Hello FFF readers! Nice to meet ya! My name is Carissa and my husband and I blog at Fit2Flex.  Well, I blog…he consults! We are both certified personal trainers with a passion for healthy, active living and clean eating.  I am also studying to become a registered dietitian, a race announcer, and a runner.  Stop on by our blog for workouts, meal plans, fit tips, and recipes. 

I have always loved the Robert Frost poem “The Road Not Taken”. So much so that’s there’s a plaque in my bathroom.

I love the part about the “road less traveled”. I try to remember that when I’m looking for the courage to make big decisions. However, about a year ago, I did something that’s clearly not written in Frost’s words.  I turned around. I abandoned my road less traveled, turned around, and have found myself on a more peaceful, happier road.

Today I want to share a story and inspire you to maybe someday have the courage to turn around, start a new journey, or take a detour just for you.

Since I was in high school I wanted to be a sideline reporter.  I wanted to be Erin Andrews WAY before Erin Andrews was cool.  I studied in school; I interned; I was a radio/TV major in college; and I scored a gig with ESPN’s Wide World of Sports at 19.

I was traveling, I was working, and I was climbing the ladder.  I even achieved my goal and did sideline reporting for several nationally televised college games.  I was there, but I wasn’t happy.

I loved my job, but I wanted more.  I wanted to be more involved. I wanted to help people.  Not that asking a sweaty running back how he felt about that drive wasn’t helpful…but well..it was a short term “help”.

Around this time I became passionate about health and fitness and I found myself reading every fitness magazine and health book during my many travels. I met my husband, a personal trainer, and fitness took over. 

I became a personal trainer too.  But I was still traveling, still working.  One foot on the field and one foot in the gym.

For two years I looked online at schools to become a registered dietitian.  I would see the long list of pre-requisites that my arts degree didn’t have and I’d balk.  Scared at all that work for “another “ degree. I’d email programs for dietetics and plan out how long it would take me to graduate, but then a big job would come along and I’d be right back to where I was.  Busy, but not satisfied.

Finally, I made the decision. I started taking my science prerequisites while still working and in May 2011 I was a college junior all over again.  At 26.

It felt weird to start over. It felt embarrassing. It felt like I had failed.  I put years of work into a dream and I abandoned it.  I couldn’t help feeling like I had done something wrong.

Going back to school was scary.  Scary financially to take on student loans when previously I had none.  Scary to tell my agents when they called that I couldn’t do gigs because I had an exam.  Scary to not know if I had made the right choice. 

In my first months of school I had a daily debate with myself, “Is this the right thing?”  There were times I wanted to stop and just continue what I was doing because it was easier.  But I had some huge cheerleaders.  My husband and my friends.  They told me that the best things in life you have to work for. And while school was hard and scary, they knew me, and it was where I belonged.

Today I’m thrilled with my decision. I still have about 19 more months until I can sit for my registered dietitian board exam, but I’m getting there.  I’m driven; I’m focused; and I’m fulfilled. The path just feels easier when it’s the right one. For me the turning around, the starting over, the humility of saying that what I was doing wasn’t right…that was the road less traveled.  And as Mr. Frost said, “that has made all the difference.”

Have you ever changed course for a more fulfilling path?

I hope you all are having a wonderful weekend. While I’m enjoying mine as well, please welcome the words of Laura from the blog Scribbles and Sass. Her story will captivate you and make you want to take the reigns of your life as well. It’s a goody!

I was faced with the biggest decision I had to make in my young life. It was no longer about picking a group of friends, the bar to go to on Saturday night, which university to attend, grad school, or which area of town to live in. The trivial decisions that rocked me before couldn’t shine a light on this one.

I woke up one day and realized I was drowning. Metaphorically of course, unless
you count that one time I fell asleep in the bathtub. I was 25 years old and I hid in  my work; work I didn’t like. The constant verbal abuse I suffered at the office daily wore away at my confidence. Every comment that initially shocked me I started to believe. I wasn’t good enough, I wasn’t smart enough, I wasn’t talented enough.

It carried over to all areas on my life. I alienated friends; I didn’t date; I traded
exercise for excuses; I ate unhealthy disgusting food, and too much of it. I took no
pride in my physical appearance: I saw no reason to dress nicely, wear makeup or
let my hair down. Because I was no longer working out, I slowly, then rapidly, began
gaining weight.

There was never any time for a fulfilling life, and if there was I didn’t think I deserved it. I was the shell of the normally bouncy blonde I knew. We looked oddly similar but the new girl had dead eyes, a sad soul, and was a little rounder.

Then came the day I mentioned above, my wake up call. Everything presented
itself clear as day. I could no longer hide in the toxic work environment that had
such a violent hold on me. I was going to take control of my own life and snap the depressing spiral I disguised as life.

Was it too much to ask for to smile daily? I finally knew it was actually a very reasonable request.

So I put my trust in myself. My gut said adventure, and my mind said plan. The Universe, my Universe, said change. My physical self decided to compromise. I combined all three. I quit my job (change), didn’t renew my lease, and packed my car and moved across the country (adventure). With a job lined up, of course (plan).

So here I am, two months into the journey, writing for Tina about self-love from a Starbucks in Calgary with the most beautiful view of the mountains and a latte in hand.

 Source

It’s not perfect. I get horribly homesick and lonely. It is colder here than back home. I have no family here, less than a handful of friends, and zero regular comforts. The
good news is I was never looking for perfect and what I do have is my own life that I am creating.

I am doing things here that I never thought were possible. I’ve taken on a new
challenge with my career and am learning daily. I’m writing a heck of a lot more
about a myriad of topics. I am learning how to run again. Oh, and I smile, a lot.

Withevery obstacle that used to render me motionless I now tell myself: You moved
across the country, you left everything comforting behind, if you could do this at any
time it would be now. You can do it.

I turned my can’ts to cans, my obstructions into adventure, myself back into me.

So what am I trying to get at? I’m not telling you to quit your job, or move across the
country. It may have been what the witch doctor prescribed for me, but that’s me. I
am telling you to trust yourself. You know exactly what you need; you have all the answers. You are more than enough.

I’d like to send a big thank you to Tina for letting me tell my story on Faith, Fitness,
Fun. I’d love to connect so check me out on Twitter (@LaurBridge) or head over to
my bloggy, Scribbles and Sass.

• Do you handle change well? What’s the last way you went out of your comfort zone or faced change?