030 Break BAD HABITS and Beliefs with RITA CATOLINO

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Welcome to the Earn your happy podcast. I'm Lori Harder, founder of The Bliss Project, 3 Time Fitness World champion, fitness expert and cover model, turned self love junkie, lifestyle entrepreneur and author.

Each week I'll bring you a guest.

Or a thought that will help you bust through your fears, connect to your soul, and get focused and clear. Clear so you can elevate your life, business and relationships. We don't wait until we're ready for someone to tell us we're good enough. We take what we want and we anoint ourselves. Get ready to earn, own, and unapologetically rock your happiness every single day. Are you with me? Here we go. Welcome back to the earn your happy podcast and today I can't wait for you to meet Rita Catalino. She is a certified personal trainer, an online coach, a motivational speaker, fitness writer, cover model, and mother. Her passion for fitness and helping others can be attributed to having gone through many of her own struggles with weight her entire life. So after fighting a family trend of obesity, she decided to make a positive change after giving birth to her daughter in 2007. And those obstacles are turned into a positive philosophy that she shares with those who work with her. So, most recently, Rita has found her way back to her roots and the kitchen and developed her own healthy cooking show called you'd Beauty Fuel with Rita Catalino. So her passion for helping others and remaining current in an ever changing industry is what keeps Rita motivated. So, you guys, Rita is not only an incredible inspiration, but she is a dear friend of mine. So with that, let's get started. Rita, I am so excited to have you on the show today.

Hey, Lori. I'm so excited to be here. Not only do I. Not only are you an inspiration and a friend now, but the podcasts have been inspiring as well. So it's a blessing to be here.

Thank you so much. And you know what? I want to tell you a little something about how beautiful the universe is. Is I have probably. How long have I known you? I don't even know, five, seven years. Known something. Like, I have just always admired you from afar. And literally just the last couple of years, I have been getting massive messages from, like, random people who are like, you would love Rita or you're just like Rita, or you and Rita would get along. And I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's great. Like, I'm scared to meet her. And then finally we connect through the. I mean, the last thing that I thought we'd connect through our network marketing company that we're both doing together on the same team now. And it literally like getting together with you felt like this long lost part of my soul was coming back into my life. And it's so refreshing. It's such a breath of fresh air. And that is such a sign for me too. You know, when you're getting those signs from all over in your life, you should meet this person. You're like this person. Oh, you'd connect with this person. How about you go connect with them? So listen, listen, listen in. So I'm really excited to chat about what we're going to talk about today. Rita and I probably spent 30 minutes talking before we discussed, decided to hit record, and we realized we should have hit record.

Exactly.

So her and I really resonate on so many different levels. But lately, because we like to talk about what's coming up for us right now because it's real and it's raw and it's right now, and we're experiencing it. And I know that you guys are too. If we are is really feeling addicted to accomplishments and how we can be really get really present and happy with where we are right now, no matter what we're accomplishing. So I know that's been kind of a theme throughout your life. So can you tell me kind of maybe where that came from? Like, the first time you realized what accomplishments were doing for your life or where you were at before you accomplished anything and how that felt?

I mean, I'm. Well, back to what you were saying. Thank you for that intro. And I feel exactly the same way. And the first time we broke bread, quote unquote, together was like, yeah, this girl is my tribe. Like, you know, like, likes to eat and likes to drink and likes to balance it out with, you know, everything else that life is all about. And I don't know, I just feel like our. Our journeys have somehow been a little bit parallel, too, in terms of, you know, the extremities of fitness, competing and then modeling and then going into more balance and finding your soul. And then. So it's just been really great watching you because it does feel a bit like a mirror. Not quite. I'm not quite as. As my daughter says, you're not quite as beautiful as Lori.

Oh, please.

