Robyn Spurr

Personal Health and Weight Loss Coaching For Women

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Unexpected Detours

Sometimes life does not go as planned.

Sometimes you’re cruising down the road to one destination and you slam right into a DETOUR sign.

I was working hard to build up my fitness this summer. Hiking steeper and longer trails in order to prepare for a 14er in September.

There is no variety of exercise I love more than hiking. Even though I’ve had three foot surgeries and my foot and ankle surgeon told me to “find another hobby” two years ago.

Can you say stubborn?

Two weeks ago, I suffered another foot injury.

#$!@%#@!!!

Injuries happen. Life doesn’t always go the way we want it to go.

And – we cannot let that stop us from living our lives.

We can wallow in self-pity. Which, in all honesty, I have chosen from time to time over the past few weeks. Or we can make the most out of the detour.

Today I made a list of all the things I can still do + enjoy.

Sometimes a detour can be a gift (in disguise).

Plan A might have to go back on the shelf, but that shouldn’t stop us from making plans entirely.

Pivot.

Heal.

Trust the process.

Adapt to the curve balls life throws at us.

Redefine what is on the finish line.

💙 Robyn

Interested in a one-on-one coaching relationship with me? It would be an honor to work with you if and when the time feels right.

To learn more about Personal Health Coaching click HERE. 

To schedule a Discovery Session click HERE.

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Meet Yourself Where You Are

Tom Petty’s Wildflowers has been my favorite song for much of my adult life.

You belong among the wildflowers

You belong in a boat out at sea

You belong with your love on your arm

You belong somewhere you feel free.

Nature is my happy place. I can breathe. Unwind. Create. Feel at peace in mind and body.

Route 3 loomed above my childhood home. A major highway in New Jersey that will lead you to the Lincoln Tunnel – and ultimately, New York City.

The weed infested hillside next to the Route 3 offramp was my sacred space as a child. A place to collect ladybugs. To pretend I was on safari. To find stillness.

When my then boyfriend, now husband, asked me to move to Colorado in 1998, I didn’t hesitate for a second.

Three weeks ago, almost 25 years after moving to Colorado – my husband and I planted ourselves in the quirky little mountain town of Salida, Colorado.

I am surrounded by wildflowers and antelope and mountains and sky.

What is the point of all of this?

Behavior change is a result of habits, mindset, and environment.

Environment: the surroundings or conditions in which a person, animal, or plant lives or operates.

Our environment is more than where we live. Everything you see, hear, smell, taste, and touch is part of your environment. 

Our environment matters – and our environment changes frequently.

Last year at this time, I was getting ready to fly to New Jersey to take care of my sweet Mama for two weeks. It was my fourth trip of the year. My environment was drastically different than it is today – and so were my expectations of myself.

I see my clients frequently falling into the trap of attaching to a time in their life when they were crushing it.

Why can’t I eat the way I did then?

Why can’t I exercise the way I did then?

Why don’t I feel as motivated?

Why does it feel so hard?

I can pretty much guarantee this line of questioning will lead to giving up. Every single time.

Behavior change is fluid. Dynamic. Stop comparing yourself to that time when life was easier and breezier.

One of my clients recently suffered a concussion after being rear ended by a semi. She was feeling disappointed in herself for not being where she was pre-accident.

Here’s what I told her…

Let go of pre-accident you. Be right here in this moment. You know what you’re capable of when everything is going great. Except life doesn’t always let us hang out in that space for long. Let’s make the most of where you are now. It’ll look different than before the accident. And that is OKAY.

I asked her to begin texting me with every win. Nothing was too small to celebrate. We shifted her habits to be more in line with what was possible as she continued to recover. We celebrated the fact that she only gained 2 pounds when it could have been more.

When my sweet Mama passed last August, I had gained a total of 6 pounds since her cancer diagnosis – and I considered that to be a monumental victory. There was no shame. No harsh judgement. Just compassion for myself and what I had been through. The weight is gone now and I am certain I would have gained more + had a more difficult time losing it if I was beating myself up the whole time the scale was going up.

Be gentle with yourself + meet yourself where you are, Chickadee.

💙 Robyn

Interested in a one-on-one coaching relationship with me? It would be an honor to work with you if and when the time feels right.

To learn more about Personal Health Coaching click HERE. 

To schedule a Discovery Session click HERE.

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Best Self. Burn it Down.

January. The time of year when we tend to put pressure on ourselves to improve. To make resolutions. To strive to do better than the year before. To become our best self (whatever the f#@$ that means).

Don’t get me wrong. I’m all about (achievable) goals and doing better. I mean, I’m a coach, so you know – I better be into this stuff. It’s just that we usually go about it in a way that leads to feeling like a failure.

Striving to become your “best self” is inherently painful. Because no matter how good you get, you’re always comparing the here and now to a best version that is likely impossible to achieve. And so – it is never good enough.

Perhaps it’s time to toss the idea of a “best self” in the proverbial trash along with a big ass squirt of lighter fluid and a match.This feels more important than ever. Because honestly – 2020 and 2021 were big stinky flaming trash heaps for many of us.

Here’s something to consider. Instead of the standard “new year, new you” uber ambitious exercise or weight loss goals, think about building new habits around sleep, stress management, recovery and feeding your soul in 2022. Especially if you’re feeling burned out.

A few ideas…

  • Read for pleasure 30 minutes/day
  • Start your nighttime wind down routine 15 minutes earlier
  • Subscribe to Wondrium and take one new class/week or month
  • Buy a new cookbook and prepare one new recipe/week (I just purchased The Ultimate Meal-Prep Cookbook by America’s Test Kitchen) 
  • Grab one of the puzzles you bought at the beginning of the pandemic and start working on it
  • Commit to a friend date every week or every other week (hike, coffee, Zoom happy hour)

What if we gave ourselves space and grace to grow? What if we chose to focus on habits we’re excited about? What if we made the journey without crushing judgments and burdensome expectations?

That sounds like freedom, adventure, and joy to me.

💙 Robyn

Interested in a one-on-one coaching relationship with me? It would be an honor to work with you if and when the time feels right.

To learn more about Personal Health Coaching click HERE. 

To schedule a Discovery Session click HERE.

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Two Modes

There are times to preserve – and there are times to push.

2021 was a year of preservation. A year of not backsliding too much. A year of leaning on foundational habits (whole foods as much as possible, prioritizing sleep, staying hydrated, getting outside for fresh air and walks).

Given that I work with most clients for a year, we’re bound to bump up against challenging periods. It can be tempting to let healthy habits slip entirely when life is hard. To check out. To stop showing up for ourselves. Or – we can practice preservation during the trying phases of life.  

One of the many lessons I learned while caring for my mom was how to maintain a baseline level of self-care when bandwidth was consistently low.

There were no homemade meals from scratch, but I utilized a healthy meal service that delivered fully cooked meals.

There were no strength training sessions or trips to the gym, but I could pop in my Air pods and go for a quick walk.

Now that I’m coming out the other side, it’s time to return to pushing. Home-cooked meals. Amped up workouts. Self-development.

While I’m not interested in signing up for another year like this past one, it helped me understand and empathize with clients who are in the trenches.

There are the routine ups and downs of life – and there are times when the wheels fall off the wagon. Knowing when to push and when to preserve is essential.

💙 Robyn

Interested in a one-on-one coaching relationship with me? It would be an honor to work with you if and when the time feels right.

To learn more about Personal Health Coaching click HERE. 

To schedule a Discovery Session click HERE.