Stories from Kristina + Breanne

  Shared by Breanne Smedley “The plant killer…” I love indoor plants. I love the look they add to a space, and apparently, they do something for the air quality! I also hear it’s a “millennial” thing to have lots of indoor plants. Why take a good thing and put a label on it?! Ugh. The problem with my plants is that I don’t have a great track record of keeping them alive. Which is problematic because they really don’t look as good when they’re brown and moldy. I once had a succulent die on me. Those suckers are hard to kill! Just recently, my majesty palm started to develop brown tips. This is my second majesty palm in the past two years. Am I underwatering it? Overwatering it? Giving it too much light? Not enough light? “When was the last time you watered it?” Brett asks as he watches me look at the leaves with a furrowed brow. “I don’t know, last week…?” He looks at me with a raised eyebrow. “Don’t look at me like that! I water the plants!” I wouldn’t break rule number one of plant ca

  Shared by Kristina Smedley “I can do it all…” I’m not sure if this is a character strength or flaw. It’s probably both but this year I’ve seen the shadow side. For as long as I can remember, I’ve held the belief that “I can do it all!” Somehow I’ve always made the time. I’ve drawn up the energy. I’ve found the resources. School. A’s. Sports. Friends and relationships. A job or multiple jobs. Starting a business. No Problem! Finding time to work out, see friends, get together with family. Somehow it felt like I could always fit it all in. Or, so I thought. Getting pregnant earlier blew this whole belief up in my face. There simply wasn’t enough time in the day to do everything I wanted to do, or at least not to do it well. Excel at work. Start a business. Meditate. Read. Write. Reflect. Get a coaching certification. Focus on my own health and pregnancy. Spend time with friends. And most importantly deepen my relationship with Sennad and ensure our marriage is in a good place before we

  Shared by Breanne Smedley Tomorrow marks the 56th day in a row of completing GRIT workouts within the StoryAthlete community.   56 days in a row of working out.   That doesn’t seem like something that should be out of the ordinary for me.   In fact, it’s not.   But, here’s the thing about these 56 GRIT workouts that I am completing along with 60 other people in the community.   You miss one, and you’re out.   Done. Gone from the community until the next challenge that re-ups at the start of the month.   That sounded a little ridiculous to me when I first signed on to the challenge in the beginning of October.   “What about if I can’t get it done?”   “What if I have a really busy day?”   “What if something comes up?”   “Doesn’t he know how busy I am?!”   Doesn’t matter. Find a way. Don’t let your team down.   There were days during the challenge that were tough to get the workout done.   Days of long travel and all-day volleyball tournaments.   Days when “things” kept coming up.   Day

  Shared by Breanne Smedley “Thanksgiving Day meltdown…” Charlee, Brett, and I decided to take a family walk yesterday before all the festivities starting happening. It was a beautiful, crisp, fall afternoon. The turkey was in the Traeger, all the sides prepped. Seemed like a good time to take off and get a little fresh air. Charlee thought it was a good plan too! The problem was, she started having too much fun. Jumping around the neighborhood playground. Climbing up the jungle gym. Running through the mud. Laughing. Yelling. Falling down. After about 45 minutes, it was time to head back and check the turkey again. Ok Charlee, time to go! Immediately, she responded with her favorite word at the moment. “NO!” We told her again and started walking on the loop back to the house. She continued to protest. So, I picked her up. Time to go. She started squirming and squealing. “No! No!” “Are we having our first full-fledged meltdown?” I asked Brett. I put Charlee down as she was trying to tw

  Shared by Breanne Smedley “Do it now…” Another volleyball season is in the books. A fun, special one at that! More about that another time… At the end of each season, I am faced with a newfound commodity. Time. For the past four months, almost every minute of my day has been planned and executed (including most weekends). Having two full time teaching head coaches in the same season and a one and a half year old meant that everything from meals to outfits needed to be scheduled. Meal prepping for two weeks at a time. Working out in the minutes I had between classes. Planning practice at 4:45am. All so that I could fit everything in. Now, time has opened up a little bit. The equivalent of 30-40 hours a week of planning, practicing, traveling, and competing. But I’m finding myself having to rely on a certain principle even more now than I did before. “Do it now…” My subconscious caught on pretty quickly that I now have a little more time. “Go ahead and just take a seat before you get t

Shared by Kristina Smedley We are so excited to introduce you to the newest (and tiniest) member of our Mindfluent™ Leader family! Kaden Allen Fallak was born Thursday, November 7th at 5:40am to Kristina and her husband Sennad. Weighing in at 7lbs 12oz and measuring 19 inches long, he has already captured the hearts of this family and friends in a big way! Both mom and baby are doing great and enjoying this time to bond, learn about each other, and settle into a new normal as a family of three.  Please help me in congratulating Kristina and welcoming Kaden!  And for now, enjoy some precious first photos of the adorable little guy!   #InspirationallyImpactful #IntegrallyRelational #MindfullyEvolving Check out what we're up to now!

  Shared by Admin 2,800 burpees later, my 100 burpee a day challenge is officially over. I, along with a handful of students of mine celebrated the last burpee together last week, exclaiming that we are NEVER DOING BURPEES AGAIN! It’s finally over! No more trying to figure out when to fit burpees into my day. No more burpees at 10pm after getting home late from a volleyball match. No more feeling like I was going to die every Sunday trying to beat my 100 consecutive burpee time. I can finally rest. With that, though, comes a cost. Because while the above statements are true, I also have to look at a list of things that I’ll also no longer be experiencing. No more proving to myself that no matter how busy I am, I can still find the time to work out. No more of the feeling of satisfaction knowing that I can follow through on a commitment I made to myself. No more burpees with Charlee and seeing her face light up with laughter as she falls to the ground and jumps back up. No more bonding

  Shared by Breanne Smedley Right now, I’m looking at my bullet journal. Mapped out for each day of this week with a 12-hour timeline of each day. Beside almost every time, there is a note. For today, it’s: 5-6am: Meditate, Read, IOD/Volleyball Planning 7-11:30: Teach 11:30-12:05: Run 5k 12:10-1:05: Teach 1:10-1:45: Complete to-do list 1:45-2pm: Pick up Charlee 2:05-4:30pm: Set up senior night/Get ready for volleyball 4:30pm-9pm: Volleyball matches Some might say this is controlling. There’s no wiggle room! Where’s the time to be spontaneous? You know…go where the wind takes you?! Going where the wind takes me sounds like an awful idea. Like a leaf, just ending up wherever…? What if I end up in a storm drain? Or stuck to the bottom of someone’s shoe? That’s the opposite of the type of life I want to live. My routine, the code I live by, gives me freedom. It sounds counter-intuitive. I don’t leave much of my day to indecision. Indecision is the killer of freedom, progress, or creativity