She's obsessed. She's obsessed with you. But anyway, that's another podcast addicted. Yeah. You know, I'm not a psychoanalyst, but, you know, I would like to say this comes from, you know, a childhood of very strict Italian upbringing with very, very high standards from, in particular, coming home with 90s and asking where the other 10% was. I've done a lot of soul searching in the last couple of years, and this is not to blame. This is not pointing fingers. It's just trying to figure out why I am who I am at 36 years old. And everything in our life, the people we meet, the relationships, the situations, our own innate nature, I think it all has to play with who we are now, who we are in each phase of our journey. And I do think that has a lot to do with that. Those high standards that were placed upon myself and never feeling like I was enough. So, you know, getting in these, Getting these accomplishments, starting out, you know, what's the first one that kind of comes to my head? Maybe my first, you know, in my. In my new career, which is in the fitness world. I think my first call from Oxygen magazine maybe to go for a shoot with them. I think that was my first, like, wow, big kind of accomplishment in terms of fitness. I thought, wow, I've made it. And I almost got that feeling of being high, right? Like high on endorphins. I got this rush that I can't explain. It was almost like physically, you felt it. Like I could run around in circles and scream at the top of my lungs. And I was so excited and, you know, nothing could faze me that day. You know, my biggest enemy could come up to me and spit in my face and I still laugh. Does that make sense?

Oh, my gosh, yes.

Like, whatever, whatever, whatever. And. And I think, you know, so that happened. And then, you know, I've never done cocaine. Like, we can talk about anything on here, right? I've never done any. I've never done cocaine. But you know, when people say that first high and then people, whatever, they try to chase it and it's never the same as that first high. I always feel like then my next accomplishment, it never did feel like that first call from Oxygen. I must say, no matter what I did, even there are greater accomplishments, obviously. And I'm talking just purely fitness here, because obviously my biggest accomplishment in life and the best blessing is my daughter Ariana. So I don't want people to think, oh, my God, she's comparing a cult with Oxygen magazine to giving birth to her daughter. It's not that. I'm just referring right now to career wise. And I think I always chase that feeling of like, oh, my God, oh my God. Not sleeping and yelling at the top of my lungs. I just went on a tangent there. I don't even know if I Answered your question.

Oh, this is the. That's. That's what I love. Tangents are my favorite. Sometimes I'm like, where am I? And what were we talking about? But wasn't that story great? No, I love that because, you know, there's this quote that I, like, plays in my head all the time, and it's. Don't get too high on the highs or low on the lows. And it's not that you can't experience that high level of, like, just, like, how you felt that first time with Oxygen, because I do think that's a gift. But not viewing it as, like, everything. Not thinking that this is everything right now. And then when you're low, it's like, this is so bad. This is everything right now. Understanding that it's not everything right now, that there's an in between. So for me, it's like, you know, a lot of different things have been coming up for me lately. Like, I've just been noticing things. Like, even, you know, a lot of people who are, like, doing before and afters or, like, on my challenge, before and afters. And that word before and after, really feeling like, you know, people are just striving for this after. But what about the in between? The journey, the thriving during? So the thriving in the during. And that's really where I try to be every day. Is your everyday mundane is life. It is. Is the good stuff. So how do we balance that, though? Because people who are so accomplished or who start realizing what accomplishment is getting. For me, Rita, it was like, accomplishment was getting that attention that I felt like I never had from, like, 25 and down. And everything that I did was, you know, I just wanted love. I just wanted attention. I just wanted people to tell me I was good enough and worthy of Lord knows what. I just wanted a title. I just wanted. You name it, and whatever that thing was, it's like, if we don't fill it in for ourselves, we're gonna constantly be striving for something. We have no clue what it is. So was there something for you that it was like, what were you trying to fill? And I know that, you know, maybe with Oxygen magazine, you felt like maybe that partially filled it, but what happens after? Why do you hit that low?

Yeah, Everything you just said was me, right? Like, 25 below. For me, it was 22 below. It was just always trying to be approved by everybody. You know, I always used to say that I'm a people pleaser, but I'm not a people pleaser. I was trying to be that person for everybody else. I always put other people first because I thought that that was my answer, right? Like I thought by seeking everybody else's approval, no matter what the cost, would make me happy. When Exactly. It's the exact opposite, right? Because it is the daily grind. My daily life, as I always say, mastering the mundane. My Monday to Friday that nobody sees, that's not glossy, that doesn't look like the COVID of a magazine, that's usually, you know, in sweats, with no makeup in my Lululem, and it looks like I'm all disheveled and I'm running around. And that's the part of your life that you need to make sure that you are happy with and that you are content with and that nobody sees. So it's not about appeasing anybody else but yourself. And I'm going through a transition right now, and I go through phases and I go through seasons. We were talking about this before of. Of areas of my life where I feel if I could only know the recipe to right now. Because right now, everything is right. And, you know, everything is so imperfect and so right. Like the way I feel with my relationship with my husband, the way my daughter is thriving, the way I feel about myself, physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually, the way I feel about the relationships in my life. It's like you're in the vortex, right? As Abraham. I don't know if anybody's an Abraham Hicks fan out there, but, you know, like, you're in that vortex. But what is the recipe to that vortex? And I have to realize that there isn't a recipe of abc because that ABC changes each day, each month, each season, and each year. So what looked perfect for me? Perfect, and I use that word, what looked ideal for me and what for me was in my vortex two years ago, March 2014, is not going to be the same as my vortex in May of 2016. Because I'm different, because I've evolved, because the situations are different. So instead of finding that perfect recipe of abc, those tangible, you know, do this, do that, just. Just accept and be present. And I think that's the biggest thing, is not when you're always chasing the next accomplishment. You're never living in the present because you're always searching for that next and that next. And it creates anxiety because I do have some anxiety issues. And the only times that I can really stop and be present is when I let go of what's coming up. And I just say, rita, show up today. The best version of you for yourself. And then everybody else around you is going to get the best gift of you. So it's not about showing up for everybody else, it's about showing up for yourself.

