Welcome to Friday’s Featured Female!

This weekly series features inspirational stories from admirable women.  IMHO, it’s always good to be reminded of how strength, determination, hard work, heart and ingenuity can impact the quality of one’s life and I’m proud that these women will allow me to share their stories here.

Today’s #FFF is Christine Yu@LoveLifeSurf.  Christine and I have gotten to know one another in two very different and impactful environments that allowed us both to open new and exciting chapters in our lives.  We were social media newbies together at the first NYC Fitness Magazine Meet & Tweet and since then Christine has gone on to become an insightful writer (on her blog and publications like espnW), a fabulous photographer (her yoga selfies are brave and gorgeous) and newly minted yoga instructor!  I’m so proud to call this fabulous lady my friend.

Soooo have you met Christine?

I remember the first time I met Melissa. It was just about 7 years ago in Brooklyn. We were both first time moms, wide-eyed and absolutely clueless as to what we were doing with our then infant sons. We were both sleep deprived and afraid we were going to break our babies – you know, normal rational fears that new parents have. We met each week with our Mommy’s Group and each week, we would get together, reassure each other and support each other. Fast forward 5 or 6 years and our lives intersected again, this time through social media and our mutual love for fitness.

I’m so excited that Melissa has asked me to be a guest on her blog. I’m also so excited to see her blog and her new life in California grow and blossom. I’m excited to cheer her on as she established her own private nutrition practice. I just wish she was still in Brooklyn so that she could advise me!

Stepping out and building your own business is a scary thing. You see, I’m a planner. I like to have a clear sense of where things are going and what steps I need to take in order to get there. I like knowing the pros and cons, the risks and payoffs. I’m not particularly good with ambiguity or uncertainty. I’m not particularly good at trusting my gut all the time.

But, once I started blogging regularly, my gut started speaking to me more and speaking loudly. Blogging and social media opened up a new outlet for me and a place for me to experiment with my words, photography and yoga. It fed a creative part of me that I didn’t realize had been dormant for so long. I realized that I love connecting with people through my blog and social media. I love sharing stories about the challenges I face and what I learn from those experiences. I love creating creative and intelligent yoga sequences that choreograph the movement of bodies and breath in a room.

In the past year, I’ve decided to move away from my work as a freelance consultant to nonprofit organizations and to pursue a career as a freelance writer and yoga teacher. I completed my teacher training program in the fall and have begun pitching articles to different media outlets. I’m terrified and I feel like I am starting from scratch.

It’s incredibly easy to become paralyzed by my fear and to overanalyze the situation. Instead, I’m focusing on action to move my dreams forward. In lieu of resolutions, the word that I have chosen to focus on this year is DO. As I do, I’m keeping these lessons in mind:

• You will never be fully prepared. You won’t. It’s impossible.
• Focus on taking small steps forward every day. Daily action builds daily habits and forward motion.
• Show up. Show your face. Whether that means physically showing up in person or through other means, show that you are dependable and reliable and that you care.
• Dreams won’t come true if you don’t work. As much as I would love to believe that things will magically appear before my eyes, I know that I have to work if I want to be successful in my new career.
• At the same time, trust the Universe. I love this quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson – Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.

Christine Yu is the author of the blog Love, Life, Surf where she shares her love of fitness and stories about her experiences as a mom of two young boys trying to balance, work, family, fitness and healthy living. You can also find her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest.