Whitney Kell Presidential Director's Testimonial For TSFL

To be among this family and to get to be here for the stories and to feel this is my church. So I just want to thank everybody here for being part of my spiritual growth. Thank you.

Thank goodness Take Shape for Life is not just about weight loss, because my story, if I go back before Take Shape for Life, I was struggling with hypoglycemia. But most people in here wouldn't look at me and think, 'Oh, you need to lose weight.' And the biggest places where I've grown, which some people also share, is the mental health, healthy mind, and healthy finances as well. And they really all go together. And I've really come to realize that over the years, the way that I communicated... I thought it was beautiful how Debra shared it, that she was emotional and sad. I was angry, and you knew it. And those of you who've been here with me through the beginning know, I mean, if Allison Quillin is in the room, I'm sorry. I was angry. You were wrong. I found what was wrong, I was going to yell about it. I have no... And we all know the emotional intelligence terminology, right? Everybody's familiar with emotional intelligence, where you handle things non-emotionally so you can be part of the solution and learn and hear people, be coachable and teachable. That was not me. I was... I used to say my personality is my birth control. And then I look back on healthy kindness. That's true. People don't want to be around me.

And if I look back at healthy finances, which I'm super excited to have the opportunity to talk about and focus on even more, because the more I learn about where I was, the more I realized that people are dealing with financial crisis in this country like I was back then. Has anybody heard about the credit card shuffle? The credit card shuffle. Back when I did the credit card shuffle, it was where you get those things in the mail that say, 'Hey, you can get our interest rate free interest,' and they send you a check. And yeah, take that check and I'd write it for all the credit card that I have, and they give you just a little bit more, of course they charge you for it. I'm paying for it, but I didn't care about that. And I would spend that money, and I was living beyond my means, and I wasn't paying attention to that area. Had no discipline. Nobody taught me how to deal with money. They didn't teach me about it, just like food. I didn't know about the discipline. And I was out of control.

And I look back and living paycheck to paycheck, working a job I absolutely hated, 12-hour days with a boss that yells at me all the time, and I wasn't making money at the end of the month. I'll never forget, I was going out with the girls, I still had to pay rent, and I went to go to my checking account and I had a hundred dollars in my checking account. It was not... I was not healthy mentally, physically, or financially. I was hurting. And you know when you're competitive like I've been over the years and you're in survival and scarcity, how does that come across when someone's not present or able to be abundant for someone else? So it was bad. I mean, growing up in this community and being part of this environment and actually making income, the people who are in here making two thousand dollars more a month as executive directors, what I learned is if I took that money and I invested in coming into these events and being with these people who are emotionally intelligent, who had things that I wanted, and working with great mentors like Dr. Ray and Dan and Laurie and Craig Rex, the love of my life, to be able to get to grow in this environment.

And one of the things I learned about when I was looking at the financial situation is the biggest taboo to talk about. What do you think it is? What's the biggest taboo in this country to talk about? Finance, credit card debt. It's a bigger taboo than sex. So I guess we know about sex, we can't talk about credit card debt though. That's a scary topic, right? And to have a chance to grow in so many different areas and to have an offering that can really transform someone's life because of what we've been able to create. I lost nine pounds in four weeks. That's my story from when I first started when I was 31 years old. I managed my hypoglycemia. I just lost seven pounds again with the 12-week challenge because I'm in an environment where we practice what we preach. And we get off track from time to time. I am a human being and I'm going to make a lot of mistakes. And I'm so grateful to be in this room, in this environment, where I get loved until I can love myself enough to hear you and to do the activities that I need to take.

So healthy body, I think I'm in pretty good shape. I'm taking it to the next level, but I'm excited. Healthy mind, the opportunity to read, to learn. I didn't know that I didn't graduate high school. I was not the most likely person to be successful. I should not be standing up here by any other account. I was in the smoking section while most people were on track or doing something productive. No one taught me how to communicate, so I beat the crap out of myself and guess who else I would start to beat up? So my life was dysfunctional, but I didn't know it until I got a chance to come into this environment and get asked questions and to take time out to listen to my heart and listen to what I needed to learn from all of you. And I'm still working at it. Every time I come into these rooms, it's a reflection of an opportunity for me to look at how I can move forward and what the next step is.

So I just want to say thank you to my sweetheart and the love of my life and for this vehicle, because I would not be in a relationship with the man of my dreams. Because what's the number one reason that people get divorced? They say money. And why? Because you yell at people and you're angry when you're scared and when you're in survival. And I've been learning how to not communicate in a violent way, to really ask questions about myself and how I'm looking at things. And I couldn't be more grateful. And I am a different human being standing before you. And if any of you in the room are thinking, 'Oh gosh, why was this girl getting off the stage or all these stories?' This is the journey. This is the journey. And I think the journey is my destination. This moment in time to have the opportunity to be here among all of you and to celebrate you all as you come up and share your stories and move me to tears and gratitude, to feel like you're in a community that I never got an option to be in when I was young. I don't have a big family, but you guys are my family.