Being able to find your calling may be extremely tough, especially if you have no confidence in what you provide and who you are. Through life experiences and the challenges that we face, you can emerge and build an empire of your choosing that will help anyone become what they ultimately want to be. In today's episode, Jenn Dusart, owner of Workouts With Jenn, provides a testimonial story of her success by one individual from behind the rows of others to help her see the true passion she has through her "service with a smile" approach in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. Through her experiences, she provides careful attention to detail for every client wanting to see true results within themselves.

Guest Bio

Jenn is not your average personal trainer. She works with clients to achieve something bigger than the number on the scale. She will help anyone develop true confidence, a deep knowledge of body, energy, and strength clients did not know they had. In short, the goal is happiness, confidence, balance, freedom, and a brand-new friend. With Jenn, clients will take a deep breath and begin with a small step on your fitness journey as it unfolds. Jenn’s heart, her mission, is to believe in her clients until they believe in themselves!! While working out is the catalyst for happiness, Jenn’s focus is on fostering joy in people’s lives. Although her studio is in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, she has adapted her practice to be accessible for virtual training sessions, so she can assist anyone, anywhere in the world. Jenn has a son who is 20 years old, on the Dean’s list and almost junior at Gettysburg College, and he would like to be an attorney for the NAACP.

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Website: https://workoutwithjenn.com/

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Visit Our Business Website: https://www.yourspeakingvoice.biz

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Intro/Outro By: Michael Dugan, Podcast Host: Voice4Chefs

Welcome to the podcast where relationships, confidence, and

determination, all converge into an amazing, heartfelt experience.

This is Speaking From The Heart.

Welcome back to episode number 40 of Speaking From the Heart.

Today we have Jenn Dusart, who will be joining us on the show.

Now, Jen is not your average personal trainer.

She has worked with clients to achieve something bigger than just the number on

the scale, and she helps anyone develop true confidence, which includes a deep

knowledge about body, energy, and strength clients did not even know that they had.

In short, her goal is to bring happiness, confidence, balance,

freedom, and a brand new friend.

With Jen, she actually works one-on-one with people along with her staff, to

take a deep breath and begin with a very first step in their fitness journey

as it unfolds, which her mission, which is really a big part of what

we talk about in today's episode, is about her heart and believing that

her clients can believe in themselves.

While working out is the catalyst for her happiness, jen's focus is

on fostering joy in people's lives.

Her business located in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania has adapted the practice

of being accessible also, providing virtual training sessions, so that she

can assist anyone anywhere in the world.

She has a son, which she talks a little bit about, who is 20 years old, has made

the Dean's List, and is almost a junior at Gettysburg College, where he would

like to be an attorney for the NAACP.

I think that this is really one of those guests that represent and embody

the opportunities that Speaking From The Heart has provided, and even has

shown for so many different people of what it takes to be able to create

not only the people that we truly care about, but even the influences of

the people that we truly care about.

With that, let's go to the episode.

All right, we're here with Jenn Dusart.

Jenn, thanks for sharing your heart with us today.

Hi, Josh.

Thank you so much for having me.

I'm super excited to be here tonight.

I have to tell you the audience this just from the get go.

Jenn was one of those people that instantly, right away, reached out

to me and said, "I fit everything that you're looking for on this.

I really want to be part of this.

Will you please, please, please, please, please.

I got something really interesting to share that I think your audience

would really love", and I'm like "Sold to the highest bidder", so-

Yeah, I'm not really sure I gave you an option.

No, you didn't, but you know what?

Those are the people that I know have a very authentic story and have a

lot to share, so I want to say thank you from the forefront with just our

conversations that we've had even beforehand, but Jenn, I want to start

off by asking this question because I've already let the audience know about what

you do, your business and everything.

I want to ask you, what got you started as being a personal trainer

in the first place, because I know we've had some conversations.

You showed me a photo and I'm not going to really go into that photo

right now because I'm sure that you can describe it for our audience,

but what led you down that path?

So, oddly enough, I never thought this was anywhere I would end up.

