How do you #LiveALittle Series? Featured Member: Lauralee in Kansas

Name: Lauralee 

Location: Kansas

• When did you start to #LiveALittle? 

Lauralee's "before" #LiveALittle Picture 2 years ago

When I was 28 I was diagnosed with high blood pressure. It freaked me out! I was massively overweight and then I started showing symptoms of that at a very young age. I decided then and there I couldn’t hide inside myself or in food anymore. That was 2 years ago.

• What do you consider your main accomplishments?

Well, this one is hard because through this journey I have accomplished so much. The biggest one for me would be building a bigger and better relationship with God. To be honest, I got to where I am because of him. He was on every run, workout and struggle with me. Don’t get me wrong, I give myself the credit where it is due but I prayed a lot to get through workouts and over cravings. I also believe the amount of weight I lost on my own was a huge accomplishment. 120 lbs gone! It’s crazy to think I was carrying an entire extra person. But my FAVORITE accomplishment is the ability to run. I LOVE RUNNING. I could never do it before! Now I am running 5-7 miles some days. That is rad-tastic!!

Lauralee current picture "LivingALittle

• What does ‘working on yourself’ mean to you?

This is one of my favorite questions to answer. Obviously being massively overweight, I had a problem with food. That problem didn’t stem out of no where, it was a way to cope. I smoked for years and then I quit. I drank at least 3-4 times a week and now I have a drink or two once or twice a year. I could conquer issues in my life but the one with food I just could not overcome. When I started ‘working on myself’, it started with the intention of being “skinny”. I had no idea the path I was about to take myself down. I spent a lot of time in my own mind facing the things I hated about myself. The things I wanted to change had so much more to do than with weight. I am sensitive inside and hard outside. I wanted to please everyone. I hated my body. I thought I was stupid. The list could go on and on and on. The thing is, when you spend a lot of time with yourself, you have to face your faults head on and then the hardest part comes: changing them or accepting them. Working on yourself has a ton of different sub-categories and they all kind of collide together. The moral of my drawn out explanation: Working on yourself to me means that loving yourself is ok. Disliking things about yourself is ok. Accepting yourself is a process that takes a while and that is also ok. I read a quote once that said “You’re not made for everyone to like you” and once I accepted that was ok, the self love came a lot easier because if you can’t love yourself, who will?

• How and where do you find inspiration?

As self-absorbed as it sounds, a lot of time I find it in myself in an assortment of ways. I get that awesome “high” competing with myself. Can I run faster? Can I lift more? Can I push my limits? I love it! I am constantly trying to be better than I was the day before, but if I fail in my own eyes, I TRY NOT TO get too down. I also find it in music, the bible and in others. Lots of #LiveALittle members cross my mind daily and inspire me to push myself! It’s not a competition with them but a reminder ALL people can reach their goals! It’s amazing how people I have never met have impacted my life so much!

• When is breaking the #LiveALittle rules okay?

I want to honestly believe never. We should always be focused on becoming better people. Life gets in the way of living sometimes if that makes any sense but I think once you adopted the lifestyle it should become a habit. Shit happens. I am just going to be straight up honest. I don’t have it all together and if anything at times I have more problems then I can deal with. Luckily, I also have a strong faith and I refuse to give up on myself. We are precious beings. Whatever your personal beliefs are don’t really matter. There is only one if you in this world and that means you must be pretty special and taking care of yourself (not just physically but also mentally) is completely acceptable! Besides, #LivingALittle is fun and life should be a good time, it’s too short as it is!

Never Stop Growing; Advice from the World's Most Successful People | #LiveALittle

I start a brand new adventure in my professional life tomorrow with a group of colleagues I trust and have worked great with before. To #LiveALittle is to constantly grow. I believe that is in all aspects of life; romantically, spiritually, professionally, etc.  When you a stop growing then the deadness sets in & life is over. One maybe still breathing and walking around but they are nothing but an empty shell of who they once were.  Most of the people I talk to are confused about how to grow professionally. I've heard more stories about "golden handcuffs" (at a job you hate but you make too much money to leave because you're afraid to start over or even give it a shot to find something comparable) now then I have ever. 

