The Expo

I had THEEE most amazing time in LA this weekend at the LA fit Expo!! There is something so powerful, motivating and inspirational about being in a room, surrounded by like-minded people. Attending the expo this weekend and spending time with a friend who has similar aspirations and goals helped confirm my passion for health and fitness. I know in my heart that helping others transform their lives is exactly what I need to be spending my time doing, so I have finally decided to begin pursuing this purpose of mine wholeheartedly!

I’ve written a quick recap of the expo below and then I get into how the overall experience and 4 measly minutes with Bradley Martyn was the push I finally needed to just go for it.

Day 1

Saturday

I flew into LA early Saturday morning for the expo, where I met my childhood friend, and client, that I hadn’t seen in YEARS! I was lucky enough to have her come pick me up & after waiting an hour for my baggage we headed straight to the expo!

It was overwhelming at first. So many booths and SO many people. The first thing we did was run to the booths where we knew our favorite fitspo people were. Nikki Blackketter is by far my fav female youtuber, so we ran to the GymShark booth first in hopes of meeting Nikki… but the line was miles long, so instead we just admired from the front of the stage. P.S. She is SO SMALL! Robin Gallant, Ben Francis and Jazmine Garcia were also up on the stage at the time so it was pretty cool seeing all these people we follow in Instagram in person! After visiting the GymShark booth we went to find Bradley Martyn, his line was also miles long, so we vowed to come early Sunday morning to line up to meet him instead.

We spent the rest of Saturday eating and creeping. Not kidding… while walking around the expo trying to find all the Instagram celebs we made a point of hitting up every SINGLE sample booth that crossed our path. We legit felt sick after the first day of sampling EVERYTHING PROTEIN. I’m talking protein bars, pizzas, breads, muffins, doughnuts, cookies, chips, chocolate, ice cream, coffee, shakes & the list goes on. We definitely didn’t leave the expo hungry…What was crazy was how hard it was to find WATER! You’d think at a fitness expo where everyone drinks a gallon of water a day they’d make water more accessible…but nope. So if you ever attend the expo – make sure to bring your own bottle of water!

Throughout the first day we ended up meeting/seeing SO MANY Fitness People! To name a few:

Nikki Blackketer, Bradley Martyn, Jen Heward, Heidi Somers, Lais De Leon, Lauren Drain, Amanda Latona, Amanda Bucci, Arianna Dantone, Marie Wold, Em Dunc, Chanel CoCo Brown, Simeon Panda, Steve Cook, Christian Guzman, Lewis Howes & so many more!

Day 2

Sunday

We woke up early and hit the gym before heading to the Convention Centre for Expo Day 2. We made it our mission to get in line to meet Bradley Martyn first. My friend loves him and he is the only male you-tuber I watch. When we arrived at the expo we immediately got in his line. About 3 hours later we finally got to meet him, and it was SO worth the wait! We were lucky enough to chat with him for about 4 minutes. This quick convo was all I needed to realize I needed to stop waiting for the perfect time and just start taking the steps necessary to finally pursue my greatest passion, helping others live happier, healthier lives through health & fitness, something my inner-guide** has been trying to tell me to do for YEARS.

Read on below if you are interested in knowing about how the weekend helped inspire me

“So I want you to be you and I want you to not be afraid of trying something new or breaking away from something that is stealing your happiness”

— Bradley Martyn

HOW THIS WEEKEND FINALLY ENCOURAGED ME TO PURSUE MY GREATEST PASSION

I have been contemplating putting more energy into pursuing a career in health and fitness for a few years now, but have been reluctant to do so because I currently have a safe, well paid ‘job’ that I have invested a lot of time in, and that will flourish into a great career. Prior to attending University in 2010 I knew I wanted to do something health and fitness related, I loved the idea of being a personal trainer and nutritionist but figured too many people were doing it so it probably wouldn’t be a good career choice. I was worried I wouldn’t be successful and that I may not make enough money. SO SILLY.

As I have gotten older I’ve realized I care a lot less about money and more about doing something with my life every day that I find fulfilling and that I truly enjoy. Prior to the expo I had been feeling a little off, and was beginning to question that I may not be pursuing the right path. I had been thinking a lot about what I want to be doing in 5-10 years and was starting to realize that although my current job is great, it wasn’t helping me get where I want to be in the future.

I am so grateful for Daniela introducing me to Bradley's Videos, forcing me to wait in a 3 hour lineup & always encouraging me to pursue my dreams. In the few minutes we spoke with him he reiterated every thought I was having about my ‘quarter life career crisis.’ He brought up how the best way to be successful is to just do what is in your heart, to pay attention to the things that speak to you, and the things you feel really matter. Those are the things you are passionate about, and that is what you should be pursuing. He made an extremely valid point in regards to quitting/stopping the things you don’t feel passionate about too. He said that no matter what it is you are doing, your job, your diet, your workouts, no matter what it is, if you don’t like it now you aren’t going to magically like it in the future so you may as well just stop it now. Because eventually you are going to quit, and you will have wasted all that time doing something you didn’t love and will have wished you used that time doing something you actually enjoyed.

WHERE WERE YOU 6 years ago Bradley?! Jk... I am thankful for all experiences thus far as it as helped shape me :)

I have ALWAYS been passionate about health and fitness, but attending this expo in LA, talking with Bradley and being surrounded by so many other amazing people solidified that fitness, nutrition, health & wellness truly is my number one passion and something I need to pursue wholeheartedly. When I am working with clients I get this immense sense of enjoyment, accomplishment and fulfillment watching them evolve & grow. It doesn’t feel like work to me. I can spend hours working on a client’s plan, or communicating back and forth trying to help them get out of their negative head space and I love every minute of it.

I want to spend my time here on earth making a difference in someone else’s life by helping them become their best selves. And thanks so some recent life events I’ve realized that life is too short to do anything other than what makes you happy. So I am proud to say that I am FINALLY going to start taking the necessary steps to turn this passion of mine into a career!

inner-guide** - I totally believe in spirituality and the universe having a greater power and control than we do. I believe we all have an inner-guide trying to guide us to become our best selves so that we can fulfill our greatest potential. Your inner guide knows what's best for you, and sometimes you just need to allow yourself to tune out all the noise so that you can listen and connect with yourself. If you really listen & pay attention to all the signs your inner-guide is giving you I believe you will make the choices that are in your best interest. For instance if you keep getting this overwhelming feeling like something is wrong, or like you need to move in a different direction, you probably do. If you keep thinking about something you want to be doing, but keep pushing it aside because of some sort of fear of failure or rejection, stop. There is a reason things keep coming up for you. Listen to it. Don't let the fear of failure or the fear of hearing no deter you from chasing your dreams and goals.

THE LA FIT EXPO ENCOURAGED ME TO PURSUE MY PASSION