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Colleen Stratton

@colleenjstratton

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Energized, Confident, Determined
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I’d love for you to come breathe with me on Thursday evenings at 6pm and Saturday mornings at 9am. Register for classes at www.thewildbreath.com by @colleenjstratton
4
7 months ago
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Goal set - goal met! 90 day sugar free challenge complete. Losses = 19 lbs, 5% body fat, inflammation, sluggishness. Wins = sense of pride, nutritional education, new self awareness, clear, shining complexion, strength (internal & external) and tons of new foods and recipes in my life! #iamsugarfree #healthylifestyle #soberlife #iks90daychallenge #ikickedsugar #fitnessjourney #over50women #lovethislife #fitnessjourney #findingmytribe by @colleenjstratton
18
4 years ago
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Why I started this journey: I have been overweight my entire life. Depending on what was going on I was anwhere from 30 - 100lbs overweight at any given time. The times I was close to a “goal” weight, I had gotten there by doing things incredibly unhealthy for me. 15 years ago I quit drowning myself in alcohol. 12 years ago I stopped choking myself with cigarettes. 8 years ago I was still 80 pounds overweight so I started to take steps to address my eating. I learned a lot and lost weight slowly. 6 years ago I began to exercise when I found pilates. 4 years I moved to Washington and I started to expand my work out practices and found I loved the bicycle and the weights in addition to Pilates. And I have worked hard these last 4 years to get where I am and I have learned SO much along the way. At the beginning of this year I started with an 8 lb weight gain from holiday binging. I had to say enough. I give up. Sugar had beaten me and I felt hopeless - almost like when I first got sober 15 years ago. So I put on my big girl panties and decided that 2023 is the year I really learn how to eat and take care of myself. My biggest hurdle - giving up sugar and simple carbs. I know that I do best with support and resources. So I joined a challenge to kick sugar. This month has been life changing for me and I am so excited about to see what else 2023 holds for me on this journey. So now you are caught up and know why I started this channel/page. I can’t be the only woman in her 50s that never learned how to take care of herself! If you are one my peeps - I’d love to hear your story and have you join my tribe and stumble along on this journey with me. 🤩💪🏻❤️✌️#iamsugarfree #healthylifestyle #movewithme #learningtoeat #plantbasedfood #middleagedwoman #makingithappen #ikickedsugar taken in Gig Harbor, Washington by @colleenjstratton
4
4 years ago
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✨ The Power of Getting Dressed Up (Even When You’re Going Nowhere) Week before last, I decided to get dressed up to go to work. I work from home so this is not a usual practice. I did this partly because I wanted to actually wear some of the clothes hanging in my closet. But mostly because I was curious. What would happen if I made the effort to look my best every day? Would it change how I felt? Turns out, it did. Here are a few of my outfits from the week. And while the clothes were fun, what surprised me most was how much they affected my mood. How I felt about myself. How I showed up each day. Was it always easy, given the way my cancer symptoms are presenting themselves right now? Absolutely not. But was it fun? Yes. Was it empowering? In its own little way, absolutely. As I walk this journey through cancer, I’m learning that it’s up to me to define what helps me feel my very best and show up in the most beautiful way possible. And by beautiful, I don’t mean how I look. I mean how I feel. Because how I feel is influenced by the thoughts I choose to entertain, the actions I choose to take, and the little decisions I make for myself every single day. I can’t control everything happening in my body right now. There are days when cancer gets to make far more decisions than I’d like. But I still get to make some of them. And for this week, I chose to get dressed up. Not because I needed to impress anyone. Not because looking good makes everything better. But because it reminded me that I still have choices. I still have a say in how I show up for my own life. Sometimes empowerment looks like a big, brave decision. And sometimes it looks like putting on an outfit you love, walking into your home office, and remembering that you still get to choose how you show up. ✨ And this week, that felt pretty damn good. ❤️ by @colleenjstratton