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Oh, man. You said so many good things in there. Literally.

Just.

I took some notes on a few of them, and, you know, I think the key word that you're saying and something that people may not really understand how to do yet, but we'll chat on is, you know, being present in that moment, being present in that day, because it's when we live in the future of what is that accomplishment going to get us? And why are we actually striving for that accomplishment? So, you know, behind everything that we want, there's a reason why we're going for it, is because it's going to make us. We think it's going to make us feel a certain way. And what happens is that moment is fleeting. Right. And a lot of times when you're there, if you're not present, it is going to pass you by.

And don't you think, Lori, sorry to interrupt you. That each time that moment seemed quicker and quicker and quicker.

Yeah.

Like you can't hold on to them as long as you used to because. Because you're almost addicted to that accomplishment. You want the next one. You want the next one. So it's like. I don't know, it just seems like it's. That feeling is not. It's. It's more shallow than. Than we anticipated.

Mm. And I. And I truly. I know exactly what you're talking about. And I know that if. If people are out there who are feeling that way right now that they're waiting for something to be happy or they're waiting for something to be good enough, or they're waiting for someone to say, okay, now I'm going to give you credibility because you did X, Y, and Z. And it's really about getting right with yourself right now and just getting so present with the moment and realizing that's the journey. And I'll tell you one thing that has taught me so much about this, and I know it seems so crazy, but running has taught me so much about being present. Because I was just doing a run on. I can't remember what day. I think it was Saturday. And I thought, wow, I love running now. But I used to Freaking hate running. I mean, I was. That girl who was like, me, too. Would be like, the only way I'm gonna run is if you're chasing me or with a knife like you. Otherwise, you will not get me. Like, I used to be irritated by runners. I would be like, where are you running? Like, what are you doing? Go to the gym or do something that's actually going to help you. That's what I used to say. Well, now I love running because it's such a. It's like a moving meditation for me, because when I was on my run, we were like, three miles in. I had three miles right down. We were three miles down, I had to run three miles back. And I was like, crap, I have three miles left to go. And every step can either be excruciating or you can get really present and enjoy everything that you're seeing along the way. So a lot of times, you know, when I was running, it was like, well, I have a mile and a half left, or I have three miles left, or whatever. I would purposely run a route that I couldn't cut it short. And it taught me so much about being present, because it's like, wait, life is right now. It's not the. The to do list I have to do after I run. Because this is supposed to be the good stuff. This is the stuff where I'm supposed to be in nature. This is the stuff where I'm supposed to look at the sky and thank God and look at the trees and feel the breeze and listen to this podcast or listen to this music and really listen to the words or feel every beat and have this, like, surreal, soulful moment, like, so much beauty. And I was just passing that by, thinking, I have to do this, I have to do that. I can't believe I have this to do. And when I'm letting these moments that are so beautiful, just like, I'm not even considering them. So it just taught me a lot about having to pay attention, having to focus. And I know that's what meditation does, too. So what are some practices in your life that you've noticed have really made you go, whoa, it's not about everything later. It's about the right now. Like, the. All that's happening, the now is just now. That's it. That's all we have.