I read an awesome article tonight from Entrepreneur titled "16 Traits of the World's Highly Successful People". There is absolutely life changing advice from Napoleon Hill. Have a read for yourself:

After spending 12 years analyzing "more than 12,000 men and women," both successful entrepreneurs and ordinary people, Hill determined 16 elements of exceptional leaders that anyone can practice:

1. They have a definite aim in life.

Hill likens having just a vague aim to succeed to being a ship without a rudder. "Bear in mind that both your definite aim and your plan for attaining it may be modified form time to time... The important thing for you to do now is to learn the significance of working always with a definite aim in view, and always with a definite plan," Hill writes.

2. They are self-confident.

To be capable of setting ambitious goals, you need to believe you can follow the plans to achieve them. And when you believe in yourself, others tend to believe in you as well.

3. They show initiative.

The only way to rise up the corporate hierarchy or to develop your own business is to to look for other things to accomplish once you've fulfilled your regular duties.

4. They are imaginative.

A lack of the driving force of initiative and the creative power of imagination is "the main reason why 95% of the adult people of the world have no definite aim in life, which, in turn, is also the reason why this same 95% constitute the followers in life," Hill says.

5. They are active.

You may have earned multiple degrees from elite universities and have read history's most important books, but none of it means anything if you don't turn knowledge into action.

6. They are enthusiastic.

Do what you love, Hill says, or else you will lack the energy to become truly successful.

7. They practice self-control.

Hill says that he did not start to become successful until he learned that he was working against himself whenever he gave into anger or arrogance. "No person ever became a great leader of others until he first learned to lead himself, through self-control," he writes.

8. They go beyond what's required of them.

The most successful people outperform their competition, and when they make it to the top, they compete with themselves.

9. They are incredibly likable.

When you are charismatic and foster relationships with others, you build a network of people who are willing to help you without your asking.

10. They know how to separate truth from bias.

Because their actions have ramifications for other people, leaders understand that they cannot take what they hear or read at face value, and learn how to pluck truth from others' worldviews.

11. They are focused.

Successful people are able to concentrate their energy and skills toward specific goals without becoming distracted by irrelevant issues.

12. They are persistent.

Those who are able to achieve success are not stopped by the inevitable nonstop challenges and setbacks that are in their path to attaining their goals.

13. They are resilient.

"When you begin to realize that failure is a necessary part of one's education, you will no longer look upon it with fear, and lo! the first thing you know, there will be no more failures!" Hill writes. "No person ever arose from the knockout blow of defeat without being a stronger and wiser human being in one respect or another."

14. They are sympathetic.

In "Think and Grow Rich," Hill writes that it's not a coincidence that history is filled with tyrants and dictators being overthrown. The most successful leaders work in harmony with their team, not in dominion over them.

15. They work hard.

Hill says that this sounds simple enough, but it's important to remember that even if you achieve your greatest goal, you need to continue pushing yourself or risk losing everything you worked for.

16. They are empathetic.

Hill's favorite philosophical maxim is The Golden Rule, which states, "Treat others the way you would like to be treated." He uses it as the final rung of the ladder to true success. Hill writes:

The Golden Rule acts as a barrier to all of man's tendencies toward the destructive use of power that comes from developing the other qualities outlined in this ladder. It is the thing that antidotes the harm man could do without knowledge and power; the thing that guides man to the intelligent, constructive use of those qualities he develops from the use of the rungs of this ladder.

