Reginald D Sits Down With Sandy Joy Weston M.Ed. (Inspiring Others Through Movement, Words, and Adjusting Your Mindset) Motivational Speech

Reginald D interviews Sandy Joy Weston, a motivational speaker, host of "Let's Keep It Real Podcast," an entrepreneur, and owner of Weston Health Clubs. 

Sandy shares her mission to spread joy through fitness and her belief in the power of movement, words, and laughter. She emphasizes the importance of adjusting one's mindset and perspective to find joy in any situation.  She firmly believes that you have to train your head and body to improve your life!

Sandy also discusses her lifelong practice of using movement, words, and laughter to cultivate a positive mindset and inspire others.

Episode Resources and links:

The book: Train Your Head and Your Body Will Follow

Website: Sandy Joy Weston M.Ed.

Instagram: Sandy Joy Weston (@sandyjoyweston)

Twitter: Sandy Joy Weston (@SandyJoyWeston) / Twitter

Facebook: Sandy Joy Weston | Facebook

LinkedIn: Sandy Joy Weston

Podcast:  Let's Keep It Real Podcast

Transcript

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Welcome to Real Talk with Reginald. I'm your host Reginald. Today I have a phenomenal woman on the show today. Sandy Joy Weston. Sandy is a motivational speaker, host of Let's Keep It Real podcast, an author and an entrepreneur, and the owner of Weston Health Clubs. Welcome to the show, Sandy. Oh, I'm so happy to be here. I was thrilled when you reached out. Thank you. It's definitely an honor to have you on the show. Definitely an honor. So can you give us a little background on who Sandy Joy Weston is? Ah, well, I spread joy. That's what I do. I spread joy. That's my whole mission in life to spread joy. And I was very, very fortunate enough to use fitness as my vehicle. But since I was a kid, I always knew that I could use movement, words and laughter to not only get myself in a positive mindset, but also others. So I have used those three simple things my entire life, no matter how bad the situation, what was going on, I would move around to music or anything, just dance around. I would focus in on one word. I would pick a different word every single day, even since I was nine, of how I wanted to show up in the world. It could be peace, joy, power, fun, didn't matter. And then I would make light of everything. So when things got really tough, I could spin the story and see the light side of it. And those three things I have done my entire life just to get out of a really bad situation. I had no idea that I was gonna be building a career out of it and spreading joy with movement, words and laughter. I just knew it worked for me. So I guess it's all about adjusting your mindset every day of what you're about to basically come up against. You know, we all know that. It's like, okay, if I could get in the right frame of mind, the same story would look different, the same situation. You could look at somebody's life, right? And there would be a hundred people there and somebody thinks it's the worst thing ever. And others are like, yeah, this is pretty good. And it really just depends on your perspective. I think where we get lost is we make a big, hairy deal out of things. We overcomplicate things. And so what I do is teach people things that only take a few minutes that they can do every single day. Because I don't think it has to be time consuming or complicated. It just has to be consistent until you build that habit so that you, you know, obviously you're gonna be sad, angry, upset, all those emotions in life. They're part of being human. But what I teach is how to shift out of it quicker, not get stuck in there so that you can have more joy. So tell us about the childhood growing up. I mean, what struggles did you go through? Well, it's funny because until last year, everyone just assumed, Reginald, that I grew up with a wealthy family who were always very happy and loving because of who I was. They didn't ask me, they just assumed she must've came from this awesome family. And they had money because otherwise, where would she be? How did she get all this and her attitude in life? And it was the furthest from the truth. So I did grow up with challenging in the projects. But I also grew up with a mom that battled severe, severe mental health issues. So she spent maybe 50% of her life in mental institutions. And I guess I thought, okay, I have two choices here. I'm gonna end up like everybody else here, or I'm gonna be obstinate and figure a way out. And I was a very obstinate person. Like if you told me I couldn't do something, I wanted to do it. And so I think that God put me in the right family because I think if I was put in a family that was really nice and happy, I'd end up down the other path just to be completely opposite. But for me, this family, it pushed me to really tap into my heart to see the full potential of why I was brought here and my unique gifts. And when I did that, that's when I came up with movement, words and laughter. And every single day since I can remember, I did that to get out of what was going on right in front of me, drown out all the noise, all the screaming, all the