Well, I have recently put some new practices in, but you were making me think about something that I really share with a lot of my clients, which is a lot of them try to get one of the best practices for me. Is going to the gym and lifting weights. For me, you know, that's your running. For me, it's lifting weights and throwing some weights around. And I used to think that is my ticket to thin. So the gym was my ticket to skinny. And somewhere along the line of my journey, it became my hour of power, or my hour of whatever you want to call it. And that for me is a sacred hour of the day that, you know, no matter how I'm feeling, no matter how many glasses of champagne I drank the night before, I do that hour at the gym. And that's for me. And that used to be, it was a fleeting way to get from point A to point B. And now it just is. It just is. It's part of my day. It's an enjoyable part of my day. It's not, how many more reps do I have? It's, shoot, I only have 15 more minutes left, you know, to finish my workout. I want to do more, you know, and I, and I share that with a lot of my clients because for them, it's in and out and it's cutting short and they're writing their grocery list while they're lifting their weights or whatever. It's like, no, enjoy that time, right? Because it's all about the enjoyment I've had. There's some things that I've gone in and out of doing. I'm not gonna lie. I'm not, I'm not perfect, even though I, I am a recovering perfectionist, you know, So I do come in and out of a lot of practices that I know help me. And I don't think it's self sabotage. I think it's probably human nature and laziness that get me out of them again. But I do need to remind myself about getting back into them. So one is oil pulling, which I did for many reasons. So it's putting coconut oil in your mouth and swishing it around for 20 minutes. And I used to do this every morning because A, it refrained me from talking because I like to talk a lot. I think you and I share that. So I like to like tell my household what to do in the morning. And you do this and you do that and da da, da da. So it refrained me from doing that. It stopped me from drinking my coffee right away. So it gave me time to. And it's really hard to focus and write my clients emails and write a blog when you're swishing your stuff around in your mouth without having it spit out all over you. So it forced Me to kind of sit back, lie down and just meditate or be present or be grateful and just stop and start my day very slowly without, you know, we expect our bodies after being laying in this position for 8 to 10 hours or 6 or however long you sleep, to all of a sudden kind of jump out of be with this pep in your step and like, you know, whereas when you look at like a yoga class and you're lying in Shavasana, it's like you start by wiggling your fingers, wiggling your toes, doing circles with your hands and your feet lying in a fetal position. You know, like, obviously have to do a little bit quicker because it's a class, but we don't give ourselves that time in the morning to do that. Right. We expect ourselves to go from zero to hero within 30 seconds. And I think those practices of oil pulling or tongue scraping, and these are all ayurvedic, ancient old rituals that I started doing a few years ago and I forgot to do them again. So this is something now that I've re entered in my life due to spring coming and due to a little bit of anxiety coming back in my life. As I told you, I'm leaving soon for six weeks vacation and I start getting anxiety. Like I have to get through that to do list, which. Which I don't have to do, right, Lori? I don't have to because it's still going to be there tomorrow.

Absolutely. You know, I love you said so many things there like, you know, I just, I forgot to do those rituals that make me feel good. And I think that's what we do is we just forget about our. About our purpose as human beings and what we're here to do and what we're here to experience and what we're here to enjoy. And I think keyword being enjoy. It's like all of a sud. We grow up and we start adulting so hard that we're like, we forget to enjoy life or slow down or say, hey, how do I want my life to look? Not how does everyone. How do I think it should look or do? Am I going to function as the world is functioning? It's like you can actually function better creating your own idea of what you want your life to be like. And you know, I just want to go back to one point because I'm so in love with what you said about, you know, making that one hour at the gym or that one hour of working out, because I feel that way about any time I get to move my body. It's like giving yourself that opportunity to set yourself up for success. Because we know movement really does get us present and get us into our bodies. And because when we do wake up, we're not really in our bodies yet or connected or feel rooted. So I love the rituals that you gave as well. You guys definitely try those out. And that's what it's about is just. Just keep trying stuff on until you find what just makes you feel good. Because this is what we're after with all these accomplishments, right? It's like, okay, accomplish this, accomplish that. And, Rita, you've accomplished more in the past, like, six months, maybe a little bit more than most people do in their entire life, than five women do in their entire lifetime. So. And it's crazy that you say right now at this point, you're feeling anxiety coming in. You're not feeling quite as rooted after all those accomplishments. So that's why I wanted to get on. You know, that's why we chose this topic today is it's like both of us were chatting, and we feel like we came off big pushes in our lives. Like, both of us have worked really, really hard. Like, probably overloaded our schedule and feeling a little bit depleted now because we forgot. We forgot that during the pushes and what we thought was going to make us feel really good. We forgot what made us feel really good. So now here we are feeling a little bit empty, a little bit crazy, a little bit chaotic and remembering. Oh, yeah. And sometimes isn't this great. That's why you guys find your sisters. That's why you find your people. And right now, if you don't have some, you can borrow us. We're crazy, though, too, a little bit. You have to come drink wine and have cheese with us. So. But to remind you, like, like, what makes you happy. So, Rita, what makes you, like, what could you do today? Or what are you going to do today? I know you said that you already did some stuff, but what are you going to go back to that's going to make you feel good now?

