Stories from Kristina + Breanne

Shared by Breanne Smedley There are some people that you meet in life, just at the right time in your journey. Whether it’s the universe, God, or just being in the right place at the right time, it’s pretty amazing to look back and see how it happened. I first met  Karis Cooper  out of desperation. I was 6 months pregnant and suffering from awful sciatic pain. I had called around to a couple of different chiropractors in the area, but none could get me in as soon as I wanted to. Next up on the google search list: Cooper Chiropractic. To my surprise, they had an opening the next day. YES!! I couldn’t wait. I met Karis and automatically could tell that she was one of those women that I desired to be like. Strong but gentle. Assertive yet empathetic. Passionate. Generous. She adjusted me and gave me loads of great information about pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum care. While chatting, the conversation went to her daughters. And then to volleyball. Turns out, Karis had connections to

Shared by Breanne Smedley Charlee isn’t even two yet. But, somehow, almost every room in the house has a baby, toddler, and kid toys in it. The living room is a prime example. We have four big cubbies in our living room that used to sit, unoccupied. Now, I can barely close them. Overstuffed with toys, hundreds of parts of toys, and stuffed animals. It’s the same thing in our bonus room. It’s been overtaken by books, kid chairs, and cubbies full of toys that look similar to the ones downstairs. Like “where did all these toys come from?!” I found myself asking the other day. And she has a birthday coming up, where are we going to put all the new toys?! Which other room is she going to slowly take over? When she does play with the toys, it looks like a friggin bomb went off within seconds. Everything comes out. I can barely see the floor. 99% of the time, she usually only plays with one or two of the toys anyways. Or, just leaves the mess. The fun was pulling out the toys, not playing wit

  Shared by Breanne Smedley The other day, I wrote about how making and maintaining friendships as an adult is hard. Turns out, there are others who feel the same way. Struggling to find the time and energy it takes to form new friendships. Watching other friendships in their lives change as time and distance increase. Later that day, I was challenged within StoryAthlete GRIT to write to the prompt, “My associations matter.” Specifically, the principle that “You’re the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” I tried to take it literally and list these people out. Brett. Charlee. Kristina. My mom. Who’s the fifth? I felt like any number of my family members, friends, or colleagues could fill that role. Do I rank it by the amount of time spent, or depth of relationship? I see my colleagues every day. But, I have some friendships that are deeper, even though I don’t see these people on the daily. Also, does it have to be someone I see in person? I went into a spiral of o

  Shared by Breanne Smedley It’s a weird thing, really. Most of my life, I have probably looked confident from the outside. Excelled in school and sports. Went to college and played volleyball. Started a great career where I’ve had success. Married, had a baby, worked full time, and co-built a business. Stayed physically fit and active. I have close friends and family members. I am able-bodied and pretty by society's standards. What’s there not to be confident about? In fact, how dare I consider myself to not be confident, given that I have so much? “I’d die to have legs like yours.” “Must be nice…” So, of course, I exuded confidence. Or what I thought it was, at least. Looking good on the outside. Never cracking. Always appearing strong. Vulnerability=weakness. Don’t let them see you struggle. When the thoughts in my head were similar to most women I know. Thoughts like: “I’m not ready yet.” “What will they think?” “What if I fail!” “My body isn’t beautiful.” “I’m not living up to

  Shared by Breanne Smedley It never fails, when I’m doing some deep cleaning and decluttering, I come across boxes of memories. Photos of Brett and I when we were kids, newspaper clippings of games that our names were mentioned in, special toys from our childhood, baseball cards, and bobbleheads (Brett). Sometimes these things stop me in my tracks, and I spend hours reliving memories (rather than actually cleaning). The other day, I also came across a journal from when Brett and I were dating. We did the long-distance thing for the first three years of our relationship. At some point during that time, we decided to start a journal to each other. One person would write it in, drop it in the mail, then the other person would read, write back, and send it off. I remember always looking forward to getting the mail when I thought Brett had sent the journal. Sometimes I wouldn’t even wait to get back to my apartment to read it. Standing there by the mailbox, trying to decipher his cursive h

  Shared by Breanne Smedley A little over a year ago, I started waking up really early. Like, 4:15am early. I was challenged to take a look at my morning routine, and assess whether or not what I did in the morning was in alignment with my goals. My previous routine of snoozing the alarm 8 times before rolling out of bed, then rushing to get myself, then the baby ready, and out the door by 6:45am was starting my day in a way that made me feel terrible from the start. Plus, Kristina and I were in the process of starting our business. Reading, writing, and taking time to meditate and visualize were both routines that we were trying to incorporate into our days. Because we know how important they are to the evolution of ourselves, and our business. But, where would I find the time? In the morning.. Which meant setting that alarm to an hour that I almost never saw in the AM. Before this, I’d tell you that I just wasn’t a “morning person.” That I have a hard time getting up in the morning.