Source:  http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/236554?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+entrepreneur%2Flatest+%28Entrepreneur%29

Men: We are Not Superman. We will Never Be Superman. We are Mortal. | #LiveALittle

**Disclaimer: Some of what I'm about to tell you is hearsay but I tend to believe all source where my information came from.** I heard of the death of a man I have known about for approximately 20 years. He was 49 when he died last week. His funeral is tomorrow. His name was Joe. He was a nice man. We had worked in the same bar & restaurant industry back in Topeka. We didn't know each other well but in passing we would say hello and call each other by name. When I learned of his passing I was curious of what killed him so I reached out to some mutual friends and the information I received blew my mind. Apparently Joe died due to complications of cancer. What blows my mind is that he just learned of his stage 4 lung cancer 3 to 4 weeks before he died. He apparently went into the hospital with stomach pain and got diagnosed with lung cancer that metastasized through his liver and pancreas. He didn't even have the chance to fight the cancer. He was too late. One thing about Joe is, he didn't go to doctors. He felt as though they were "over-rated".
Middle aged men don't go to the doctor because we are afraid that we are going to told we are not Superman. That we are mortal. That we can get sick. But this is silly. We can fight. We can get treatment. We can beat or control cancer, diabetes, heart disease, etc.
Go to the doctor. Ellen made me go. She nagged, and nagged, and nagged, and nagged until I went. When I finally went I was told bad news and I was told I was not Superman but I'm doing everything I can to live better and healthier. I encourage you to nag that man in your life. Don't stop nagging. Get him to go. Tell him to "Man the fuck up" and go to the doctor.

Tell him about Joe. Tell him how Joe's family wishes they could nag him but they can't.

Fear of Death is Fear of Regrets

My biggest fear is death. Apparently a lot of others are just like me. Public speaking is the #1 fear of Americans with death being a close #2. That means more people would rather be in the coffin than giving the eulogy. But death really isn't my biggest fear, its actually the 5 minutes before you die, assuming I'm going to die of old age in a nursing home somewhere. That 5 minutes before I die will be my time to face all my regrets. That's what scares me. Those regrets. At that time before my death I won;t care what people think about me, what people are saying about me behind my back, I won't be worrying about small dumb shit that doesn't matter, but I will be thinking about about all the times I did. How I let others effect me negatively. How I missed out on amazing crazy opportunities because I was worried I would look silly in the eyes of others. How I stayed at a job I hated because I was worried about truly finding something I loved and took a chance and went for it. My worry is that I will spend my entire life worrying but the last 5 minutes sad because I worried. That last 5 minutes scares me to death, literally.  I want my last 5 minutes to be thinking about the amazing things I did, the loving people in my life, and having no regrets.

Why Am I So Afraid of the Doctor? | #LiveALittle Journey

I avoided doctors like bad warm beer. Never went. Didn't want to hear bad news. If I had something bad I would first try the Minute Clinics but other than that things would just heal themselves right? Apparently I was just like the majority of middle aged men, "I'm not going to the doctor. I'm fine." Its true that the majority of middle aged men who don't go to the doctor haven't gone for the same reasons I didn't, scared of results. I'm not here to offend any non doctor going men by lumping you all into my excuse pool but I'm sure what I am about to say will hit home close to a lot of you.
You're absolutely scared. You don't want to hear the bad news. Shit, you don't want to hear anything close to bad news. Out of sight out of mind. Thinking, "If I don't know about any aliments then they don't actually exist." I can't believe I thought this exact same way. It was like I was some kind of Superman who never would get sick.  This way of thinking can kill you. When I was younger hearing about older guys in their late thirties and early/mid forties dying of natural causes would scare the shit out of me.

Little did I realize but a lot of those deaths could have been avoided if those dudes went and saw the doctor earlier. We live in the 21st century, these things can be avoided.
I used to work in the nightclub entertainment industry. I lived a fun and hard life from the age of 20 to about 28. Eight really hard years on my life. Never went to the doctor once in those eight years. Drinking, smoking, basically having way too much fun. When you're you're having too much fun your body is usually paying for it. When I walked away from the lifestyle of partying 24/7 for eight straight years my family made me go to the doctor, no question I just had to go. They were worried about me and rightfully so. Made the appointment, but wasn't happy about it, and found out nothing life threatening but terrible sleep apnea. Going untreated sleep apnea can cause some pretty scary shit. Shit, one of my NFL football heroes, Reggie White, died from complications due from sleep apnea.

