About Me

Hey y'all, welcome to One Foot Forward! My name is Jessica. I love running, yoga, country music, the color purple, and kids. Born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, I now live in Nashville, Tennessee as a freshman student at Vanderbilt University studying elementary education.  This blog will be used to document my attempt to live a healthy and active lifestyle, despite the many temptations at college.  I hope that this blog will serve as a way for me to get advice from readers, speak my mind, and share my experiences.

It is important to know where I come from to understand where I strive to be in the future.

Throughout middle school and high school, I was very active.  I played on a select volleyball team for several years and played for my high school during my freshman year.  I met incredible people and made some unforgettable memories.  Practice two days a week and weekend tournaments kept me in shape and gave me a reason to stay fit.

My freshman year, I also decided to play in the marching band at my high school.  Next thing I knew, band took over my life.  I decided to stop playing volleyball and instead took up flute lessons.  Music was a source of pride, friendship, and focus.  I loved it- I still do. I stuck with marching band and concert band for all of my high school career. I met some of my best friends in marching band and I am so incredibly grateful for the time I had as a member of the Wildcat Pride Marching Band.

Sophomore year of high school brought some tough times for me.  After dealing with three family deaths in a very short amount of time, coupled with some pretty serious friend drama, I started to close people out.  I wanted no consolation, nor did I think I needed any.  With the strength of my wonderful parents, older sister, and friends, I worked through my troubles.  However, between my freshman year of high school and my senior year, I had gained nearly 30 pounds.  Senior year was filled with self-hate and regrets.  I wanted to be healthy.  I could not find the time to make the necessary changes in my life- at least that is what I told myself.

Senior pictures, April, 2013

                                            

The summer before leaving for college, I decided it was time to make a big change in my life.  I wanted to go off to college as a happy and healthy teenager, not one bogged down by self-hatred and dismay. 

My summer went like this: work all day, work out, eat dinner, go to bed, repeat. Most of the time, I would take fitness classes at our local gym.  I found that I LOVE kickboxing and pretty much suck at stepping classes.  Other favorites were an Insanity class and Total Conditioning.  Not only did I start working out; I began to eat healthy.

The result? Over the summer, I lost 15 pounds and was happier with my life than I ever remember being.  Not only that, I was proud of myself for the changes I had made, which was perhaps the best part of it all.  Suddenly, making healthy decisions was no longer the means to an end of losing weight; it has become my lifestyle.  And while I slip up and mess up, I always keep trying the best I can.  To keep fit in college, I started running and taking yoga. I officially ran my first 5k in December, 2013.

August, 2013

What I realized over the summer was that I do not want to be skinny. I want to be strong and live a healthy lifestyle.  That's easier said than done, especially on a college campus.  But that's why we are here.  I want to share with you my college experiences: my failures, my successes, and everything in between.