Shared by Breanne Smedley Maintaining friendships as an adult is hard. Making friends is even harder. Maybe it’s just me. Compared to when I was a kid, and even throughout college, it seemed so effortless. Friends in class, friends on my sports teams, then in college, friends that lived in the same dorm, and my closest friends on my volleyball team. Constantly surrounded and built into my routine were people at my same age and stage of life. Now, it’s much more of an effort. I have a neighbor across the street that I have been getting to know for a little bit. She has a young child in kindergarten, a few years older than Charlee. We were chatting the other day while our kids played in the cul-de-sac. As we were departing, I felt like I was on a first date, nervous to make a move. Do I say, “This was nice, we should do this again?” “Can I get your number?” “Hey, let’s hang out?” Awkward. I settled for, “Nice chatting with you! Are you out here often?” Face-palm. Maybe I’ll just hide in

  Shared by Breanne Smedley Up until recently, I’d say I could be classified as a “rule follower.” Following the directions, the signs, and what people told me to do. Likely born out of my desire to be a “good” student, the rules are what kept me feeling like I was on the right path. And plus, when you follow the rules, people don’t question you. They don’t look at you funny. They don’t ask you a million questions about why you’re doing something different. Ever since Kristina and I started building a business, and ever since that first $1 came in, I’ve started to believe in the possibility of a life and a multidimensional career that is different from the norm. Different from the rules that I had been following before. Different from the classic “get a degree, find a job, pay off the student loans, live for the weekends and vacations, work your way up, retire, etc…” But that hasn’t come without question. From myself and from a few others. While most have been supportive, many are curi

  Shared by Breanne Smedley Last week was “off” for whatever reason. Every Sunday, I go through the process of reviewing my previous week, and setting goals, intentions, and metrics for the following week. My “metrics”, are habits that I’ve identified as things that can move me towards my goals and help me get 1% better across mind, body, business, and relationships. They include: Meditate everyday (5 mins minimum). 5 IODs (Stories) a week. Read 40 Pages everyday. GRIT everyday. CrossFit 2x a week. Peloton 4x a week. No phone in bed or between 4-7pm. Things that I can easily “check the box” if I did or not. Well, as I reviewed last week, my metrics looked something like this: Meditate-3 days IODs-4 stories Read 40 pages-Not even close (maybe 40 pages TOTAL for the week) GRIT-Checked that box, thankfully, because there is no other option! CrossFit-1x Peloton-3x Phone-Broke all the rules When I looked at this, it was easy to become a bit down. Sad, depressed even. To the point where I st

  Shared by Breanne Smedley I’m a sucker for a good challenge. 7 days, 14 days, 28 days, 45 days, a whole year…doesn’t matter. If it’s in the form of a challenge, and is something I’m interested in, I’m likely game for it. The higher the stakes, and the more accountability, the better. As I was thinking about the number of challenges I’ve participated in, just in the past couple years. The list was longer than expected: GRIT (5 months and counting) 28 Day StoryAthlete challenge Whole 30 30 Day One Funnel Away 10 Day Meditation challenge 24 Hour Fasting Happiness Project Challenge (a full year!) Stark Naked 21 Day Reset 28 Day 100 Burpees a day challenge There’s probably a lot that I haven’t even thought of… Some people may view this challenge hopping as a little crazy. I call it learning. And experimenting. I’ve found that challenges are the most effective way to learn what works, and what doesn’t. By throwing myself into something. Committing. Not just dabbling around or forming opini

  Shared by Breanne Smedley I have a confession to make. I’m a recovering “list-maker.” I teeter on the verge of addiction when it comes to writing out long lists of things I need to accomplish. Categorized by theme, of course. Lists of things that need to get done around the house. Lists of what I need to do for volleyball. List of things that need to be done for school. Lists for Mindfluent® Leadership and mindset coaching, Lists dedicated for personal and family to-dos. Then, sub-lists for all of these things. Breaking down the bigger projects into lists of smaller steps. I really enjoy checking things off the list. To the point where I confess that I have written something down that had failed to get on my list…just to check it off. So, I’ve got a thing with lists. That’s been established. With anything, I have to ask myself, “Is this serving me?” Most of the time, I’d say yes. It feels really good to get all the stuff floating around in my head onto paper. The problem, though, com

  Shared by Kristina Smedley “Letter to Kaden #1…” Dear my sweet boy, This weekend you had fun at Cannon Beach with your family, especially Charlee! She loves bouncing you in your bouncy chair, putting your binky in (even if you immediately spit it out), and kissing and rubbing your head. She’s pretty excited to be your big cousin! The whole family is excited that you’ve joined us! You walked around and explored the house with Mor Mor, watched the waves with Grandpa GOAT, cuddled with Auntie Breanne, and played with Uncle Mark, Auntie Sylvia, and Uncle Brett. It’s fun watching you grow and change. It’s exciting to think about what kind of little boy you’re going to grow into and what you’ll be interested in. Right now, you spend just about every second of your life surrounded by your family. You and I, especially, get to spend hours and hours together, talking, playing, exploring, and relaxing. But I know that it won’t always be like this. One day, you’ll be a young man who has friends