, but she eventually found what worked best for her. She said a combination of HIIT workouts and strength training seemed to give her the best results. Of course, this will look different for everyone, so don’t hesitate to try different things until you find your match. However, you’ll want to incorporate some type of cardio and resistance training so you get a whole-body workout.

Rayy loves strength training because it helps your muscles grow and challenges you to add weight over time. She also enjoys HIIT because it gets your heart rate up, makes you sweat, and burns a lot of calories in a short time.

After doing these workouts for a while, Rayy started noticing positive changes in her life. Not only did her physical health get better; her mental health also improved drastically since she began working on herself.

“I am a much happier person. Like I said before, my skin is glowing, I smile all the time – my energy just radiates off of me and it just bestows on other people.”

Rayy’s advice for anyone wanting to lose weight

This incredibly inspiring woman wants everyone to know they can achieve results just as she did. She says to just stay consistent, trust the process, drink plenty of water, eat healthy, and love yourself along the journey. Also, don’t hesitate to ask for help from others if you need it. Plenty of people have been where you’re at and would be glad to offer tips and support!

Remember that health doesn’t just mean looking good physically – it involves taking care of your mental and emotional health also. When you begin your journey, try not to focus so much on your weight, and instead shift your attention to how much better you feel! Your approach and mindset toward health can make all the difference in your success.

Transformation Might Be Hard, But It Doesn’t Need to Be Complicated

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If you’re anything like me, you’ve spent the last year donning your finest pajamas, scarfing snacks long after dinner, and spending maybe a little more time in a chair and at your computer. And, with the end of the pandemic in sight, you are probably feeling a powerful desire to reset. So take advantage of this moment of rebirth and transformation after a year that invited you to really question everything.

Or is all that just me?

Well, you’re still here reading, so I’m going with “I’m not alone” and that you share my desire to shake things up and take the best of what we’ve learned in this last year and use it to create something new — an existence more rooted in what is truly important to you.

BUT — there’s always a but, isn’t there? — there’s only one problem: Change. Is. Hard.

I’ll explain why it’s so hard in just a moment. But let me say up-front that while change is hard, it’s not impossible. But if you want to change, you’ll need to, well, change the way you approach it.

And there’s also some good news in there: while truly affecting lasting transformation is an investment, it doesn’t have to be complex. In fact, there’s a super simple way to do it. But it’s probably going to sound counterintuitive to you.

But before we go there, let’s get into why changing is so very hard.

Why Transformation Is So Hard

transformationYou’ve heard it. I’ve heard it. EVERYONE’S heard it. Your thinking can re-wire your brain. Neurons that fire together wire together. Your thoughts alone will allow you to change anything you want in your life. If only it were truly that simple.

While there is verifiable power in positive thinking and affirmation, on their own, they run smack into a problem with how we think our brain works. We tend to think of it sort of like a sponge, always ready to take on something new. However, the harsher reality is that as adults, our brains are not very malleable at all.

So, if we want to transform ourselves, we’re going to have make our brains a bit more open to change by doing some work to nurture our brain’s soil and facilitate what is called neuroplasticity, or the malleability of our brain.

Despite what popular magazines may tell you unless you’re under twenty, it’s actually quite hard to make changes to the stuff between your ears.

We are born with thousands of neurotransmitters (wires, if you will) loosely floating around in our heads. That’s exciting because it gives us so many possibilities, but as we age, those neurons form neuropathways and, eventually, form into even more solid neurohighways.

Moreover, the space between those neuropathways reduces as well, filled in with glial cells. These special cells function like packing peanuts and make it harder for our brain to make new connections.

In short, as time goes by, we get more customized to meet our particular needs. But all that customization makes it harder for us to change.

This process is why cultivating and sustaining malleability in the form of brain plasticity is so critical! But malleability alone doesn’t enact transformation. That’s why we need to leverage a somewhat counterintuitive tool to create it: routine.

Leveraging a Routine to Drive Change

While you may think of a routine as something that you do when you’re trying not to change. In fact, it’s actually one of the most powerful tools you have to enact change.

In fact, it’s by cultivating a healthy routine that you can take that malleability and turn it into actionable transformation.

With a malleable brain, you can not only adopt new habituations, ideas, and concepts.. But you can also build a routine that serves your objectives. Just like our brains get customized over time, our routines can be deliberately customized to serve our purpose.