After high school, bounced around for a little while, did some odd jobs,

ended up getting married and having a son, and was a stay-at-home mom

for eight years, which was amazing.

The absolute highlight of my life.

My son is now 20 and I could go all day about him.

He is just fantastic, but when he was like three or four years old,

we joined the local YMCA and I started taking a kickboxing class.

I had been athletic in high school, had been a swimmer, was actually like pretty

good at it, but you know, life took over.

Partying was a lot of fun and food was good, so I ate a lot of fast food.

I didn't have very good eating habits and unfortunately here

as a mom, now, I'm trying to figure out how to feed my family.

We go to the Y, I start taking a kickboxing class, and for about the

first six weeks, I marched in the back of the room while everybody else did

the class, but the reason that I stayed was there was the instructor, her name

was Karen, and she took an interest in each and every person in that room,

and she asked about your stories.

She learned your name.

She learned about your family.

She noticed if you weren't there; asked if you were on vacation, but

for me, she stood in the back of the room with me; I'm probably gonna

cry for half of every class in the beginning, because I couldn't do it.

I knew I needed to do something, but I was so out of shape I couldn't

do it, and so, oddly enough, over the first couple of months and then

years, I started to become more fit.

My eating habits were still an issue, but I got pretty athletic and fit again.

She needed to get a job and so she needed a full-time job for her family,

so I mentored with her to become a part-time instructor for her class,

just to sub from time to time and fill in when she had to go to work.

I fell in love with teaching.

I can remember as a kid, and my dad has been deceased for about 20

years now, but we made a bet when I was a kid for a dollar that I would

be a teacher when I was a grownup.

He was like, "There's no way you're going to be a teacher",

and I'm like, "I don't know.

I am", and it's not the conventional kind but my whole mission and passion

in my life and in my business is to take every big mistake I've made, every

life lesson that I have learned, and I only learn things the hard way, and be

so awkwardly transparent and vulnerable to share it with other people, to show

them that, "Look, you can absolutely do it right", just like the conversation

we had about your friend who may not be somebody who would think is fitnessy now,

but hey, five years from now, who knows?

I started my career as a computer programmer, and then after being

a stay-at-home mom, my skillset was obsolete, so I had to do

something else, so stay at home mom started as a fitness instructor.

Thank goodness for Zumba Fitness.

I have that personality that I fill a room and I can lead a whole bunch of

people and so I got trained to lead that and for years had a super great

time teaching classes in the area with great instructors, and people mentored

me, people took me under their wing.

I had to get continuing education credits in this industry, that's something you

have to do every two years to keep your certifications current, so one of the

things that I could do was to take the personal trainer certification, and that

would keep my group fitness certification current, but also give me something else.

I didn't realize at the time I was starting this path of layering one

thing on top of the other to build this empire that I am excited about

building and my life right now.

Once I took the personal trainer exam and passed it amazingly

flying colors, not amazingly, but I had amazing flying colors on it.

I fell into working in this other guy's personal training studio and he saw my

work ethic and he saw my just desire to help people and work with them, and

so he mentored me on the business side of the personal training studio, and

that's what makes me a little different.

We are one-on-one.

It's just one trainer and one person, or possibly two people, like if you and your

friend want to come, or mother, daughter.

We do have some things like that, but we don't have open gym hours at all.

It's all one-on-one with a trainer.

He took me under his wing, showed me the ins and the outs, and I was

with him for about five or six years, and I just I felt I love people.

I'm on this earth to love God and love people, and I know that

without a doubt, and look, I don't ever mean to throw God in anybody's

face, but my faith is everything.

It is the only thing that I get up for every day, and so I know it's not my

job to convince anybody of anything, but it is my job to tell the story of what

he has done for me, and I am somebody that should have been dead in a ditch

somewhere many times over in my life because I only knew how to make bad

choices, but since I get up every day and I give Him the credit first, and I

say, "Lead me, guide me, make me better today than yesterday", I am killing it

in this life, and I know it's not me.

The people that know me know I'm just a schlep who's like trying to

do good, right, but I have a huge heart for people and that's what I

fell in love with in this industry.

I learn people's stories.

