I get the side eye a lot from folks who don’t quite understand “all” that I do. Recently, I was at a company event where a colleague jokingly said I had six jobs, referring to my family, music, photography, fitness and blogging in addition to my sales job. Without a doubt, this person is completely supportive of me and was just being light-hearted. But, that kind of commentary comes at me quite often. People often ask me how (and why) I squeeze in so much in a day. The truth is that we make time for what we want to make time. Plain, and simple. Trust me, I don’t have six jobs. I have my God-given job of being a wife and mother and one full time job that helps financially support my family. Outside of those top priorities, I fill my life up with many other things that make my heart full. I can’t imagine my life without any of those things in it!

Sadly, I see many people merely existing and trying to muster through the day. They lack those little things to look forward to outside of their daily routine. A close friend of mine calls those things “carrots.” To him, a “carrot” is something he puts on the calendar that help him get through the grind. It’s usually a camping trip, or a visit to the beach. While he personally does not have the desire to pursue as many carrots as I do, these little weekend trips offer an outlet for him in the same way all of my daily pursuits do for me. My carrots are planning fun outings with my family, booking photo shoots a couple times a month, performing and writing music, working out, planning events, writing this blog, and more. These are my passions! The very reason I can be a loving wife and mother and excel at my day job is because I fill my calendar with carrots that help me make it through the less than glamorous times.

I know some of you are thinking, “But, Jaime, you don’t understand what my life is like.” Maybe you have four kids, or a high pressure job, or have to care for an ailing family member. You don’t have time for a shower, let alone carrots! Remember what I said earlier? You make time for what you want to make time for. And, YOU are your only advocate. So, stand up for yourself and create time to add the carrots that bring joy to your life.

If you have four kids and you love photography, take your kids out to a field and practice photographing them as they play. Don’t just do this once. If it brings you joy, do it once a week! After your kids go to bed, use that time to get lost in the editing process. I do my best vegging while I’m using Lightroom and a Photoshop to edit. It’s my version of playing video games. If you have a high pressure job but you love to workout, go for a run while you listen to a conference call. If you don’t have to talk or present, then who cares what you’re doing as long as you’re paying attention? Or, schedule a recurring 30 minute block on your calendar for that workout everyday and work around it. If you are caring for an ailing family member, ask for and accept help so you can free up a couple hours for yourself to focus on something that revives you. How can you care for someone else if you don’t care for yourself? The answer is that you cannot.

Now, listen. I realize I’m somewhat oversimplifying this. There are some people who have no help or are in a situation where this might seem impossible. Even still, I want you to make it a non-negotiable to add some carrots to your life no matter how tiny they may be. Your soul will thank you.

What are your carrots? Discuss in the comments below!

Getting enough vegetables in my diet is a constant struggle for me. I just do not love the texture of cooked vegetables when I prepare them at home. I much prefer the crunch of raw vegetables so I steer more towards fresh green salads and chopped raw veggies. While the rest of my family loves steamed broccoli or canned green beans, I often will buy a packaged chopped salad kit and eat that instead. When I stumbled upon this recipe from the Ultimate Reset nutrition plan, I was excited to run right out to the store and get the ingredients.

Speaking of grocery stores, do you guys have a Sprouts? We just got one about four miles from my house and I am in love with it! For one thing the produce is mostly local and does not have all that icky vegetable grade wax all over it. They also have a nice selection of Paleo and gluten-free options that is similar to what you would find at Whole Foods. And, they sell nuts, beans, flours, and candy (!) in bulk. The prices are fairly reasonable and the staff is super friendly and helpful. Two thumbs up from this girl.

I left my local Sprouts armed with beautiful red cherry tomatoes and firm cucumbers. This recipe turned out beautifully and I only made a few adjustments based on my family’s preferences. We don’t do raw onions so I left those out. And, I only had dried herbs on hand so I used those. It still tasted flavorful and delicious! If you are trying to find tasty way to get fresh vegetables into your diet, this Cucumber and Tomato Salad might be a great addition to your menu.

Cucumber – Tomato Salad (courtesy of Ultimate Reset)

Ingredients

2 Tbsp . red wine vinegar

1 tsp . balsamic vinegar

1 Tbsp . fresh lemon juice

2 tsp . extra-virgin olive oil

1 medium cucumber partially peeled, halved lengthwise, sliced

1 cup cherry tomatoes halved

1 Tbsp . chopped red onion (optional, I did not use)

1 Tbsp . chopped fresh Italian parsley (or 1/2 Tbsp dried)

1 Tbsp . chopped fresh basil leaves (or 1/2 Tbsp dried)

Himalayan salt to taste; optional

Instructions

Combine red wine and balsamic vinegars, lemon juice, and oil in a small bowl; mix well. Set aside.

Combine cucumber, tomatoes, onion (if desired), parsley, basil, and salt (if desired), in a large bowl; mix well.

Enjoy!

–Jaime

One of my best friends, Kelley, just finished the Beachbody Ultimate Reset program and had incredible results. She lost a whopping 11 pounds and retrained her digestive system in a way that has vastly improved her health and energy levels. I happened to have had a visit planned with Kelley just a few days after she completed the program. Seeing how vibrant she looked, my interest was peaked about Ultimate Reset. She gave me a brief rundown and let me flip through the nutrition guide. It definitely looks intense with the last 14 days of the program being strictly vegan.

