I Stopped Fighting My Body & Started Changing My Habits

Starbucks Frappuccinos, brownies, cookies, fried pickles… this was my life before my body started sending me signals.

I’m from the South, and food is how we express ourselves. I love cooking, eating, and feeding people I love, so I was devastated when things started shifting for me.

For years, I treated my body like something to push past instead of something to listen to. I also had the privilege of never gaining weight no matter what I ate, so I never thought much about my habits.

Like most college students, I stayed up late, drank socially, ate whatever I wanted, and pushed through exhaustion.

But my body had been warning me for years.

In college, I was constantly fatigued. It became such a running joke that people thought I had narcolepsy. I’d fall asleep in class, in chairs, anywhere. I was in art school for interior design, and our classes were small and close-knit, so everyone knew.

There were even pictures of me passed out.

I went to the doctor, but I was told I was “just an exhausted college student.”

At the time, I laughed it off too.

It didn’t really scare me until I entered my career. I wanted to succeed and impress my bosses, but it’s hard to do that when you’re falling asleep during Monday morning meetings.

Ironically, I still performed well. I met deadlines, exceeded expectations, and kept pushing through. But underneath that, my body was struggling.

Then I moved into a much more stressful design job.

The hours were brutal. I was eating terribly, surviving on fast food and stress, staying up until 3am finishing architectural drawings and specifications for deadlines.

That’s when my symptoms got significantly worse.

I started having severe stomach issues and throwing up after eating lunch at work. I was losing weight rapidly, which scared me because I had always been naturally small to begin with.

The fatigue became overwhelming. I’d fall asleep at red lights. I’d come home and accidentally sleep for hours.

Eventually, I left that environment and moved into sales. Then in 2019, I landed one of the best jobs I’d ever had — better pay, better balance, and finally… health insurance.

Even then, I still delayed going to the doctor because I was so used to ignoring my body.

Finally, a coworker looked at me one day and said:
“You’ve been complaining since you started here. Please go to the doctor.”

She was right.

That appointment started five years of confusion.

Bloodwork revealed I had diabetes. At the time, I weighed 110 pounds with a BMI of 19, so my doctor was shocked. I was eventually diagnosed with Type 1 Negative Antibody Diabetes.

That diagnosis changed everything.

But it still wasn’t the full picture.

I continued having severe bloating, stomach issues, fatigue, low white blood cell counts, and eventually major allergic reactions and full-body hives.

An allergist tested me for food and environmental allergies. I reacted to all 71 pricks.

At 30 years old, I went from being able to eat whatever I wanted to suddenly needing an extremely strict lifestyle.

And honestly?

I struggled hard with that reality.

For a long time, I stayed stuck in a “why me?” mindset. I was angry, overwhelmed, frustrated, and emotionally exhausted from constantly worrying about my health.

It felt like my life changed overnight.

But the truth is… it hadn’t.

My body had been signaling me for years.

Even as a teenager, I struggled with hypoglycemia — something that can be connected to diabetes. But I ignored the signs because I didn’t fully understand what my body was trying to say.

Eventually, I realized something important:

I had spent years searching for a perfect diagnosis when what I really needed was to learn how to work with my body instead of against it.

Because no amount of denial or “cheat meals” was going to return me to the habits that were hurting me.

So, I stopped fighting reality.

I stopped trying to be “healthy sometimes” while sabotaging myself the rest of the time.

And little by little, I started changing my habits.

This journey started in 2019, and if there’s one thing I’ve learned since then, it’s this:

Do not compare yourself to where someone is now.
Look at where they started.

The first thing I had to change was my mindset.

Instead of viewing myself as defective, I reframed the situation entirely. I told myself:
Maybe I’m not a broken Honda Accord… maybe I’m a BMW that simply requires premium fuel.

Oddly enough, that mindset shift changed everything.

In late 2025, I hired a personal trainer and started taking fitness seriously.

At first, I wasn’t trying to become some extreme “gym person.” I was just trying to become consistent.

So instead of overhauling my entire life overnight, I focused on micro-shifts.

First, I figured out the best workout time for me.

I tried 8pm workouts first. Terrible idea.

Then I tried 10am, which slowly helped me transition into mornings. I built a nighttime routine. I started staying off my phone before bed.

Then I started with just two gym days a week.

Eventually, two became three.

Then my trainer helped me build accountability around eating enough and properly fueling my body.

Over time, those habits became normal instead of forced.

And once I became consistent with those things, I realized something else:

My job no longer aligned with the life I was trying to build.

The chaos of sales was fighting against the structure my body desperately needed.

So, I wrote down exactly what I wanted:
A remote job.
Good pay.
Structure.
Balance.

I read it every morning.

Eventually, I got that job.

And now?
I’m waking up for 8am workouts consistently — something I once believed I would never do.

The girl who said:
“I’m not disciplined.”
“I’m not motivated.”
“I’ll never be a morning person.”
“I’d rather die than give up sweets.”

…slowly became someone else through small, sustainable habit changes.

Not overnight.
Not perfectly.
But consistently.

That’s why I care so deeply about mindset and habit coaching.

Because real change rarely comes from extreme transformations.
It comes from small shifts repeated over time.

Your health is not something to constantly push aside.

Your body is the vessel that allows you to experience your life — not just survive it but actually enjoy it.

How Does This Relate to Coaching?

This is exactly what I coach.

Mindset shifts.
Habit change.
Behavior patterns.
Identity transformation.

Because getting from one version of your life to the next usually doesn’t happen through motivation alone.

It happens through small decisions practiced consistently until they become your new normal.

If you’re ready to start rebuilding your own habits, my Habit Restart Kit is available for download for $15 or book a Free alignment call with me today.