After being diagnosed with sleep apnea a smart person would continue going to the doctor for follow up visits and make sure everything was under control. Hell I've had health insurance my entire life so its a no brainer, but I didn't.   I didn't go back for almost 15 years. Fifteen years between doctor visits to check up on a serious medical condition that has killed people. Why am I so stupid? Oh yeah, because I'm a middle aged man afraid of bad news from doctors. Some how I think that if a doctor takes my blood or looks down my throat he or she is going immediately tell me with a somber face, "You have cancer." This is ridiculous, I mean it's not ridiculous that a doctor might one day tell me that, it's ridiculous that's my worry. Seriously if I did have cancer wouldn't I want to know right away? Enough time to fight it? I say cancer but there are plenty of other aliments that scared me, diabetes, high blood pressure, etc.
When I went to the doctor, again finally after almost 15 years, 6 months ago I did get bad news. In fact I got horrible news. My blood tests came back that I indeed did have diabetes. The moment that I had been avoiding for almost 15 years happened. The doctor looked at me with his somber face and told me I had diabetes. I fucking sucked but it happened. He also told me of some other problems that my blood tests showed, like extreme low testosterone (which I'm also currently fixing). But he insured me that I wasn't dying, well at least ahead of schedule at the moment.
I could ramble on and on about not going to the doctor for 15 years and being old wussy for not going but that would get tiresome. The main point to this blog was to encourage guys out there just like me to stop being a scared pansy-ass and go to the fricking doctor. We've got to break this cycle. We've got to get healthy and stay healthy.

That Mother F*cking Restart Button

The feeling can be wonderful. Everything is going good. Exercising on a regular schedule. Eating the right things. Going to bed at a good time. Then it happens. The bottom falls out. One lazy day turns into two, then five. A week goes by and now a month later exercise has gone to the back of the mind. Eating crap food. Sleep schedule starts going to hell. You've gone completely off track and the self madness starts to set in. Is it all worth it? 

Nope. Time to hit the restart button. 

We sometimes have a hard time imagining the end result. Which is life. Living longer and living healthier. It is easier to just living in the moment instead of planning for the future. But this isn't a saving account. This is life. Is there a huge difference between living to 55-60 and living to 85-90? You bet your sweet ass there is. That's 25-35 years. 25-35 years of laughing, movies, watching our younger family members grow up, and a lot more. 

I needed to hit that restart button again and I did. I've made a huge goal this time. I've vowed to run 100 miles. 2-3 miles a day for how ever long it will take me. No other focus right now except that goal. I need to prove something to myself. Pushing that restart button is not going to be embarrassing. 

Living to at least 85-90 is the long term goal. 

One thing is very clear, hitting the restart button is a lot better life choice than hitting the "power off" button.  

I must #LiveALittle

Warning: Accountability is not included.

Not only does someone need goals to succeed but they also need promises. Self promises. It is incredibly hard to make self promises when you don't have very much self love, worth, or esteem. You can't trust yourself. You've already spent years of breaking promises to the one person you are supposed to love completely unconditionally, yourself. That was my dilemma. With this new #LiveALittle lifestyle I needed to make some self promises but I needed to get down to the nitty gritty of what they should be.

