My New Gig

Y'all, every time I start to doubt...every...time...I am reminded that God, the Source, Universe - whatever you want to call it - has my back. It really is the source of everything good, all abundance flows to me through it. I don't know why I doubt when I know that this is true. I have been reminded over and over again, and will continue to be reminded every time I doubt. All I have to do is ask.

Oh, and by the way, I'm going to post some happy photos throughout this post today to make up for the sad photo I posted last week. I had so much feedback from people telling me how sad it made them to see the cryey face. I gave you no warning! People aren't used to the cryey face, because it usually only happens at home. I wanted y'all to see the real, though. I wanted you to know that you're not the only one who breaks down. It happens to all of us occasionally. It's the bounce back that really matters, though. What comes from those break downs is way more important than the break down itself.

I have a condo in Hendersonville that I have been renting out for the last couple years, just enough to cover the expenses of the condo. I had discussed the move-out date situation with the current tenants and they asked if they could stay another month. When it came time for them to pay the additional month's rent, I found out that two of the three tenants had already moved out and the third had decided to move out on the original end date for the lease. This fell within the 30 day notice period that was required by the lease, so I couldn't do anything about it. I didn't start to freak out immediately, but when the mortgage came due and I didn't have the rent money to pay it, I started to question. I learn something new with every tenant who I work with, and this time, I'm making the notice period 60 days to give me a little more leeway to get a new tenant in there. Since I'm also getting better at managing my budget, this will be the last time I have this problem, I'm sure. All that to say that I posted an ad for a new tenant and had five showings lined up within a day of posting the ad. I found an amazing tenant with a full time job and no roommates who will be moving in mid-August. We signed a lease yesterday and the deposit has been paid in full. It's super exciting!

In more exciting news, I started teaching a new class that's 5 miles from my house on Monday. It's at an amazing gym that offers yoga Monday thru Thursday and personal training most days. Summit Fitness + Sports Performance is a Cross Fit certified gym that has a yoga studio right next door. I'll be teaching anywhere from 2-5 classes each week there starting in August. My classes will be Monday, Tuesday and Friday at 6:30 pm, and we're going to look into adding morning classes over the next couple of weeks. If you haven't already, head over and "Like" their Facebook page, too, at www.facebook.com/summitfitnessandsportsperformance. It's just a couple guys pursuing their dreams just like me and you.

In case you're wondering, I haven't forgotten about Run❤️Yoga❤️Love. It's on the back burner for now. Once I get these changes under my belt, we're going to figure out how to resurrect our weekly runs. We may even do a beginners series starting in September. Keep your eyes peeled!

For now, though, there are already some amazing options for running in Nashville. I've committed to run all 12 of the Wednesday night runs with East Nasty, and you can keep up with them here: www.facebook.com/eastnasty.  I usually start with the slowest group and end up walking most of it. If you ever want to join me, reach out! Also, if you haven't heard about the Germantown Running Club, head on over to their page to read about their Tuesday night runs: www.facebook.com/germantownrunning. Nashville Running Company has runs through the week, too, with their East or West locations: http://www.nashvillerunning.com/weekly-runs/. Fleet Feet has some weekly runs posted on their website, too! http://www.fleetfeetnashville.com/events/weekly-runs. So many options! I hope to see you out on a run soon!

I'm so grateful for you and your continued support. Have I told you lately that I love you? I really do.

And the question for today is...What would it take for you to take a yoga class? Or schedule a private yoga session? Why haven't you tried it yet? What's keeping you from practicing with me? I would love to hear from you!

Much love,
Emily Rose

What are you grateful for?

It happens every once in a while. The scared little girl inside comes out and the ego starts to question what I'm doing with my life and then Colbie Callet's song "Try" comes on the radio and the tears start to flow. It's not pretty, but it's real.

And then I read a new post on one of my favorite blogs (http://adviceigivemyself.com/2015/07/17/when-perfectionism-is-driving/) and "Only Human" by Christina Perri comes on the radio and it reminds me that this is part of the process. We bleed when we fall down. It happens. We get back up. We're a little stronger. We pick up the pieces and maybe add a few more sparkles and glue it all together, take a minute to admire our work and work on filling the cup back up with happy moments. An amazing yoga teacher of mine (love you, Raquel!) talked a lot in class about a process of putting broken pieces of China back together filling the cracks with gold. I think of that every time I fall apart and how much shinier I am every time I come back together.