You get to decide what works and what doesn’t, and, in turn, you can cull away anything that doesn’t resonate with you and your intended purpose.

But beware. The problem with both routine and this neural culling are that you can fall into habits that don’t fulfill your purpose or lead you to the life you desire to live if you aren’t intentional.

However, the exciting news is that you can use this customization process to your advantage by making deliberate shifts to your routine to realize the change you seek.

Preparing for Transformation

Are you starting to feel excited? You know the players, you know what’s going on inside your brain, and you now understand why all those past efforts to make a significant change in your life hit some speed bumps.

Most importantly, you now know what it’s going to take to make your hope for transformation into a reality. It’s exciting stuff! And, if you’re anything like me when I first discovered all this gooey goodness, you’re probably chomping at the bit to get started.

Woah, there, boys and girls!!

It’s not that simple. Well, actually, it is, but you need to know a few things first. To create a new routine that will lead you to all this amazing transformation, you’re going to need to do something first: create healthy, fertile soil. You need to create a wee bit of that brain plasticity.

Uh oh. Does that sound complicated?

The good news is that it’s not. In fact, there’s a simple, 5-step protocol that will help you create higher levels of brain plasticity. These five practices will allow you to improve and maintain malleability in your brain — precisely what you need to do if you want to build a new transformation-powering routine. Here are the five steps:

Step 1: Decide

The first step to kick-starting your transformation is building elementary wiring that corresponds with your desire for change.  This step is foundational because making that decision essentially programs a part of your brain called the prefrontal cortex (or the PFC). It is the executive decision-maker of your brain (the boss, if you will) and determines how you react and engage with emotions. It is the driver of self-control and the engager of new habits. Therefore, the first step in establishing fresh wiring is to establish that you would like that new wiring to exist and make sure your PFC is on the job!

Step 2: Fertilize

The second pivotal factor for increasing plasticity is what I fondly refer to as brain fertilizer. You can dream about making changes all you want, but if your “soil” is unfit for nurturing new neuropathways, you will be disappointed. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (commonly referred to as BDNF) is the ultimate brain fertilizer because it helps neurons grow — and that helps make new neuron-to-neuron connections possible. Although you can’t go to a garden center for this particular fertilizer, you can upregulate BDNF production through aerobic exercise, whole foods, and a healthy fasting practice.

Step 3: Be Alert

The third ingredient in this plasticity recipe is to be alert and aware of what’s happening. Contrary to what you may think, you can’t just be alert whenever you want. We think of it as alertness when our body releases epinephrine (more commonly known as adrenaline). Epinephrine, when released from the locus coeruleus at the top of our brain stem, wakes up your brain, showering it in adrenaline. This primes your brain and puts it into action mode, making it ready to receive new information — which is critical if you’re going to introduce a new change-inducing routine.

To increase your alertness and, therefore, openness to new information, you need to up your epinephrine levels. Some ways to do that is ideally through a good night of sleep, but also through a protocol that may not be for everyone, including things like fasting, taking coffee, or using stimulants like nicotine, Adderall, and nutraceuticals.

Step 4: Fuel Your Focus

As you’ve probably experienced, however, simply being alert doesn’t automatically lead to better focus. Likewise, alertness, in and of itself, does not result in plasticity.

In addition to the alertness from the epinephrine release, you also need to focus on that alertness — something that is handled by acetylcholine, another neurochemical released from both the nucleus basalis and the brain stem. You can think of it as the fuel to your alertness engine. When it’s released, it kick-starts your nervous system and opens your brain to change. The best way to help this process is to ensure you’re getting enough of a nutrient called choline in your diet (or via a supplement if you must). The best way to do that is to focus (pun intended!) on eating a diet rich in whole foods.

quoteStep 5: Rest

Kick-starting is great and important, but for transformation to really bake in and be long-lasting, you’re going to need to rest. I’ve written about the importance of sleep — and this is part of the reason why.

But if you are not a huge fan of sleep or can’t make time for it in your busy schedule (eye roll), you can also explore what is called non-sleep deep rest (NSDR, for short). In this practice, you’re basically putting yourself into a state of sensory deprivation (no music or sound, eyes closed, supine).

Yes, I am saying that naps are good! In fact, research has found that practicing NSDR for less than 90 minutes directly after learning was actually more effective for learning retention than even a solid night of sleep! Take that anti-nappers!

