What do you do when one tragic moment wipes away a thousand beautiful ones? How does anyone resist falling into the stronghold of fear, depression and anxiety? Robin Mizaur is joining us to share her story of finding peace and happiness after such a tragedy. She is a former United States Marine Corps Soldier, a certified Personal Trainer, Nutritional Consultant and a Holistic Life Coach specializing in Wellness. Robin is one of the founders of HappyNash.com a community dedicated to teach and deliver a daily dose of healthy lifestyle habits.
I am Tajci.
At 19 I was a superstar and I was lost inside. I left it all behind, switched continents and started all over. Years later I found myself lost again. This time in the American dream.
This is a story about awakening. About living the life you were created for. About going inward and discovering the joyous and purposeful person you and I are both meant to be.
This is “Waking Up In America.”
-Robin, welcome to Waking Up in America!
-Thank you
-So, we met at a workshop that was organized by Radient Health Institute and you gave a talk that was really inspiring. You really came across as just generous, gentle soul. So thank you for that!
-Thanks for having me here today. I just love sharing my passion for nutrition and wellness with others and try to do it with love. Not scare tactics.
-Yes, that’s exactly my point. And you know what was interesting, when I explained what I do, inspire people to wake up from living somebody else’s dream and embrace their own and live with purpose and joy, you said, that’s good unless there is a crisis or a health issue that we are dealing with. So tell me what you meant by that.
-With all the experience that I have in coaching and being in the wellness industry, I have noticed one common factor, especially for women, that wether it’s related to health or not, it’s about loving themselves and why they want to walk on that health journey. Like their reason. It can’t be for somebody else, it has to be for them. And a lot of times it comes down to lack of love for themselves.
-Such a hard thing to do! You know, I think we tend to get stuck in somebody else’s dream, or serving those we love and losing ourselves and then that waking up really becomes hard. And that’s what you are talking about, isn’t it?
-Yes, it is. When I meet with people, I try to get the details of their life and I notice, like I said love seems to be a lack of for themselves, but explaining that loving yourself makes you a better mom, a better wife, a better companion, a better partner, a better employee, it just spreads happiness. When you explain like that it’s not something selfish, because if you are loving yourself you can give more love to others.
-Yes, and I can hear and I can understand right away that where it transpires the most is how we treat our bodies. That’s one place where we can start easier, right?
-Yes! Nutrition for instance fuels the body, you honor your temple, but most importantly, more than nutrition are words and thoughts and feelings. “cause each one of those have a chemical reaction, hormonal reaction in our body.
-Oh, there is so much we need to learn and teach and convey and that’s what you’re doing. Thank you so much. So tell me about what I am really curious about your life in the Marine Corps. You have a different physique than most of your other Corp members, right?
-I was going to actually be sworn into Navy, and they said ‘we’re sorry, you are too short.’ And you don’t weigh enough, so I was kind of upset about that and you know, being a teen I was like, fine what is the hardest branch to get into? They said “Marine Corp” and I said, fine, then that’s what I am going to do. And always being told you are too short for this, too small for that, I was like, I can do this. And sure enough, I went and they took me. So, that was within two weeks I was in Paris Island doing mount climbers, push ups… it happened so fast. So when I got to the boot camp, they had to special make everything for me. And I wore size 2 in kids, so they actually drew my foot on a piece of paper and then made the boots for me. And they gave me one pair of boots and they said, they better last you your whole enlistment.
-That’s awesome! How did you, once you started having a family, what happened?
-Well, I didn’t realize the importance of caring for your body when I was in the military. It was after my son was born that he was ill and I realized just the relationship between your health, what you eat, whether you are moving, whether you’re happy, what you are thinking, what you are saying relates back to healing of the body. So that’s where I really got interested in.. you know, there is got to be a better way.
-How did you balance the Marine Corp life and the family?
-I just offered stability to the children. I was married to a Marine at the time and he was always gone, so just one on one time, home cooked meals and just being there while they were growing up.
-And you mentioned that, although here you are, training hard, you are now just making the connection of what goes into your body to deliver this kind of energy, the stamina. And you are, at this moment, living where?
-North Carolina. And then California.
-And you have the life… good life. Everything is good.
-Yes.
-I’m talking to Robin Mizaur who is a personal trainer and certified nutritionist/consultant and life coach. And when we come back we’ll talk about a tragic moment that shifted Robin’s world.
-This episode was made possible by FilmYourWhy, helping entrepreneurs like you create videos that convey the story behind your business and engage loyal customers. Find out more at FilmYourWhy.com
-Tell us how did you, you left the Marines, and now you are getting into the whole wellness area.
-Yes. Living in Chicago. My son was diagnosed with attention deficit, my daughter constantly sick and that’s when I really dove into researching and finding alternative methods for healing the body. So I was just blessed to have the experience to work with someone wonderful, where I worked for ten years, and helped thousands of people as I was learning, I was helping others.
