Every girl has a little Regina George inside them...

One of the biggest lessons I have learned in the past month is how I am my own worst critic. I put so much pressure on myself to be, do and have it all - that 'it all' became too much.
The overwhelming feelings smothered my excitement and put me in a place of fear and defeat. After a lot of self reflection I am good with admitting this, learning from it...
and of course, using it as inspiration for my next blog and seminar series! ;)

I realized that the only person holding me back from being what I wanted to be was me. I cut out all the negative people who didn't believe in me a long time ago - so truly, the only negative chatter happening was in my own mind.
I would achieve something, and tell myself it wasn't good enough. I would sleep with my blackberry and laptop. I would focus on achievements above taking myself first. I would never be satisfied with the things I had accomplished.
"I'll be happy once I do this, too"
"I will make time once this is done"
"I am unworthy of (love, money, health - you name it) until I achieve _____"
"She has that. I won't ever be good enough unless I have that too"

What? Who am I?
The worst part is, I didn't even realize I was doing that to myself.
I was the star of the movie Mean Girls, Regina George. I was the meanest person in my life....
But only to myself!

Quite simply, becoming aware of this manifested into my latest Seminar Series theme.
Want to heat about it? Read on:

Mean Girls - We've all met them. Maybe we've even been them at times.
No matter how they influenced your life, we have all been knocked down, had our confidence shot and felt completely less than those girls who felt that putting you down was the one way ticket to popularity.
Now that we are older, we realize that those girls were just as insecure as you - channeling it in the wrong way to feel better about themselves. We become adults, we sympathize with what hardships must have happened in their lives to make them that way, and we move on.

But there is one Mean Girl that we never really quite kick....
it's that bullying babe that lives inside of YOU!

Yes, the Regina George of your high school lives in your mind whether you realize it or not.
She's that voice that's always telling you:
"Your too fat"
"You'll never afford it"
"No one will ever love you"
"You aren't good enough"
"You can never trust anyone"

I really never swear, but.... what a bitch!

It's true. That little voice inside of you that puts you down, makes you self conscious and scared of taking risk - is just like those Mean Girls who belittled you to hold you back in childhood. Now the voice lives in your head.... and we all have it ladies!

Inspired by the Pretty Book of the month, Louise L.Hay's You Can Heal Your Life, and my own personal journey comes the next series of Living Pretty Motivational Seminars where like minded women can come together to out that Inner Bullying Babe and teach her to Live Pretty!!

In my seminar series you will meet your own inner Regina George and her posse, which are the multiple personalities of the Mean Girls that live inside of you.
Regina (The Queen of Comparison) rolls with Libby Loveless, Patty Perfectionist, Negative Nance, Angela Accomplishment, and Scared Sally ....just to name a few!
In a 4-week journey we will work together to stop letting the mean girl inside of you dictate your happiness and what you are capable of.
We will stop the negative internal chatter and transform it into thoughts of everything Living Pretty - health, wealth, love, happiness and more!


Please email eatingpretty@live.ca to find out how to join us!

EatingPretty.com is getting a makeover!

"You have to love it more than anything else. It's so many little stepping stones. Very rarely is it that one thing leads to another, that leads to another followed by the end result. It's so many dead ends, and switching directions and going back and re-thinking. And, so many interviews, strategy meetings, management meetings and  PR meetings. It's so many things that are outside of what you love, that you have to love what you do SO much that your hour and half to two hours a day of actually doing just that, makes everything else worth it." - Taylor Swift

Above was an answer that Taylor Swift gave in an interview I recently watched responding to the question "What advice do you have to other aspiring musicians?" Her answer really resonated with me, as I think it can apply to anyone who chooses to follow their dreams. It was certainly a perspective I needed at the time of hearing it.

Starting your own business is one of the most exciting and fulfilling projects to undertake in the beginning. It's full of excitement, realizing an inner potential you have never tapped into and the universe delivers new amazing people who support you, offer guidance and become new friends.
That was certainly my blessed life for the past 4 years as I put myself through school and built Eating Pretty Nutrition starting from a small promotion I ran on facebook which has now led me to working with thousands women of nationwide.

Recently I have been struggling though, with my beliefs changing as far as women's health and nutrition stand. I originally wrote the program under the influence of the fitness world, as I was still competing at the time. Many of my mentors, coaches and people who influenced my views were of the same belief I portray in my diet plans. I certainly saw great results from what I was doing, so why wouldn't I share that with others who were inspired by my transformation?

Now though, retired from competing and with a lot more life lessons under my belt - my inner voice has been screaming at me to listen to my new views and follow a new path, and as I spoke about in my last blog... not listening to my gut got me stuck in a rut.

I have had the privilege of spending a lot of time alone with my thoughts, reflecting, reading and just listening to my inner voice over the past few weeks. For me, mediation and alone time are simply magical and that was something I really needed right now. Over this time I began to reflect on the moments of business that have made me the happiest over the past year. Without a doubt my year highlight was my 8 week Women's Motivational Seminar Series that I called 'Living Pretty'. Motivating women to be the best they can be, to love themselves and go after their dreams has been a passion of mine for years, beginning back in 2008 when a group of my girlfriends and I started a women's 'Goal Club'.

What I have come to realize about food and dieting is the same thing I feel about drugs, alcohol, spending and sexual addictions - they are all VICES.
I believe from the bottom of my heart if you love yourself first and change your self-deprecating inner voice to one of love and self-encouragement, that miracles truly appear in your life.
You don't need that blackout to escape, that numbing high or new designer purse to validate you. When you love yourself first the vices just fall away because you choose Love over Fear.
I truly believe that in my own life, and as someone who has used all the vices - I'm a veteran in knowing that loving yourself first, channeling your energy to positivity and following your dreams will let those vices fall away and be replaced with amazing little surprises in your daily life.
The exact same idea goes for food addiction and being overweight.

