Greetings Friends and Family,

Another historic year has come to its anticipated close and 2021 seemed to go by faster than 2020. While 2020 was a year of unexpected events, postponed events and reflection on what is important, 2021 for me was a rearranging of priorities and learning to appreciate what I have—my family, including a husband that loves me, a new daughter-in-law, a son who became a father, a precious baby granddaughter and two new careers.

In these new endeavors, magazine publishing and health coaching, I’ve found another family of like-minded people with a love for healthy, balanced living. For those seeking excellence in health and wellness through your work, I appreciate you! We need enthusiastic people like the ones in these pages that help heal our bodies, our spirits and our planet. It’s been fun getting to know your passions and your stories behind them. It drives me to seek and understand more about my own health, happiness and what makes me tick.

I have learned so much in 2021. I’ve learned it’s really the little things that matter most. Seemingly, insignificant things, often taken for granted, like a phone call, writing a quick note, going on a walk or arriving early for an appointment. If we focus on the small acts in our own lives, we can have a butterfly effect on ourselves and even the world. One decision today to go on that run or walk that you really wanted to postpone may have a direct effect on your future decisions to exercise. Or picking up the phone to take or make that call that you weren’t sure about could change your entire future. It’s the little things that can lead to big things.

Once upon a time, while I was in college, I worked as a hostess in a restaurant in Baton Rouge, Cock of the Walk. I had to wear a gingham dress to work, for crying out loud! But there is where I met a future roommate who would be instrumental in introducing me to my husband years later. What if I had not taken that job?

More recently, in 2019, I decided to retire from triathlon coaching, my passion for more than ten years. A triathlete friend asked if I wanted to stop coaching or just stop triathlon coaching. I told her I had a love of coaching, but just needed a break from triathlon. She asked what I loved about coaching, so I shared with her that it’s the ‘climb’ that I enjoy taking with others—the everyday decisions, twists and turns that make or break someone’s journey.

I like helping to clear the path for self-discovery. It brings me happiness to be a witness to the accomplishments of others and the joy it brings when they arrive at a place they have never been before or never thought they could go. When you are there with someone who plans and implements all the necessary actions to reach their goal and they finally make it, words just can’t describe the feeling. That same friend who asked me about my love of coaching introduced me to functional medicine health coaching AND to Natural Awakenings Magazine. I sure am glad I chose to go on that bike ride with her that day… it’s the little things that matter.

May God bless you and keep you until we meet,

Michelle Smith, Publisher