My 10 Weapons That Wage War Against Depression:

My 10 Weapons That Work Against Depression:

Depression. Ugh. That nasty gross, "I just want to stay in this bed until life is over."

A death sentence anyone? That's what it feels like doesn't it? At least for me. It's like we get pulled down into this rut and all we can see is the rut. We see the rut walls, the top of the rut, the floor of the rut. Some times we start trying to climb out of the rut, but that's so exhausting that we slip and fall back into the rut, only harder, cause we hit the ground with such force. Depression sucks and it is a big challenge to pull yourself out of. I have struggled with it for more than a few years. It's hard. It is super tough to deal with. 

One of my biggest breakthough moments out of depression happened when I had been watching my friend's Instagram account and was inspired by her daily fitness accountability posts. I just kind of WOKE UP one day, I felt like I snapped out of the hole I was in, catapulted by a massive action decision to start a workout program, a crazy one called Insanity. It was kind of like in the Dark Knight Rises, when Christian Bale, playing Batman, took the ridiculously scary massive jump attempt to free himself out of the dark pit prison. For me, that jump was Insanity, and how exercise has totally transformed how I deal with depression! Beyond that, I have found a lot of tools that have ridiculously helped catapult me out of the darkness of depression and self hatred. That's what this article is about,paying forward some of the tools that I have used and use daily to not only keep me out of depression long term, but get me out of the temporary "funks", "down days" and "depressed moments" So if any of that resonates with you, then read on... I hope that the following weapons can be brandished by you to fight momentary or lingering depression

 

Use these weapons often! Monthly, weekly and daily!!! Here are My 10 Weapons That Work Against Depression:

1) Dance yo ass off. Dancing has helped me so exponentially much. What I do is turn on one of my favorite songs and I just shake my body, move to the music. ESPECIALLY when I don't feel like it. Motion, they say, creates major EMOTION. So, when you don't FEEL like it (like when you're depressed) DO IT. 

2) BELT IT OUT. Like sing! I don't care if you don't think you're a "good" singer. Pick a couple of really awesome and uplifting songs that you love and turn it on! Maybe that will even be a little foreplay into Weapon Number 1! 

3) Prayer. I love Jesus and I love talking with him. For me, that is prayer. Talking with him is something that I love to do because I am working on building a strong relationship with him. I believe that God created the universe and made me to have a close relationship with him and when I am in depression, God can give me the best perspectives, truths and whispers of empathetic love that change my attitude tremendously. 

4) Meditation. Okay okay, you're probably rolling your eyes "Cause are you freaking kidding I can't 'empty my mind' for 1 minute let alone 5 or 15!" 

I'm not talking about that kind of meditation, at least not primarily. I mean to MEDITATE on specific things. I practice meditating on what I am grateful for, my intentions for the day, my dreams, passions, and God's truths! I use guided meditations from YouTube that I love and one in particular here ( 

5) GOOD foods. Yes, this is a shameless plug for healthy, fueling eating! No, not the "foods that taste good to me". WHOLE nutritious and life giving foods.Heavily processed, sugary, chemically "dead" foods are NOT going to fuel you and duh, your MIND!!! So many of my clients and fitness bootcampers tell me that "It's amazing how I have so much more energy and my mind is unfoggy!" After they start eating better! 

6) Drinking...

Water, duh. In the book "You're Not Sick, You're Just Thirsty", they talk about how so many aches, pains, foggy minds and diseases are caused by dehydration. 

And with that, I am ALWAYS convicted to go and grab another glass of H2O, so be right back ya'll. 

7) Coaching/Counseling/ACCOUNTABILITY. NUF SAID. But, no, I'll keep going. 

Make yourself accountable to someone who is gonna call you or ring the shit outta your doorbell if you don't answer cause you're drowning in your blankets in despair. Find a coach! (I did) Someone who is gonna push you, encourage you, partner with you BECAUSE THEY CARE. Because they love. Because, we NEED EACH OTHER in this grand human experiment. Connect with some people who you'd like to be friends with, whom you can be accountable to, share your journey and allow them to come alongside you in loving accountability. 

8) Doing something for someone besides yourself. AKA Serving/Helping. It truly is amazing that when we pick our heads up from looking down, we can see a better perspective. That is sometimes what serving and giving and loving others does to us. I heard a great encouragement that went something like "If you want to be encouraged, ENCOURAGE." I challenge you to try it! 

9) Gratitude! I know you probably feel like laughing at me, some of you. "I am miserable" you might say. "I have no idea what to be thankful for." I do realize it might be an uphill battle as you do the hard task of lifting your eyes from the depths of depression, but just hang with me and try it! Start making it a goal to, when you awake in the morning, regardless of how you feel, set a timer for 3 minutes and spill out all the gratitude you can for anything and everything you can think of. 

10) Watch or listen to something funny! Pysch, Anyone? (One of my fav TV shows) 

Try it! Get your body laughing. It is good medicine! 

