{"id":190,"date":"2025-07-04T18:31:50","date_gmt":"2025-07-04T18:31:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/evolvetofitness.com\/?page_id=190"},"modified":"2025-08-07T14:52:17","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T14:52:17","slug":"my-story","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/evolvetofitness.com\/index.php\/my-story\/","title":{"rendered":"My Story"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignfull has-heading-font-family has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\" style=\"margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--50);padding-right:var(--wp--preset--spacing--50);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--50);padding-left:var(--wp--preset--spacing--50)\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns alignwide is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-layout-1 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\" style=\"padding-right:0;padding-left:0\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video\"><video controls poster=\"https:\/\/evolvetofitness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/image.jpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/evolvetofitness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Terry-Meyer-Profile-Video.mp4\"><\/video><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-vertical is-content-justification-center is-nowrap is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-layout-2 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-body-font-family has-small-font-size\"> <strong>Terry Meyer <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-body-font-family has-small-font-size\">Certified Christian Health Coach<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide is-vertical is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-layout-3 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<p class=\"has-body-font-family\">        Growing up in a home shaped by my mother\u2019s alcoholism and the absence of my father\u2014who passed away when I was eight\u2014I learned young how to fend for myself. In an attempt to navigate the chaos, I developed coping mechanisms centered around control: striving for perfect behavior, perfect grades, and a flawless appearance. I believed these efforts might earn my mother\u2019s approval or at least keep the peace. But no matter how hard I tried, I could never meet her impossible standards. Her unpredictable outbursts of anger left me feeling anxious and emotionally unsafe, planting the seeds of trauma that followed me throughout my childhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-body-font-family\">         My drive to please others didn\u2019t end with childhood; it followed me well into adulthood. I kept telling myself, <em>\u201cIf I can just get it right\u2026\u201d<\/em>\u2014as if the perfect response, the perfect version of me, would finally earn the approval I was chasing. But no matter how hard I tried, I always seemed to fall short. What I didn\u2019t know then was that perfection isn\u2019t just unattainable\u2014it\u2019s a moving target that keeps you running in circles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-body-font-family\">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The same perfectionism crept into how I saw my body. My mother made it clear early on that being overweight was unacceptable. I was just nine when I went on my first diet. From that point on, I was constantly monitoring, measuring, restricting\u2014through junior high, high school, and into college. In college, I discovered weight training and quickly became obsessed\u2014not with competition, but with control. I began working out alongside female bodybuilders, drawn to the discipline and the drastic physical changes their routines promised. It became another way to chase an ideal I could never quite reach. It wasn\u2019t until I became pregnant with my first child that I began to loosen my grip on the misconceptions of physical perfection\u2014ideals my mother had instilled in me, and I had faithfully carried forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-body-font-family\">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; But then came the divorce from my children\u2019s father, and with it, a new level of pressure. As the stress of single motherhood and providing for my family intensified, so did my need for control. I turned my focus once again to my appearance\u2014managing my body like a project\u2014and sought validation through relationships, hoping they might fill the void of worth I couldn\u2019t find within myself. But the men I chose mirrored the dysfunction I had grown up with: emotionally abusive, continuing the painful pattern my mother had set in motion. With each relationship, I felt smaller, more diminished. By the time I entered my fourth significant relationship after the divorce\u2014married to the man I would later refer to as my \u201csuper-abuser\u201d\u2014I had hit bottom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-body-font-family\">I was trapped in a full-blown shame cycle. Physically, I was falling apart. I developed high blood pressure for the first time in my life, despite always having had low readings. Chronic migraines plagued me three or more days each week. I was anxious, depressed, and barely hanging on at work, despite holding a leadership role in healthcare. My body was screaming\u2014constant neck and back pain, unrelenting fatigue\u2014but I kept pushing forward, disconnected from what I truly needed and unable to imagine another way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized is-style-rounded\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/evolvetofitness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/image-5-768x1024.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-198\" style=\"width:601px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/evolvetofitness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/image-5-768x1024.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/evolvetofitness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/image-5-225x300.jpeg 225w, https:\/\/evolvetofitness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/image-5-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, https:\/\/evolvetofitness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/image-5.