Good morning friends! How are you today? Today is a good day over here, slightly tired, but good none the less! For some reason, this week I have been staying up way too late, making that alarm clock slightly more dreadful each morning. My body has just not been wanting to go to bed early… I think it might have to do with switching my workouts to the evening? Who knows.

But anyway, today I want to talk about something completely unrelated to nutrition but on my mind this week.

Right now at church we are at the end of a series titled “Right in the Eye,” and last week we talked specifically about the concept of being extraordinary. Our pastor, Andy Stanley, posed these questions…

What kind of person do you want to be? When people have to stand and talk about you when you’re gone, what do you want them to say? Do you realize that’s up to you? What if you decided to be . . . extraordinary?

When most of us read this we think, “Me? Extraordinary? No, I’m just Ashley.”

In God’s eyes, I’m not “just me,” and you are not “just you.” We are extraordinary. 

In fact, we are all extraordinary and it’s up to us to live up to our full potential. What if everyday, in every situation you asked yourself this question:

Wouldn’t the world be a better place?

What if we behaved as we are: extraordinary? What if we responded to negativity as a extraordinary person does? What if we loved like an extraordinary person does? What if we gave like an extraordinary person does? What if we worked like an extraordinary person would? What if we lived each day of our life like an extraordinary person does?

There are so many what ifs, but when you think about it, the answer is always the same. Life would be better, right? So often, we strive to extraordinary at something, without realizing that if we focus on being extraordinary people, we will be extraordinary at everything and not just something.

Just this morning as I was driving into work thinking about what I wanted to say today, I faced a situation in which I had to stop and ask myself, “What would an extraordinary person do?” I was riding in the fast lane, going about 10 miles per hour over the speed limit, weaning in and out of traffic as a car flew up behind me and threw their bright lights on. Now, I don’t know about you, but when someone shines their bright lights in my eyes as a sign to get over, that’s actually the last thing that I do. Wrong of me? Possibly, but within seconds (seriously not even enough time to give me a chance to get over), she flew around me, laid on her horn and as a classy lady would and threw up her middle finger like she was pointing to reach heaven. What a wonderful way to start the day at 6:30 am, right?

Often, I have let this negativity get to me and I have responded back in childish ways, but today, I paused and asked myself, “Right now, in this situation, what would an extraordinary person do?”

An extraordinary person certainly wouldn’t respond to negativity with negativity. They would go about their business with a smile on their face and give thanks in that moment for the gift of owning a car, being able to drive to work and even having a job to be on the road so early for. So I did just that and was amazed at how freeing it felt.

Today and everyday from this point forward, I challenge you to always stop and ask yourself that very question. Don’t accept an ordinary life when an extraordinary life is up to you. Ask yourself every morning, “What would an extraordinary person do?” I bet that this simple question will change your life.

I will leave you with these final thoughts from the Right In the Eye discussion notes:

You can spend your life doing what you want, when you want, with whom you want like everybody else,

But if you do, you’ll never become the best version of you. You will never be extraordinary.

A relationship with God isn’t about staying out of trouble. It’s about being extraordinary.

Don’t settle for ordinary.

Don’t settle for what everyone else is doing.

Have you faced a situation lately in which if you would have stopped and asked yourself, “What would an extraordinary person do?” things would have turned out differently? 

Have an extraordinary day!

Good health!

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Hi there! Happy almost Friday! Another week DONE! Just wanted to check in and share something that I found a few weeks ago; I can’t remember where unfortunately, but I read it to Dustin tonight and thought I should certainly share it with you. My sister is on her way down right now to see me, so I am excited for a break from the work and am actually going to get to enjoy the city of Jacksonville instead of my cubical, the library, my desk and the indoors! Wahoo! I hope you have an awesome weekend too!

If you think you are beaten, you are,

If you think you dare not, you don’t,

If you’d like to win, but you think you can’t,

It’s almost a “cinch” you won’t.

.

If you think you’ll lose, you’ve lost,

For out in the world you’ll find,

Success begins with a fellow’s will;

It’s all in the state of mind.

.

For many a race is lost

Before ever a step is run;

And many a coward fails

Before his work’s begun.

.

Think big and your deeds will grow,

Think small and you’ll fall behind,

Think that you can and you will;

It’s all in the state of mind.

.

If you think you’re outclassed, you are,

You’ve got to think high to rise,

You’ve got to be sure of yourself

Before you’ll ever win a prize.

.

Life’s battles don’t always go

To the stronger or faster man,

But sooner or later, the man who wins,

Is the fellow who thinks he can.

You must believe in yourself if you ever want others to too!

Good health!

The post It’s All in the State of Mind appeared first on The Gypsy Dietitian.

