As I have mentioned several times in the past, one of the coolest things about being the author of Monday Morning Mojo are the stories of success people send to me.

Thanks for sharing your story Jennifer.  It is incredibly inspiring.

Tom,

THANK YOU – Thank You  – Thank You! I adore your Monday Morning Mojo’s. Every Monday morning that is the first thing I look for. I have even logged on to my work computer while on vacation to read it.

It’s pretty amazing how the universe works. The reason I started getting your mojo’s was actually from your IT department I believe. I work for the company that creates your accounting software for the real estate transactions. The emails started coming to me. I then signed up under my account once I realized how much I needed the message that they had to say. I also started to forward it to others in the company. We all love them.

I also wanted to share my experience this past ten months. I have struggled most of my life since a teen with my weight. I’m 39 now and I would have said last year that I had a good life. Great – no not necessarily but it was good. I am married with three girls ages 5, 3 and 1. I have a good relationship with my husband and like my work. We were in the process of filing for bankruptcy and losing our house due to the market and my husband not working full time. So my life had its challenges – weight wasn’t the biggest thing on my list of things to do something about. My friends would have said that I was a good friend and always there if they needed me. That was part of the issue – I was there for everyone else. I let my life slowly decay because I put myself as a friend, mother and wife before I was Jennifer. So Jennifer got the short end of my 24 hours.

I decided to start a journey back at the end of March 2010. The favorite times in my life were when I was pregnant. I took better care of myself. I watched what I ate, worked out a bit more and rested when I needed to. It just all felt perfect and then a new bundle of joy came into our life. Those nine months went by so quick. I decided to try it with myself – birth a new me. I was going to commit to nine months of concentrating on me and my life. I took a page from a Seinfeld episode – I was going to do the opposite of what I normally do. ‘Opposite George’ did great. Now remember I am also getting your messages. Your message when I started this “Short Term Pain for Long Term Gain” and then the next week “Finding Your Meaning and Purpose in Life” just reaffirmed I needed to do this.

I found a class taught by my friend that teaches relaxation, meditation and healing your life. She had been trying to get me to go to it for years. It took finding out we have a mutual friend  who looked at me and said we are going to at least one of them. I had to go – the universe sent me a partner. So my journey began. I carved out an hour each morning to work out and listen to my music. My kids found out quickly that it was my time.  They could come down and watch TV but they didn’t talk to mom. What started as  a 2 ½ to 3 mile walk mainly in the mornings turned in the end to a 6 mile run 5 days a week. One of my goals at the end was to run the Rock and Roll ½ Marathon in December. I wanted to do it in 3 hours which considering I didn’t run seemed a bit ambitious. You can’t even believe the pride I had when I crossed that finish line with a time of 2 hours 38 minutes. It was the most amazing thing I did. It felt wonderful to take a goal and knock it out of the park.

I went from eating fast food three plus times a week to maybe a couple times a month. I learned that spending extra on fresh veggies and fruits really was worth the money. I slowly got my family to the point that dinner was more lean meat and fish with tons of veggies rather than meat, potatoes and bread. No more sodas or tons of desserts. Everyone was eating better. I love to think that I am establishing good eating habits for my girls now that they are young. I hope they never struggle with weight like I did.

I changed so much even the genre of my music changed. Again the universe sent me an opportunity and I looked and said – why not. A friend house sat for us one vacation and borrowed our vehicle. She left a Keith Urban CD in the player. I thought it was Jennifer Lopez and was very surprised when I turned it on. Now I was not at all a fan of country but Keith did have some stuff that crossed over. Well my instinct was to take it out. I decided to listen to it that day until I saw her. I then asked her for a copy of it because I realized I enjoyed the messages and melodies. Next thing I know I have this amazing collection of country music and friends I didn’t know who liked it are recommending people and CDs. It is wonderful to jog to all this new music in the morning. It is added incentive to get up.

There were many times I thought ok I have done this for a while let’s go back to the ‘old’ Jennifer. For the most part I was motivated by the way everything was changing around me (I know actually I was the one changing but that isn’t how it looks at first). I kept telling myself it is only nine months you can do this. After the nine months whatever new habits stick I will keep doing and if I want to go back I can. Your messages, reading and listening to  Wayne Dyer,  meditation, reworking goals and making plans all that kept me on the right track.

After my journey – I did birth a new me. The new me is 100lbs thinner. I haven’t been this small since college and then it wasn’t for much more than a semester. I am THRILLED with my life.  On the outside you would say it is the same old life I had 1 year ago – I still have my kids, husband, job, house that the bank won’t take back but I don’t live in any more, money issues from time to time. To me it is all beautiful and perfect. I am calm and peaceful inside. I am not running around trying to do everything for everyone. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that every single event that happens in my life happens for a reason. Somewhere somehow the choices I make right now will affect me later. If nothing else they continue me down the path I am on or they just could jump me into an opportunity that I never thought possible before. I welcome every moment good and bad although when you welcome it all the bad doesn’t look that bad anymore. It just is.

A wonderful example of this was a Doctor visit I had in December. I went for my annual checkup. I took the book BLINK that your recommended because I know there is always a wait time. I wanted to start the book but just hadn’t found time yet. Well somehow my chart got lost while I was actually in the room waiting to see the Doctor. She came in after about an hour of me waiting and asked where I was and if I was running late. That was when we realized that the nurse misplaced my chart – I was sitting in the room ready and the Doctor kept seeing other people. I honestly couldn’t even get upset about it. I got to spend almost the entire hour reading an amazing book which I wouldn’t have started if it wasn’t for that time. I got to relax during a hectic day. I went back to work 2 ½ hours later and I couldn’t be upset about any of it. The Doctor felt bad and spent extra time with me. My blood pressure was down so far I thought it was too low. She told me no it was good for someone who’s an athlete. I have been called many A names before but never that one. I went to correct her and she said – anyone that runs every day and paid money to run 13.1 miles straight can be called and athlete. Life is good.

I have learned that you have to take care of yourself first. Once you truly love yourself, all of life gets easier. You also learn that you can help others then. I think too many people put others first without knowing who they are and loving themselves and so they get caught up in being what others want. I spent decades doing that. Now I find that I can do more for others because I put me first and I truly from deep down want to help others succeed in life.

The one thing/tip that I want to share with you that helped me when I hit my plateau – journaling. Now I am not a fan of journaling. I don’t like the idea that the word puts into my head. Someone who sits and writes and writes and has all this time. Nope – not me. My teacher/friend explained that this can be anything – you can write what you did today. You can write your ‘wins’ or miracles. You can write what you are thankful for in your life. Or you can write what you are. I chose the last one. I go and write each morning a bunch of “I” statements. I started this when I hit a plateau on my weight loss and was just feeling myself start to slip. My first day I wrote “I am a beautiful, powerful, thin woman. I am constantly losing weight. I am abundant. I have money showing to me at this minute.” Now did I believe this – nope. As my teacher says “fake it until you make it”. So I did. And you know what by the end of the week I believed the sentences I was writing down. I would spend time during my run thinking what I was that day. I also lost 12 lbs that week and didn’t change a thing. I just started to adjust my thinking. You start to believe what you write. I am a beautiful, peaceful, healthy woman. And I love it!

So to you Mr. Tom Tognoli – I thank you from the bottom of my heart. If I ever have to take a client trip to Intero I would welcome the opportunity to shake your hand and thank you in person. I deeply appreciate you giving yourself to all of us. Keep the Mojo coming. It flows farther than anyone’s mind can comprehend.

Thanks,

Jennifer