Health Coach | Speaker | Writer | Welcome to my digital diary! I'm here to help you blend life & fitness to find your health & happy! Thank you for being part of my family & allowing me to add value to your journey!
here. Confessions of another dirty bathroom photo.
Confessions of another bathroom photo…
I made some big decisions lately.
I’m going down part time in radiology. This is my last full-time week & I booked a legacy photo shoot for my 40th in August.
I read a past journalist entry this morning dated October of 2020.
It read, “My coworkers & I were going thru our schedules & I had a gut check moment. I’ve had 3, THREE whole days off in 2 months.”
My reaction, “WTF, Katie! You have a problem.”
I’ve confided in y’all about how I have an addictive personality.
I was never addicted to 1 thing. I discovered thru therapy I was addicted to filling voids.
It’s a hard shot to swallow. Most truth bombs are.
I reflected on my journey this mornin & gave gratitude for how far I’ve come. And I hope y’all can do the same. Be proud of yourselves!
My addictions were similar shades.
Mornings writing with Pete (and coffee, of course)
I’ve been all 50 shades & shapes & sizes of fugged up, mentally & physically. They affected all my relationships.
Like the memes…
𝗠𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗶𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝘀𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝗺𝗲: what do we say when we feel like this? 𝗠𝗲: you coulda had a bad bitch? 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗶𝘀𝘁: NO.
Quoting @lizzobeeating seems like a positive life decision for me at this point
You?
My biggest fear used to be gaining weight.
Now, I’ve quickly discovered my biggest fear is missing out on life & working my life away.
I enjoy coaching y’all, writing, speaking, networking with my community, nurturing relationships, & helping others more at this season in my life than trading my time for money.
I want to spend as much time with my mom & dad, my friends & family as I can, making as many memories as I can. Loving the sh*t out of this life, squeezing every drop.
That’s my true wealth.
I hope I gave y’all a laugh, & let you know that it’s OK. We are always 1 decision away from a completely different life.
“Addiction is an attempt to regulate a nervous system chronically stuck in fight or flight.
Addiction is an attempt to escape from feeling a pain and emptiness that runs to the core of a persons being.
Addiction is a form of self abuse. When we are abused or emotionally neglected as children, we can become our own abuser. It’s all we know. Our brains seek to repeat the familiar.
Addiction is the result of not having childhood co-regulation. An inability to self sooth. A lack of healthy ways to cope.
Addiction is the result of witnessing things that were scary, overwhelming, or downright terrifying without having a safe adult to help you understand them.
Addiction is the childhood LACK OF EMOTIONAL CONNECTION, manifested.
Addiction is an attempt to silence the “dark” thoughts that re-play (like a broken record) the voice of the critical parent.
Addiction is the result of a society’s greatest lie: that says some people aren’t lovable, worthy, or valuable.
Addiction is SHAME. And it’s usually a shame that was never that persons to carry.
Addiction causes a person to engage in survival based behaviors they wouldn’t otherwise engage in like: deception, abuse, theft, or betrayal.
Addiction is a slow spiritual death that no human being consciously chooses.”
Hailing from Fishers, Indiana, Katie is an aficionado of health, mindset, human connection, & entrepreneurship. Writer, speaker, doer of many things, she grew up on her family’s beef cattle & crop farm where agriculture was her first love. She is a Purdue University graduate well known for her storytelling of life lessons & personal transformation through her own relationships, Crohn’s Disease, disordered eating, CrossFit, & adapting a carnivore diet lifestyle. Katie also has over 16 years experience as a Registered Radiologic Technologist, Nutritionist, & Sales Consultant. You can catch her via Instagram @lil_bit_of_fit & blog, Lilbitoffit.com
“I embrace uncertainty and uncomfortable life situations with courage. I face new experiences with my mind and heart wide open. I choose growth and expansion with roots that run deep & a heart with great wings.”
Home Sweet Home
The roads less traveled lead you to some of the most important places you’re meant to be.
Had a chat with a follower this morning and she said she just felt lost and asked how I found my way to my present day life. She asked what it was like growing up as a Farmer’s daughter.
I’ve posted about this before. This mornin I glanced at the number of followers I had, 25K. Holy crap. It’s exciting & terrifying at the same time.
Y’all are my digital family & I realize the last time I talked about this that was about 15,000 followers ago…
…and I felt the sense of humility, awe, & honor wash over me.
A lot of people over my 39 yrs have asked me:
“So what was it like growing up as a farmer’s daughter?” and “How did you get here?”
Never in a million years did I ever dream so many people would give a shit as to what I had to say or felt.
Walmart & hand me down born y’all. Raised on Spam, bologna & cheese, baby. 🥪
Humble beginnings🙏🏻🇺🇸 & if you ask me how to prepare tofu or fake meat I’m gonna tell you to throw it in the trash.
