Mountain Mayhem: Habits for Happiness

This spring, I accepted an invitation to join a Facebook Group and take part in a two-week cleanse led by my friend Lady Fuller. I registered for the “14-Day Alcohol Detox” program, which was complimentary. I was just interested in taking a break from social drinking and following a program that might be enlightening. And I found it to be very well-organized, motivating and effective for defining various healthy habits and setting them in motion. Starting the day with two full glasses of water, ten minutes of silence, writing down three things to complete before 10 a.m. are part of this routine. Meal planning and excluding alcohol were two others.

After the 14-day effort, I reached out to Lady to thank her for her guidance and providing this virtual program to me as one of 60 or so participants. She and I then set up a plan for one-on-one coaching for six sessions, which amounted to meeting once a week – typically outside at sunny Spring Café – with work on my end to do in-between.

My key takeaways were that it’s certainly beneficial to step back and take stock in what I wish to pursue to feel better, perform better, and do better, and having an advocate to encourage this is a great way to yield change. Current goals I have are centered on marathon training, time management, prioritizing obligations and not taking on too much (which can be a challenge when there are so many interesting things to do and places to go). It’s always a work in progress to develop and maintain practices towards progress though once they become habitual, they become more manageable.

Lady’s coaching credentials include earning a master’s in habit coaching. “I joke that I am a ‘bad habits coach,’ but in all seriousness I am a habit and success coach. I help people drop unhealthy habits (procrastinating, overthinking, drinking) and adopt new healthier habits (morning routine, pausing, breathing). In short, I help people get unstuck and feel more alive.”

Her background as an entrepreneur began with getting a master’s in Business in San Francisco in the early aughts.

“I have since built companies, I have closed companies, I have pursued ideas and dreams and passions and stepped WAYYYYY out of my comfort zone,” she said. “While, I am still an entrepreneur (I own two small businesses), I reached a point in my life where I wanted to do something with my days and my life that had more meaning for me. My life purpose without a doubt is to spread light and hope and I started to do that a couple years ago through suicide advocacy work (I am a proud board member of the Aspen Hope Center and lost my mom to suicide at a young age). The advocacy work led me to want to coach folks and I became moderately obsessed with the idea of happiness. What was it? Why do we want it and where in the heck is it?”

She added, “we are all (mostly) conditioned to believe that I we spend our lives chasing success, marrying the ‘right’ person, having 2.5 kids, living in the ‘right’ house, being in the ‘right’ friend group, etc. We will find happiness, but the exact opposite is true. My belief is that happiness is cultivated inside of each of us by the way we show up in the world. This is something ancient philosophers have been preaching for thousands upon thousands of years, but in the current age of too much noise, information, and technology we have lost that connection to self.”

Follow Lady’s “Habits for Happiness” Facebook Group for weekly habits geared to help change and better your life. Also on Voice America (internet radio) she’s launching a show on “Habits for Happiness” starting Sept. 3 and every Friday after that, featuring a special guest each week.

Lady’s first guest will be Pat Dossett, a retired U.S. Navy Seal who runs “Madefor” with Blake Mycoskie the founder of TOMS Shoes, a 10-month wellness program that focuses on building healthy habits.