I get to celebrate the birth of their grandchildren and the graduations of

their kids, and I train their kids from high school to college, and I watch them

become grownups and, my son will tell you, and I shared this with you in our one of

our texting, I want to be everyone's mom.

It's just who I am, right?

I want everybody to have love and joy and happiness and life is so

hard, but we don't have to live in the hard, and I'm just the quirky,

rainbow, sunshine girl that says, "It's okay to live different, right?

It's okay to have joy despite shitty circumstances."

I will say this from what you just shared.

First off, there's no judgment here, and I've always said to guests, and

I've even said to my listeners that this is all about how people get

through the walks of life, and it doesn't matter what you've had to do to

overcome that, whether you have believe in God, whether you don't believe in

God, and you're listening to this.

I know that for many people we all have different backgrounds, but that's what

makes this show special in that we all have unique paths of how we gotten

to become great or greater than we ever thought possible: to become the

best versions of ourselves, so Jen, I want to say that I had a guest not all

that long ago, that talked about his journey and how he's gone through that,

especially with his religious faith, to be able to push through, especially

with a lot of adversity and to hear you say that and just, I feel that passion.

I feel that love.

Are there days where you get up and you say, "I don't know why I'm doing

this, like I just feel really drained", because some people giving yourself quite

a lot can be very tiresome, and I know that for many, that can be a struggle.

I know for me sometimes I'm an introvert by nature, so I'm like, " I got to step

back here for a second and take a chill pill", because it's really helping

me to become able to help others, and I've learned how to adapt to that,

but for you, how do you adapt to that?

Do you feed off of other people?

How's that work for you?

There's a lot of different sides to that question.

In 2018, I opened my first personal training studio on my own, and now I

have relocated to what is my second.

I am not somebody who thought I could ever do this.

This is not something I ever went and looked for.

This all very much grew organically, so on the business side of all of this, as

an entrepreneur, as a woman owning my own brick and mortar business now, I feel

like a fish out of water every single day.

I have no idea what I'm doing.

It's all reactionary.

I mean, I'm getting better, but the thing that I show up for every day are the

people that trust me with their lives.

I see anywhere from 10 to 20 people every single day that I know are excited to

come see me, and I get to come to this beautiful place that I have created where

I have a nice office and a beautiful training floor, and there's a big plant

wall and tons of windows out front and I bring my dogs to work with me.

Every half hour, it's a new person, right, and it's all very social

and I am such a social person.

I have so much love to give people whether they want it or not, right?

It's funny because, like I said I never set out to do this, but I'm

all about people recognizing what their gifts are and we all have such

different gifts and when we use them together, it's so beautiful, and so

a big piece of what I'm passionate about is teaching people the difference

between fitting in and belonging.

When you're trying to fit in, you're trying to be like everybody else and

force yourself into something that you're not and you feel awkward and it doesn't

feel good, and whether that is the food choices that you make, the people that

you hang out with, whatever, whatever, everybody has their stuff, but when

you learn that it feels really good to belong, it's because you love yourself.

You love your own company.

You are what I call joyful contentment, right?

I might not have everything I want.

I might not be who I want, but I have lights and running water.

I have somebody I can text if I have a problem.

We are so very fortunate and there's so many little tiny ways we don't

see that, and going through some very dark times, as I know you have, those

people who have reminded me, "Hey mom, would you be this upset that your

girlfriend broke up with you if you were living in Haiti after the hurricane

and you had to go search for food?"

Your 18 year old kid says that to you, and you're like, "Oh, wow", right?

I guess that does help put it in perspective that this is big and it

does hurt, and we can process those things and that's never a bad thing.

I think the thing that I want people to understand is that when you

allow anything to bring you to the point where you want to give up, you

forget what you have already, right?

You have a heart that beats an air in your lungs.

I don't care if it's hold the door for someone else, you may change their day and

you'll never even know it, but if you're not here and you're not participating

in life, you miss so many opportunities.

