I am writing a book.
In case you haven't heard. It is going to be the next Harry Potter. Dungeons, dragons, magic... the whole nine. Didn't know I was a Potter fan did you?
Just kidding... I am NOT creative enough for that. It's about the subject matter that I know best ... Me. So much more than me. It's about us. Heavy on my heart, The floodgates are open and words are pouring out. 80,000 words in and there is no turning back. this entire post is 2,000 words if that give you some perspective. (Insert Bulging eyes emoji - one of my favorites) Whether this book gets picked up by publishers or I self publish... it will be out into the world for whoever it attracts. I have come to realize that my life's mission does not begin and end with fitness and finance, but that it is much greater.
As I refocus my brain and intention, I am writing this book to serve that mission. I will also take this IveyBakerFitness site through a re-brand this winter with best friend and dynamite marketing strategist, Hope Rollins.
A few very close to me and others who don't know me well have been asked to read pieces of my story. I have been showered with words of affirmation and constructive criticism. I have the utmost gratitude for these gracious spirits. If you love to read or care to know what it is about, keep reading. If you really love to read and want to be a part of the creative process... message me and I'm happy to share more with you.
Excerpt from Introduction
My life is a series of love letters coming in many forms. A piece of watercolor art. A 120-character text. Three words. A three-page email. A handwritten four-page letter. A 30-day wellness journal. My primary love language is words and these words were showered over me as a child when my parents did not have an abundant amount of time to spend with us or money to spend on us. These words, both spoken and written, have fueled my life up until this point and continue with each new challenge I take on. I have received these love letters from my family for as long as I can remember. I have written letters dripping with love to my spouse, either out of pain, joy or hope. Letters burning with fire and passion to loved ones working through struggle. Letters of motivation to health coaching clients working to overcome their internal battles. Letters written in stone with pride or encouragement to my incredible friends. Letters filled with thankfulness to my sisters. I beg for these words from others and I endeavor to give the words I believe people need to hear as often as I can.
I need to be my own best friend. I need to love myself with the same depth, breadth and honesty that I love my best friend. I am actively seeking a life where I can confidently describe myself, the good and the bad, in the same way I can proudly describe her. I strive to live a life of integrity and intention, achieveing success by serving the very gifts and talents that I have been blessed with. I yearn for success manifested through happiness and utter joy. I am on my own journey of discovery and self-love. My journey attempting fearlessness through self-awareness and hard work.
This book is a love letter filled with life lessons, reflection, challenges and self-discovery. A love letter from me to you, my reader, exposing my deep desire for you to know who you are, to find joy in who you are and a willingness to work hard to live the life right in front of you. It is not easy, but it is worth it. We are worth it. You are worth it.
What you will find in Hustle and Salt
I set the stage taking my readers on a journey through the hardest and most humbling endurance race I have completed to date and uncover the key components to a hustle and salt mind that I discovered in those six hours during that race.
I stare reality in the face and will test my own integrity. Am I living the life that I put out into the world, or am I a fraud?
The hustle and salt mind often begins as a game of survival. Will I be overcome or will I overcome? The increased odds of survival come in accepting our reality. Success occurs after we accept our reality and make the decision to move forward.
Self-love requires prioritizing what we allow into our brains, our hearts and our bodies. ready to turn on the garbage disposal when we find ourselves filled with junk. I test my own self love by digging through my personal intake and the unnecessary anxiety that it creates in my life.
Confidence is the presence self-love and the natural expression of understood competence resulting in true happiness. I empower confidence in all of us and walk through how I manifest confidence, where I am tested and how I overcome my insecurities. I describe youth and inexperience being a major one. I believe that the greatest skill of all in business and relationships is the ability to communicate effectively. I overcome my insecurities and prove my worth by demonstrating maturity and demanding respect and responsibility through the ancient art of listening. I teach my readers how to listen.
Delusional teenage optimism began my short-lived career in acting that might have changed my life. I take a walk down memory lane and find myself on stage in my high school theatre where I found my confidence in embracing a child like state, saying yes as often as possible, and opening up my heart to vulnerability.
