The Sardines Were Not the Problem…

Hi friends,

Don't tell my husband, but Adina and I have been feeding a stray cat.

Her name is CC. Every day around 5pm she appears at our back door and unleashes what can only be described as the most dramatic, emotionally manipulative meow I've ever heard come out of an animal. We can't HELP but feed the poor thing!

For a while, we were tossing her little bits of cheese. Then last week Adina remembered we had several cans of sardines sitting in the cupboard. No one in this household was planning to eat those sardines, so naturally, they became cat food.

The problem is that Adina discovered she didn't actually know how to open a sardine can. Which resulted in me finding a half-pried-open can and sardine juice all over the pool deck.

Already a strong start.

Then she left the can outside for CC and ran next door to play. A little while later, I came back outside and noticed the can was gone.

Not empty.

Gone.

So now I'm looking around the yard wondering if we've accidentally created a very sophisticated cat who understands food storage. And then I saw it.

The entire can was sitting at the bottom of the pool. Sardines floating around it like tiny fishy pool noodles.

This is apparently the reward I get for encouraging independence. Parents know exactly what I'm talking about. You want your kids to learn how to do things for themselves. You don't want to be packing their lunches, opening their cans, and paying their rent when they're 37. So you let them try things. And then you spend the next hour cleaning up whatever happened as a result. These are the growing pains.

And standing waist-deep in a pool, fishing out swimming sardines while Adina happily played next door, I found myself thinking...actually in that moment I was swearing a few choice words- Reflection came much later.

Let me start again.

And standing waist-deep in a pool, fishing out swimming sardines while Adina happily played next door, I much later found myself thinking...

This is actually how we need to approach our bodies sometimes. Not the sardines part. The willingness to let things happen part. Because I see a lot of people trying so hard not to make mistakes.

Not to flare up.

Not to move wrong.

Not to regress.

Not to get hurt.

And while that caution often comes from a very understandable place (no one wants to cause themselves more pain) eventually it can keep us stuck. Sometimes the body needs permission to try something new.

A new movement. A new exercise. A new strategy.

And yes, occasionally that experiment ends with metaphorical sardines in the pool. But that's also how we learn. That's how new muscles start contributing. That's how new movement patterns emerge. That's how the nervous system discovers that something is safe.

Example A: I've been doing weighted core exercises at the gym for the last few months. For years I would have told you there was no chance I'd ever do that comfortably after a C-section and diastasis. And yet here we are. My core is stronger precisely because I was willing to take the risk and find out what my body could do.

Example B: I saw something similar with a client this week. He's been dealing with significant back pain for months. We've spent a lot of time working on awareness, core activation, and building support. This week? We threw all the rules out the window. We stopped worrying about what should be happening and focused entirely on movements that felt good. And guess what? No flare-ups or angry back afterwards.

Sometimes the thing that helps isn't doing more. Sometimes the thing that's going to help- is doing something different. Something so far out in left field that you perhaps can't even see it. (Ah-hem. That's my job as a CES!)

That's one of the biggest misconceptions I see in fitness. People think progress comes from avoiding mistakes. But often progress comes from gathering information: trying something, paying attention, adjusting and then learning from that experience. The body is remarkably adaptable when we give it the chance.

So if you're feeling stuck right now—whether it's pain, weakness, recovery, strength training, pregnancy, postpartum, menopause, or just feeling disconnected from your body—maybe ask yourself:

Where am I playing it too safe?

Where might I need to experiment a little?

Where might I need to trust my body more?

Worst case scenario? You end up with sardines in the pool.

Best case scenario? You discover something you didn't think was possible.

And if you're not sure where that line is, that's where I come in.

👉 Ways to work with me: https://www.transformation-nation.com/upcoming​

In the meantime, I'll be over here trying to keep stray cats alive and fish out of my swimming pool.

Big love,

Coach Joanie