I had a really rough day the other day because I was struggling with my old bank taking my money. I divorced SunTrust yesterday. We've had a questionable relationship since they held onto over $1k of my money last year for 10 days without an apology or any kind of interest or even responding to my request for an overdraft fee of $36 and a long term overdraft fee of $36 after 7 days. (let it go! Let it go!) Yes, I have learned the hard way that this is what they charge their long term customers for an overdraft. Even if it only lasts 24 hours. But they can hold onto my money for 10 days without any compensation. Then, my car payment (to SunTrust from SunTrust) gets pushed through to my account and causes me to be overdraft. They did me a favor and pushed it through because I'm a long term client. That's what the manager told me when I closed my account yesterday. Thanks, SubTrust for "helping" me in this way that not only allowed you to get the car payment, but also $72 in overdraft fees for the two transactions that were processing when that car payment pushed my account into overdraft. This all happened after I called to talk to a SunTrust representative about canceling my payment and he assured me that it would not go through. I'm not blaming them for my irresponsibility with my money over the last couple of years, but what I am blaming them for is their lack of compassion for those of us pursuing our dreams. I'm blaming them for all of the times that I've talked to one of their representatives and been told that all would be ok and then checked my account a day later to find that they've screwed me again. No more, SunTrust! You will not get another dime from me in overdraft charges or that $7 monthly account service fee that you randomly started charging me a few months back without giving me any kind of notification.  Most of my problems right now revolve around money, but my SunTrust checking account will no longer be one of them. Actually, I'm just going to let go of any limiting thoughts I have around money right now. Want to join me? I now release my lack mentality and any limiting beliefs I hold around money and success. That feels better.

All that to say that I had a bad experience. I've been making a conscious effort to focus on my good experiences more than the bad ones. Every time I think about a bad experience, instead of going into a tailspin thinking about all of the bad things going on in my life (which is one of my old patterns) I like to think about something that I'm grateful for in my life. So here goes! I'm so grateful for the changes I've made in my life that have made me more free and happy. I'm grateful for my amazing private clients who I get to work with when they're in town and who included me in their morning prayer after our yoga session the other day. I cannot tell you what an honor that was to be included in such an intimate family practice. That's what yoga is all about for me. So beautiful!

Now I want to hear from you. What are you grateful for??

Happy Birthday to Me!

I LOVE my birthday!!! I mean seriously love it. I wish every day was my birthday. I mean who doesn't?? For me, though, it's not about the gifts or the cake so much as the fact that I can act like a spoiled brat and the world revolves around me, and people are going to love me anyway.

I had an amazing conversation with a friend the other day about this very topic. I love being the center of attention. I love acting like no one else in the world has needs but me. I love to be the object of everyone else's love and adoration. Why, then, is it that I only act like this on my birthday??

Somewhere along the way, someone told me not to be selfish. Someone told me that I needed to share and be nice to others. At some point, though, I started putting other people's needs, wants and happiness in front of my own without them even asking me to do it. This is a pattern that was formed years and years and years ago, and it's a pattern I need to learn how to break before I'm able to commit to a serious relationship with someone else, and especially before I become a mother, which is something I really want to do in the near future.

So what does that mean? What does that even look like to break that pattern?? Y'all have heard me and probably a million other people talk about self love, right? Well, what does that look like?? My first step is not to help someone unless they ask for it. This is really hard for me. My mama raised me to help other people.  If someone is struggling to reach that can on the top shelf at the grocery store, I would normally see it, realize they were struggling, and walk over to offer my assistance.

This is even harder to keep from doing as an empath. I want to help everyone. I walk into a room and feel what people are feeling, physically and emotionally. This is a "gift" that I was born with and have probably been honing since I was a child and didn't even realize that I had it until I was an adult and talked to someone about their experiences and finally put a name on what I'd been experiencing for years. What a relief!!! I'm not alone. As a yoga teacher, I can use that gift to help people who walk into my classes or ask for private lessons. It truly is a gift. In my personal life, it makes it hard to be around people for extended periods of time. I mean pretty much everyone has something going on, and taking all of that on is a lot for one person. I've learned to avoid situations where I know I'll be around big groups of people. I've learned techniques like zipping up and shielding my electromagnetic field and things like that that help guard against letting in the sharp stuff, but in the end, the easiest way to help myself is some good quality time alone meditating or just sitting in silence.

Hmm...but I think I digressed there. Back to self love and helping yourself first. You know when you're in the airplane and the flight attendant tells you that if you're traveling with small children, you should put on your own oxygen mask before putting on your child's? There's a really good reason for that. Basically, if you don't have an oxygen mask on, chances are that you're going to die, probably before you can get your child's mask on. Then you're both dead and that would be horribly sad.

The same applies to life. If you go around helping and giving energy to people who didn't ask for it, you won't have energy left to help the people who need it and want your help and are going to be grateful for it.

You have to start, though, by filling up your own cup.  I do this through meditations, playing, running and being around people who share the same love and respect for me that I share for them. I love being around people who love me back. Who doesn't??

So, the gift that I'm giving myself for my birthday in addition to that amazing run I took this morning followed by a fabulous meditation on the front porch looking up at the beautiful clouds in the sky and watching one of my favorite one-year-olds in the world is that it's okay to put myself first. 

It's okay to not help that stranger who fell down in the stream on my way to Cummins Falls (can you tell there's a little guilt there? She had friends with her and a crowd of people forming before I even knew what was going on. It's not like I left her completely alone and bleeding to death). It's okay to not engage in drama in the people's lives around me. From now on, I'm only helping people who ask for my help, and I reserve the right to choose whether I engage in friends' drama, and I give myself full permission to speak up and be "selfish" and love myself.

I would love to hear from you. Is this something that you do? What types of things do you do for self care?

Love,

Emily Rose