Summer of 2015, seven months pregnant, I moved my family from one city to another, sold a home myself, bought a home, and not wanting to leave the security of my job, I commuted 90 minutes for work. All the while, I helped my husband overcome his insecurities starting over in a new job after being denied from the one he thought he wanted. I nearly left my husband that summer. I have never cried more in my life, not because it was utter chaos, but because my husband doubted his own resilience and he didn't seem to appreciate me for mine.
Diversity is woven into the fabric of creation. I believe that God is love and that judgement is the enemy. I believe that fear is ultimately, fear of judgement. If we are empowered by who we are, for better or worse if we accept our weaknesses, then what is there left to be afraid of? I describe the many threads that make me who I am and describe why I believe self-awareness is the linchpin in living a confident and fearless life. I describe my career journey and why I am the luckiest woman on the planet to be exactly where I need to be. That does not mean that I live without challenge in my career, there is plenty of it, but I am built to do what I do and I love it. I discuss how I got here, the key advice that got me here and how I wish all young people were given this pot of gold at the beginning of their career journey.
The happiest people that I have ever known were those who lived a sacrificial and grateful life. Knowing that what they had was not theirs to keep and giving all of the talents and resources that they could. Sacrificial love is love of another absent of expectations for reciprocity. I owe my life to the people in it. I share insight into who I surround myself with and the sacrificial souls that have guided me to where I am today.
I share the beautiful and ugly truth that is my marriage. 10 years with this man, it is abundantly flawed and yet perfect. I share the types of lovers that we are and what I believe to be the three components necessary for a successful marriage.
Many expected my entire book to be about health and fitness, surprisingly enough, I have condensed it into one chapter. It is an enormous part of my life, but there is so much more to me than a sweat covered spin bike. For whatever reason, people tend to be very doubtful when I tell them that I was overweight in high school. I throw off the image of someone who has been healthy all of my life and I am frequently told by clients that I make living a healthy life look so easy. I quickly journey through the long, painful, ten years of self-destruction that it took me to finally get to a place of self-love. I have seen so much pain in myself and in others. so many don't know my story and I want to share it, seeking to bring comfort and hope to those on their own journey. The health industry wants to complicate and confuse us all. I seek to simplify.
I am extremely competitive with myself and terribly stubborn. On occasion, I am humbled and I eat my words. I describe the birth of my son and the unnecessary physical struggle that took place after his birth. I was chasing something that wasn't possible and risked my life in the process. i share stories of pain and love in hopes to give some guidance to my competitive readers. life is hard enough. we don't need to create battles that shouldn't exist in the first place.
I hope that every woman is regularly told how beautiful they are, but I know that that is just not the case. There are two reasons why. One, for generations society has decided for us what is beautiful and what isn’t. Two, we believed them and allowed ourselves to all but disappear. I walk through my own personal journey with physical self confidence and the struggle that took place, in my own vanity, after the birth of my son. In this chapter, I give myself and endeavor to shower my beautiful readers with grace, love and forgiveness. Forgiveness for all of the time we have wasted comparing ourselves to another.
Life is not meant to be easy. If starting businesses, building empires, discovering cures to disease, and having children were easy, everyone would be doing it. In some ways, my book is the soundtrack to the life of a working mom. Much of my book references my life before my son, but so much of my personal growth has taken place since his birth. With a husband that works 100 hour weeks, I am nearly a single parent. I describe my internal struggle before I made the decision to have a child and what I endure every day to make my life happen now that he is here.
Money has the ability to have an enormous power over us as human beings. It can create feelings of inadequacy, insecurity and self doubt. Or money can make us feel powerful, accomplished and confident. As a full time financial planner, I work very closely with individuals and families and have a deep understanding of the role that money plays in their lives. I give a very easy to understand overview of how I personally approach money and what I believe to be the key points to living a life grounded in financial awareness.
I end my book sharing my greatest personal struggle and weakness. I have an enormous fear of wasted time, a fear of missing out, a fear of not doing everything that I want in the time that I want to. I have a frequent inability to live in the present. Our life is a gift. It is ours for the taking and it is right in front of us. We must not waste time. It is far too precious. but we cannot fear the passing of time. There is a reason why I am not able to do everything that I want right now. I have learned so many lessons that have brought me to this point. However, there are so many lessons that I must learn in this time to enable me to accomplish something much greater tomorrow and in the days to come. Maybe That will be my next book.
10 years ago... at the beginning of this crazy journey.