Eat your BEEF.
If you’re new here, I’m not one to sugarcoat, literally or metaphorically, so if you’re lookin for a watered down PC version of a girl who simply poses in her underwear & posts nothin but a inspirational quote without grit, purpose & somethin to say behind what she shares…go somewhere else.
And if you don’t like what you see on my feed or what my followers support, bless your heart, go somewhere else.
It’s hard to sum up completely to do it justice on the impact of the roads less traveled in my life but here goes…
Being raised on a beef cattle & crop farm in small town USA, Indiana, is one of my favorite things in the world. It’s the dirt, literally, I grew my life on.
Not only are my parents my heros, my teachers, my protectors, & my role models — they are my best friends & easily the hardest working people I’ve ever met in my life.
Doesn’t mean we’ve always seen eye to eye, doesn’t mean I haven’t gotten my a$$ kicked a time or 2 (or 10 😂). I always know I have a forever home to go back to.
And that doesn’t always mean a piece of land but the people. My family & friends that would become family are where my home is.
My dad & mom taught me 2 of the coolest jobs in the world — a farmer & what it means to be a caretaker.
I don’t think you fully realize as a kid the impact & importance of growing up rural, provided for but not rich in terms of money by any means, & being a caretaker of people, animals, & the land.
Now, thinkin back when other kids at school talked about what their parents did — doctors, lawyers, business people (all great professions, no disrespect) — how incredible is it that I got to say my parents help feed the world?
Pretty fxckin awesome if I don’t say so myself.
From early mornins & late nights workin cattle, to vacations being whatever cattle show we were going to, I was taught always be the hardest worker in the room & your character & integrity are everything — nothin has shaped my life & personality more.
Things I learned:
work 1st, play 2nd, family is everything
don’t leave the gate open. Ever. But learn to live like someone left the gate open
strength is everything. Physically, mentally, emotionally.
just when you think they won’t do you like that, a mf will def do you like that. Be honest & keep your integrity.
if you can handle weaning calves with your family, you can do anything.
how to cook, clean, drive, & do your laundry by the age of 10
the circle of life & being tough
keep your skin thick & immunity high, rub some dirt on it
importance of seasons
the feel of rubbin your fingers through a calf’s hair & the soft feel of holding a purple champion banner after working your a$$ off
you’re never too good to pray or better than anyone else
nothin tastes better than an ice cold crown and Coke, cheap pizza, & home grown meats after a hard days work sitting on a show box or tailgate, dirty af, with your people
Hats off to all my fellow farm people & livestock people, you’re the best in the world!
The second half of her question, how I got here?
My first job ever was working on the family farm.
My second was working as a lab assistant in an animal science lab at Purdue University where I graduated magna cum laude with a bachelors of science degree.
My third job was a vet tech.
My fourth was a well-paying job with a pharmaceutical company after landing a competitive internship.
I hated it.
I was making good money but I was miserable. It was cut throat, money & number driven, & I felt like I wasn’t helping anyone.
I felt lost.
After swallowing my pride & many tears later, I made the decision my happiness was worth more than a paycheck.
I went back to doing what I loved, which was healthcare — went back to working as a vet tech. And for anyone who has worked in this field, you know we don’t do it for the paycheck or benefits. We do it for love.
I married a farmer young at 22 (divorced at 27). Self employed, we needed insurance & benefits. So being the martyr & people pleaser I was — I made another sacrifice & got a job as a phlebotomist in patient access at a local hospital.
Turned out to be one of the best decisions of my life. I met my second love — healthcare, for my first will always & forever be agriculture.
I’ve worked in healthcare now for 16 years, it’s been full of struggles, numerous jobs, healthcare facilities, positions, learning new skills, a lot of tears & a lot of time aboard the hot mess express — with my health, personal life, relationships, my addictions, disordered eating, shitty mindset syndrome, debt, & trying to figure out what the fugg my purpose was.
I then fell in love with CrossFit & nutrition in my early 30’s & the rest was history.
I now balance my personal business as a blogger/nutritionist/coach along with being a radiographer, the best career in the world & I love it.
Guess what? I’m still getting my shit together! 😂 It’s a forever process because we never stay the same, we’re always evolving.
You only fail if you stay stagnant & fail to learn the lessons.
If you have a goal & are pulled to something bigger than yourself, if you have something you really really want — GO FOR IT!
I was once told, “You will never make it without me.”
Deuces✌🏻 I think I’m doin all right 😉
No obstacle will stay in your path if you have the strength to find the solution to go around it & an appreciation of your story along the way.
