Stories from Kristina + Breanne

  Shared by Kristina Smedley On Monday, I promised to share more about my GRIT experience and transformation over the last four weeks. As many of you moms (and dads too!) can likely relate to, working out when you have an infant can be a struggle!  Finding Time. Finding Childcare. Finding Energy. It’s much easier to just Find Excuses. I expected this when I signed up for the January GRIT challenge; figuring I would have to workout when Kaden (our son) was sleeping or make sure to find time when my husband was home. And, I was a bit worried that I wouldn’t always be able to complete the daily workout ( uumm… queue the excuses )! What I didn’t expect turned out to be a much bigger issue – mom guilt! For the first eight weeks of Kaden’s life, I didn’t feel too much guilt. And I was actually feeling pretty awesome about this fact, seeing how much people talk about it. But, come January and the guilt washed over me! Some days it almost stopped me in my tracks. Other days, I see now...

  Shared by Kristina Smedley “Is it magic?” Any other Paulo Coelho fans out there? I love his books and often finish them and want (need) to read them again. His writing often opens my eyes, shifts my perspective, and helps me to see life in different ways. The first book I read of his was the Alchemist. If you haven’t read it yet, it’s a must! A young shepherd, Santiago, goes on a journey to fulfill his Personal Legend, where he learns (amongst many other things) to follow his dreams by listening to his heart. He learns that fear is a bigger obstacle than the obstacle itself. And to always get back up and continue on, for in the end, what is true and meant to be will endure. In our busy lives and Western culture, we so often live by our brains. We determine our dreams with our head. We plan our day with our head. We calculate the risks, do pros and cons, estimate the returns… All with our brains. And often with a sense of scarcity and fear. We’ve left very little room for intuitio...

  Shared by Kristina Smedley “Just One More… ” Normally, that’s what I would be thinking about cookies, maybe a glass of wine, and definitely handfuls of cashews! But not this month. This month, it seems to be what Breanne and I are saying to 30-day challenges! Yesterday we were joking (well, maybe half-joking)… can we fit in just one more?! Don’t worry, Brett & Sennad, we know the answer is NO! GRIT – Whole30 – OneFunnelAway… all with our StoryAthlete teammates. Daily workouts and writing, eating wholesome foods and learning how to market and offer our services to those we hope to positively impact. There’s something so special and motivating about being surrounded by a community of people who are always looking to improve themselves. To improve across all dimensions. Mind. Body. Business. Relationships. To really improve what they are putting out into this world and how they impact the lives of those around them. There’s magic in being surrounded by a group of people who choo...

  Shared by Kristina Smedley “The Next Tony Robbins…” “Kristina & Breanne Smedley”  Yeah, that sounds ridiculous. I even feel stupid writing it down and hitting the post. My Inner Critic is screaming at me that you all will think I’m cocky. “Who does she think she is?” “Ha. They only have a hundred or so followers on their Facebook page.” “Someone thinks pretty highly of themselves.” And truth be told, I do think highly of us. Not in a way that we know it all. But in the fact that we have a huge dream, tons of passion, and together with an unstoppable determination. And this doesn’t always sit well with people. Maybe they haven’t found this passion in their own lives, so they can’t really imagine the drive that we possess. It seems that these folks are content just staying where they are. To settle. They aren’t moving until their pain of standing still so greatly outweighs their fear that they really have no choice but to move. Breanne and I live by the opposite approach. ...

  Shared by Kristina Smedley “The Next Tony Robbins [Part 2]…” Yesterday’s post deserves a Part 2… Because, as we all know there’s a pretty massive gap   between where we are today and actually being the next Tony Robbins! Like, so massive that I almost can’t see across it. There’s growth needed in all dimensions of life… Mind. Body. Business. Relationships. As I mentioned yesterday, I believe there are two types of people in this world when it comes to growth. Those who choose to Evolve and those who choose to Stay. And I say choose because it is a choice. We all wake up each day and are faced with millions of choices… Will I meditate this morning? Will I workout today? What’s for breakfast… lunch… dinner? Should I work on that project that I’m dreading or scroll social media? Should I sign up for another mommy/baby class? Do I stop and chat with my colleague or just rush to my meeting? Do I allow myself to dream or just accept my spot in life? And the choices we make de...