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Well, you know, it's funny, this weekend I had this conversation with and I just want to quickly, you know, plug my husband here because he is definitely the person who reminds me every day. I don't know if it's because he's from Spain and he's from Europe and he has a different mentality and he's 10 years my senior and he's an old, old, old soul. But he always reminds me that, you know, I am enough. Even if I just woke up every day and did nothing, I am enough as I am. And he reminds me that on a daily and God placed Dario in my life for so many reasons and one of that is just to ground me and be my balance. And you know, he is a Libra. He is a, that's his sign. He's a Libra. And I'm huge into horoscope and he is such my balance and he reminds me of that all the time. And you know, he, he said to me like, he's not even that religious. He said to me, like, what does God think of you? You're, you know, would God ever make, you know, and we've heard this before. What does God make mistakes? No. You know, no matter what I do, no matter if I decide to continue in the fitness industry, no matter if I decide to eat a box of cupcakes and lose my, my muscle definition or not, I am going to still be that same person. And Leo, my husband, met me, you know, 30 pounds heavier, a totally different person. He's seen me through every Stage of my life. We've been together 15 years, half my lifetime, really. And he just sees that same spirit and soul. He sees my soul, right? And a lot of people see my soul. And I am the person who doesn't see my soul enough. So I need to, you know, this weekend, after having this conversation with him, actually, we made a fort on the floor. This is just crazy. And we had some cupcakes, and we had some wine, actually. And I had Dario on my left hand just kind of snuggling in, and my daughter Ariana on my right side. And we were watching the stupidest movie that she picked, Fantastic Four. So it's the worst movie I've ever seen. She wanted to watch it, and here we are. And it was just like this aha moment of, like, I am where I am right now, where I need to be with the people I need to be with, with everything, you know? And that, for me, was the best feeling. Better than any magazine cover. Better than any star or initial or zero beside my name. Like, it was just, you know, and this weekend really was one of those weekends of transition and just really being, you know, true to myself and what I need and fulfilling each moment with what I need. When I talked before about that recipe to being in the vortex, I was in the vortex on Sunday. And that was because of all of those things. But what my vortex or what I need today might look different, right? Like, I don't want cupcakes today. I don't want to lie around on the ground. I don't necessarily need that hug today. So today I know I needed an extra workout. I needed a walk in nature. So I took a girlfriend and we went for a walk outside, and she made me laugh. And I needed that today, right? Talking with you is feeding my soul on a whole other level that I know is going to feed me now for a while. And going to Spain every summer for six weeks recharges my batteries until about May. And every May, I feel this. Every May, I feel like my energizer batteries need, like, to be plugged into the wall for a good six weeks. So I know that and I recognize that. So I think the recognition of what I need when I need it and answering that, not ignoring it, because I used to ignore it, because I used to look at fueling and feeling and cupcakes and hugs and lying down as a weakness, because I can keep going. I can keep going. I gave 19 hours of childbirth without an epidural. Of course I can get through this, right? I Always feel like I need to be that hero. I need to go through pain in order to be successful.

Wow. So putting. It's like almost feeling. So I did this for a while in my career too. It was like, if I didn't feel pain or if it wasn't hard, it must not be working.

Yeah.

