Sobriety

I never thought I would write a post like this. I thought I would never say the words "I am a recovering alcoholic" but I am and it feels good to say it! I have family members that have had life long struggles with alcohol, some of them beat it and some of them didn't live to see their lives without it. I thankfully have and if there is anyone out there that is reading this that is struggling to beat your addiction, take it from me YOU CAN DO IT!! The reason why it feels good to say those words because the one important word that is in that sentence is "recovery" I am done I am free from the demon of alcohol! For some people it may never become a problem, they can go out and have a casual drink and be fine. I am just not one of those people. In my heyday I would go out and think to myself "ok Erica only a couple of beers tonight" of course those couple of beers would come and go and next thing I know it would be four or five hours later and I would be completely HAMMERED. At the time I think I am having a grand ol time nothing's wrong, just hanging with my friends enjoying myself. The next morning I would have that killer hangover thinking "what the hell did I just do?" The feelings of shame, being out of control would over take me then I would just deal with those feelings with more alcohol! Yes it became a vicious cycle that I thought I would NEVER get out of, never. But never say never right? Well I always think I met my husband at the right time I mean the precise right time. He too was in to partying, staying out late and having a great time himself. We would go out and just not think about reality, just thinking about that next drink. Something had to give, it had to stop somehow and thank God he was one the that said those words "let's quit drinking for a while" At first I thought was out of his mind! But then I said "hey what can it hurt? Just get sober for 30 days and then go back at it!" Sad I know.. Man when I was dry for those 30 days I could not tell you how great I felt! The world seemed to get brighter and possibilities seemed more clear! Well at when those days were up I wanted to have one more last hurrah with drinking on my 25th birthday, a decision I still regret to this day. I regret this because my husband was so hurt sitting back watching me get completely sloshed with my friends. After that night I knew that it was over, that a new life had to begin without that demon on my back

Life of sobriety started out pretty difficult, those I thought were my friends dropped off because I wasn't in the bars anymore. At first this was so lonely but I knew my husband and I made the best decision in order to have a great quality of life. I am so glad that we stuck to this! If we had kept going down the road we would not have been able to start our new business, buy our beautiful home or have such an amazing marriage that we have! I am not trying to go on a tangent about my own problems. I am really hoping one day someone will read this feeling that they are not sure about how a sober life will be. I am here to tell you it will be amazing! My new passion now is fitness! I love being able to help others, tell my story and form relationships with people that are looking for some guidance or just making new friends! I want people to know that you can have a great time without being out of your mind! Now I am not judging those that choose to drink I am just saying if you feel you have a problem there is hope and you can beat it, you can do anything you put your mind to! God is good and with him you can do anything!

Getting back into this

Sorry all it has been so long since I have posted here. I guess I have forgotten about this and honestly my hubby and I have been so crazy busy! But I am still on my amazing journey with fitness, family, friends and loving life. I am doing the Beachbody coaching thing and believe me it has been so gratifying! There have been plenty of frustrating moments but overall when you hear someone say how much you have inspired them or helped them that makes it all worthwhile. I have been introduced to so many people with the same fitness passion as I have and hearing their experiences have been an inspiration for me! Sites such as facebook, twitter and other online sites are amazing at connecting you with so many people that you have so many things in common with! At first I was kinda weary about online social sites but man that presents so many opportunities for you and making that connection is great! With that being said if you are someone who feels lost or doesn't know what to do about your weight issue or getting inspired to workout I would love to help you! I am not sure if I mentioned it in my other blog but I was a 50 overweight alcoholic who had lost hope. I had always been skinny but when the weight crept on and the drinking got worse and worse I really felt like there was no hope for me to lose the weight or to get sober. Alcohol had such a hold on me that I really didn't see a real way out. Finding my husband and health and fitness has literally been a life saver for me. I want to be an inspiration to others and those who overcome adversity and basically make lemons into lemonade are such an inspiration to me! I love hearing stories of overcoming challenges and getting something positive out of the experience. That is a rush for me and seeing others achieve their goals is even a bigger rush for me too! I guess I am going on a tagent to let you know that whatever you set your mind to you can do it, you can do anything! It may seem impossible but if God brings you to it then he will bring you through it. I have seen so many examples of this and it is so true! He will never give you anything more than you can bear. God knows what you need and when you need it. It may not be in the time frame that you want but it's in the time frame that is in your best interest. I want to see you make it! I want to coach you and guide to whatever goals you may have! One inspiration for me is Chalene Johnson. She is such a huge positive light of inspiration and you can really tell she loves helping others. The reason I think she is so successful is because she is genuine about everything she does and people can see that. Her passion has paid off and so many people have benefited from it!

