To honor the wonders of Valentine’s Day (yes, I’m being sarcastic), we decided to put together a little prize package that includes a lot of truth around the ups and downs of love. The packet includes an amazing anthology from The Sun Magazine entitled, The Mysterious Life of the Heart, the latest movie from award-winning filmmaker Kara Herold, Bachelorette, 34, and a couple of other sweet goodies.

I stood there, staring in the mirror. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” I thought. “Right f-in now?” It was t-minus two hours until he was arriving for the whole weekend, and not one, but two big zits right next to each other were red as a Santa costume and protruding like Kim Kardashian’s ass. “This is only going to get worse,” I thought. Ah, my skin. Or my bane, whatever you’d like to call it. I dealt with acne from puberty (which started at 10 for me – yeah, my breasts were larger at 12 than they are now) up until college, when I got on birth control pills. The wonder of several years of (mostly) clear skin, even bigger boobs, but oh yeah, a bigger waist to boot (and those fantastic mood swings). Yep, little spots of red on this part of my cheek, another one over here on my chin. After years of only wearing foundation when going out, I began to wear it on a daily basis. I finally figured it out – I have rosacea.

As the new year opens, many of us are resolving to get off the couch and get our bodies into shape. But if we don’t examine our underlying attitudes towards exercise, then we may end up facing some mental barriers to getting physical. Changing your mind might just be the first step to changing your body. Here are a few common notions – and their truths – that I have witnessed as a personal trainer.

Rules. They really are so passé, aren’t they? Especially when it comes to really and truly living life to its fullest. I love all of the positive beauty spinning around that seems to step it up a notch every single day (yet don’t forget feeling negative or depressed is a necessary part of being human, and is extremely valid – don’t try and push it away). Reminders are a grand thing, especially when they remind you to get just a little bit closer to the value of you. On that note, I thoroughly enjoyed this video about the importance of fun (how dare they!) that a friend recently posted on Facebook. In case you didn’t take notes, I want to quickly outline their eight principles of fun, and add some of my own defining perspectives. This is one of the best video summations of what I have found over the past couple of years to be the necessary “rules” to actually enjoying life, work, and relationships.

Oh, yes, you know what I’m talking about. And not in that, “Curses, foiled again!” kinda way. We’re all bad girls (and boys) deep down. Don’t get me wrong – I think this is a good thing. The only problem is when it becomes a choice between being a bad girl and being healthy. This, in a nutshell, is my continuous problem, challenge, thorn in my side, whathaveyou. Has been (not as in I’m a has-bin…you know what I mean) since about age 24. Ok, it actually was even before then, but that’s when I first began to realize it. Hey, drinking a lot of alcohol isn’t good for my mental stability! Eating a lot of sugar, whether that be cookies and ice cream or lots of yummy fruit, jacks me up and then down! Jazz hands!