And now we're kind of. We kind of come from a different place, right? Like, whoa. If we're not in. If we're not following the ease and the flow and the fun and really listening in, then this must not be working. So it's just funny how it's like, I love everything you said because you talked about. It's not that it's not gonna happen. Right. I guarantee in six months we're both gonna call each other and be like, girl, I need another phone call. Maybe three months, maybe next week. But that's the thing is that when you start to notice and when you surround yourself with a tribe of people who also are self aware, it's kind of like we all kind of help each other go, okay, you've been grinding pretty hard. Like, what is it? What is it that you need? Or. Or what are you really after? What are we after together? Or how can we kind of just back down and enjoy the present and it's conversations like this, you guys, that we're all having together because we are truly all having this together. Whoever's listening to, just ask yourself, what do you need right now? Like, what is that extreme end that maybe you're going to. Because you're searching so hard or pushing so hard for something to happen. And even when it happens, I hate to tell you guys, but it's not going to change how you feel right this moment, because it's going to go right back to where it was the next day, a week later. Maybe it's two weeks, maybe you get a good couple months off it. But the thing is, finding those things, those moments of awareness arena when you're like, I need to just lay and watch a movie, drink some wine and have a cupcake and let that be okay. How did you start letting that be okay? Because I know as a recovering addiction junkie to accomplishments, I know that, like you said, it feels like a weakness at first. Like, how do you. How do we start letting that be okay?

I think as a, you know, my former life, was that on steroids, so My former life was like cupcakes, chips, wine, laziness. So, you know. Yeah. So right. On crack. On steroids. And that was okay with me. Like that was okay with me. I had no guilt ever, because I didn't know any different. And the minute you start getting a little taste of a different lifestyle, maybe something that makes you feel better, maybe something that doesn't make you feel groggy when you wake up, maybe something that gives you a sense of hope and drive and strive and passion that's more than a bag of potato chips on the couch at night then. And then you start realizing that maybe that's not serving me anymore. Maybe that's. But then we go and we throw it in a whole other room and we say bad, and we put an X on it and we call it poison. Because we used it in extreme before, you and I, many people, not just you and I, many people listening, we use things to the extreme, but there is still a place for all of those things, because if they made us feel that good for that many years, they can't be that bad, right? So we can sprinkle them throughout our day and throughout our life with no sense of guilt. If we have a proper foundation and we strive and we thrive and we live on this beautiful lifestyle that we've created, there's nothing wrong with a few sprinklings here and there of that old former room that we've locked away now with the guilt. Because when you let that guilt go, and I learned it personally, I had to go to Spain to learn it. Because when I was in Spain, you know, it really feeds my soul, and I let myself just be open to life and whatever happens, happens. You know, I threw the scale out in Spain. There was no scale like in North America. I was becoming addicted to the scale and quantifying everything in my life. Numbers, food, likes on Facebook, the number on the scale, how much I weighed, all of those quantifying things. And when I go to Spain, I lose all of that. So there's no scale. There's no checking how many social media likes I have because I'm too busy living life. So there I was able to indulge more and let myself have a couple glasses of wine. So I slowly let myself do that throughout the years. But my. My recovery, my road to recovery, back to a normal life, not an extreme life, a normal, balanced life was little by little. So at first it would be like one glass of wine, you know, and there would be a little bit of guilt. And I'd wake up the next day and say, wow. I'd look in the mirror and I talk to myself a lot out loud, by the way, Lori, I have a Lot of conversations with myself in the mirror, and I would look at myself in the mirror, and I'd say, you look the same. You are acting the same. You feel the same. I remember even taking my shirt up and looking at my tummy and saying, you don't look any fatter. You know, like the alcohol didn't do anything to that glass of wine. And I thought, wow, I can do that again. Right? Obviously, you don't go from that to 20 bottles of wine a day, but. And then. And then you let yourself maybe say, okay, maybe I can have this bowl of ice cream with my daughter. And you say, you wake up the next day, say, not only do I look the same and feel the same, but I actually feel a little bit more free. Right? I don't feel like I'm in shackles anymore. The shackles of a dieting world. The shackles of having to look or live a certain way or live up to my fans and look this way or that way. And that's when I got rid of my hair extensions. That's when I got rid of my. All of these things that I felt were keeping me chained to a certain idealistic life. Does that make sense that it was more living for others than for myself? When I came back to the true Rita of I don't know what, of that true essence of what I am, everything just kind of came into place, and the guilt went away with it.

