Today we’d like to introduce you to Annie Harney.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I became a fitness instructor while in graduate school getting my masters in education. It began as somewhat of a “side hustle” while working as a paraprofessional and then both substitute and student teacher. I quickly learned how passionate I truly am about wellness and that even though it is not necessarily my primary and only job, it is a theme that I carry with me into the classroom as well as across all aspects of life.
Over the past year, I have been discovering and healing from various chronic health conditions and have realized just how important it is for me to listen to my body. Doctor after doctor told me everything seemed “normal” regardless of the number of sinus infections (and antibiotics prescribed over the years), respiratory and pulmonary issues, severe fatigue and so much more. This past fall, I finally sought out a naturopath and she was the game changer. After finally finding someone to help me look for a ROOT CAUSE versus treat symptoms, everything changed. I found out a multitude of causes over the following months including POTS/dysautonomia (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome), nephritis(inflammation of the kidneys), anemia, nutrient malabsorption, intestinal permeability, adrenal fatigue, and various unidentified autoimmune reactions. My takeaway- my previous doctors were wrong for over a decade and following my gut, finding the right doctors for me, and searching for root causes were all crucial to healing.
My Instagram (aipwithgritandgrace) and blog AIP with Grit and Grace: Adventure In Progress began after giving up my fitness classes in order to focus on my main job and passion as a special education teacher while healing my body. I found blogging and photography and turned them into my new and less physically demanding outlet for spreading wellness and positivity.
Since the very first class I taught, I have always focused the class on wellness and how you feel versus weight loss and calories burned. I always want to spread the message that exercise is a celebration of our body’s abilities, not a punishment for the ice cream we ate last night or to earn our turkey at Thanksgiving dinner. After realizing my body was not as “typical” as I and doctors previously believed, I worked to reframe my mindset and focus on movement over exercise. I may not be able to do intense workouts that I had loved in the past, running especially, but I realized that honing in on what my body was asking for rather than what I told myself I wanted inevitably made things so much easier and far more enjoyable.
Somehow, in this long process, I unknowingly healed so many disordered eating and other negative thoughts I used to harp on in the past. After learning that removing gluten was vital to my health and well-being, things began to change. I was living with pains and digestive issues I never even realized I’d had. When you’ve both lived with something and been told it’s “normal” or “due to anxiety” for such a long span of time (12 years at the very least), you begin to assume it is nothing major and that everyone experiences those symptoms. I was suddenly able to identify when a food did not agree with my stomach because I had finally been told that some of the symptoms I’d been reporting for years were due to various foods and in fact NOT my mental state. This discovery led me to the practice of intuitive eating. Since these changes in mindset and reframing of my thoughts, I’ve been working to help spread the idea of intuitive living and wellness without obsession.
Has it been a smooth road?
I know it is cliche, but I do like to say and think that it can always be worse…however I do have to admit that the past two years or so were not my easiest health wise. With so many different health conditions flaring and unidentified, I was completely worn down for far too long. And although I did not feel this way every second of every day, I recently realized that these setbacks and the entire process have led to the best relationship I have had with both food and my body in my entire life. I do believe that this relationship, as well as the people I have met and connected with over the past year, are the silver lining I found and the positive outcome of a “not-so-positive” time in my life. Although I do still miss teaching my regular classes at the gym, I finally realized I can use other skills to create and spread the same messages. I have transferred my creative energy into photography, learning and practicing as much as I can, and have embraced my writing abilities in order to spread a message of self-love and wellness without obsession. I just needed to reframe my own thoughts and be creative with the skills and resources I have at this moment.
As for advice, my most important tip would have to be that you are your best advocate, especially when it comes to your health! No one else knows your body the way you know your body, and not one single plan or routine will work for everyone. I think that reframing my thoughts was the biggest factor in getting myself to where I am right now. I believe one of the most important pieces of my reframing process was education. Through educating myself I was able to learn more about intuitive living and how to truly listen to my body. The resources that played the biggest roles in this process would have to be the following podcasts:
The Chasing Joy Podcast with Georgie Morley: an amazing podcast similar to a conversation with a friend over coffee. I have learned so much about intuitive living through Georgie’s advice and interviews. She completely helped change my outlook on so many aspects of life as well as introduced the next two podcasts to my top favorites!
The Living Proof Podcast with Engrid Latina: another great source for reframing your mindset around food and your body. Engrid is so candid on the subject of diet culture and her own mind-body relationship that I immediately related on every level and could not stop listening.
The Nourishing Women Podcast with Meg Dixon and Victoria Myers: led by two registered dieticians, this podcast is full of endless (research-based) information– and not solely about diet and food! They fully advocate for positive mind-body relationships and debunking diet culture.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with AIP with Grit and Grace: Adventure In Progress – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
I began my Instagram, aipwithgritandgrace, as a way to connect with others who have had similar experiences. As more and more people asked me about gut health tips, resources I’d used, doctor’s I’d seen etc. I realized that I could also use this handle to help others. If something took me over a year to figure out, why not share the information, resources, professionals, etc. that have helped me in order to help others find answers (hopefully) quicker than I was able to find them! My mission quickly shifted to spreading knowledge and helping others break free of unhealthy habits while embracing and celebrating their body and its abilities. I soon began my blog AIP with Grit and Grace: Adventure In Progress. After having to give up my classes at the gym and studios at which I had been teaching, I wanted an outlet to spread wellness in a less physically demanding manner. In doing so I have met and connected with amazing groups of people both locally and across the country.
My goal is to help others reframe their thoughts and find a positive relationship with wellness that focuses on movement over exercise as well as intuitive eating rather than obsessive routines and regimens. I hope to share this message through spreading knowledge and awareness around: breaking free of diet culture, identifying disordered thoughts and their triggers, as well as concepts of intuitive eating and living. I feel as though we are saturated with photos and media that promote diet culture and send messages telling us to overdo it in all corners of wellness leading to obsessive behaviors and disordered thoughts around both food and fitness. Rather than encouragement to get moving or to listen to our bodies and take rest days, we see quote after quote about resting when we’re dead and to keep going unless we puke, faint, or die. I am aware that these messages are not meant to necessarily be literal (especially the last one), but these exact messages are the ones that lead so many of us to ignore our own body’s cues and soon lose the mind-body connection keeping our body healthy and safe in the first place.
Our society tends to glorify the idea that the busier you are and the harder and longer you work (or workOUT), the happier and more successful you will be in life. (Do not get me wrong, I’m not advocating for everyone to throw in the towel and be lazy 100% of the time; far from it! But be gentle with yourself and allow your body and mind to rest.) We also tend to believe that thinness equals health and restriction equal a healthy diet, FALSE! I fell victim to both of these mindsets for far too long and realized just how common and widespread they are. Moving forward, I hope to help others break free of those beliefs.
Many people say that “everything happens for a reason”. Although I do not necessarily truly believe this cliche through and through, I believe that if we search for the “why?” and “what can I learn or take from this situation?”, then positivity can be a product of a negative time in our lives. Through healing my body and building back strength, I learned more about myself physically and emotionally than I ever had before. I learned and decided that MY “why” is to help others break free of unhealthy habits while embracing and celebrating their body and its abilities. I hope to use my voice to continue to spread knowledge and themes of intuitive living, health at every size, and wellness without obsession as I continue through this “wellness world”.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.aipwithgritandgrace.com
- Email: aipwithgritandgrace@gmail.com
- Instagram: aipwithgritandgrace
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aipwithgritandgrace/
Getting in touch: BostonVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