I wonder about that too, because you're right, I have talked about that

quite extensively in many of my episodes where I focus on not only the things that

I have been through personally, but the struggles to have that self-actualization,

right, so, fans of Maslow and his hierarchy of needs would certainly relate

to that, and it fits very well with our conversation that we're having because,

to me, sometimes finding that sort of small thing to latch onto to just say,

"This is where I feel content and feeling joy", and I even had another business

owner that kind of talked about this as being what I feel happy about and you

are essentially saying to me that this is what you get your happiness from is

seeing those other people's successes.

Absolutely.

Without a doubt.

Yeah.

Look, even in the worst days, I have the best life in the whole world.

The choices I've made in my past, and then this journey that I've

been on this last five years.

I didn't even know other people knew about this whole like, be

your best self show up and be the best version of yourself, right?

When your thing popped up, I was like, "Oh my gosh, this is amazing.

I can't wait to meet this guy."

I talked about it with all my clients know my whole life.

I'm such an open book.

Everybody knows everything.

I wanted to say, first off, for those that are clients

of Workout with Jenn, hi.

It's really glad to meet you through this podcast.

Yeah.

You might get some emails in the next few days.

Oh, I believe it.

I might believe it, but you know, let me pivot back for a second because you were

saying to us earlier about your previous career being a computer programmer.

My curiosity question that kind of filtered up when you were talking about

that was what led to you changing careers because was it, and I'm more specifically

tying into the computer programmer, because you've shared a lot about what

you got started with fitness, and I really appreciate that because we all

have a starting point somewhere that kind of motivates us, but, was there initial

ambition back then as to why you did that and why you thought that was an ideal

career path, because I know for some people it could be very tough to pivot

midway through and think, "Well, I'm going to do a complete 180 on my career",

and I've had a lot of people that are interested in that sort of thing, so can

you share your experience about that?

Absolutely.

After high school, I tried a couple different things.

I was working at some local restaurants and I tried beauty school, and then

in my early twenties, I ended up going to Computer Learning Network.

They had a nine month technical program, and then they help you with

job placement and writing your resume and things like that, so I had some

very elementary skills in the computer programming area, and so I got my first

job and just from there, I worked up into some other positions in that industry.

This was all before the .com world came out, which is going to

date me even more than you, um,

I, I do remember Y2K.

Working.

I was already working many, many years when Y2K came around.

I enjoyed that profession quite a bit, and the interesting thing that we even alluded

to when we were talking before is how I have seen how my life has layered itself.

The thing that I loved about being a computer programmer every

day was, "Here's the problem.

How do we fix it?", and I liked that.

I like to do that kind of thing.

I am a problem solver.

I don't like to just point out problems.

Let's figure out how to fix it, because otherwise, you're just creating more

problems, right, and not fixing anything.

What I didn't realize though, was the skillset of, here's the problem, how

do we fix it, all these years later is what I love most about being a trainer.

Each person that comes in has their own unique physical issues, and I think

you've probably already noticed I'm more than somebody who actually just

shows you how to move weights around, and we'll get to that at some point,

maybe, which is fine if we don't, but I take an interest in each person

and, "Hey, what's going on at work?

How are you managing some outside activity and how's going on with your kids?

Are you getting time with them?", and it's really each person has this unique set

of situations that they have to navigate and figure out how to still make, I have

two catch phrases, healthiest choice in the moment, and consistent mindfulness.

Those two things right there are the basic fundamental things for behavior change.

Our brains are so crazy in the way that they work, and that whole

expression of stuck in a rut is like an actual thing, so to change your

behavior, you have to consciously, consistently stay mindful, right?

Am I moving towards where I want to go, or am I on autopilot and just riding out

right now, which sometimes autopilot can be the healthiest choice in the moment.

Sometimes we don't always have to be 100% go, right?

Sometimes a 10 minute walk every day is better than being all stressed

out about having to get to the gym because my kids are sick and

this and that, but you know what?

I can go outside for 10 minutes and get some deep breaths, so that's

where all the years of being in this industry and all the different people

I've come in contact with, and I'm an observer and I pay attention and I

just have a crazy memory for things.

People are always like, "How the hell do you remember that?"

I don't know.

I just do.

I'm like, "That was so long ago."

It just comes to me.

I've been able to just put all of those pieces together to figure

out what are the things that work for this person or that person-

And I think it-

And I just love it.

What else would I like?

What else would I do with myself?

Yeah.

Yeah.

I stand around, I tell people what to do with their bodies and their lives.

It's perfect for me.

Yeah, and I think that's important because, even for me, I know

that for some people, having somebody that will shadow behind you and be able

to help you to make sure you're doing the right things is really important.

I know for me as being a coach myself in a completely different manner

than a physical trainer, I have to worry about: Are the people that I'm

working with, are they overwhelmed?

Are they having a lot going on in their lives?

Do I know that I need to push back in terms of maybe they're being a little

resistant, but knowing how far I can go with that, or easing up and knowing

when to press the right buttons, because it's all about reading that person

too and being able to understand how that all works, especially with life

coaching which I do, it's all about that, and I know I've had people that

I've even talked to, I know they have struggles with trying to have that

with what they actually set out to do and what they actually try to achieve.

With all that said, Jenn, this leads into my next question I have because

there are millions of you, right?

Billions of you, out in the world, training, and I've had already a couple

of fitness trainers on this show that have talked about what their approach is.

For me, I feel like the biggest thing, especially when it comes to fitness, is

making sure that you truly understand that person is that you're working out

with or helping you get that direction.

Do they actually give a care in the world about you, and I've had really

bad experiences with people, not the current gym where I'm at, where

I have had that experience; they are removed, I'm more of a number.

My question more specifically is this: what do you do differently than say,

another trainer or another type of company that I would get from you?

In other words, what do you bring to the table that other

people should pay attention to?

I am always fascinated when I get a new client, so I'm just going to lay

out how I do things from the second you walk in the door, this is how it goes.

You contact me and I always make you start with a consultation.

I want to meet you face to face.

I want to see how you move, how do you stand, how do you walk.

I am assessing you from the second that you walk in because you are going to

put your body, and most likely your emotions and your life, and my hands.

I want to see you in person and meet you, tell you about myself.

The consultation always starts with, I ask the person about them.

This is the key to anything in life.

You always direct the attention to the other person.

If you're always worried about you, you're never going to learn anything

and you're never going to get anywhere.

The only way I can help somebody is if they're willing to open up to me about

what is the actual reason you're here?

So my question to them is, "Tell me your story.

Was there a medical thing that just happened that you

needed to get some help with?

Are you coming out of physical therapy and looking for some direction?

Are you maybe just sick and tired of being sick and tired, like what

is it that made you decide now is the time to do something?", and

you usually get a very emotional either this physical thing happened.

I went through a divorce and I just need to feel better about myself.

I know that I have issues with food and I need to start exercising, which I will

throw this out here because one of the things I have heard about myself is I make

sure that people understand what the scope of practice of a personal trainer is.

We are not permitted to give specific nutrition advice as personal trainers, so

when you start to look for who it is that you're going to work for, please make sure

that you ask them for their certifications for advice to make sure that they are

actually certified to give that to you.

I am not saying anything against trainers.

We are absolutely allowed to give tips and tricks and make recommendations

based on the guidelines out there.

Unfortunately, what happens sometimes people will make recommendations not

understanding what medicines people are on, what other medical things

that have happened to them; for example, women with breast cancer.

You don't recommend a soy-based protein, so as the person looking for

a trainer, you want to go vet us as much as it behooves us to meet you,

to see what we're working with, so the consultation starts with you.

Tell me about you, and then we talk about any medical issues, any joint

back issues, knee pain, right?

I ask all the questions.

Are in a car accident?

Did you fall out of the tree?

People forget stuff, right, so what I want to know, is there something

going on in your body that could possibly restrict some kind of

movement that I may ask you to do?

Then I explain how my training works.

Everybody starts with a workout based consultation, because you're paying for

it so I want you to get an exercise.

I want you to get a workout in, but I'm the kind of trainer I

would rather give you 10 things that are too light then never give

you one thing that is too heavy.

I always start with a baby step approach.

