Our Hearts Matter... Even In Cyberspace

Rest and self-care are so important. It is not selfish. When you take time to replenish your spirit, it allows you to serve others from the overflow. You cannot serve from an empty vessel. - Eleanor Brownn

I live to share pregnancy, birth, and breastfeeding stories from amazing women. Ten years before I had a child, a college friend was having hers. As a fellow personal trainer and health coach, she uses her dramatic birth experience  and subsequent transformation to motivate her clients. This is why Tasha Edwards was one of the very first moms I reached out to when looking for contributors to this blog. Everyday, through her own words on social media, she inspires me to reach further, dig deeper, smile bigger, and breathe. *BREATHE* In February, during Heart Month, she challenged over 100 Facebook Friends to take control of their lifestyle and life choices. Read about it here: 

One Sunday in January, it hit me. It hit me like, pulled me out of bed from my Sunday after church nap and sat me straight up, hit me. 

"We are dying and we need to get real about it....real quick."

And what was "I" supposed to do about it? I'm "just" one woman, a personal trainer, a wellness coach, a fitness instructor, got a couple of kids, a couple of degrees and I've met Bob and Jillian from the Biggest Loser last summer, but I am no magician.

My Transformation

I am a woman who has heart disease on both sides of her family.  I am a woman who knows that heart disease (not breast cancer) is the NUMBER ONE killer of women. I am a woman who found the following blog post on her own blog:

"I have headaches. Serious headaches. Migraines. Tension. Cluster. I have them all. Sometimes separate, sometimes together. Sometimes they last minutes. Or hours. Or days. Or weeks. In the past, months. I’ve tried sleeping more, eating more, hydrating more, stressing less, essential oiling myself up, taking Tylenol and rubbing down in magnesium oil. I am now at the level of needing a narcotic for pain.

So, imagine my surprise when, after taking a narcotic last night, I found myself jumping up from my sleep in pain. For the past few days, I’ve had chest pain. Yesterday, it was in my back. The pain was so bad I couldn’t put my head down. I begin to have what I can only describe as “waves” of pain that made my body feel like I was doing a uncontrollable body roll on my left side. I have seizures too that usually start with headaches. And I am pre-menopausal so I have night sweats too. All of this is going on at once. I felt my husband put his hand on my shoulder and I thought, “This cannot be happening.” I could answer him but I had no control over my body. I asked him to turn on his phone and look up the symptoms for a heart attack.

Was I having a heart attack?" Read More... 

I am a woman who knows that women are way too busy saving the world to think about their health and well-being like they should.  I am a woman who knew other women who were not only powerful in sharing a message of health but were in need of looking in the mirror and saying, "I am worthy of saving."

And so began the #OurHeartsMatter movement.

The truth is I chose 100 women to join me because it's all Facebook would let me tag.  I went through my Facebook friends and randomly chose people, some on purpose, some by God's intervention.  I had NO IDEA what I was doing. I thought it would be a group where people would be glad to "sign up" and the only posts would be mine. 

And that was true for over half of the group, which grew to over 150 women.  For the ones that dove in, we began to uncover some things that were MUCH bigger than the latest way to cook chicken in a crock pot or new techniques for running on the treadmill.

I had a heart attack. This is what I learned

These were the rules: 

I'm not big on a bunch of rules but I want this space to be safe and supportive. For that reason, I am asking that we all...

1) Do not post sales like stuff in here, no matter how great it is or how great you are. I am trusting you with each other because I care about you all. ❤️

2) Do not let this become a dumping ground at how you suck at exercising and you can't get motivated and spend 29 days talking about what you WISH you could do. I have surrounded you with the BEST! Ask questions, ask for recommendations but please, by all means, do not use this as your complaining space. We want to help you get better. When that happens, we all rise. ❤️

3) Do not post every detail of your day or only post here. This is your training ground, where you get amped out to go into the field. FLOOD YOUR TIMELINES with pictures of you taking care of yourself and making yourself a priority. We will back you up. Follow each other on social media. Like and comment on each other's posts. Work out and eat well with each other! ❤️

Everything you do here is worth it and valid! 

Thank you for being willing to be a part.

It got real in there. SUPER real.  While we certainly cheered each other on for hitting 20,000 steps in a day, awesome looking food and patted each other on the back for sharing heart disease facts with our family and friends, we listened to each other as we confessed the one thing that seems to drive women over the edge:

We DIDN"T have it all together and we were tired from trying to act like we did. We became undone in front of each other.  It is the group I wish I had when I wrote the above blog post, BEFORE I got to the point of being that stressed (which, along with overworking myself, caused my body to have such a reaction). It's not just the poor eating.  It's the stress that leads us to the poor eating.  It's not just the lack of exercise.  It's the depression that keeps us tied to the bed that is detrimental. It's the traditions from our family that we carry because we've never seen another way or we are ridiculed for wanting to do something different.  It's the habits we turn to because we have no other place to say, "I need help." Those are the things that are killing us. 

Broken Heart Syndrome is a Thing  

Women are twice as likely to die from a heart attack as men. We have to start asking why. 

What did I learn in February?  I learned there are foods that can protect my heart.  I learned that I am doing myself a favor by keeping up with my exercise routine.  I also learned that being my sister's keeper is better for my health than I could have ever known.  Our hearts do matter, individually and collectively. 

As a group fitness coach, personal trainer, holistic nutritionist, motivational speaker, influencer, mother, wife, and friend, Tasha Edwards is her own brand. Follow Hip Healthy Chick everywhere on social media! 

Twitter  - Instagram - Pinterest 

Who are your online accountability partners? 
Can you relate to this post-baby transformation?