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-body-font-family\">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; One night, everything came to a head. My blood pressure was dangerously high, and the pain from a migraine was so intense I truly feared I might be having a stroke. Desperate and terrified, I made my way to the Emergency Room. After a full exam and testing, the doctor confirmed it was yet another severe migraine\u2014but before discharging me, he gently suggested I seek help for anxiety. For reasons I didn\u2019t fully understand at the time, I agreed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-body-font-family\">Through my insurance, I found a therapist\u2014and she turned out to be nothing short of God-sent. From our very first session, she began guiding me deep into the layers of my past, helping me uncover the trauma that had long fueled my need for control. But what set her apart\u2014what made all the difference\u2014was that she was a Christian. She prayed with me, and for me. She didn\u2019t just help me understand my pain; she helped me invite God into it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-body-font-family\">At her recommendation, I also began attending Al-Anon as support for friends and family of alcoholics. And it was there, in those humble rooms filled with others navigating life in the wake of someone else\u2019s addiction, that I truly found God\u2014not just as an idea, but as a loving presence who had been pursuing me all along.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-body-font-family\">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; That\u2019s where my true faith journey began. I had been raised in the church, but for most of my life, I was just a participant\u2014present in the pews but disconnected in spirit. Then one day, sitting quietly in an Al-Anon meeting, I heard something that pierced through the noise inside me. It wasn\u2019t just a phrase or a story\u2014it was the Word of God, speaking directly to my heart. He told me there was a better way to live.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-body-font-family\">From that moment, something shifted. I began reading the Bible\u2014not as an obligation, but as a lifeline. I meditated on God\u2019s Word, prayed earnestly for His guidance, and slowly surrendered my will to His. For the first time, I truly became part of a faith community\u2014not just in attendance, but in spirit and truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-body-font-family\">As my relationship with God deepened, so did the transformation within me. Acceptance began to take root\u2014not as a moment, but as a way of life. I learned to forgive my mother, not by denying the hurt, but by understanding that she, too, was doing the best she could with what she had. She was human, just like me. And for the first time, I began to see myself with that same compassion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-body-font-family\">I stopped demanding perfection from myself. I started offering myself grace\u2014grace for the missteps, the regrets, the years spent lost in pain. And in that grace, and in my walk with God in His grace, I found freedom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-body-font-family\">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Today, with the Holy Spirit guiding my every step, I live one day at a time for Jesus. My prayers are no longer reserved for specific times\u2014they flow throughout the day as conversations with God, moments of listening, leaning in, and trusting His voice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-body-font-family\">Now, I have the privilege of walking alongside other women on their own health and wellness journeys. Many come searching for answers to physical concerns, but with gentle guidance and the presence of the Holy Spirit, they begin to uncover something deeper\u2014a longing for peace, purpose, and connection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-body-font-family\">Through this sacred work, I get to witness women discover an intimate, loving relationship with Christ. And as they draw closer to Him, their paths toward healing\u2014body, mind, and spirit\u2014begin to unfold. It is a beautiful reminder that true transformation begins not with striving, but to thriving through acceptance and surrender.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons alignwide is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-layout-1 wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button has-custom-width wp-block-button__width-50 has-body-font-family\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-custom-color-2-color has-text-color has-link-color has-text-align-center wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/evolvetofitness.com\/index.php\/connect\/\">Let&#8217;s Connect<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide size-full is-style-rounded\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1152\" height=\"720\" src=\"https:\/\/evolvetofitness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/image-6-edited.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-201\" srcset=\"https:\/\/evolvetofitness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/image-6-edited.jpeg 1152w, https:\/\/evolvetofitness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/image-6-edited-300x188.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/evolvetofitness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/image-6-edited-1024x640.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/evolvetofitness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/image-6-edited-768x480.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1152px) 100vw, 1152px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Terry Meyer Certified Christian Health Coach Growing up in a home shaped by my mother\u2019s alcoholism and the absence of my father\u2014who passed away when I was eight\u2014I learned young how to fend for myself. In an attempt to navigate the chaos, I developed coping mechanisms centered around control: striving for perfect behavior, perfect grades, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/evolvetofitness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/190"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/evolvetofitness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/evolvetofitness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evolvetofitness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evolvetofitness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=190"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/evolvetofitness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/190\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":335,"href":"https:\/\/evolvetofitness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/190\/revisions\/335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/evolvetofitness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}