What I have found in my personal life is: we are inundated with this

message of big sweeping changes.

You have to do everything all at once or it's not going to work.

Well, I'm really sorry to tell you if any of that worked, we

would all be supermodels, right?

If-

Yeah, I look at my super model body, right?

Well, but you know what I'm saying, Josh, if anything, the diet

and fitness industry, exercise industry sold you actually worked, wouldn't

we all be doing much better because who doesn't take pills, potions, and

things to make their life better?

My point is I learned back in 2018 to start at the opposite end of the spectrum.

If you're not doing anything, a half an hour a week is better than nothing, right,

and then you come for that half hour a week, and I say to you, "Hey, listen.

In the next week I want you to get two 10 minute walks in."

It's not about the 10 minute walks.

It's about starting to make yourself accountable to get intentional

activity, and here's the most beautiful thing that I love to

explain people in the consultation.

We all know the downward spiral, and as a woman who has had eating issues most

of my life, for a lot of us, especially women, we eat a piece of cake so we feel

bad about that, so we eat another piece of cake, so we feel bad about that,

and as we eat in the third one, we're like, "Well, crap, I don't want anybody

to know I ate this much cake", so we usually finish it, right, or we hide

it or something like that, because we don't want people to think badly of us.

Why?

That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard, but anyway, the

opposite end of that is true.

You never realize how good it feels to feel good until you start feeling good,

so one 30 minute session a week where I encourage you to, "Hey, this week

let's drink a little bit more water.

We don't have to change anything else this week."

You come see me once you drink one extra bottle of water a day.

Then when I see you next week, now we're going to add in a walker too,

and so people can very slowly start to incorporate all these better, healthier

mindsets, choices, whatever it is we're dealing with that specific person, and

then they're starting to feel successful instead of going, "Well, shit, I did that

diet for two and a half days, which is about how long they last, and now I'm back

to eating chips and Subway, and going into Sheetz and getting MTo cheese dogs because

they're delicious", right, but what if in exchange of that, what if we start

just making a good breakfast every day?

You can do the same thing the rest of the day for a while, but

let's make breakfast a good habit.

Let's look at our week across the board.

Instead of trying to be perfect all day long, which you will never do,

I don't care who you are, I don't care how disciplined you are, you're

going to eat a Hershey Kiss, right?

It happens, but what if we're just kind of like, "Look at the breakfast time

and get something good going there", or maybe breakfast isn't your issue.

Maybe sleep is your issue, right, so maybe we attack that first, but let's just work

on one little thing at a time so that you don't feel overwhelmed because as you

start to incorporate these little things, you're like, "Oh my God, I feel amazing.

My kids and I went and rode our bikes for half an hour this weekend.

We haven't done that in three years."

That's what I want to tell people.

That's what I want.

That's what I bring to the table.

I think that may be a little bit different than some other places, and I'm very lucky

that I have so many people that want to come and hear what I have to say, that I

get to do this all day, every day, right?

That's amazing to me.

I think that's always important that we have that conversation with

ourselves of not only overcoming what we might have as thoughts about,

"Well, I don't know if these people might want to come and see me", but

to actually take that extra step to say, "I do have something of value

because I've been on this journey.

I do want to share it", and that's been something of me that I've

been going through to realize that there are unlimited gifts

in this opportunity that we have.

Jenn, we're at the end of our time, but before we wrap up, I want to

give you the last few minutes to pitch: your business, where you're

located at, how can people find you?

What are some of the things that you're offering?

This is your last few minutes.

I would love for you to close us out.

Well first, thank you so much for having me.

This was absolutely a pleasure.

Hopefully you have some room when you come into some more time to fit me back in.

I'm sure we can find many more things to talk about.

Absolutely.

As I said, I am a personal training studio.

It is called Workout with Jenn, and you can find me at that

workoutwithjenn.com.

That's two ns by the way.

Yes.

Facebook and Instagram are the same: WorkoutWithJenn, both with two Ns.

