Her Magazine
Marked At Birth-Success By Choice
by Angela Martindale
Empowerment and Success. I have often reflected on the relationship between these two emotions and pondered over what they mean to me, both personally and professionally. As a nutritionist, fitness trainer and wellness coach to some of Hollywood’s A List Royalty, world renowned business moguls and professional athletes, I have experienced overwhelming success at varying stages of my career and felt empowered for different reasons. There were times throughout my career when I had all of the things that our society holds in esteem for the successful; money, notoriety, a lavish lifestyle, and the naive idea that my life would be perfect in that state of success forever. As an early 20-something, I believed those tangible things made me a fully empowered professional woman. I had reached the societal benchmarks reserved only for the successful; I was independent, free to make my own choices about life, I could buy whatever I wanted and go wherever I wanted. I was literally manifesting everything I had envisioned for myself. I was a girl on fire! I created it all, I had it all and I loved my so called life.
Finding My Purpose
As my life progressed into my late 20’s and early 30’s, I would rely heavily on the lessons learned in my youth to face the oncoming challenges, and in the process re-define the importance of choice and accountability in becoming a truly empowered woman and professional.
I was marked at birth. I was marked as ugly and labeled different. As negative comments and remarks spewed out of kids’ months, parents’ stares, and pity from strangers, I was the victim of bullying in my childhood and pre-teen years. You see, I was born with a full facial port wine stain birthmark, it covers the inside of my month, down my throat and inside of my ears. I was frequently treated with anti-biotics in an effort to “cure the flu”, “strep throat” or allergies. Enduring these two elements of my youth made for a thick emotional skin, but poor physical health. The need to heal my body became the motivation for choosing to independently research alternative options and sustainable solutions that would help me to better manage both my physical health and my sense of wellness. My personal journey of self-discovery as a teenager, along with a supportive family, propelled me into the world of health and wellness, and as I healed my body, I also found my passion for educating others in what the body’s 60 trillion cells need to thrive – not just survive. My new passion soon became my life-long career. Those difficult growing pains allowed me the choice to take control of both how I felt physically and how I viewed my body as a vessel for professional achievement.
At the height of my career, I was in a hit-and-run bike accident (just weeks away from competing in the most highly regarded fitness competition in the industry), it left me broken and rocked the world I had built for myself both as an entrepreneur and as a woman. I quickly began to understand just how delicate the balance between failure and success actually is. My experiences of proactively choosing to heal my body and spirit, became the foundation for rebuilding my life. Utilizing those vital lessons of accountability, determination and a “Don’t Give Up” attitude allowed me not only to heal, but to better define an evolving sense of empowerment and independence in both my personal and professional life. I was transforming into another version of myself-I was becoming Angela Martindale 2.0
The Journey to Grow Gracefully
During those difficult challenges to reclaim my life, I discovered that the essence of sustainable joy and real empowerment in both work pursuits and in daily life, does not come from simply achieving society’s perceived image and benchmarks of success, but rather from the journey to grow gracefully in the choices we make. I’ve learned that real empowerment is a direct result of consciously making decisions and recognizing how those choices impact our future. Ownership of our life allows us to connect with our individual interests, passions and talents so that we begin to stand with our head held higher, feeling more confident in our abilities, and more focused on the personal and professional life we want to live. I’ve learned that ownership of choice allows deeper clarity of purpose and direction which then becomes a powerful tool in harnessing our talents, gifts, interests and character strengths for building a career path that we may not have previously thought of pursuing. In the process of our personal accountability, we can create amazing professional businesses built to uplift and inspire others, which ultimately enables us to feel bolder, stronger, more excited about what we can achieve and more authentic in every aspect of our life. The positive energy we create becomes an evolutionary change-we become genuinely empowered.
GET TO IT
My motto, my creed, my word is “Transform your mind, your body, your being and your life” How we learn from our decisions and experiences of our personal and professional life, will ultimately bring authentic transformation to both. The following 5 practices have helped me build and reshape the direction of my career:
1. Self -Talk
No one can talk you into believing you can overcome personal challenges and achieve your dreams more than your own psyche. Making a statement to the world with “I AM . . ."such as, “I AM POWERFUL. I AM STRONG. I AM ABLE, BEAUTIFUL AND ADVENTUROUS”, written down and repeated verbally on a daily basis, has become a manifesting tool in my ability to define who I am as a person and a business owner. Declare, define and visualize who you are and who you want to become.
2. Commit to your Vision
Approaching your choices, dreams, and goals as passive experiences that are out of your control, will never challenge your ability to grow as a person and a business owner. In order to uncover your most authentic self as an entrepreneur, you must be able to do an internal audit of how you currently approach your business and your life. Be willing to learn from your mistakes, change directions and work your ass for it - only then can you transform your vision into a reality.
3. You are what you consume
You’ve only got one body - filling it with vital, life sustaining nutrients, thoughts, breath and love is imperative to success. If you are not feeding your brain and your body mindfully, it ceases to work for you and begins to work against you. “Letting yourself go”, becoming fatigued and out of shape while trying to flourish as an entrepreneur, is the worst thing you can do for success. When you stop taking care of yourself, you cannot physically and mentally perform, think clearly, lead others, make rational decisions and manage stress, as well as you would if you maintained your optimal wellness with healthy nutrition and fitness. Successful people recognize their body as a tool for manifesting their thoughts and actions, and treat it like a partner in accomplishing their goals.
4. Let it FlowThe best advice I ever received was “Angela, money is a currency and needs to ebb and flow like a current. It must be fluid for growth.” There are seasons to make investments in growth and there are times to step back and reassess and having a healthy relationship money is vital for success. Your success cannot be based on how much money is in your bank account. Your measure of success must be based on what you have achieved with the money you have made. Intelligent investing and spending is key to creating success that you can be proud of.
5. Move- Breath – Relax
Take time to move this body, it wants to move, sweat, breathe and stretch. Have a Dance party in your living, invite your counterparts to a yoga class, hire a corporate wellness coach, take a meeting and walk around the outside of your building. This body will work for you if work it. It will stay healthy and vibrant if you honor and treat it well. It is imperative to your success that you take time out every day to just focus on you. Turn your phone off, get up from your desk and take time to reconnect and refresh. It will make a huge difference in the way your run your business and your life.
These 5 tips have been and continue to be, true principles in helping me stay grounded and realistic as I have built, and rebuilt my vision of success both professionally and personally. Becoming empowered is a journey – allow your choices to positively transform your life and success will follow.