That said, not only does getting adequate shut-eye to protect and preserve your nervous system and brain function, but it’s during that 8 hours of rest that any neural circuitry that activates during the day gets strengthened. In other words, sleep is what really seals the deal when it comes to neuroplasticity and adaptability.

Reset Your Routine

Now that you’ve prepared your brain for a change, you’re ready to get things moving by instituting a new routine that will rewire things to create the change you want in your life.

But before you either dive in (or maybe dismiss this as too simplistic), you need to understand what a routine actually is and how it works inside your brain — because there’s a good chance you have an incomplete picture of what’s going on.

A routine is an intentional series of micro-choices (or what we call activations), from brushing your teeth to meditating, to spending an hour learning a new language, that you repeat regularly.

Unlike habits, however, routines are NOT automatic. They require you to be intentional, deliberate, and disciplined. They take a consistent daily effort — and that’s the key to their power.

Routines are the key ingredients and building blocks that lead to sustainable and life-changing habits if you do them intentionally.

This is because a habit can take anywhere from 66 to around 300 days to form. This process means that you need a whole lot more than willpower to push through to make that habit stick. That’s where the routine kicks in. It provides a resource and roadmap for your prefrontal cortex. It takes out all the extra guesswork and prevents the emotional part of your brain (your limbic system) from taking over and engaging reactively.

So by making the intentional choice up-front and building it into a routine, you are essentially programming your brain with the change you want to see in your life.

However, as you probably know from experience, establishing a new routine is not as simple as it sounds. In fact, because using a routine to reset and power change is both so critical — and so challenging — we’ve actually created a free mini-program to walk you through the process step-by-step and help you accomplish it.

While profound and critical, the steps towards transformation are actually pretty straightforward:

  1. Recognize your purpose and what matters most to you. To adopt a routine that is truly transformative, you need to start with your why. How do you want to be remembered in your last days? What drives you to wake up each morning? These are challenging questions, so we created an exercise that we call The Obituary Test to help.
  2. Take Inventory. With your purpose and the change you want to make clear in your mind, the next step is to inventory what you’re presently doing on a day-to-day basis. Now, I know that this is not a fun thing to do. But it’s important to be honest with yourself and note what you are actually doing on a day-to-day, hour-to-hour basis in your life. Doing an honest assessment and writing out how you fill your hours is the first essential step.
  3. Make Room. After you’ve noted those three hours of Netflix you’ve been binging each night, you MAY decide that your steady diet of Schitt’s Creek is not exactly driving transformative shifts in your life. If so, it’s time to make some room by going through and cutting out any activities that are not aligned with the change you want to make.
  4. Reset Your Routine.  This is the most pivotal moment. Now that you’ve made some room, this is when you choose which activities you will adopt to shape and mold your new existence. This is the map to your new transformation! Be choosey here. This is not a place for comfort zones.
  5. Chunk & Cue. There’s one last step — and it may be the most important. Part of why it’s hard to get new routines to stick and why, as a result, they don’t often lead to the change you seek is that things get in the way and knock you off-track. To prevent that, you should take the important parts of your new routine and group them in a series of “chunks.” Then, create a “cue” for each chunk that triggers you to perform it.

Take Action

Last but not least, your job is to put this new routine into action. Slap it on your refrigerator, plaster sticky notes all over your house. Do whatever you need to do to follow this new protocol. Yes, it may feel a bit like you’re micro-managing yourself for a while, but remember it will take as long as 300 days to cement your routine into a habit, so you need to make sure that you nurture these new practices. So they become second nature!

And don’t forget, you can always use our free Routine Reset mini-program to help you walk through this process step-by-step!

growth memeFinal Thoughts on Transformation to a New, Positive, Post-Pandemic You

Despite the challenges of this past year — and let’s be honest, it WAS challenging. It has also been a time rich in opportunity and one that has shown us all our potential. It’s given us all the gift of a reset, a fresh start, and a blank slate.

What will you do with yours?

I hope that you will be intentional and craft a routine and existence that will not just help you reach your goals but help you live a more purposeful life!

Unexpected Job Loss Becomes a Woman’s Greatest Blessing

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Unfortunately, job loss is a part of life, but knowing this doesn’t make it any less hurtful or scary when it happens to us. However, even if it feels like the end of the world, sometimes beautiful new beginnings come from painful endings. Jesse Devine, a former artistic director, and theatre instructor learned this firsthand when she lost her dream job in 2018.