yelling and go into another world where I could see beyond what was right in front of me and visualize where I wanted to go. And I did that. I mean, I don't even think I missed a day because it was only a minute. You don't take long. I'd dance around, thought of a word, I'd make myself laugh. And I would draw on that throughout the day. I also realized how quickly you could shift others' energy because I would go to the mental institution and I would bring my tap shoes. And when all the patients were gathering to get their medicine, I'd walk around and say, you don't need that, just watch me. I'll bring you joy. And then I had my little boombox, put on the music and I would start tap dancing away. And I could see instantly how they would laugh and smile. And I don't know what was gonna happen to them beyond that. But in that moment, I felt they had hope and I had hope. And then I could reach somebody with that. It was just so magical for me to see that shift. Now, I'm sure some of them really didn't need their medicine because not all of them could go without it. But at least for that moment, I could do that. So that's why I wanted to do something in life that was not only dealing with mental and physical wellbeing, but it would also make you laugh, you smile and bring you joy. Awesome. So let me ask you a question. Did the staff kick you out when you started? Yes, yes. My brother would be with me and he'd be like, we're gonna get kicked out. And it depended on the staff. I mean, this was years ago. So it wasn't all the security they have now. Some of them welcomed me tap dancing and some of them did because as long as the patients were happy, they were happy. So it was good. It was good for them. It was definitely good for me. So what was your dream as a child? What did you wanna be as a child growing up? I wanted to be a dancer. So since I was four, I'd been dancing and I remember thinking, I need somebody to pay for my dance lessons. Like I really needed to find somebody to pay for my dance lessons. And I don't know, I can't remember it was my fourth or fifth birthday, but I remember the relatives were there and jumping up on this little Hassick footstool and started dancing. And I was like, which one of you suckers are paying for my dance lesson? And I said, I'm not stopping dancing until somebody's gonna pay for my lesson. And my uncle, my uncle Don, God bless him, he paid for most of my dance lessons and would take me to dance lessons. And that was a saving grace for me. I had dance as my outlet and I was really good at it. I performed all over the place and was in all the school plays and I got myself a scholarship to go to school. It was one because we were poor, my grades and also my dance. So for me, I wanted to go to Broadway. I mean, I wanted to be on Broadway. So I picked a college near New York City, which was Montclair College and it was 20 minutes outside New York City. Now this is great. But then I got there as an old, and I was like, oh my gosh, I'm in trouble. These people are so good. And I realized even though I practiced 12 hours a day, I wasn't as good as most of these dancers. And so after three years, I hadn't, you know, shift. I took a year off and I ended up finding myself back in Pennsylvania area at Westchester College, where dance was in the health and phys ed department. And that took me down a whole nother path that I didn't even know was there for me. Wow, so you went on a whole nother journey. A whole nother journey. A whole nother journey. Yeah, I wanted to be a dance teacher. I wanted to, you know, then I was like, okay, I'll be a dance teacher. That's what I'll do. I love to dance. Wasn't good enough at Broadway. It was in the health and phys ed department. I'll teach dance classes and I'll be a dance teacher. So this whole nother journey, how did that change your life? Well, I had no idea nor desire to be an entrepreneur. Like that was not my goal. And most people would have thought I was a fool to take a year off and drop out of school. And I did lose my scholarship because I did that. Like if I would have stayed in, I would have kept my scholarship. But I really followed my heart and knew there was something more. And during that time, I mean, I was waitressing, pumping gas, doing what I had to do. And then ended up having to pay for school, you know, and taking me longer. And you would have thought, okay, she threw her life away now. She's gonna have these student loans. But something in me was able to tune out all the negative chatter again and not listen to everyone. Because if I did, I would never would have went to college. Because even my college counselor said, be grateful to graduate high school. Like didn't think I was gonna make it to college. And now here I am dropping out, which everyone's probably thinking, oh, she's never gonna go back. But I just knew there was another way for me. And then I start teaching fitness dance classes as my intern, like, so you have to do an internship when you're at school. And I started doing these fitness classes and they would teach me how to put fitness in these aerobic classes. And I would teach them the dance. And that