Welcome to happiness and your new life
On the New Normal Big Life Blog, using science-based principles and activities, you’ll learn how to create your new normal around health and fitness, relationships, and careers to create more happiness — living the biggest life you can envision.
Antoinette Lee Toscano is an outdoor industry influencer, model, consultant, writer, philanthropist, and motivational health and wellness speaker, delivering the “New Normal Big Life” talk and blog. Her debut book is Four Hours to Live—A Soldier’s Journey of Adoption, Assault, and Advocacy. Aside from an amazing recovery journey from using a walker, a service dog, and a full-time caregiver after a traumatic brain injury, spine injury, and PTSD, Antoinette shows others how to create their “new normal” and live the “biggest life” they can envision.
I’ve benefited greatly by processing what happened to me and developing strategies for managing PTSD, anxiety, and depression with a licensed mental health professional. And I encourage you to find a professional to help you on your journey.
Antoinette Lee
Next, what makes the New Normal Big Life Blog different from all the other self-help blogs, books, and speeches is this — science and lived experience. Our approach is centered around three areas:
Living a new normal big life
About seven years ago, after serving 11 years in the U.S. army, Antoinette was severely debilitated. During her military service, she experienced a broken back, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, a severely dislocated shoulder, and post-traumatic stress (PTS). Later, Antoinette became agoraphobic — afraid to leave her home. She needed the assistance of a walker to get around and help from a service dog and a full-time caregiver.
Later, using Cognitive behavioral therapy and the principles of positive psychology, Antoinette took her health into her own hands.
She realized that she was never getting her old life back. She needed to create her new normal, and Antoinette wanted to live a big life.
And she did just that. Today, Antoinette lives an adventure sports lifestyle. She’s ditched her walker, her service dog is now a semi-retired family pet, and she’s living an amazingly big life.
Meanwhile, doing the same in your own life is within your reach. Mourn your old life. Determine what your new normal will be. And set out to live the biggest life you can envision.
Credit: MBerrafato_Images
Being happy is a choice. It might sometimes feel like happiness is absolutely outside of our control, but that’s not the case.
Some people will stumble onto happiness.
Others need a little help with “finding” it.
An ability to have unconditional happiness — happiness that’s not dependent on your circumstances is what’s needed for a lifetime of joyful bliss.
Long-term happiness requires three things:
1. Knowing what makes you happy.
2. Practicing happiness activities.
3. Creating sustained happiness.
Our happiness mission
The New Normal Big Life Blog’s purpose is to guide you through the process of discovering what makes you happy, teaching you how to practice happiness activities, and creating a life strategy for sustained, real happiness.
Sound too much like wishful thinking?
Well, it’s all based on Professor Sonja Lyubomirsky and other happiness researchers’ work.
As a professor of psychology — Sonja Lyubomirsky says …
“This much happiness—up to 40%—is within our power to change.”
Sonja lyumbomirsky
The 40% of your happiness within your control can be improved through intentional activities.
Therefore, Lyubomirsky and others in the field of positive psychology say that 50% of your happiness — your happiness set point, is based on genetics, sort of like whether or not you’ll have trouble managing your weight or cholesterol.
Consequently, the other 10% is based on your circumstances — environment, opportunities, experiences, etc.
Are you ready to start creating your new normal and living a big and exciting life?
Take these three happiness steps today!
Step 1: Read our monthly ‘New Normal Big Life Blog’ for how-to strategies.
Step 2: Follow me on Instagram for help and inspiration in creating your exciting, happy, and healthy new life.
Step 3: Subscribe to our monthly newsletter and get step-by-step tutorials, video content, discounts, and giveaways.
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