Hi there! Happy Wednesday… I hope the  middle of the week finds you doing well! We have had a wonderful week thus far; lots of positive thinking going on down here. It must be the weather. What is it about the sunshine that just makes everyone happier? I don’t know about you, but it certainly does me.

Here lately, with just a few weeks left in my second return to school, many people have been asking me about my road and journey in deciding to return to school to pursue a career as a registered dietitian (RD).  Today I want to share with all of you a little about why I choose to return to school, what my path has looked like since returning, and my thoughts/feelings about it all.

PAST:

As most of you know, I graduated in 2009 with a degree in broadcasting, with all plans in mind to be the next Erin Andrews, don’t we all? I wanted to pursue a career in sideline reporting, well, really any type of sports reporting.  Growing up in and around sports, I thought this would be the perfect job for me.

As I began my broadcasting internship at WFTV Channel 9 in Orlando, I quickly saw that by simply saying, “I am going to be a sports reporter” wasn’t near enough.  If this is what I truly wanted to do I was going to have to put in a lot of time in other areas, such as news, to prove myself and work my way to the position that everyone wanted. I would have to move to whatever city had an opening, for a salary that was hardly survivable.  But at that same time, I knew I didn’t want to work in news. I didn’t want to be the girl telling you of our world’s troubles and negativities day in and day out. In our house, we turn off the news; how could I do something for a living that I don’t even support? I couldn’t.

I had always loved nutrition.  The summer before I my senior year of college, I called my dad on day and told him that I was going to change my major to Nutrition.

“Not so fast, Ashley,” was his response.

“You’ll be done with school in one semester and graduating in two, why don’t you just go ahead and get that degree and get out of there.”

He was right, it was too late.  I was so close to being finished and changing my major at that point would have added years on. Plus, I wouldn’t have been able to move to Orlando with Dustin right after our wedding.  He probably also saw my HOPE scholarship running out soon

In the middle of my broadcasting internship, a light bulb went off and I figured out exactly what I wanted to do, since news reporting wasn’t it…I wanted to be a health reporter! I could combine my broadcasting degree with my passion for nutrition and easily do this, so I thought.  I went into the station the next day and started asking several questions about it. My ideas and dreams were quickly shot. One of the stations veterans told me, “they are always medical doctors (MDs) or registered dietitians (RDs),” referring to health reporters.

Great, I am neither. Back to square one.

Dustin and I had gotten married less than one year before beginning my broadcasting internship.  After realizing that news reporting was going to be a path that I would have to take if I wanted to work in this field, I decided that it just  wasn’t worth it.  Dustin had a job that demanded him to be in a certain (assigned) location. Reporting is a job that would demand me to be in a certain (assigned) location. If I wanted to be with my husband, one of us was going to have to pick. Obviously, his baseball career was far more excelled and more promising than any plans I had in reporting.

I decided, at least at that time, I would have to pursue something else.

During this time in Orlando, while Dustin rehabbed his shoulder, after my internship was completed, all I did was read, read, read about nutrition.  Though I was always interested in nutrition, it was during this time that I truly fell in love with it.

Dustin was forced to retire from baseball (due to the shoulder injury) in 2010 and he still had 1.5 years left in school to complete his degree since he was drafted after only his junior year. I knew, if ever, when Dustin decided to return to school, that would be the opportunity and time for me to return as well.

If I wanted to be a health reporter or pursue a career in a field that I am so passionate about, I decided that I would work toward obtaining a Nutrition and Food Science degree during this time so that I could become a registered dietitian (RD).

PRESENT:

I will go ahead and say this… my journey toward becoming an RD has not been easy (but nothing worth having is ). This degree is SO different from that of any journalism/communication degree. With my first degree, showing up to class, turning in my homework, and studying the night before tests worked. That would never fly for this degree. I spend weeks studying for tests, hours working on projects, and even more hours working on research/community service/volunteering to build my resume in order to have THANKFULLY obtained an internship (to get my registration). Oh yeah, and on top of that, I needed to work a job too. Hello, yoga teacher.

Since there are only internship spots for 50% of the dietetic students, you could imagine, landing one is extremely competitive. Three of my friends (all which gave up their lives for this degree for the past two years, all with GPAs of 3.6 or higher, and more community involvement and research than imaginable), unfortunately didn’t get matched with an internship. We are all still wondering, “WHY?” Sometimes I find myself saying had I known it was this competitive, I might not have even gone back, but yes I would have.  I can’t imagine myself anywhere else.

Defeat is not the worst of failures. Not to have tried is the true failure. — George E Woodberry

“If you do what you love, you will never work a day in your life.”

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