led me to teach group fitness. And that led me to managing the group fitness department and the pro shop and doing other things in the health club, their corporate sales. And that led me to people that said, hey, can you train me in my home? So there I am teaching classes and it was in a pretty wealthy area. And at the time there weren't that many in-home trainers. And one of the students said, would you train me in my home? And I'm thinking, okay. And that started my in-home training business, which I met all the who's who in the Philadelphia era. You name it. And I was training them in their home. And to this day, people say to me, okay, what's the secret to success? I mean, how did you get to owning this private training business to people wanting to back you for your health club? And I didn't have any business courses or leadership courses. I can just say that everything I did, Reginald, everything I did, I did it to serve others. I wanted to be the best I could at everything I did, whatever it was. Waitressing, pumping gas, teaching classes, I wanted to bring joy and happiness to them. So no matter what I was doing, I wasn't just up there like performing for them. I wanted them to get the most out of it. And I think they saw that in me. And then when they asked me to come into their home and train them, I wasn't there to get something out of them, which they found really refreshing. I wanted them to get exactly what they wanted. My only intention was for me to help them mentally and physically. And because that, they found that so refreshing. There were people that said, you should open up a health club and willing to help me get there. I'll tell you, that's an amazing story. I always tell people it's power in following your heart in life. Yeah, absolutely. It is, it is. So when you started to open up your own health club and started your entrepreneurship, did your friends and family believe in you? Did they think that you might've been over your head? How did they take that? Well, my parents, my family, they really didn't have the capacity to be there for me in any way. So I had created my own family. You know, I started this whole new life. I grew up in New Jersey. And now here I am in the suburbs of Philadelphia in a very wonderful area. And I met people that did believe in me and they became my family. So it wasn't just friends, but even clients and people that were very, very successful in their own right. A lot of amazing entrepreneurs. So they believed in me. They had faith in me even before I could see it. Like these very, very successful people saw something in me before I could see it. So the fact that I wanted to open up a club, they were pushing me to do it. Now, my dad, he probably would think I could do anything. He was just that way. If I said, oh, hey, I'm going to college, whatever I'm doing, he would be so proud of me and so happy. So he wouldn't doubt that I could do it, but he wasn't pushing me to do it, if that makes sense. He would have been telling me, be happy to be a waitress because he couldn't see beyond where his life was. Also, I think because of his lifestyle, he believed that people that had money were all evil. You can't have money and also be a kind person or a good person. So that was going on. But in my world, I had a lot of people supporting me. I mean, I used to feel like Philadelphia's favorite daughter. That's what I used to say, because so many people were in my corner and looking for me to succeed. My new family. Okay, let me ask you this question, Sandy. What obstacles did you face when you was given this opportunity to become an entrepreneur? And how did you capitalize on it? I think the biggest obstacle was not being aware that everyone wasn't happy for everyone. Like in my world, you wanted people to succeed. You wanted them to get ahead. Everyone was happy for you. I'm happy in my life. So, you know, I'm excited for other people to have their dreams and succeed. I didn't realize that not everyone was happy for my success and that there would be people that were really close to me that would do me wrong in business and hurt me. Like close, close friends undermining me and my business. It made me stronger in that I was able to dig deep and realize that they couldn't take away who I was. That nobody, no matter what, could take away my, I really believe that, you know, in universal love, God loved me so much. Like no matter what they did to me, they couldn't take away that love. And I felt so loved no matter what anyone was doing to me. So when I would tap into my heart, into God, it made whatever else was going on, like dissipate. And so it strengthened my connection. And I actually named God, it's a long story, but God was called Neil to me. So me and Neil, I used to say, we have it going on. So not that you want people to say bad things or do things against you, but it just strengthened my connection to what I was supposed to do and who I was. So what does sand is big as passion? It's what I said at the beginning. My mission is to spread joy. And whether it's through my speaking engagements or my business or my podcast, my book, whatever, it doesn't