Yo, depression can feel like a death sentence. It SUCKS. I have been in that place of feeling completely alone, suicidal and in total despair, when I'd rather sleep until life is over. Ah, my beautiful friend, that is a hard and painful place to be. I truly know. 

And here is what I also know: YOU ARE REDICULOUSLY, FABULOUSLY POWERFUL! YOU ARE A FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH. I believe that the dark forces that wage war against God are DETERMINED to  keep you from your God created destiny, the one that makes you shiver, the one that fills you with joy, you're losing track of time as you love and serve and make an impact on your world. So, I charge you, USE THESE TOOLS. Try them my friends! Don't wait. I highly suggest JUMP. Leap. I know it feels like you're jumping with a straight anchor attached to you, but YOU ARE STRONG. YOU, YES YOU are powerful. 

DEPRESSION IS NOT A DEATH SENTENCE. 

Let's use these weapons together to wage some mothereffing war on depression. 

Blessings of an abundantly joyful life upon you!

Constance Joy

PS. I'd LOVE to hear your story, get your feedback, or just generally learn about you and about any other tools you might use against the big D! 

So write me: consijoyfitness@gmail.com or leave a comment. Or find me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/CoachConstanceJoy

The Tiny,Terrible & Triumphant Line Between BEFORE & AFTER. No Luck Required.

                                  

Living in Hawaii...growing up I despised my 'stocky' frame. Almost all of my friends were slender and I was jealous. It didn't help that our family celebrated with ice cream, numbed emotions with ice cream &   Though we ate healthy a lot of the time, preservative packed chemical and or sugar filled crap  was a "treat" when we would go to an event or party.  so much ugh! 

So basically, I grew up with the tension between being an active and salad-every night-eating- family with a major addiction to sugar. 

That meant that I worked out 6 times a week, but struggled with being 20 lbs overweight as a teen and young adult. I didn't like the way I looked and hated clothes shopping 

My family moved to Alaska and I came with them, where of course I brought all of my insecurities and self hatred with me! I slicked back my hair and knotted up in a bun because I hated how big and curly it was. I was seriously struggling with self hatred because I was practicing negative self talk daily, and like I have learned, you are what you repeatedly do! So I was a self hating girl who knew that she had the potential to have the fittest body she could possibly create but had no freaking idea how to get there! 

Standing in the left photo on a trip back to Hawaii, I knew I was strong and muscular but I also knew I had an issue with food. I finally did TWO things shortly after the left hand photo was taken that JOLTED me into making a change. I just COULDN'T handle the yo-yo up a couple pounds down a couple pounds, stressed out of my mind, depressed often and binging with food and Netflix cycle of living.

 So 1) I took a chance to challenge myself with that crazy Beachbody program called 'Insanity'. 

And 2) I chose to come face-to-face with the fact that I numbed negative emotions with food... I began dealing with those issues and using Beachbody's awesome meal plans as tools I started finding freedom to use food as fuel! 

I'm not perfect! By no means. And the little teeny line between the two photos at the top of this blog represents HEARTACHE, WORK, TEARS, STRUGGLE, INJURIES and the PAIN of PROGRESS & GROWTH. Days where I eat awesome, then days where I eat handfuls of chocolate, then get mad at myself and try to move on.

 I am NOT "lucky". I have worked my ass off to get to where I am at. I AM HAPPY. I am SUCCESSFUL. WHY!? 1) Because choose to believe that the pain of growth is far more rewarding than the pain of wallowing in fear, 'overweightness', bad health, weak body & most of all... The PAIN of growth far outweighs the immeasurable pain of knowing that you did not pursue becoming the best version of you.

 2) I am happy & successful because DAILY I practiced the actions that build success. I practice active gratitude, visualization, exercise, proper fueling my body with nutrition, reading personal development and growth books and choosing to LOVE and GIVE even when I don't feel like it. You practice the following daily, consistently over a long period of time and there is no single way you cannot feel successful! Happy people are not lucky, successful people are not lucky. You are your daily routine! Have you fallen into a cycle of negative habits and behaviors that will compound and ripple effect into obesity, broken relationships, poverty, unhappiness, fear and bad health?

YOU have the power to change these things. Start taking responsibility by first looking at where you are at! You can never get better if you don't first recognize what you need to change.

 I truly believe that everyone can have a moment like I did around four years ago, when I basically snapped, and was like "What the hell! I'm just gonna challenge myself!" And promptly bought and completed the Insanity fitness program from Beachbody. That action alone for me has propelled me into countless successes like losing 20 pounds, being mentored by my first beach body coach then becoming one myself! BUT, just becoming a coach didn't fix all my problems, in fact it revealed a lot! It revealed that I have a lot of work to do with loving myself, because truly being a Beachbody coach is really at it's basis, committing to "The Ultimate Accountability Membership". In fact, in the last six months, I have done more introspective looking at myself & realizing how much negative self talk I still entertain on the daily. If I really am what I repeatedly do, then I know that I must change. Because I know that who else I am is a daughter of the king of the universe! And this princess has no business talking shit about herself, putting crap in her bod because she "had an emotional day" or letting others pull her down! So, the BEFORE & AFTER that this blog post started with, is really such a chronicle, with so much behind the photos. The girl on the right, the current me-- struggles with major perfectionism, fear of disappointing people, and the basic human struggle of wanting to eat a friggin cream filled doughnut rather then that red bell pepper 

I just hope that by this meandering story I've painted a picture that there is no reason why you have to be stuck where you are right now! If you look at the things you're doing daily, those things have made you what you are right now. Then it follows that you can start doing new and better things daily that add up to amazing exponential success if you will practice them daily, consistently and continually!