8
a day ago
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✨ **Glimmers & Dimmers: The Last Infusion (Things I Never Wanted to Learn)** Yesterday was my eighth and final chemotherapy infusion. Eight rounds. Months of appointments, needles, cold capping, frozen fingers and toes, side effects, and learning more about my body than I ever wanted to know. I thought the last infusion might feel monumental. Instead, it felt surprisingly ordinary. There was even one last delay because my take-home chemo pump wasn’t ready. So I waited. Again. And when I finally left, I wasn’t actually finished. I was still connected to a pump delivering chemotherapy into my body. That first night brought the familiar, miserable night sweats and another night of interrupted sleep. It’s funny how you imagine certain milestones will feel. The anticipation. The emotion. The celebration. And then sometimes they arrive quietly, looking remarkably like every other day. Maybe that’s one of the things cancer has taught me. **Not every significant moment feels significant while you’re living it.** And not every ending comes with fireworks. Sometimes it comes with a plastic tube, a sleepless night, and one more appointment to get disconnected. But here I am. Eight infusions behind me. And whatever comes next, I’m going to take a moment to acknowledge what it took to get here. Because even when a milestone doesn’t feel monumental, it can still be worthy of celebration. ✨ **The Second Becoming**\ *Awaken. Heal. Become.* #colorectalcancer #coloncancerawareness by @colleenjstratton
21
5 days ago
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✨ This Week: Glimmers & Dimmers (Things I Never Wanted to Learn) I always knew this would be a long road. And it is. This past month has been full of ups and downs—beauty and burdens, sometimes both at exactly the same time. The Glimmers • SEVEN of eight chemotherapy sessions DONE! Fingers crossed, I wrap up this phase of treatment next week. 🙌 • Incredible early fall weather. Still seeing 60s and even an occasional 70-degree day. What a gift for October! • Celebrating seven years of marriage to a man who could write the bestseller on how to be an incredible husband. ❤️ • A quick trip to San Diego to see my kids, my Wonder Twin, a dear friend and a city that will always hold a piece of me. • The incredible amount of support I continue to receive every single day from so many of YOU. It matters more than you know. 🤍 • It’s officially soup and sweater season! 🍂 The Dimmers • The rotating cast of symptoms—nausea, stomach issues, depression and a deep tiredness that sleep doesn’t always fix. Yes, a repeat from my last post. Worth repeating. 😑 • Chemo brain is REAL. I learn a little more about it every day. It’s quite the hit to the ego when, after 13 years of doing your job, you need your boss to double-check your work. Humbling is an understatement. • Learning that sometimes you aren’t even well enough to have chemotherapy. That one was hard. • STILL dealing with the tooth problems. Because apparently they would like to be part of this journey too. 😑 ✨ What I’m Carrying Into Next Week The ever-present lesson in all of this continues to be acceptance. Acceptance of where I am. Acceptance of where I thought I would be. Acceptance of how I feel on any given day. And maybe most importantly, accepting that this isn’t “lost” time. This is my life, too. There is wisdom being gained here. Love being deepened. Gratitude showing up in places I never expected. I don’t have to love this season to accept it. I just have to keep meeting myself where I am—and keep going. 🤍 #colorectalcancer #mylife by @colleenjstratton
9
13 days ago
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35 years ago I met you face to face and I fell in love so deeply that I will never forget that day. We have been through some of the best and some of the worst of times together, but every single moment has been better for having you in it. You still bring me so much joy every time we talk I hope you realize that I am still your biggest fan, your loudest cheerleader, and the person that would give her life before yours time and time again. Love you more than I can express. My heart, my Ry Ry. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! #firstbornfirstlove by @colleenjstratton
2
a month ago