matter. Whatever the vehicle is, it's somewhere in the mental and physical wellbeing arena, but the main mission is to spread joy and to reach as many people as possible with it in all different ways so that they have hope. I think the biggest thing for me, no matter how the message is, what I'm trying to get in through the back door is there is no secret sauce. The gift I had to tap in and feel like I always have perfect timing and everything's gonna work out and I'm so loved, I want everyone else to feel that way. I want everyone to ask, to realize they can tap into that whenever they want to. That's the bigger message. Yes, yes. So with that being said, I'm gonna ask you this question. I heard you on another podcast and you were asked if you can shadow two people for a day, who would it be? And you mentioned President Obama and homeless person. Now, Obama. I don't know why I came up with that. I didn't expect that question. So it was what popped into my head. Yeah. Right, so Obama, I truly get. The homeless person actually touched my heart. And I'm gonna tell you why. I have asked that question to multiple people and no one ever said a homeless person except me. Except me, that was one of my things. And to give you a quick story, back home in South Carolina, I used to go downtown on Main Street and hang out. And downtown was booming. It had the bars, the restaurants, rooftop bars and everything. And I would sit on a bench with a homeless person and just talk. But do you know that out of all the people I've come in contact with, I have some great mentors, I have some great prominent people I know, the homeless guys are the ones who changed my life. He's set me in a direction. He set me in the right direction by just giving me the knowledge that he had and what he had to share with me. So can you explain why you chose, I know why you chose Obama, what about the homeless guy, the homeless person? Well, for me, every day in my life, I feel so blessed for my mental health. I've seen so many people suffered with different types of mental illness. I've seen so many people that have been misunderstood because they seemed like they were crazy but really they just had different ideas than the mainstream. I've seen people end up in institutions because of poverty, and they shouldn't be there. Well, that goes to say with the same thing with many homeless people. A lot of times there's, some of them have chosen it, because they just want to escape from the life and they found it actually easier to be on the streets. And others have been battling some type of mental health issue. But that being said, they have seen so much. And like you said, they gave you words of wisdom and they sit there and they watch people and they talk to people and they observe. And if you've ever, and I have had conversations with them, they'll tell you why they are where they are, but they also have words of wisdom beyond what anybody else does for where you should go with your life. So the same thing, like you're saying. If you sat down and said anything with many of them about you had a problem and you're not sure what to do, they're like little angels, a lot of them. They have inside information that no one else does and they're not trying to gain anything. And I feel just like the homeless person, the person who hands out the towels when you're in the bathroom, the guys, oh, I love the guys who park the cars. I've had so much great insight for them with my business. God places all these people in different places that you would never talk to who have such wisdom. And if you just sat with your ears open, you'd be surprised what you would hear. And so don't discount them. Don't discount them because of where they are, because there's some turns that they took and they'll tell you why they ended up there, but they can help you not get there. And also maybe you're being, what did the one guy say? You're listening too much what other people want for you, but I don't get that that's what you want for you. So that's why I picked you. Right, right. So you have this thing you do, we talked about it earlier, I think you still do it to this day, is on how you start your day. Yeah. We talked about the daily powerful word focus. Does that consist of? So I wanna back up just a little bit and tell you why I came up with that. So we talked about how I've used movement, words and laughter, right? That's something I've done to get myself on a powerful, positive head space. I wanted to create something for others to get into a positive, powerful head space. And I saw that, I went out on this journey and I wanted to study people that I felt exuded pure joy, all walks of life, right? It didn't matter who they were, but I thought, ooh, you know, the people you wanna hang out with, right? There's something about them. And since I owned health clubs, I was able to do that. And I said to about a hundred people, I'll give you a free membership, I'll train you, I just wanna interview you, study and learn from you. And so I did this for about a year. And what I found out is every single one of them, no matter who they were, did something every single day before going