An opportunity of a lifetime

“You know that feeling like you’re exactly where you’re supposed to be? Like where your feet are planted is exactly where they were always meant to be?” Jesse said. “When I walked into that theatre’s lobby, it was that kind of knowing in my soul and the job description felt like it had been created for me.”

While waiting to hear back about the job, she finally got a call back from the theatre one day. Jesse felt like her heart stopped, like the whole world had stopped at that moment. She anxiously anticipated the answer she would receive on the other end of the line. However, she got a pleasant surprise. Indeed, she heard the words she was hoping for.

“We’d like to offer you the position of Artistic Director,” they said.

Jesse thanked the woman calling, holding back tears of joy and excitement. After hanging up, she immediately called her husband and dad to tell them the wonderful news. She felt like she was the star of her own real-life movie, and every experience she’d had finally made sense. To her, it felt like she found home at last.

job lossA sudden and unexpected job loss

“Skip to almost a decade later – May 21st, 2018, 10:10 AM… – when a big part of my identity, that job, was taken away.”

They told her they wanted to go in a different direction, and Jesse was completely shocked and heartbroken. She couldn’t breathe and didn’t even know if she wanted to anymore. Feeling like a criminal, she got escorted out of the theatre for the last time. As she put the last box in her car, she heard them redo the keycode on the door behind her.

“295-ish nights a year of great programming, produced in the black, on a salary that kept myself and all those I supervised very much in the red,” she said. “50 to 70 hour work weeks, years without healthcare and/or benefits, and yet here I was, out on the curb with the trash.”

She’d taken the job for her love of theatre and drama, not the benefits or pay. So, the unexpected job loss hit her even harder, because it hadn’t been just a job – it became her identity.

“What would I do? What do you do when you lose your identity?” she thought. “Well, at first I did nothing. The relative silence of a community I loved and I dedicated myself to make doing anything more than breathing impossible.”

Job loss can spur an identity crisis

Of course, eventually she got tired of mulling over the past, so she tapped into her artistic side. She wanted an answer to how she could move on with her life and recreate herself to feel whole again. So, she dug deep into herself, taking the puzzle apart piece by piece. Day after day, she brainstormed and soul-searched, trying to figure out where to go from there.

“I went down YouTube rabbit holes, which led to TED Talks, podcasts, audiobooks. This led to new questions, which eventually led me to asking the right question of myself,” she said. “Spoiler alert – looking for answers within really does help!”

She realized that identity isn’t defined by a person, place, thing, or job. Suddenly, she had an epiphany that a sense of self comes from “what we bring to every person, place, or thing that we interact with.”

She felt like she finally wanted to breathe again, if her idea of identity could manifest into reality. Going from there, she thought deeply about what she brought to the table that no one else did. What could she offer the world?

In letters she kept for decades, she found her answer. Her former colleagues, employers, employees, and students helped her realize what made her stand out.

“Their words helped me reclaim my real identity, and what my soul once knew,” she said. “I brought two non-negotiables: 1) a fierce determination to fight for and stand by the underdog, no matter what the consequences and 2) an ability to find and bring out that special spark in someone. A spark that I believe everyone has.”

“I give it oxygen, I help it to grow. I’m a firestarter, and this identity – it can’t be lost or taken away or taken in a different direction because it lies within,” Jesse realized.

She could finally catch her breath after finding her answer.

Job loss happens to the best of us, because nothing in this life lasts forever. We can’t always plan for something like that to happen, but it doesn’t mean you’ve failed. It just means you’re ready for something better, and the universe intervened for you.

pop memeJesse explained:

“People, places, jobs – they’ve always come and gone and they will continue to – no matter how much we love them and wish it weren’t so. So choose it to define and root our identities as something that lies within us that can’t be taken away.”

If you define your identity outside of your job, you’ll always have something to build from when everything around you crumbles. This realization led Jesse to discover her true self – the fire starter.

“The indestructible identity within us all – it’s no small matter. It’s ALL that matters. Because the world needs everyone’s spark, especially now.”

Jesse hopes that her story can help someone out there breathe again and remember their true identity. Her experience shows that even if you’ve lost your dream job, you can find light at the end of the tunnel. Perhaps a job loss can open a new door, a new opportunity, that sparks the fire in your soul even brighter than before.