We are located at 4801 East Trindle Road in Mechanicsburg, and when I say

we, one of the things that has been such a blessing for me moving to this

second studio, is it has allowed me the opportunity to have other trainers here

as my business has grown and I have gotten to the point where I unfortunately have

not been able to take new clients for the last couple of months, but it's a

great problem to have in this industry.

It's given me the opportunity to give other trainers the chance

to start where I did working out of somebody else's facility.

Strength training equipment is a little on the pricey side, so when you

have access to a facility like this, we have an about a 1000 square foot

training floor and it is all one-on-one, so it would be you and a trainer.

You would sit down for a consultation and then they would discuss your

health and fitness goals and how they can best assist you in meeting them.

Scheduling is all done one-on-one by appointment only.

Again, thank you so much for having me.

I really enjoyed our time together.

I really want to say this as we close this out, is that there are people

that we need in this world that not only help us to achieve what we really

want, but they got to give a damn, and I feel like you give a damn about not

only the people that are walking through the door, and I don't normally swear,

but that is something that I feel I walk away with this knowing that I can

go to someone, no matter where I'm at in my life, and feel confident in not

only the things that I can achieve with people that actually intentionally care,

but they also want to see who I can become, not just in the physical side

which is your main goal, but there's the indirect goal of being able to have that

emotional connection and have that story of success and you share that with them.

Jenn, Thanks for being on Speaking from the Heart, and I definitely appreciate

all those things that you have shared with your heart today with our audience

and that you continue to do what you do because it's incredible work and

I'm really happy that you spent some time to talk about that with us.

Thank you so much.

I am very lucky to get to do this every day and I do not take that for granted.

I know what you're doing right now.

You're eyeing up that cake that you bought because you listened to this episode and

you had to pause it in order to be able to consume and enjoy it, because you

thought there would only be one slice, but there were many more slices that came

after that and now you're embarrassed.

You didn't want to do all that, but you know that maybe you can work

on something in terms of a better habit so that you never do it again.

I think, if anything, that line and even the ad-libbing that I did with

my wonderful improv skills, certainly exemplifies Jenn's episode, in which I

really enjoyed getting to know a lot more about not only the things that she has

done in her life, but how she's gotten to here, and just the incredible joy

of passion and the ability to just keep pushing forward no matter what, because it

is not just about the journey that we're on, but it's about what we want people

to see from ourselves, the best version of ourselves that is, and I think that

really it's about finding that Karen in our lives; no, not the bad Karens, but the

good Karens, that find someone who notices and cares about you and wants to move

you ahead no matter what through their presence, through their smile, and through

their connection that they have with you.

I think that Jenn wants to exemplify those sort of values, and I love

that she talked about that to the point that really it creates a life

lesson for all of us that it doesn't matter what somebody's going through.

It's about always being able to be there with your smiling face, being

able to take care of some of the things that need to be taken care of,

especially if it even involves your physical fitness; but that's the thing.

Sometimes it can be very tough for somebody to go in every day and have

that sort of attitude, which is something I even pressed during this interview:

"Jenn, how did you even make that happen?

What is it that you have?

Is it a special potion that you drink?

Is it something that you just get influenced from

listening to meditation tapes?

Is it something that you sleep on and then you just wake up every

day feeling this magical way?"

It's not a unicorn.

This is Jenn, and she definitely was not faking it for anyone or even me for

that matter when it came to being able to be that influence for somebody that

typically might not have that influence in their lives, because that's really

about learning what stories people have.

In many episodes I have talking about the difference between facts and

stories, and that's something that even for us, if we are able to create some

of those opportunities to really show and understand what stories people are

telling, we might be able to get to the heart of really why they think the

way they do, but it's about working in the right environment and I think

that Jen is building that sort of quote unquote empire within Mechanicsburg.

Sound familiar?

I've had another guest by the name of Noah in which he's doing the same thing.

Ironically enough, they're on two opposite ends of the Mechanicsburg borough in which

they are having their businesses, but you know, some people might not want to go to

ARK Fitness, and that's perfectly okay.

Some people might want to go to Jenn and work out with her: because of that

smile, because of that connection, because of wanting to know more about

that person that she's working out with and I think that's what we need

to take away, is that it isn't about fitting in, it's about believing.