I love that. Just being in your presence and I think also just having the background that you do and also traveling to Europe all the time, because it's a totally different life over there. And I think it's beautiful. I think I love the balance of both that you have and spending time with you and Dario and your daughter. I think it's really beautiful. It makes me actually yearn for more just because it, you know, it reminds me to savor and collect experiences. Because, you know, with your husband, it's like he's so present at all times. He just is. He just is so present. That's the one thing when I'm with him with you guys, is like, I just noticed that he's really listening intently, and he really just wants you to experience. Just to enjoy yourself, like, to enjoy life right now. So it is all about just, like, how much more can we amplify this experience that we're in right now? Like, can we drink a better wine? Or can you really let that chocolate, like, you know what I mean? Can we really experience this together? And can we really laugh more? And can we just really beautiful.

So.

And I think a lot of that is not only cultural, but also just the person that he is. That's definitely just the person he is. So, you know, collecting experiences, I love that because when things happen, like, yeah, you and I, we definitely enjoyed some wine and some chocolates and some things together. But you know what? We don't always get to be together. And those are things we really, really enjoyed and we savored. And I could have come home and felt really guilty because I did that for I don't know, what, three, four days.

Three days.

And instead I kept saying to myself, because sometimes we have to adopt mantras, right? Like how you talk to yourself in the mirror. I talk to myself out loud all of the time. And I kept saying the second I'd feel guilty about it cause I came home, you know, you feel a little bloated from the plane and just from everything and where normally I kind of like start picking myself apart or whatever. I was like, so worth it. I just kept saying, so worth it. So worth it. Because like nurturing those relationships in your life, I can't imagine dying with, without spending those times with you guys and spending those times with people and having those moments of like eating chocolate sausage logs. If you guys don't, if that sounds.

Crazy to you, it's not healthy.

Just to clarify, she makes some, she makes some amazing chocolate that looks like a sausage log and it's. Yeah, you gotta, maybe you need to salami.

And it's just like chocolate and nuts.

Chocolate salami, it is the best. So, yeah, worth it. So worth it. And getting really, really present and remembering that. So. And like you said, I, you know, you said, you said something about, you know, yesterday I needed to be on the floor and have a cupcake and today I don't. Like, that's how I feel today I'm like, I'm great. I feel awesome. And some days I wake up and I'm like, no, you know what, I have a crazy day today. But I am so desperate for a nap or I feel like I might die try. And I'll look at my schedule now. And now I'm getting really aware of that, right? Like is there something that can go, is there something that I can give up so I can do a little bit of self nurturing so that I'm not feeling crazy. So, you know, and you, it's getting more and more aware. So do you have like an awareness practice or is it just like you're really starting to tune in because you you know you're starting to tune in.

Yeah. I love what you said about what do I need right now? And I think everybody can take that home with them. Like what do I need right now? And I just, I think I've grown to be so in tune with that. It's like I'm almost too in tune with my body, you know, like sometimes that can be a bad thing because if any tiny little thing is off with my digestion or whatever, I'm like, I notice everything, you know, a hair's out of place.

So.

So in that aspect I am very in tune with myself. So I look at my schedule and I can show you but people can't see. But I'm like an old school, I have an old school diary agenda. Yeah. And I like because I'm obsessed with crossing things off my list. So you can't do that with a cell phone. I don't know if you can but anyway I like to take a pen and scratch it out anyway. I do over fulfill my days with lots of of stuff and it's funny because there is a difference between busy and productive. So I love to look at my day and if my body is telling me nap, massage, coffee, date, chocolate, whatever it's telling me, I tend to listen, I really do. And I look at that day and say where can I make that happen today? What is non negotiable in my day? So what is going to serve me or somebody else on a greater level and what is something that can be pushed off Delta the next day? And I'm really good now at pushing things back. Whereas the former Rita, the perfectionist one, when I was telling you that I'm in recovery would say no, it's on the list, it has to be done, it has to be done today and before 6 o'. Clock. Do you know what I mean? And now I'm like, you know, maybe I can move some things around. And I used to be that person at if I didn't get to the gym before 9am it wasn't happening. So it could be a perfectly normal day at 12pm and I am perfectly able bodied and I have a free hour from 12 to 1 but I wouldn't go because it didn't fall within the Rita idea of going to the gym before 9. Now I go to yoga at 2 o' clock in the afternoon if it fits my schedule and there's a class available and I feel like that's what I need. Do you know what I mean? I'm sick of living by all of these structured rules. So I am very more in tune with that spontaneous person that I am, that we all are, that we all can be. Right right now, what do I want right now? I want to talk to Lori. And you know, right now when I get off, you know, what do I want? And I do continually ask myself, what do I want? Not because I'm so used to saying, what does A, B and C. What do all those people want from me? No, what does Rita Catalina want right now? And I'm gonna share something really quick with you, but I am a huge planner and Chris will know this because every time we have an event coming up, I said, well, where are we going for dinner on the Saturday night? And he's like, I don't know. The event's in like a week and a half. And I'm like, yeah, well, we need to know. And he's like, oh, I'm gonna call Francesca and I'm gonna ask her the night before to book us a restaurant in Texas, right? And I'm like, you don't know yet. I have to know everything like a month in advance. And it's bad because I don't let myself for a lot of spontaneity. And this past weekend, we went away to Toronto. So we live outside of Toronto. So it's a two hour drive and we had a night out with some friends on the Friday night, and our plan was to come home Saturday and da, da, da, da. It was a beautiful sunny day, and we've had a lot of gray days here. So we're in Toronto, we're shopping and we're walking and we're doing a lot of kind of feeding each other's souls, my husband and I, and we ended up on this patio of this old Italian house that's supposed to be like. Anyway, we started having some drinks and. And he's like, you know, we should probably go home now. And I said, what if we stayed another night?