Yoga Teacher Shows Every Student How to Live Their Best Life

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Living your best life looks different for everyone, and for some, yoga makes life worth living. Robin Martin, an international yoga teacher, living in Seattle, helps others find their spark in life through this ancient science. She’s been practicing it for about 20 years now, and she says that there are both physical and mental benefits. Robin has noticed these benefits in herself and her students as well.

“I focus on my teaching in joint longevity. So, healthy joints that carry you through a lifetime of physical health, and of course, the mental benefits are moving meditation, and the opportunity to just kind of let go of things going on in the world. When the world is especially challenging, it’s really nice to just kind of shove things off for a little while.”

How yoga can help you live your best life

Studies on yoga have reported on many of these mental and physical benefits. A new study found that 89% of people practicing yoga saw a reduction in chronic pain symptoms. Yoga helps strengthen and stretch the joints, which gets the energy flowing in the body again. Once your energy becomes more balanced, instances of pain or discomfort start to lessen.

Yoga also decreases stress, a huge complaint in today’s world. Many studies have shown that yoga lowers cortisol levels, helping practitioners feel more relaxed and at ease. In fact, women in a three-month-long yoga program had lower cortisol, anxiety, depression, and fatigue.

Reduced inflammation

Chronic inflammation is also a growing problem, an epidemic even in our modern world. Our unhealthy diets, stressful lifestyles, lack of sleep, and imbalanced living, in general, promotes inflammation. This can lead to diseases such as cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. However, yoga can reduce inflammatory markers significantly.

A 2015 study divided 218 participants into two groups: yogis and non-yogis. Both groups performed moderate and intense exercises to test their stress levels. At the end of the study, the yogis had lower levels of inflammatory markers than non-yogis.

Better sleep

Yoga can even improve your sleep quality, a lifestyle factor that many people need help with today. In a 2005 study, 69 elderly patients were told to either do yoga or take an herbal supplement or were placed in a control group. The yoga group ended up falling asleep faster, sleeping longer and feeling more rejuvenated than the other two groups.

Another study looked at how yoga impacted sleep in patients with lymphoma. They found that yoga reduced sleep disturbances, improved sleep quality, and duration and reduced the need for sleep medications. Though scientists are still not sure how it works, yoga helps increase melatonin levels, regulating sleep cycles.

Improves mental illness

Finally, yoga can cause significant changes in certain chemicals in the brain that lower mental illness risk. In a Boston University study, scientists performed brain scans on 19 volunteers: eight seasoned yogis and 11 non-yogis. The brain scans were done using advanced magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging to measure gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) levels. People with anxiety and depression usually do not have enough of this chemical.

Scientists took the scans at the beginning of the experiment. Afterward, the yoga group participated in an hour-long yoga session, while the other group read a book. Researchers performed another scan after the groups finished their activities. What they found was remarkable, to say the least.

“We showed a 27 percent increase in the brain GABA levels of those doing yoga – a really significant increase,” said Dr. Chris Streeter, professor of psychiatry and neurology at Boston University School of Medicine. Researchers didn’t notice any change in GABA levels for those who read the book.

These are just a handful of the wonderful benefits you can enjoy from a regular yoga practice. Robin says she definitely notices a difference when she hasn’t practiced in a few days.

How Robin is living her best life with yoga

“I stay motivated to continue to practice yoga because I know that if I don’t, I fall into sometimes depression, sometimes anxiety,” Robin says.

She also says that when she doesn’t practice, she notices her body doesn’t feel refreshed or vibrant. However, she usually notices the mental aspects first when she goes a few days without practicing.

“If I’m not moving and I’m not breathing, I tend to just not feel well, so that is enough to keep me motivated and keep me moving in my practice,” Robin says.

If you’re starting, you don’t have to feel pressured to do any difficult poses. Go at your own pace, and let your body and mind ease into the practice. There are many types of yoga, but most beginners start with Hatha yoga. This consists of holding poses for a longer time period than the Vinyasa style, which focuses on moving through many poses relatively quickly.

“The most rewarding thing about what I do is to share a practice that I know really has a big impact on people mentally as well as physically. It’s really pretty amazing to know that after an hour or so of moving your body, how much you can clear your mind, relax your thoughts, let go of anxiety, let go of stress, and end up more physically well.”