out into the world. They decided how they were gonna show up in the world. They didn't just go out. And it was all different. It was everything from listening to music, to working out, to meditating, to baking, to playing with the dog, the cat, I mean, it was all over the place. And it was everything from a few minutes to a few hours. It didn't matter, but nothing was more important than setting their intention for the day. So then I gathered what I called the powers to be together. I gathered neuroscientists, exercise physiologists, positive psychologists, gurus, therapists, you name it. And I wanted to create something to help people get into this positive state. If they didn't already have their morning routine. So I set out and I created a five minute journal, just five minutes. And I told people, if you do this for five minutes, it's gonna change your life for 30 days. I want you to pick one area of your life you wanna focus on, and then how they're gonna create the word, the power state, it's gonna take five minutes. And I did that for another year. And it failed. Only one person did it. And these were highly motivated people. These were people that already worked out, but they had to pick an area that they weren't that great at. And so I was devastated. They couldn't even spend five minutes a day. And so I went back to the powers that be. And they said, one of my professors said, well, Sandy, if they don't already have that belief system developed, they're not gonna take five minutes. Say they don't already have that habit created. They're not gonna do it consistently. So let's make it one to three minutes a day. So I went back and created a journal page that would only take them one to three minutes a day. And I went back out for another year. And it was successful. 80% of them did it. And why I'm saying this is because it's what I said at the beginning when I studied the people that exuded joy. It didn't matter what they did. They had to find something that resonated with them. But nothing was more important than how they chose to show up. So for me, every single day, if you did nothing else before my feet hit the ground, I just take a few breaths and decide how do I wanna show up in the world today? And depending where I am, it could be ease and flow. It could be peace. It could be love. It could be joy. It could be powerful. And I set that intention. And then when I get downstairs, I write it down. Now I do journal, the same thing. Not long. I already have my game plan. I already know what I'm focused on. But it's that reflection. And it could be two words. Like it might be, okay, I wanna, for my business, have pure joy and abundance with everything I do. And then throughout the day, I reflect every hour. Am I coming from pure joy and a state of abundance? Am I coming from peace? Am I coming from love? And if not, what can I do to get back there before I go and do that interview, do that call? And those, that's not time consuming and it's not complicated. It's just reminding yourself, you get to choose how you wanna show up. And not that you're not gonna, like we said, have all those other emotions. It's just, you're not gonna get stuck there as long. So after doing that my whole life, it just kicks in for me. Like, wait a minute, I wasn't showing up in my powerful state. What can I do to do that? And it might be dancing around. It might be hugging a tree. It could be praying. It could be journaling, calling a friend. Your way is different than my way. But that's what I teach. It's consistency. Now you might do things after that, right? There are other things you might do because you wanted to feel healthier. So you're gonna move 20 minutes a day or you wanna write a book and you write. But when you're in that space, then every decision is not gonna be because I have to, I feel obligated, I'm doing it because I'm angry. You're gonna be coming from a more positive, powerful head space. Okay, I like that. So I think this will go right into your book, Train Your Head and Your Body Will Follow. Yeah. So your book is kinda outlined that way also, right? Yes, yeah. I saw you had like the three minutes, takes three minutes to start towards the goal. You talked about redirecting your mind and things like that. So tell us a little bit about the book. Yeah, so the book was really, again, I didn't think I was gonna be an entrepreneur. I'm like, I'm not writing a book. Like, I'm not a writer. But then all my staff was like, you always have these moralist stories and you know, these parables. You should write a book. And what I realized is the book at the beginning is all my little stories and all my mentors and the things I learned from them. But it's all to get you to at least spend that one to three minutes a day of getting in that positive, powerful mindset. So that's the first part of the book. And then there are journal pages, like two journal pages for you to use as a guide of creating what I call your game plan, which it goes through how do you create a realistic goal? Because so many people, they shoot too high and then they get disappointed. So we go through how do you see success and how do you set