Welcome
Hi there! Welcome to Lifestyle Rising. I am here to introduce myself. *waves hands* HELLO, I'm SJ, thank you for being here. In order to let you get to know me I have answered some very informative, and some super random, questions about myself.
Name: Samantha Jo Braithwaite but no one really calls me that other than my Mom when she's angry. People who know me call me Sammy Jo, but the people who really know me call me SJ.
Education/Experience: After high school I ventured off to study Psychology. After doing that for 3.5 years and realizing it wasn't going to get me the career I was expecting, I took a bit of time off of school and moved back to my home town. During that time I got hooked on boxing/MMA so I decided to once again go back to post secondary and study Fitness Leadership. 2 years later I graduated with my Diploma in Fitness Leadership and my certification as a certified trainer with the Canadian Society of Exercise Physiology. This was wayyy back in 2012. When I graduated I started working at a local gym as a trainer. I freaking loooove working one on one with people, but I knew I was missing something. Nutrition is a huge part of health and wellness, so I decided to get my Precision Nutrition Level 1 certification. I was on top of the world. I felt like now I really had all of the tools I needed in order to put my best self forward for my clients. Wrong!!!
Time for a back story: I was a bigger kid. I was always picked on in school for being 'fat' heck, even some family members were pretty persistent in letting me know I wasn't little. This all ended up with me batteling really low self-esteem. When I was older, after I already battled with several eating disorders, I came up with a great plan; lets do a Figure competition. BAD idea! When you already aren't mentally stable with your body and come from a background of eating disorders, competing is far from the optimal solution. Long story short, my personal past experiences were huge RED flags that health and wellness are about so much more than just exercise and nutrition. There are plenty of mental aspects that a lot of people, especially professionals, are forgetting about. *End back story. Lets continue where we left off. *
I needed another tool to add to my belt, so I decided to enrol in the the Health Coach Institute and become a certified Life Coach. This training really helped me nail down the psychological aspect to everything. And, it's not like I have never opening a Psych textbook in my life... Thanks UofA! Now having the trifecta of tools, I whole heartedly feel equip to help people with their long term health and wellness.
Favourite Food: Popcorn... if you know me you know how scary true this is.
Favourite Color: Purple.... like you couldn't guess
Favourite Part of My Day: Helping people help others by helping themselves. Now, if that ain't a tongue twister I don't know what is! What I mean by that mouthful, is that I feel the best when I am teaching people to put themselves first so that they in turn can help the people in their lives. Be it a mother learning to put her self care first so that she can do better for her family, or a business owner learning to take the time for himself so that he can inspire his staff to be the best versions of themselves. I am a person who wants to light one candle in the hopes that that single candle can cause a million candles to light up via the trickle down effect. Knowing that mass glow is a possibility is why I get out of bed everyday and LOVE every second of it.
There you have it, a small piece of my background which has landed me with the most appropriate career for me. Lifestyle Rising is totally my baby. I couldn't be happier to have a career which allows me to have such amazing people in my life, and gives me the opportunity to help people realize, unlock, and rock the hell outta their personal power. If you stick around for a bit you will get used to my favourite line = what can you do today to be 1% better?
XOXO SJ