The roads less traveled lead you to some of the most important places you’re meant to be.❤️
I have no idea what kind of influence I actually have on people.
I have the tendency to just go about my life, hustlin, trying to be a good human. Tryin to be true to myself, basically spewing my heart & emotions on this thing called the gram.
It’s been really good for me. Therapeutic. Emotionally cleansing.
Like life, it has a dark side too. It can be very energetically heavy trying to be a light & lending ear to so many.
My tendency to live & do & say things unaware of how it really influences other people has its drawbacks too.
My independence alienates people unintentionally.
I don’t typically do things to be hurtful or malicious but they can come off that way.
Reason — I’m really shitty at communication. I don’t realize other people can’t read my mind or energy like I can read others.
I’m working on it.
I’m aware of it now so I don’t have any excuses for myself.
I really don’t know how I’ve affected other people’s decisions, how they feel about themselves, or their perceptions of things.
I do know I want to be the realist, most positive force I can be. I’m grateful y’all allow me to let you know you’re not alone & allow me to put my life, my emotions, my experiences & lessons into words.
I’m currently missing my best friend @_rottier_ like you wouldn’t believe. Japan is not 6 hrs away.
I pulled up my GPS today to take an alternate route to work & it still pulls up his Missouri address first.
Made me wanna cry & I was instantly pissed off at myself. I don’t like being weak. And I thought, “You ain’t got time for this shit, Katie, pull it together. Talk about whiskey glasses, @morganwallen , I’d like a few right now🥃.”
I’ve failed tests in school, I even got suspended in Xray school. 🤷🏼♀️ That authority thing has always been a struggle. 😆
My worst grade in high school was an 86% in Algebra & I thought my overachieving ass was gonna die. I obviously didn’t. And that doesn’t mean shit now.
I’ve been rejected from jobs I thought I wanted only for the right ones to come along later. Ive had hard times with family only to laugh about it later.
I’ve had friends disappoint me, men leave me, hell I’ve abused myself with all the addictions — it was never one thing: disordered eating, over exercising, drinking too much, settling, sabotaging myself, surrounding myself with a hard shell, wishing I could eat like a “normal” person without crohns & special needs.
I remember days in my 20s waking up & absolutely dreading going to work & feeling a black heavy cloud over my life.
It was suffocating.
I’ve had a lot of jobs that were just that — jobs.
I really don’t think it was until my 30s that I truly appreciated & deeply loved my profession in radiology.
It took taking a lot of wrong turns to get to that place of gratitude.
Same thing for my love life.
The handful of serious relationships I’ve had, I’ve learned so much from every single one.
And I do take a piece of every single special person & take them with me in my heart.
Same thing for my jobs.
Today, I got to do one of my most favorite things in the whole world, which I was absolutely terrified of as an X-ray student — surgery.
I assisted in my first hip scope & labrum repair. Didn’t even know they used a C-arm for that. 😆 I truly appreciate the surgeon asking my name & then making sure he knew my name & thanked me as I exited.
Many times this is not commonplace.
And you’re called Xray or hey you or I’ve even had shit thrown at me, & called stupid in a case.
I’m not kidding some surgeons are just not so nice.
You learn to have really thick skin & not show fear. X-ray school & environments like this definitely do not help self-esteem or self-worth issues. 😂
I used to tell my Xray students don’t let them know you’re scared because they’ll eat you alive. You will be OK & you can do this!
Learn to think quick on your feet. Be nice to everyone in the OR & help out as much as you can within your scope of practice.
To anyone no matter what your role is in surgery knows how intimidating the environment is.
I have told you before I’m like a bull in a China shop, so for me having to have finesse in a sterile environment is not just a matter of me being polished — it is absolutely vital & necessary. It was a skill learned & refined with years of practice.
I remember having talks with myself before I went into the OR saying, “Katie do not fuck shit up. Do not contaminate or touch anything you are not supposed to!”
An entire surgery case can be dependent on one wrong move & if you don’t know what you’re doing the doctor can’t see what he’s doing.
Scary af right?!
I haven’t touched a C-arm in 3 years. Like riding a bike & it felt so good. 😉
I worked as an x-ray tech for 10 years at Community Anderson & left in 2015 when I moved to Lafayette.
My last 5 years have been the most life-changing & confusing & rewarding seasons all in one.
Points to this day in the life of scrubs & leggins:
1.) Treat everyone with respect no matter what their role, race, gender, whatever. No one is better than anyone else & you never know when you’re going to need someone’s help
2.) It’s never too late to start over. It’s never too late to refine your craft & your gifts. It’s never too late to follow what you love.
3.) Learn from your mistakes & all of the paths you take. You were placed there for a reason & you were always exactly where you’re meant to be.