My first promise needed to reflect why I was even making an attempt at a new #LiveALittle life. I wanted to get out and be more active. Seeing the world was becoming more of a priority to me and my new job was giving me the opportunity to get out more.  A flight to Las Vegas via Southwest Airlines put a huge scar on my self esteem at the beginning of my journey.
Got to the airport early, grabbed a coffee at the Starbucks, read some articles on my iPad waiting for my flight at the gate, got A list seating, boarded the plane, took out my laptop, sat down, buckled my seatbe........ Try again, buckled my seatb.......... Damn, suck it in fatty. Buckled my seatbel............Holy shit. I'm too fat for the seatbelt. This was one of the biggest eyeopening experiences of my life. It was all making sense, how could I travel and experience new things if I couldn't fit in normal airplane seats? I also had recent memories of how I couldn't ride the roller coasters at Worlds of Fun in Kansas City because the safety bar wouldn't latch due to me being too big. This was serious.
Promise #1: Live a healthier and more active lifestyle. 

Sitting for long periods of time in front of the television watching entire seasons of shows like Sons of Anarchy, Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, and Mad Men used to fill my weekends. I didn't know anyone in Kansas City and I didn't have any intentions to meet anyone so getting out and about was detoured again by bullshit. If I wasn't too fat to do it, I was too lazy. Notorious for always mumbling to myself, on the long lazy ass weekend of extreme Netflix watching, "Damn, I'm so bored". How in hell could I be bored?! I lived in amazing city with hundreds of things to do. I had no right complaining that I was bored. Choosing to stay at home and not venture out was my own doing. Laziness was my problem and a fear of change or trying something different. A change my pattern is what I needed, and to live outside my current comfort zone. Focus on starting local, and go from there. Needed to look for activities happening in my community like Waldo Days, Irishfest, Union Station, or just garage sale driving, and venture more out from there. With this new way of thinking I would hardly be at home. Always be moving.
Promise #2: Never complain about being bored.



Not only would I complain about being bored sometimes I just wouldn't want to move. Just lay in bed. Making excuses why I couldn't meet new friends for happy hour or go on a 12 mile bike ride through Lenexa & Overland Park. Lying to myself was something that came very easy. It's something I still struggle with daily. Constantly want to lie to myself and make up excuses to not live a little bit more. To just give up and lie. This is possibly the toughest of all of the promises. Still struggle with it but I've come so far.
Promise #3: Stop making excuses & lying to yourself

The fourth promise I needed to make to myself, in order to live a better and more productive life, seems like it would be a tough one but it's really not. I compare it to removing a bandaid. What's the least painful way to remove a bandaid? You guessed it, just rip it off. I needed to get the negative out of my life. Negative people, vices, habits, thinking, everything. I've got to be really careful here because some of you reading this might take it personally and I think I'm talking about you when I mention getting the negative people out of my life. If you are taking it personally and think I'm talking about you you're absolutely right. Only negative people would think that way. If you haven't heard from me in awhile then at least you know now why. So at least it's a win/win? Getting rid of negativity was like I was having a fire sale. Everything negative must go! Smoking cigarettes, GONE! Shitty unloving girlfriend always complaining and talking mad smack on all her friends, GONE! Getting liquored up weekly, GONE! I still enjoy a drink now and again but seriously, if you're over 35 and enjoy getting schammered daily or weekly you might want to reconsider your choices. But hey, its your life, this is just a promise I needed to make to myself.
Promise #4: Cut out all negativity

So far my promises seemed very doable. I needed to stick to them. Figuring out how to keep myself accountable was the tough part. Talk the talk, no problem. Walk the walk, "Houston we have a problem." Accountability. I figured the best way to create accountability is to tell the masses what you are going to do and the promises you are going to make. I knew the perfect place to announce my promises and ask for assistance in keeping them. In fact, asking others to examine the same promises and maybe make them for themselves might even increase that accountability. People relying on others in a full accountability circle, what a great concept. The #LiveALittle Project members were perfect for this and the promises I was making to myself fit right in with other struggles people face with trying to live a #LiveALittle life. So not only would the word of the promises spread but the word of The #LiveALittle Project would spread with it.
Promise #5: Spread the word about the #LiveALittle lifestyle and encourage others to make the same 5 promises

http://TheLiveALittleProject.com