My dear friend and super inspirational BuffMother! leader JULIE of CA is 47 years YOUNG today!! Everyday this beautiful woman inspires me to rise up and take on life with a positive, relentless attitude every day~ she is a true LEADER in TEAM BuffMother.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY JULIE!!! I know you are going to have a super day and the best year of your life…Keep on inspiring!!!
LOVE,
Michelle
P.S.
Can you believe this used to be JULIE??
Julie has been a featured BuffMother! Success Story for months now, and recently wrote this AWESOME piece about “Why I love the Team BuffMother Rally Room” :
Why I love the Team BuffMother Rally Room by Julie Laughery April 2007
My name is Julie Laughery and I’m a 46 Year Young mother of 3 adult children. I’m hear to share my journey with you and let you know how I came to find “Buffmother” and how it’s changed my life and made me who I am today.
I had my first child at the age of 20 and my other two by the age of 26. I gave all I could to my children and their upbringing. I “Believed” that I needed to put them first and I always put myself and my husband second. I was that soccer mom, Girl Scout Leader, Den Mother and Childcare Provider. Intertwined in my being and all these hats was the desire to be fit, feel great and have back that same body I had before children. Along my road I would try and try to achieve this with some form of exercise video or aerobics in my living room, but I never could seem to follow through and meet my inner desired longings.
Then at the age of 39 something happened to me that changed the direction of my life as I knew it. I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. It’s a syndrome that effects your muscle and joints. It was at this time that I decided I needed to make changes in my life. I gathered up all I could and found out that working out, nutrition, and supplements were important in combating the symptoms. I started to go to a gym and so begins the fitness journey.
I started working out and feeling better and this became my life. My health was my number one goal. I at first started with cardio and gradually worked my way into the weight room. It was all a process and over the course of the years in the process of feeling better than I ever I had lost body fat and gained muscle. The gym became a way of life for me. It was a lonely life though as none of my friends had this life and they just didn’t understand the new evolving me.
Then one day while surfing the web I found “Buffmother” and life changed for me even though my kids were all now young adult children. As I was reading her Introduction on “Believing” I realized that I “was” that mother that she was describing. I was that mother that had the belief that if I tried to give myself that extra time in the day for “Me” to reach my desires that I would have been selfish. I had the belief that as you got older that you were just destined to “look” a certain way and age. This was a real light bulb moment. I realized that I wasted a lot of time and there was no more time to waste. I could achieve a New and Improved me!
I immediately joined “Buffmother” and I’ve now been a member since the Rally Room first opened. The reason I stay and have become addicted to the Rally Room is because of all the wonderful, positive support that you receive. We all have the same goals. We all want to be Buff and the Best person that we can be!! You receive so much LOVE and SUPPORT for whatever you’re going through good or bad….It’s an AWESOME, POSITIVE and INSPIRING place. It feels so good to be a part of a movement that is for the improvement in self and inspiring and encouraging others. I strive to do this now in and out of the Rally Room.
I have made lots of friends in the Rally Room over the course of a year and I’ve had the pleasure to meet up with some of them in my travels. I’ve now met Melissa from Washington, Tracy from Utah, Tracy from Idaho, Jamie from California and this coming October will meet many others on the Buffmother cruise.
Becoming a “Buffmother” I for once in my life finally “Got It” what “Buffmother” Michelle was preaching….It’s “Believing” you can make changes and reach the goals that you set for yourself as long as you “BELIEVE” you can. I not only feel like this with my body now, but also with life in general. You can do anything you want and be anything you want. You just need to “Believe” and you can achieve this and be a good mother, daughter, friend to others in the process.
Since joining “Buffmother” I’ve entered my first NPC Figure competition. By being in the rally room through my competition prep I received SO much support. There were times when I wanted to quit and I would throw up a Blog to that effect only to hear my “Buffmother Friends” tell me….You CAN DO IT!! I needed that extra push when that little devil was in my brain telling me to give up. I will be speaking soon at a Rotary Lunch about my competition and so the journey still continues.
I had the honor of becoming one of the “Buffmother” Success stories. I have entered Challenges from Buffmother herself and received the reward of the “RELENTLESS” Challenge. I’ve learned to set my own challenges as well. One of them I just completed. I had professional portraits taken for my husband, a goal that I’d had for fifteen years and finally I felt like I had the body I was looking for.
I now BELIEVE that I can do anything I set my mind to. I’ve learned to set fitness goals. I’d never really done that before. I’ve learned to set challenges for myself. I’ve been working out for many years, but with no real goals and no real diet. I now know how to fuel my workouts, how to CHALLENGE myself and receive the results that I’m looking for. As “Buffmother” always says….Challenge=Change…I really BELIEVE that!!
The Rally Room has really been a Blessing. It’s “my space” and “place to belong.” In my space I can post my pictures, family, interests, etc., without worrying about man eyes seeing. In this place we’re all women and we understand and know the “joys” of motherhood, Tom, PMS, Menopause, and other issues that men would not understand or care to understand. Women need an outlet and the Rally Room is that and more!!
Thank You Michelle for your hard work and commitment in creating a place where we all benefit and receive valuable Information, Inspiration, Motivation, Encouragement and Support!!
We Love You!
