03 Jan Wo(man) in the Arena

Posted at 18:53h in Leaning In by
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
-Teddy Roosevelt

Hi there!  This is me stepping into the arena, because the internet is the arena of 2023.  I am hopeful that this can be a safe space to share thoughts, connect and inspire.  The other quote I am leaning on and my general disclaimer is below –

So here I am doing the best I can and starting this blog post.

I think answering a few W’s might be helpful as an intro.

Who?

My name is Lauren, I live in Chester, Virginia (very close to Richmond) with my husband – Brett, our kids:  Tristan – 10 + Jelly-7, and our dog Turtles.  I work as a swim coach and a Coaching Operations Director.  I also own two businesses – my swim team NOVA South Swimming and a pool management company Legacy Aquatics.  My education background is in biology + organizational psychology with a minor in Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies and I have a Master’s in Education for Sport Leadership from VCU.  I am also a National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach, a National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) Personal Trainer Certification, MBSR certification from UMass, and lastly an ASCA Level 5 Coach.

Why?

 I am ALWAYS looking for information which made me realize that I could be sharing the information I am so busily collecting!  The hope is for this blog to be a resource and a source of connection.

What?

 “A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one.”

-William Shakespeare

I have decided to let the flow of information be organic in terms of topic and to allow the topics that all come into play in my life as opposed too sticking to a niche topic like “fitness”.

 

 

These are topics that are crafting my life and my inspiration for the name/this space:

Leaning In – work focus with thoughts on balance, leadership, and business ownership

My experience in athletic coaching, health coaching, virtual coaching (text based and video based), remote team building/management, program management, and operations thoughts.  I LOVE leadership as a concept and a practice .

Health – so many different options here but main three categories of metabolic health, food, and exercise.

I have personally used metabolic health tactics to lose 75 pounds post kids and think this information is the key for many others, I am the food blogger for the efficient – all about meal prep/low effort.

Coaching -Health coaching, swim coaching, for parents of athletes, and for coaches.

I have been an athlete my entire life and have been coaching for 20+ years in some capacity and I have been a professional coach now for 10+ years.

Home – Renovations and decorating

We bought our first house as foreclosure and worked on it for 8 years straight (with very little money) before moving into our current house in 2021.  Both houses had to have completely new kitchens put in along with lots of other projects including gallery walls, weird wide hallways, paint colors, fire place mantels, cast iron stove installations, among many other things we have done ourselves.

 

 

Travel – Trips, Ideas, Products

We travel as a family pretty regularly -hoping to get back to a variety of travel now!  I think the thought/planning that go into those trips is always super helpful to be able to share especially in all our roof top tent camping expeditions!

 

 

Self Care – Products and Practices

I love all things self care and maybe just the idea of self care (when I am not feeling guilty about it).  Examples being journaling (bullet +the fifteen others I own) thoughts, best bath bombs, fiction (Outlander!), tattoos, cross stitching, crafts and attempting mindfulness.

Growth Mindset – Books, blogs, podcasts

All the audibles!  Thoughts on growth – and then whatever is sparking my interest from each platform.

Family – kids, marriage, anything else

So hard and so awesome and so many moving parts to these life long endeavors.