He was like, what?

He looked at me like, that's what I would usually say. That's. Are you okay? Are you feeling sick? And I literally, like, got on Amazon. I booked another hotel. We got our stuff, we threw it there, we made reservations. We wearing the same clothes because we didn't bring enough stuff. I didn't have enough. I didn't even have makeup remover. I didn't have enough vitamins. And I'm like, miss, like, I count my vitamins every time I go out. And I'm like, let's just do it. Like, let's live by the like. Like, you know what I mean? And went out with the same clothes and we had the best night. And, you know, and it's like we drove home the next day, Sunday. We're like, this was the best decision we ever made. And it's in that spontaneity and in what. What are you feeling in this moment right now instead of what do people expect me to do? What does life want me to do right now? And I know we've kind of got off the topic of accomplishments, but it's about being present in the moment and not being so worried about what tomorrow brings and what the accomplishment of tomorrow brings and being prepared for that. You know, it's just kind of living more in carpe diem. Right?

I love it. I feel like it evol and exactly where we needed it to go because it's what do I need right now instead of what do I think I need with those accomplishments? So it's, it was such a natural flow into clearly what it's really all about. Because we're, we're like, what do we need? Let's talk about what we need to talk about right now because this is feeling good. So, Rita, I. Oh, my God. I have to. I want to talk about, like 10 more things. But this is going to be. That's okay. You'll be, you'll be one of my filler people that I'm like, I need another podcast. Rita, Rita, I need you.

You.

So we'll have you on again to chat about. I have no idea. Something amazing and brilliant in the moment of exactly where we're at. But where can we. I want everyone to be able to get a little bit of your goodness because you have so much good stuff to offer. You're an amazing coach. You're just an amazing mentor and all around incredible woman with a great story. And I love watching you guys just live and savor life. So where can we follow you if we want to get more resources?

Well, there is your beautyfuel.com and you can subscribe to my bi weekly newsletter and that's more recipes. There's a blog about life, so that's more that side of Rita. And then there's ritacatalino.com, which is a little bit more of my fitness side and my programming and things like that. And then you can find me on Facebook at your beautyfuelwithritacatolino and on Instagram Rita Catalino and at Twitter ritaCadellino and. And just look up, just Google Rita Catalino and you'll find Rita Catalino.

I love it. And we'll put that in show notes, too, so they can just link right up to you.

Awesome.

All right, mama, thank you so much for being on today. I always love chatting with you. I feel like, so much better. You have no idea.

I feel like I'm talking to myself every time I'm with you. I just feel like, ah, Vegas can't come soon enough.

I know. I can't wait. All right, you guys, if you love this episode as much as I did, make sure that you share it with a friend. And until next time, go out and earn your happy. Bye, everyone. Thank you guys so much for spending this time with me on the earn your happy podcast. I am so glad that you stopped by. If you could take one second to share this episode with someone you think would love it, that would be absolutely amazing. Amazing. And we would be forever grateful. Also, please leave us a review. If you feel so moved by going to itunes and leaving us an honest thought, an honest comment. Tell us what you think, tell us what you want to hear. More of it would really help us out on our journey to helping thousands and thousands of people. Until then, don't forget to earn your happy. Thanks again, guys. Bye. Bye.

It.