Remember, continue to struggle, don't give up. I learned a lot in these last two years of being a Beachbody coach and if you feel this, my story resonating with you, you may be a perfect fit to be coached by me in my upcoming fitness challenge or start helping others while you engage in the "Ultimate Accountability membership" as a Beachbody coach yourself! If you'd like to start talking about your story and see how I can help you start moving towards the success in your health and fitness specifically, email me at consijoyfitness@gmail.com, or fill out an application to be considered to be coached by me www.tinyurl.com/TribeThreeFitnessChallenge. 

May your day be filled with positive & powerful actions, and may your life be filled with the success that those actions bring! Happy transformation Tuesday and I pray that every day you will watch yourself transform into more of the person that God made you to be! 

Thank you for reading my blog and be blessed 🏼️

Cheers, Constance Joy! 

I love CHOCOLATE AND PROTEIN AND BARS!!! Family recipe for you!

Mama Bernier's Magnificent Ghirardelli glazed protein bars

All measurements are approximate

1 1/2 cups coconut oil

1 cup coconut sugar

2 eggs

2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract 

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 cup butter milk curds

1/2 cup nutritional Brewers yeast 

1 Cup hemp hearts

1 1/2 cups quinoa flakes

1/2 cup chia seeds (blended into finer powder) 

1 Cup oat bran

1 cup wheat germ

 Blend the wet ingredients first, then dry ingredients, then place on parchment paper in a cookie sheet with lip, use spatula and make into one large bar the size of the pan or 3 columns. 

Then bake at 325°F for 45 minutes or until not squishy aka done a.k.a. a knife inserted comes out clean.

If anyone makes these and followed my directions and they come out awesome, someone needs to take a photo and tag me in it. 

 Then, see photos, basically use your common sense and another baking sheet to put one on top of the pan that just got out of the oven then flip it over so you have a very flat surface to put all the chocolate, then let  the chocolate melt and spread it evenly and let dry. Then chop into desired size of bars and wrapped with plastic wrap after chocolate has hardened. 

ENJOY!!!

We're not "big boned". We just had big excuses.

#transformationTuesday 

Mom and Daughter 

My mom roped me in to do the old fashioned, original "Step aerobics" with her starting when I was 12 years old, in Kapaau. Hawaii. 

Little did I know that by that she helped me ingrain the love and habit of exercise into my very core and begun the ripple effect into my destiny. 

Although the consistent exercise was good, it was not enough. We would always talk about how frustrated we were with the fact that our genetics did not help with our fluffy 25 to 40 pounds overweightness and our tendency to hold a lot of stomach fat. But, we would always make excuses that "we're big bones" or "we're just strong".

#truthBeToldTuesday The Truth is we were too addicted to chocolate, and used food as comfort rather than fuel. We wanted the bodies of our dreams but we were more into making excuses. We would say, "we eat healthy, we eat veggies" but really, our eating was out of balance and we were eating way too much. 

We started at a gym together about seven years ago and our weight would go up and down and up and down. We continued to be frustrated, but the good news was we continued to solidify the habit of consistent exercise! 

Finally, at different times we decided enough was enough. No more yo-yoing. I decided to challenge myself with Insanity, my first Beachbody program.

Little did I know that that one action of me challenging myself with insanity would have a ripple effect of my entire family becoming Shakeology superfood drinkers & breaking out of the generational bonds of over eating and eating for comfort. I also had no idea it would lead to an amazing career of Beachbody coaching, paying forward the love and challenge of body mind spirit fitness to everyone I come in contact with! 

On the left, 3 years ago, I weighed roughly 25 pounds more and was walking around at about a size 10/12. My mom was a large size 12. 

On the right, just two weeks ago is me at size 4/6 and my mom...who just found that small and medium clothes were fitting her in the dressing room!!! 

Now, with daily accountability, Shakeology every day, correct portions and at home fitness DVDs, my mom and I have transformed our bodies and our continuing to every day!

NEVER GIVE UP. Specifically for you beautiful women who think that you have tried everything and that there is no way you can have the body of your dreams and feel vibrant and alive like you want to, I'm telling you you CAN!!! I have overcome and I am still overcoming every day. Do you just hate what you see in the mirror because your clothes don't fit but you know that you are so much more!!??? Dude, message me.

 I help people get results. I help people transform their lives and I want to help you.

My next 30 day wellness challenge launches on April 27, next Monday. Are you going to transform your life?➡️ consijoyfitness@gmail.com