  Shared by Kristina Smedley Some people finish high school, possibly go to college, get a job, and call it done. They’re “good” with what they’ve learned and are “happy where they’re at.” That will absolutely never be me. There will never come a time when I am not committing my time and resources to learning and continuing to grow. This doesn’t make sense to some people. They don’t understand why I would dedicate so much personal time and a lot of my disposable income towards classes, immersion programs, and coaches that might not have a completely tangible and obvious payoff or next step. Many times I really don’t know exactly what I will gain from the investment either; but now I trust my intuition about when it’s the right thing to do. For example, I completed about a third of my MBA back in 2007-2008. Everyone said, “You have to get your MBA. Why wouldn’t you, Boeing will pay for it!” I listened to them, rather than myself. I didn’t want an MBA. I started because I thought I h...

  Shared by Kristina Smedley “Recording his stories…” My dad and his brothers had/have plans to record my grandpa’s life stories, before the stories are lost forever. Stories of growing up very poor. The eldest of the children, and the expectations placed on him. Stories of being in the second world war and the tragedies he experienced there. Tragedies that I’m sure still linger with him today, but are never spoken of. Hopefully, the story of how he met my grandma, fell in love and had three rambunctious boys. Of working in the paper mill. Quitting smoking in protest to the price going up. Being a grandpa; where he shined but also made some mistakes. And the pride he has in his sons and their families (he told me this just recently with a tear in his eye). Of devastatingly losing my grandma at much too young of an age. But later meeting a wonderful woman and getting to spend the rest of his life with her. I really hope my dad does this. And I wish my mom would record her mom’s stor...

  Shared by Kristina Smedley “Note Taking for the Win…” This is my first month of GRIT and so far I’m loving it. More on that in the next couple days. What I’m loving almost as much are our Wednesday Rev-Share training calls. 90 minutes of Ryan dropping a ton of knowledge on all of us. Showing examples. Providing the back story and the results that can be created. If we put the knowledge into action. Showing us case studies. Using our examples as case studies, to break down and help us improve. I’m a big note taker. In fact, I LOVE taking notes. In college, I was actually PAID to take notes and turn them in. YES, one of my work-study jobs was to take notes in my classes. PERFECT. I was already creating the most organized, OCD notes of anyone in the class… with color-coding, indentations, underlining, and highlighting. It’s almost embarrassing to admit, but sometimes if my notes looked sloppy, I would rewrite them later that evening so my entire notebook would look nice and organize...

  Shared by Breanne Smedley At some point during most weekends, Charlee and I try to find breaks in the rain to go take a walk outside. We have a nice ¼ mile walking trail behind our house that leads to two different playgrounds along the way. This weekend, though, it rained almost the whole time. Except for a tiny break Sunday when I saw some sun come through the window. Charlee! Let’s go for our walk! “Walk. Outside. Boots.” She said back. When we got out there, we were immediately met with huge puddles and mud along the trail. Charlee started to make her way to a puddle and noticed she could make some fun splashes with her boots when she stepped in it. It quickly became the thing she wanted to do. Moving from puddle to puddle. Splashing water in the air and laughing. As she gained more confidence, her stomps became bigger. Splashes became larger. And my instinct was to stop her. Especially as she began to move towards the deeper puddles. The muddier ones. “No, Charlee, stay with...

  Shared by Breanne Smedley Today, I woke up with some butterflies in my stomach. That excited/nervous feeling that I would often get before my soccer or volleyball games. But today, I’m not playing in front of parents and fans. Instead, I’m kicking off a mental training program this afternoon with an intimate group of athletes who do. “I’m just going to go to my office for a bit to prep for tomorrow” I told Brett last night after Charlee went to bed. 30 minutes later, my desk looks like a small bomb went off. Books opened to highlighted and dog-eared sections. Papers strewn about with images, outlines, and notes. Multiple tabs up on my browser. To put this in perspective, I had already planned the outline of the program a week prior. A rough outline of topics and progression of skills players need in order to develop confidence and resiliency on and off the court. I leave room to be guided by the athletes, based on their needs. I had already meticulously planned our first meeting....

  Shared by Breanne Smedley If you’ve never had the experience of watching the show “America’s Funniest Videos” with my mom, you’re missing out on a life experience. I’m not really sure who else watches AFV anymore. But, my mom does. And when she does, it always starts out innocent. Some giggles here or there. Until it gets to the part where it’s just a long compilation of people falling, running into things, or getting stuck places. That’s when it really starts getting going. The giggle turns into a full-on laugh. The kind where your whole body kind of seizes up. And you can’t breathe for a second. Then the tears start. My sister and I, on the couch, just look at each other. “What is so funny!?” That person just ran as fast as they could into a sliding glass door. Are they okay?! Meanwhile, my mom continues to laugh/cry and threaten that she’s going to pee her pants. Then, I can’t stop laughing. Not because of the videos, but because of my mom. You know that saying about laughter ...