About me

Hello my name is Stefanie Graffigna, I am a mother of 3 beautiful children and I've been married to my soul mate for 20 years this April. If it's alright with you, I'd like to share a little bit about my story.

I met my husband when I was 17, yes I was young but when you have met your soul mate age doesn't seem to matter. We bought our first house together in Oakhurst, a small town just outside Yosemite National Park. It was there I became a mama and my life changed forever. About 2 years later I had my second child and was now a mama of two beautiful baby girls by the time I was 23. As if I didn't have enough going on I also was in the beginning of my career as a Medical Assistant, you can imagine learning how to be a mom of two while still being a young wife at the same time was not easy. People don't realize it but after you have children your role as a wife changes from putting your energy into him to putting your energy into him and your babies and working to put food in the house and finding time to cook and feed your husband and children. Life was so incredibly busy that I could barely keep up with my two babies and take care of myself. There was no just being a wife anymore, it was now being a MOM! Flash forward a few years my husband talked me into having another baby because, although he loved our girls to the moon he really wanted to have a son. I agreed and after I went off my birth control we were pregnant for the 3rd time 3 months later. God answered my husbands prayer and our son was born in 2006, I was a mama again for the 3rd and final time, I was officially done and the tubes were tied. Now at the ripe age of 25 I was a mama of 3 and I had also jumped back into school to peruse a nursing career. Even as I'm writing this I still can't even fathom how I was able to function in a class room setting with 3 kids and a full time job. Now I will tell you my mother-in-law has been living with us since our first baby was born which has been helpful but she was still working as well so she would take the day shift of taking care of the kids while my husband and I were the night shift. Fast forward to 2014 I was still in school, working a 40 hours a week job, my kids were old enough to be self sufficient in not needing me as much and I was feeling like crap most days living off fake energy and riddled with anxiety form the chemicals and caffeine running through my body and maybe eating twice a day with candy sugar snacks in between. By 2015 an alarm went off in my head when I could barely lift my head up off my pillow, drag myself to the kitchen drink a full 20 ounce Red bull and still be able to take a nap 30 mins later. If that doesn't scream adrenal fatigue I don't know what does?

I then decided I was done forever drinking Red bull and OMG wow did it get worse before it got better. I became moody and agitated easily. My head was in a fog that I couldn't get out of. I became depressed and feeling worthless hating my body and not wanting to do anything but sleep. It took about six months for my body to reach some kind of balance between sleeping, working and going to class at night. In 2015 I decided I was going to go back to the gym and found a small all women's gym called Fight Girl Fitness. It was here the my true journey began. I found a love of heavy bag boxing, kickboxing and combination HITT workouts. I signed up for $1 my first month and I was hooked! It didn't matter that the next month I was paying $156.00 because I started feeling better and my Coaches were pushing me enough to keep me motivated for the next class. It was the belief that 2 coaches in particular had in me that kept me coming back. My light was burned out when I walked through the doors of that gym and by the time I left a flame was ignited. It was my new love of HITT workouts and a coach at my gym named Lindsay that opened me the the idea of doing a Spartan race with my little sister on Montana. My love of fitness brought me to an opportunity that is woven into the fabric of living an ebullient lifestyle. As you continue to pop in and read my little blog I will share with you what I found and how if has not only changed my life but the lives of those that have jumped at the same opportunity that found me at my first Spartan race.

#opportunity #lifechanging #myjournybegins