Another thing to keep in mind is if you have a passion go for it! The one area you are guranteed to be successful is something that you are over the top passionate about. If you are at a job because it pays the bills but you are less then passionate about it guess what, you are going to get bored and just not be happy in it anymore. Believe me I have been there too and when I finally got out of that job that was the best day of my life! When I was free from that and free to do what my heart really belongs to that is where the happiness came out and I felt I could be that much more successful! Overall don't let any one stop you from what you want to do if it's anything from losing weight, getting your degree or changing jobs you can do it! Don't let anyone put doubt in your head for one second. People who are "haters" hate to see you happy and to see you achieve your goals. This is only because they are unhappy in their own lives and don't know how to turn it around. Don't let that bring you down. Keep your eyes on the prize and you will get there!

I promise I will be on here more often to blog about whatever is on my mind. If you have a question or something that you want answered I can blog about that too! I am glad you are on this journey with me and I wil be back soon!

In wellness and much love,
Erica
www.beachbodycoach.com/esnyder81
www.coacherica.com
www.facebook.com/ericasnyder
www.myspace.com/emoore81

My first blog

Hello all!

Well this would be my first post on blogger.com! I have heard so much about blogging and didn't know what it was but now I want to join the blog nation! I will probably talk about a lot of random things and just what is on my mind for that day. I feel the best therapy is to write it down and let it out before you explode! Holding your feelings in isn't the best advice I can give. Well let me tell you a little about myself: I am from Kalamazoo Mi and I am a native from here. Right now we are having our glorious winter weather so that has been a drag :( I am 27 years young and married to my wonderful husband William Snyder. He is the most amazing person I have ever met. Sometimes I don't think he's real but he is definitely rare and I am so glad I snagged him! LOL I just graduated from Argosy University with a degree in Psychology with a concentration on Substance abuse. I am taking a year off before I hit the master's degree. Until then I have been working with my husband in two of our businesses. We have a real estate business that is called Snyder realtors. You can check that out at www.ecowiserealtors.com and we also have a energy reduction consulting firm called EnergyChek. It's amazing company and please check it out at www.energychekcom you will like what you see!

I have also been on a weight loss journey. Recently I have been able to lose 50 pounds and I feel great! When I was younger I was always thin and really didn't have to think about what I was eating which was a blast at the time! When I was this age also I was hanging out with the wrong crowd and getting into things that I should not have gotten into namely alcohol. At first I thought it was everybody was doing it so what is the big deal? But after years and years of this behavior it really became a deadly and destructive problem. Over the years I had gained such a dependence on it and it got to the point where I had withdrawal symptoms at my job if I wasn't drinking. After sometime I had gained 50 pounds!!!!! I did not know who was staring back at me in the mirror and the thin person I used to be was gone and I did not know who I had become. I had joined a gym and tried to do that for a while but I get bored very easily. I was able to lose 10 pounds but I got bored and gave up so easily. Over time as you can imagine the weight slowly crept back on because I went back to eating what I wanted and being lazy again. Pretty soon it was time for my doctor's appointment. Last year when I went to see my doctor I had weighed about 150 pounds but I thought that was ok because I had gotten such a hard time for so long about being so skinny and looking too thin so I was liking my new curves. But this year I had learned that I had put on another 22 pounds! Then my doctor got really concerned. Last year she had kind of hinted that she wanted me to lose weight but this year was different, she was actually telling me to lose weight and she was not joking! My blood pressure was getting high, my cholesterol was high, I was knocking on the door of diabetes and I had so much body fat it was literally off the charts, 38%!

After learning all this I vowed to her and myself that I was going to make a change and by the time my next appointment came around I would have lost a dramatic amount of weight and she was going to be proud of me! Pretty soon that weekend I had seen an infomercial for this weight loss system called Hip Hop Abs. It was presented by Beachbody and the guy Shaun T seemed to have a great personality! I ordered it right before my husband and I left for Hawaii to get married and I knew that when I got back that a change was going to come! I had my last hurrah in Hawaii and when we got home I took my before pics and that was SCARY!!!! Ouch was all I could say and I really knew then how bad I was health wise and appearance wise. Well I am proud to say that I have lost that weight and now I have moved on to doing Chalean Extreme! If you have not done that workout you need to buy it today! That is the best workout in the world!!!! It is of course presented by BeachBody also! By working with this company I have also become a health and fitness coach! My website is www.milliondollarbody.com/esnyder81, you should check it out! I am still continuing on this amazing journey and having a great time doing it! Well that is just the beginning I could go on and on but I do have to get other work done! I will try and update as soon as possible and if you want please subscribe to my blog!

In health and wellness

Erica