The first thing I said to Kelley after flipping through the recipes was, “Ummm, don’t you remember that I am not a veggie lover?” Folks, I secretly push my broccoli onto my son’s plate to avoid eating it. (He loves it, thankfully.) If we had a dog, that would be one healthy dog because I would feed it kale under the table! Kelley promised that these recipes would change my relationship with food, especially vegetables, in a positive way. She asked me to try out one of her favorite Ultimate Reset recipes, Roasted Corn and Edamame Succotash, and report back to her. I reluctantly agreed.

Today was the perfect day to try out the Succotash because I was invited to a neighborhood barbecue where some of the women attending are following a clean diet. I knew they would appreciate a healthy side instead of the standard mayo-laden salads and sugary baked bean. I quadrupled the recipe since the original only served one. I also left out the onions and shallots and used celery instead since onion is not very popular in my household.

I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. I have a feeling the salad is going to go from tasty to absolutely delicious after it sits overnight in the fridge.

(This recipe is adapted from the Ultimate Reset program by Beachbody and all credit goes to them.)

• 1 bag frozen edamame
• 1 bag frozen corn, cooked and drained
• 1/2 shallot, diced
• 1/2 red bell pepper, diced
• 1/4 red onion, diced (or sub celery)
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tbsp fresh lime juice
• 2 tbsp fresh cilantro
• Himalayan salt and herbal seasoning (to taste)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and arrange corn in single layer on baking sheet. Roast for 10 minutes, or until just lightly browned. Remove and allow to cool.

Meanwhile, bring water to a boil and cook edamame for 5 to 7 minutes. Drain and set aside. Saute onion (or celery), shallot, and bell pepper in olive oil for 10 minutes or until soft.

Add corn and edamame to vegetable mixture, cook on medium for 5 minutes. Add rice vinegar and remove from heat. Stir in lime juice, cilantro, salt and seasoning. Serves 6.

For years, I’ve had a little saying about weight gain that has helped me feel better about wherever I was on the scale at any given point in time. “It’s weight. It comes on. It comes off.” That is true, but at some point I started living by that mantra. And then, instead of being a comfort to me, it quickly became an excuse.

So what if I went on a trip and gained five pounds? I had fun! I’ll go home and I’ll lose it. Except for when I went home and didn’t lose it. I got busy and comfortable carrying around those extra five pounds, and let that became my new norm. Before I knew it, Christmas came around and I added another five pounds drowning myself in Egg Nog, but still told myself that the New Year is coming. I’ll just lose it then. Because, hey, “It’s weight! It comes on. It comes off.”

It wasn’t until last year that I realized this mantra was starting to cause me more harm than good. “It comes on, it comes off” is not a mantra. If I’m being honest with myself, it’s actually nothing more than an excuse. It’s basically a hall pass to let my health decline. Why do I want to put myself in the position where I have to take extra weight off? Why not learn how to enjoy myself in moderation, while also making good choices that don’t lead to weight gain? The problem with letting weight “come on” is that soon you throw the “come off” part out the window and it spirals out of control.

I think most people would describe me as relatively “fearless.” I have no problem speaking in front of a crowd. During a performance, I don’t hesitate to plop down on the lap of some unsuspecting fellow just to see him squirm and get a laugh from the crowd. Aside from heights and snakes, there is not much that sets off fear in me especially when it comes to dealing with people.

Well, there IS that one thing…

Cold calling. Oh my goodness, how I loathe the “cold call.” It literally makes me feel ill to think about picking up the phone and bugging someone in the middle of the day to tell them something they didn’t ask about. I will come up with 101 other things to do to avoid cold calling. For example, I decided to write this blog post today instead of cold calling. Don’t judge me!

In order to come to terms with why I hate cold-calling so much, I made a list and uncovered some themes:

• I don’t like bothering people. I don’t like to be bothered so the last thing I want to do is bother someone else.

• I don’t want to get in a confrontation with someone when they feel bothered. People get really mean, especially on the phone when they don’t have to look you in the eyes.

• I’m afraid they are going to ask me a question that I don’t know.

• They are probably going to let it go to voicemail anyway, so why bother.

• I don’t want anyone to think bad thoughts about me or my business by making a bad first impression.

• Cold-calling is a fishing game. Most of the time you don’t really know why you are calling the person other than you feel they could probably use what you’re selling. You just hope that you can quickly spew out a bunch of info and something will spur a deeper conversation. That isn’t fun. I like to be pointed with my interactions with others.

• Is cold-calling even an effective method of sales engagement anymore?

When I was young, I told everyone for years that I wanted to be an astronaut. I said I would study astronomy and work at NASA and fly in rockets and cool stuff like that. I said all this and fully believed it, even though I was marginal at math and science bored me to tears. No one ever told me that I couldn’t do it, but surely my teachers and parents must have been thinking that it was a rather ridiculous quest for my future. Ah, to be young again and to wallow in such self-belief! Reflecting on this made me think about something. At what point did we grow up and start talking ourselves right out of our dreams?

I think most folks would say that “real life” took over. Our “dreams” were replaced by bills or early parenthood or all the “adulting” we were expected to do the day after we turn 18. Others might attribute it to lack of money for lessons, or a parent who told them their dream was unachievable or asinine. And still others would blame a lack of belief in themselves, or all out fear of failure. Whatever the reason, too many of us leave our inner most desires behind only to be left with the yearning of “what if.”