Final thoughts: yoga offers many benefits to your mind and body, helping you achieve your best life

Robin and many other yogis around the world can attest to the amazing benefits of yoga. Not only does it help relax your mind and reduce symptoms of mental illness, but it also lowers stress in the body as well. People everywhere can improve their quality of life by adding a simple 30 minute or hour-long routine into their day.

The point of yoga is to unite your individual consciousness with the universal consciousness, or Spirit. By priming your body with yoga poses, you can improve your mental and physical health, helping you sit longer in meditation. However, if you aren’t interested in that aspect of yoga, you can still experience a better quality of life through the practice.

Great Dane Helps a Woman Overcome Loneliness

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Most people have experienced loneliness at some point, and have gotten through it with the help of their furry friends. One woman who adopted a beautiful blue Great Dane found this out firsthand when she felt isolated and alone. Her dog Iris gave her friendship when she needed it the most, and they now have an unbreakable bond.

Stacy moved from Canada to the U.S. to live with her husband, but she didn’t know anyone else in the country. Since she didn’t have friends or family here and had a lot of free time, she often felt bored and lonely. After a while, she felt like she’d go crazy from the isolation, so she brought up getting a dog to her husband.

“Growing up, I had never had a dog before, so Iris was my first dog,” Stacy said. They quickly fell in love with each other and became best friends.

 

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What Stacy loves the most about her Great Dane

“I would say the most rewarding thing about being a pet owner is seeing how happy you are making this loving little being that you are fully and entirely responsible for. And, knowing what you are doing is making them happy and giving them a comfortable, safe, enjoyable life.”

Stacy feels that taking care of Iris gives her a sense of purpose, and she loves the bond they share. She enjoys loving and caring for her Great Dane, because she knows it makes a huge difference in her life. They make a perfect pair and spend much of their days together. No matter if they’re taking a nap, throwing a Frisbee or just watching TV, they enjoy every memory made.

“I’m with Iris pretty much all day, every day, so when it comes to one favorite memory it’s kind of hard – but, one of my favorite things is when my parents come to visit or we drive together to Canada, me and Iris.”

Stacy says they also enjoy long walks together and have trained Iris to walk off leash. They either walk in the neighborhood or take advantage of the local trails near their house. While Indianapolis doesn’t offer many off-leash options, they have found a few places to take Iris. Either way, Stacy says the training was a good investment for the times they can let Iris roam freely.

“She loves walking through the water – I’ll go knee-deep, she’ll go knee-deep, which is about the same depth of water. She is actually taller than me on her hind legs!”

 

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A gentle giant of a dog

You can see this in the video posted below. Great Danes can stand at over 6 feet tall on their hind legs, so they know who’s boss! They’re definitely the “top dog” in most households. They also have a habit of taking up the entire couch or bed due to their large frame, so be prepared if you get one!

“My number one piece of advice for anyone looking to bring an animal into their home would definitely be to match their lifestyle to yours. So, even though Great Danes are very lazy, they miss their humans a lot when the humans leave them. They don’t do well for long periods of time left alone.”

This explains the relationship between Iris and Stacy, as Iris can’t stand even a minute without her mom. They have a very tight bond due to all their time they spend together. Great Danes may look a little intimidating, but they’re well-known for being sweet and loyal to their owners!

Here are some interesting facts about this beautiful dog breed:

  • They’re known for being “gentle giants”
  • The modern Great Dane was bred in Germany to hunt boars.
  • They’re the tallest dogs in the world. Males can reach up to 32 inches in the shoulders, and females 30 inches. Males can weigh up to 175 pounds and females usually get to 140 pounds.
  • Great Danes make wonderful family dogs due to their loving, patient, gentle demeanor.
  • They need daily exercise – a couple brisk walks should suffice. Though you may think you need to run a marathon due to their size, they actually tire quickly. (Great Danes can be a bit lazy).
  • They live on average 7 to 10 years.
  • Obedience classes are vital when they’re puppies, as their sheer size makes them harder to control as adults.

 

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Do you want a Great Dane?

If you have a lot of room in your home, Great Danes can make wonderful pets! Iris helped Stacy overcome loneliness and give her a best friend in her new city. She also showers her with love and affection, and Stacy returns it ten times over. They truly make the perfect duo and seem to enjoy every second they get to spend together.

Loneliness can strike when we least expect it, and it’s often our furry friends who give us the love we need. When the world shuts us out, we can always count on our pets to give us the unconditional love and support we need!

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