All posts by Be Enough

Be Starving Yourself

 

I was out walking the hills today with a protein shake in my hand in an area called the Cariboo, not the animal caribou, the region Cariboo.   

 

I was looking at the dark green plants and the lush trees and then I got looking at the soil.  The soil looked rich, it looked vibrant. It was alive! 

 And then I realized that I have been starving myself, unknowingly for many years. 

I didn’t feel rich.  

I wasn’t vibrant. 

Nor would I describe my energy level as alive. 

 Yes, I ate three square meals per day like my parents told me.

I ate fruit, vegetables, protein, grains, milk products and probably too many healthy fats.  (I love my nuts!)

I even would only eat three quarters of the bag of Costco chips and sometimes I would only sneak down and eat half of the leftover birthday cake. 

 I was never satisfied with what I was eating. 

 I never felt full. 

I never felt like I had enough. 

I think I was literally starving myself. 

Craving salt or other minerals. 

 Looking for protein in all sorts of sources. 

 Seeking vitamins but forgetting to take my vitamins. 

 DRUM ROLL PLEASE… 

 Enter into my life a protein shake product that has whey from New Zealand cows that are grass fed and get milked when they want to be. 

 STOP THE PRESS those OTHER protein shakes or milk products I was consuming may have been made with cows that are injected with antibiotics because of the feed lots that they live in and get stuffed with growth hormone because they don’t produce milk when they are scheduled. 

DUDE… Antibiotics, growth hormone, my body was hurting for certain. 

 BUT, back to the shakes.  

I LOVE THESE SHAKES!   

Can you feel the excitement? 

 I feel full. 

I love the taste. 

I feel satisfied.

I have energy. 

 I can do ANYTHING! 

  

I did my first triathlon just over a week ago after consuming a shake.  I played competitive volleyball for TEN YEARS and never felt as good as I did during these two hours swimming, biking and running twenty years AFTER my retirement from volleyball.  

I am no longer starving my body, my mind or even my spirit. 

 Full of gratitude for ALL that I can do. 

Overflowing with blessings because of this product that has enriched my life in so many ways. 

 Come watch the journey unfold.

Checkout my facebook page: Joanna Jenkins Cann or follow this blog. 

This post is dedicated to my unfolding team: Krista, Tony, Colette, Sarah, Robyn, Joan, Kim and of course my Sexy Neck husband. 

Be Wondering About Your Why 

This week I launched myself into the deep end by sharing a new business venture with some very close friends. 

My mentor and teammate, TC, encouraged me to really question what my ‘why’ is. Why am I starting a business now? 

Why?  

Why? 

Why? 

My husband, Sexy Neck, loves his amazing job working in schools, but is very busy.   

 

Being his supporting partner and wife is a gift.  I love it! 

My three wee, active boys are eight, five and three.    

 

Being their mom is a blessing,  my most fulfilling role and ‘job’.   I love my boys! 

I have just returned to teaching after a five year hiatus, working with incredible families who school at home.  

Being a teacher is sharing my passion for learning, finding fun resources and being able to help students grow in depth of knowledge and spirit.  I love my profession.  

About ten months ago, I started distributing my friend’s product called GreenTeaHawaii.  

 

Being able to connect with people and sell a product you love is pure joy for me.   I love selling tea.  

And now I am launched.  

At ground zero of a new business. 

I am sharing my story and building a team of like-minded people focused on health that want to create residual income for their families. 

BUT why am I really doing this right now?  

It is because of the life my mom lived and the lessons her life and death taught me.  Ah man, I love my Mama.  

I feel that it isn’t a coincidence all these opportunities are coming my way.  

Her death has set me free.  

It has allowed me to ponder life, live my days and find my why’s. 

My ‘Why’ for this new business venture I discovered in my mom’s obituary that we wrote in December of 2013.   

“Gwen, in her home, profession and community never stopped teaching and learning.  Her servant heart complimented her active adventurous spirit.  In her finest role, Super Nana created magical memories.  Her exemplary life inspires us to love deeply, serve others and live fully.”

Loving deeply.  

Serving others.  

Creating magical memories for my boys, family and friends. 

Launching myself fully into a business that promotes health, builds people up and provides income to those who want to take the opportunity.  

Living my why.  

Loving my peeps.  

Loving these products.  

Loving this business. 

Loving how I feel.  

Being enough.  

Be Trying a Tri 

In the post-Christmas darkness of grief, I took time to sit with myself, alone to ponder and grieve.  As I let go through this grieving process, I had one huge realization that has affected ever day for the last four months.

I realized for certain I could die at any moment.

Strange huh?

I knew this fact about life, but watching my mom die helped me ‘know’.

Now, I am unafraid.

Death is a certainty.

I am free!

Through this new lense of “knowing” the inevitable,  I am experiencing rich days.

Days where God’s coincidences are profound and His love is pouring out.

Moments where I can easily let go of relationships that are unhealthy or where people don’t accept me as being an imperfect person.

Choices where I choose health in what I consume and what I do.

Times where I make decisions and then work hard to see them come to fruition.

Today is one of these days!

Four months ago, I decided to do a triathlon.  A 750 metre swim, followed by a 30 kilometre bike ride then rounded out by a 5 kilometre run.  The funny thing is that I am not very good at any of them, but I figure throw them all together and this sounded like fun.

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With my cheering section at the side of the race course, and the incredible racers surrounding me.  I did it!

photo 3

I tried a tri!

One stroke.

One push.

One step at a time.

Ann Voskamp once wrote, “Daily discipline brings freedom.”

Yes, it does.

Discipline to be who you are with the gifts God has given you.

Knowing the truth about life’s fragility.

Savouring every day.

What will you try?

Be Saying Goodbye to Orange 

I am not sure what happened, but I am going with it.  

Yesterday, I decided to was done with our orange walls.  They served their purpose. They helped me wail and gave me a place to ‘put’ my grief.  

Here is the story of the orange walks.  

After celebrating my birthday, I knew my pain had turned to peace.  So, I picked up a brush and roller this morning and began to pain.  

   

I was able to talk to my boys about the  pain I felt when Nana died.  I told them that painting this wall orange helped me.   I told them I wanted to paint this wall white today because of the peace, love and joy that surrounds us now. 

Peace.  

Love.  

Joy. 

Now back to the wall to no longer wail but to have a whale of a time doing something my mom loved to do.   

  Thank you God for giving me perseverance to deal with my stuff and to have such a supportive partner.  

Be Blown Away on your Birthday 

It’s a windy day here on May the first, but it is not the wind that had blown me away.  

It is the incredible people that surround me closely this year at home, far away in thought and through words posted on Facebook.  I am a bit gobsmacked to be honest.   

After the deep sorrow of my last birthday celebrating my first birthday without my mom, I had expected to be sitting in a mental pit today.  I expected to be hit in the chest with sadness.  

Isn’t it great when we continue to see that our expectations are only expectations?   

   

Today, I am soaring through the air.

 

Surprised by a pond that I thought was a broken sewer pipe.   My boys   lovingly made this pond last weekend as I sold tea.  

  We even put fish in the pond! 

Surrounded at home by my wee boys who are under the weather.   

  

Soaking up the love from all the incredible people God has chosen to surround me with. 

I am blessed! 

Soaring.  

Surprised. 

Surrounded.  

Soaking it up! 

Thank you to everyone for truly blowing me away.  I am in a bit of disbelief and I am full of gratitude.  

Thank you Sexy Neck for leading our boys and for loving me.   (Wild and crazy ideas and all!)