I wanted Eating Pretty Nutrition to be referred to as a 'Lifestyle' not a diet. I wanted women to learn the basics of Eating Pretty, and find happiness in loving themselves and supporting each other.
The principles of Eating Pretty Nutrition do get you results, but unless you love and respect yourself you will always have the chance of re-bounding back, as our demons have a way of not letting our bad habits go when we continue to focus on life's negatives.
This is where the importance of maintenance comes in, once you have reached your goal. I truly believe in the Eating Pretty Principles. I believe in eating whole, fresh foods that the universe provides. I believe in lots of water and exercise, and teaching women the power of properly fueling their body the way earth intended. However, I also believe that to keep your goal weight you must love yourself, channel your energy to doing things you are passionate about and most importantly NEVER become diet obsessive. Life is all about balance and what goes up must come down!
(... or what goes down must come up, if we are talking scale!)

So what do I plan to do to make a change? You will be seeing BIG changes on EatingPretty.com over the next few months. More information accessible to anyone, memberships geared towards weight you need to lose specific to your own case and a whole lot more self-love and Living Pretty!

Stay tuned for my video blogs and keep checking back to this blogspot as I listen to my inner guide and make incredible changes on eatingpretty.com, as well as launching LivingPretty.ca soon!

Thank you to everyone who has been along for this whole journey with me, I truly love you guys so much.

Missing-In-Action-McNally...

It's true. I have been under the radar and not keeping up my end of this blog bargain. Truthfully, I never meant for this much time to pass, but all of the sudden I sit here in a cozy blanket, drinking piping hot green tea and taking in the beautiful fall air. Yes, fall. Seeing how my last blog entry dates back to May, somehow, I have let an entire season pass me by.  

So, where have I been? The absolute truth of the matter is, I'm not really sure. Somehow between blooms blossoming and leaves turning colours 'Missing-In-Action-McNally' is really more a case of missing inspiration. Every time I opened up a blank page to start writing the words wouldn't flow, that buzz I get when I know I am writing something that will make a difference in someone else's life never appeared and I was longing for one of the little lessons I always like to base my messages around to overcome me, with no such luck.

Last night while I discussed with my best girls my recent general angst feelings with my life I admitted feeling like I have been ignoring my gut. My dear friend Lisa piped up and said "Excuse me Miss-your-gut-never-lies blogger! You know what you're doing wrong then!!" She was referring to a blog entry I posted back in February. 

(read that blog here)

Lisa then proceeded to tell me how she had read that blog repetitively while trying to make changes in her own life, and how much it helped her. 

Ladies and gentleman, that moment in time is why I am inspired to write this blog today. Truthfully, that feeling of knowing I contributed in making someone else's life a more positive experience by inspiring them to be better is why I do this. And that goes for everything I do, not just blogging. It's also the exact reason why I have felt uninspired this summer. It's a simple equation really, not listening to your gut = rut. And rut is exactly where I have found myself these past few months.

Don't get me wrong, I truly always have a great time with my life. There have been many magical and memorable moments since I haven't been blowing up your facebook newsfeed. But in terms of my 4 majors: Love, Business/Money, Health, Spirituality - I have not been making the progress that I know I should be. Fear, not listening to my inner voice, big changes and some poor decisions all can safely be named as contributing factors.
So why? The girl who makes a living of preaching love over fear, risk over complacency, taking your health and self first and connecting with your inner voice... why-oh-why have I been doing the opposite? To be honest people, I am still working that out. 

The reason I haven't been blogging, vlogging, expanding my businesses and doing all the other things that truly get me high in life, is because my ego said to me "How can you inspire, if you feel so low and confused?"

... and truthfully until Lisa said that to me last night it never occurred to me to just be honest! It never occurred to me to realize the reason people follow my blogs is because of my candidness and how I am always telling the truth. I thought that if I had no good or happy truth to share, I had nothing to say.

Writing this blog right now leaves me feeling the best I have in months. Because starting with something small that makes you smile is always the first step in an amazing direction. And I know that. I am so glad the message I once sent made a difference in someones life, and was re-taught to me on my dark day. How cool is that?

There are some big things going on in my life right now. I always say I think 23 was the most difficult age because you are done college or university and too young to be taken seriously to get the 'Dream Job' you have imagined and too old and educated to keep on working at your highschool retail gig forever and stay satisfied, or many just don't know what to do next. The initial decsions on career, city to live in, first home your parents aren't paying for, and everything else that comes with growing up are so scary and consuming.

Little did I know once you got that all down pat, you grow up and decide your path - you only need to make more decisions!

With huge changes happening in my business and new opportunities in love, I have found myself consumed with fear and doubt. That in turn leaves me not taking my own health and wellness first and clouds my connection to my inner guide. See how that snowball effect just knocked my top 4 most important life categories right out of the park? It happened without me even realizing it - and the domino effect took my inspiration with it!

For my respect for those involved in business and loves sake, I will have to spare you the details (for now... ;) 

I will say though, admitting to myself I have been ignoring my inner guidance has helped me make some big decisions, inspired me to be moving forward with the things I know I should be doing without letting fear get in the way, and letting go of others by special instruction of my tiny inner voice that seems to be speaking louder than usual today.

I promise you all this though: Doing amazingly or in a rut, you will be hearing much more from me and my gut.

:)