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✨ This Week: Glimmers & Dimmers (Things I Never Wanted to Learn) I could feel the season changing this week, and it had me thinking about the seasons of our lives, too. This one has held beauty and burdens. And sometimes both at exactly the same time. The Glimmers • SIX of eight chemotherapy sessions DONE! We’re already planning and scheduling what comes next. 🙌 • Some of the year’s most spectacular sunrises and sunsets. Apparently Mother Nature knows when I need a reminder to look up. • Old friends calling out of the blue. I LOVE these surprises, especially in a hard moment. Hint: If I can talk, I’ll answer. If I can’t, I promise I’ll call back. ❤️ • My kids sharing the big and little joys of their lives with me. They have no idea what hearing their happiness does for my heart. • A husband who somehow manages to take care of me AND everything else in our lives. My rock. 🤍 • All the fall things: candle making, homemade lasagna and pumpkin bread, autumn decorations and the first changing leaves. 🍂 The Dimmers • Symptoms that seem to take turns—nausea, stomach issues, depression and a deep tiredness that sleep doesn’t always fix. • Not feeling well enough to travel this week. That means I can’t help John or take my soon-to-be 35-year-old out for his birthday. Sometimes what cancer takes away is simply being where you want to be. • More tooth problems. Another thousand dollars and fingers crossed we can avoid a root canal. Because apparently cancer wasn’t expensive enough. 😑 ✨ What I’m Carrying Into Next Week Maybe there’s a reason I’m noticing the changing season so much. This chapter has felt like a million tiny shifts—an endless journey of unlearning, healing and becoming. I keep wanting to measure progress by how far I’ve gone. But right now I’m learning to measure it differently. One day is one more step. And one more step IS movement. Six treatments down. Two to go. Then another season begins. And somewhere in all of this—one small step at a time—I am still becoming the woman I’ve always meant to be. 🤍 by @colleenjstratton
10
a month ago
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Today would have been my father-in-law Richard Stratton’s 95th birthday. He passed away last week, making today feel especially tender. Born on September 1, 1931, in Loveland, Colorado, he lived a long, full, and interesting life. He was a gifted author, endlessly curious, and deeply passionate about the things he loved. But today, I’m thinking less about what he accomplished and more about who he was to us—John’s dad, a grandfather, my father-in-law, and an important part of our family story. Happy 95th birthday, Dick. ❤️ I wish we could have celebrated this one with you. You are loved, missed, and remembered by @colleenjstratton
0
2 months ago
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I can show up but that doesn’t mean this feels normal. For those who navigated work during cancer-treatment, illness, grief or another life-changing season, how did you know when to keep going and when to give yourself permission to step back? #cancer by @colleenjstratton
6
2 months ago
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Happy Birthday to my dear, dear friend Tamara. ❤️ Sometimes people come into your life and you just know they were meant to find you. Tamara, you are one of those people for me. In this past year, you have become so much more than a friend and neighbor. You have been there through the fun, the laughter, the ordinary days, and the really hard ones. You’ve shown up again and again with love, encouragement, kindness, and the kind of support that I will never take for granted. I feel incredibly blessed that somehow life placed us not only in each other’s lives, but practically in each other’s backyards. 🥰 You are an amazing woman, a beautiful friend, and one of my biggest cheerleaders. I hope you know how loved and appreciated you are, not just today, but every single day. Happy Birthday, my friend. I am so grateful you showed up in my life. Here’s to so much more laughter, adventure, and life together. ❤️✨ Love you, Tamara. Happy Birthday! 🥂🎂 by @colleenjstratton
2
2 months ago
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How I begin my mornings now. ☕️✨ My pour over coffee, some solitude and an intention for healing. There is so much about this journey that I cannot control. But each morning, I can choose how I meet it. So I make my coffee. I read these words out loud. I remind my body what I’m asking of it and I remind myself what I believe is possible. Some mornings I feel every word deeply. Some mornings I simply say them and trust that is enough. This has become one of my rituals. A few quiet minutes to come home to myself before the day begins. Today, I choose healing. ❤️ by @colleenjstratton
0
2 months ago
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