It's not about having just joyful contentment, but about understanding

that we can learn from those experiences so that we can continue to have joyful

contentment, and there's a very big difference between those two concepts.

We can fake it and continue to fake it for as long as we possibly can, thinking that

we have everything together in our lives.

Having that rich lifestyle, living in a most expensive house with the most

expensive car, with the most expensive items in the house, including the having

the most latest stereo systems, video game equipment, podcast equipment,

for even people like me, but do you think I really live in a castle?

Do you really think that I isolate myself because of many successes that I've had?

No, and that's exactly what Jenn does too.

She defies the odds instead.

We can be rich when it comes to the financial security, but what really is the

currency of life is being able to have the stories, the life lessons, the ability to

work, and be able to surround yourself in a most positive of environments in order

to understand why people are the way they are, but can we think of what the small

things are that we can really value?

Those are the things that Jenn counts as many blessings in her life, especially

with many of the choices that she has been faced with and how she has

overcome the odds with even her own weight loss, which I was not kidding.

The photo that she showed me shows a dramatic transformation of the

person that used to really struggle to somebody that really thrives, but it's

about making those healthy choices.

Those healthy choices are not very easy to do, especially if we have to

continuously be in negative space; to be in a place where the dark corners or

the recesses where we often hide in are really the comfort that we enjoy the most.

Can we find ways in which we can push ourselves, but also know that

sometimes we might need to retreat, and I think that this episode makes a

unique distinction between some of the things that we've even covered about

going full steam ahead because, let me clarify, if it wasn't clear, it isn't

always about moving full steam ahead.

It's about balance.

No, not on the balance beam, trying to figure out whether you can stay on and

move one foot in front of the other, I am talking about the balance that

we have between work and life, being indoors all the time, rather being

outdoors, being able to experience what life has, being able to say, "Are these

the things that we shouldn't be doing?

Should we really be eating that third slice of cake?", and if you

are eating that third slice of cake, as you continue to listen to

this episode, put the fork down.

Instead, listen to what I have to say now.

Jenn is one of those people that will help you to put that cake away and

to make sure that you pull out those vegetables, those fruits, and also take

a smaller slice of the cake to have for later, because we all are surrounded

with those choices and we know that we're going to indulge with them.

We know that those are vices.

We're human.

We are going to fall on that sword again and again and again,

and we know that we shouldn't be beating ourselves up but we are.

We are.

We are.

And it continues to make it more painful and more terrible and more exciting

so that we know that if we continue to hide it, nobody else has to know

about it, and we know that we can get away with it every single time.

Are you really getting away with it?

Are you really changing your life?

It's all a matter of understanding what you can potentially do, and I think Jenn

understands what she could potentially do.

She moved from a programming career in the computer industry to something

in which she programs humans instead, but not in a way to manipulate or

influence or to artificially change things because that doesn't work.

The fitness industry has proven that time and time again with

the South Beach Diet, Weight Watchers.

Sometimes those programs work, sometimes those programs don't.

That magic pill that you swallow isn't necessarily going to take you to another

universe, especially in the Matrix.

It's just a perceived reality; but what you can do is just be surrounded

by people that love and care and they generally want to see you have success.

That is what this is all about.

Time and time again, I have always said that it's about finding the

people that we want to surround ourselves with and be encouraged.

If you find that having that piece of cake is a lot more convincing, instead

of having that Karen, that's your choice.

Live your life to the fullest.

If it's okay to just be working and not surrounding yourself in a negative

environment and pushing yourself down time and time again to not have those

again, your prerogative, but we need to have joyful contentment.

We need to believe that we can ultimately achieve the impossible

because it isn't impossible.

It is possible, and all it takes is just being willing to say to

yourself that you are worthy.

You can do this.

You can share in all the successes, whether they are artificial or

natural, but all it means is that you're able to open your mind to a

whole new alternative reality and I know that you have what it takes.

All of us have what it takes because we are capable of learning.

Thanks for listening to episode number 40 of Speaking from the

Heart, and I look forward to hearing from your heart very soon.

Thanks for listening.

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