-Oh, interesting! What was some of the first things, first break throughs that you learned?
-Okay. So the first thing I learned was, like it was yesterday, I learned about nutrition, about dairy and sugars and sat through a talk, went home that night, opened up the pantry, opened up the refrigerator and started throwing everything away, and my children were 10 and 12 at the time, and I remember them just looking at me saying, ‘oh my Gosh, what are you doing? You are killing us.’ And I said, actually I’ve been killing you… now we are going to make some changes. It was very difficult and I meet with a lot of people now, you know, how do we implement this in our family? And it’s… there is many ways to do it. I am the type of woman that jumps into the deep end, let’s just get it done, and through their childhood and growing up, believe it or not, they listened, they followed and they felt better. The first thing I implemented was, you know, shakes and juicing, and I bought them each a cup with a silly straw at the time and they made, we made shakes every morning. And before you know it, it was a habit, we established a habit, and that’ll last a lifetime. You know, juicing was important, so you know, you just start out small and make it fun. If I sat there and say ‘oh, I’m not going to drink this green stuff, well neither will they.
-Right
-So we did it together.
-To be honest, my first reaction, oh this is too hard! I can’t do it! Imaging my kids looking at the green juice and saying, no no no, where is my… where are my Oreos? How do we deal with that?
-It’s just a shift. Small changes. You know, you said Oreos, guess what, they make organic Oreos.
-Yes
-So, I mean, just simple changes. You don’t want to… if you stand there saying ‘you can’t do this, you can’t do that’ no one, yourself included will want to do it, but if you start implementing healthier stuff with the things that you’re already doing, it makes an easier transition. Whether it’s increasing your water intake, whether it’s taking 3 minutes to take three deep breaths and breathe the way we are supposed to breathe. Those are successes, so those are the things that you want to start implementing that don’t take time. ‘Cause that’s what I hear, I don’t have time. I don’t have the energy, or I don’t have, the funds or whatever. There is always something that you can start doing this moment.
-Let’s talk about that moment that shifted your world.
-Prior to that, loving relationships, just grateful, so grateful for being a mom and just sharing love. I had a wonderful week with my children and grandson, and then I get a call that my son was killed. He was actually with his sister. We drove, Anthony and I drove down to Alabama to help her during her time of need, and I flew back and he stayed to help. And she dropped him off at the bus station where he was going to help someone else, ’cause he was such a helpful, loving person and he was killed.
-What do you do when… what did you do?
-Lots of crying… But I realized right after… I was so grateful for my friends and family. Especially my family were very supportive. And my fiance at the time, now my husband took me to a counselor. And my daughter, very next day. And I realized one thing she said, I don’t remember her name, what she looked like, where I was, all I remember is she said, don’t get stuck in the ‘what ifs’… ‘what if this, what if that…” And I just took that little bit of information with me and it took me days to process. And through, its been four years now, I have learned to turn those ‘what ifs’ to ‘what would.’ Like what would Anthony be doing, what would he love to see me doing. Or what would I do, to share love whether he is here or not. He was taken from us at the age of 23, so he still had so much love to give…
-You shifted from grief into life. From tragedy into being able to be grateful again. You shifted, kind of like that same intention to keep loving, and then when we talked about… when we were prepping for this our talk, you mentioned it was important that at that moment you honored what you had and who are, and how to live.
-Yes. Like I said before every thought and feeling has the reaction in the body. Caring for my body and being grateful before the tragedy definitely helped. I’m not saying it’s happened overnight. I wake up every day with a broken heart, but I take that pain that I feel and just turn it into love. That is like the most important thing and when no matter where you’re at in your life, love is just.. it’s so important. And I just this last June, instead of crying on his birthday, I wrote a long list of everything he loved to do throughout his childhood and his life and myself and his sister and family all went and did those things in honor of him.
-It seems like, sounds like you really…
-I dove in. I dove in and realized all those tears and all that crying, instead of holding it in were just tears of love. It was sharing love. Every tear that fell from my cheek was all about love. Not sadness… just I prayed… and I just asked for peace without understanding.
-When we come back, we’ll find out how Robin now uses that peace without understanding and from love helps others to heal both physically and emotionally and spiritually.
-This episode was made possible by FilmYourWhy, helping entrepreneurs like you create videos that convey the story behind your business and engage loyal customers. Find out more at FilmYourWhy.com
-We’re talking to Robin Mizaur, certified personal trainer, nutrition consultant and holistic life coach specializing in wellness. Robin, you shifted from tragedy and found peace without understanding, and you said you prayed for it, and you mentioned getting it from community and friends.
-Especially family. Yes. You know, I went to some groups where other parents have lost children and it was three months after the accident and you know, I’m just grateful for the love. And I pray every day grateful for love that I had to share with him for 23 years, but I had people coming to me saying, ‘can you help us?” And they were years into their grieving process. And I was like, I’m not sure… I need to heal first, and help myself.
-Before the tragedy happened, you had a publishing deal offered.
-For years I would just go ahead and write notes to myself wether it was on napkins, or I used to cary a little notebook with a mechanical pencil in my purse, and my children would laugh at me all the time if I came up with an idea or seen something or heard something. And it was compiled… and having tea, actually with my son Anthony one day… and I was on my computer putting in the notes and he said, ‘you should just write a book.’ And I was like, oh my Gosh, you are right! I should write a book. And we were having tea and there was a magazine next to me, and I just closed the magazine, my hand just landed on advertisement on the back and it was a company called ‘Coconut Avenue.’ I sent them my manuscript, which is very exciting. And through the process of submitting, before I heard back from them, Anthony was killed. So, when I did get the news, ‘yes we wanted to publish’ by heart could not even comprehend focusing on anything other than healing.
-When we talked, you mentioned, and you mentioned before that you prayed. How does spirituality come into this whole story for you?
-Just having faith, knowing in my heart that I know where Anthony is at. A story I have, if I may share quickly… two years ago, standing at the beach, which I love the beach… crying by the beach. Early morning… and I’m sitting there and I walk… for some reason I had this feeling to get up and walk to the water and I do, and I’m looking at the horizon. Tears falling. Saying, Anthony, I wish you were here to see how beautiful this is. And then, catching myself and saying, ‘oh my Gosh, what you see I know is more magnificent than I can even imagine. And that exact moment, I look down and the waves stopped, and this perfect sand dollar is sitting right there. And I scoop it up. So I know that faith and love played such a huge part in my healing… and when I’m having those days where I’m really missing him and my husband always says this to me: ‘where is your sand dollar?’ And I did bring it today in a jar to show, but it’s completely perfect. And I kept it ever since. So that’s kind of my sign. And I’ve had beautiful signs, and we all do… about life, if we are just present and aware and notice.
-And what I really appreciate you sharing with us is that you are not denying pain. You are whole, you are healed, but pain is a part of who we are. And we tend to just want to squish the pain, and
-ignore it…
-Ignore it, wipe it away from our lives..
-…or just push it down.
-Yes, numb it… I always like to say, pain is there to remind us how much we love. And when you give this to me, I really feel you and everything that you put in. This is how we are connected. This is packed with love. Can I try now?
-Yes
-I would really encourage the viewers… we are going to post… Do I have to shake it?
-A little
-You didn’t… Ok, I’m going to shake mine.
-It’s juice, so…
-Nice… we are going to post the recipe, is that ok? Awesome!
-Cheers!
-Cheers! To health, love and peace without understanding… Ooohh… that’s good. Refreshing!
-Yes, your cells are smiling
-Robin, thank you so much for sharing your story and for giving us all this wisdom and encouragement. We can find you on HappyNash.com and also, you are involved with MealsToHeal Foundation.
-Yes, the Heimerdinger Foundation. We serve whole organic food to people currently going through active cancer treatment in the Williamson/ Davidson Counties. So, it’s a free service and I am just blessed to be able to meet each one of our clients, go in their home and share nutrition information and hope and love with them. Just let them know that there is a community that loves them.
-Thank you so much for all that you are doing. We are going to close the show with music because, to me, music is something that we can use in the process of healing. And if you can tell me just a little bit, what part did music play in this whole process.
-Taking care of all your senses, you know, visually, and also hearing and speaking. So calming, soothing music was very important and I did write a poem. It’s called “Peace Without Understanding” and it’s, you know, praying for that peace without understanding, but to know that I am not walking this journey alone. There are other people out there who have experienced loss. It’s jus that not having to know the answer, which was very important.
-Very important! And when we talked about the song selections, you selected the song that I wrote “I Pray.” What did you… how did you connect with that song?
-Because praying has been the foundation for healing. You can’t have healing without praying, or having spiritual beliefs or working on that part of your life.
-And to me, when you just said that, praying is really that surrender, that releasing, that letting the grace flow. So thank you!
-Thank you!
-I lay awake at night with all these thoughts inside
that just won’t go away
I can’t calm the voices and the many noises
they keep coming back
so I pray, I pray, I try to pray
I have really really tried to do what’s right
I tried to recognize your love
yet you know that deep inside I have a hurting heart
that just won’t let go of pain,
Even when I pray, I pray, I try to pray
Help me break down,
I forgot how to cry
I drowneded up my tears with my pride
Help me to hear you
not pretend that Ido,
help me to mean what I say
When I pray, I try to pray.
When I pray, When I pray,
I keep thinking to myself this fight will never end
I’ll always fall behind
All the things I want to do to make it up to you is
just to much to bare,
So I pray. I try to pray. I pray… I pray… I pray.
-Visit us at WakingUPinAmerica.net to replay today’s episode and download the recipe to make your own healthy drink ‘p’acked with love.’ And there, you will find many more episodes… stories that will help you wake up from someone else’s dream and shift into the life you are created for. Thank you so much for watching and we’ll see you next time!