yourself up for the next 30 days so that you wanna do the next 30 days? Because the goal you pick, it's huge. Because you might pick a goal that you really want, but you're not willing to do the action. So that's why the game plan is goal, action. Why do you really want motivation? How much energy are you willing to give to it? And that is something I make people spend a lot of time on thinking about, because some people, you're right. They want this and it's huge. But if you set yourself up to do like, okay, I've never owned my own business and in 30 days, I'm gonna be up and running, it's ridiculous. Or I'm a cow's potato and I'm gonna do an hour every day. You're not, you're gonna do it for a little bit. So it's baby steps and saying, okay, what is it you're really willing to do every day to get what you want in business, in your personal life, with your body, and then if you do more, great. But it's really important that your body, mind, and spirit see success, right? So, and then you build on that. And then the next month, you're gonna go say, okay, what went right, what went wrong, and build on that again. And I think that's the biggest mistake that people make is they are all or none, you know what I mean? They feel like, okay, five minutes a day moving can't make a huge difference, but it can. Five minutes a day, a few minutes a day journaling can't make a difference, but it can. And then over time, the results are mind blowing, even just small little shifts. But for some reason, if we don't feel like we're suffering enough, we feel like we can't get the result and that's just not true. And so that's what I try to build on. Little examples from my life, from a lot of my mentors, and it's really just to get people to realize how powerful they truly are. And it's not complicated and it's not time consuming, it's just you deciding there's nothing more important than how you choose to show up in the world, nothing, nothing more. And I think being realistic with yourself is the big thing. Huge. You know, cause that's how people fail cause they're not being realistic and not setting realistic goals and things like that. So I think that is a great thing to do, setting goals and things like that. Cause if not, you won't make it. No, and again, people like, oh, just like New Year's resolutions, I'm not gonna set New Year's resolutions cause I never meet them, what was your New Year's resolution? You need to have something to look forward to, you know, even think about why people have accountability partners or mentors or coaches. It's for them to be held accountable and to have deadlines. Like if your boss gives you a deadline, you says, okay, this needs to be done by that. You work on it. Well, if you don't have that, you need to create them within yourself for anything that has to do with self-development. And that's why it's so important for you to set that goal and then also not beat yourself up or feel guilty. If you don't do it, just get back on the horse, but don't make it something that you don't wanna do. When you say, I should do this, you should want to do it. Look forward to doing it. Right. So saying the last two minutes, I read your bio and it said your success was achieved through hard work, dedication and standing up for your beliefs. What would you say to someone who was struggling to find success or sitting at a crossroad and don't know what to do in life? I think the most important thing you could do is even if it's just for a few minutes every day, take time to connect to your heart, to really go deep, whether it's connecting to the universe, to God, whatever your belief system is, to take time to get away from all the chatter, even well-meaning people and listen what you really want in life. And that's really important because even well-meaning people could pull you in another direction that's not right for you. Even people that love you because they're coming from where they are in life. But when you take time to really listen, the answers will come to you. And I firmly believe that if you then take the next step of writing them down, I call it scribble, scrabble or brain drain, and just start writing, it doesn't have to make sense. The answers will come to you faster than you will ever imagine, especially when you're open to them. I always ask for guidance. I always say my eyes and ears are open. You never know when you're gonna find the right person in the right path, just be open. And then no matter what, when you know what you wanna do, and this is the next step and it's really important, you don't need to go out and tell the world. Make sure that you're so strong in it that no matter who you tell, they can't knock you off. They can't, no matter, even if they're naysayers or you'll never do that, you can't be budged. But make sure that you're ready because if you tell everyone, like I'm gonna do this and do this, now they're gonna get inside your head and then you may not end up doing it. Maybe you have one person you trust, just one. Maybe you're just gonna write it down for a while, but be so strong in it and so committed that no matter what people say, that you feel it so much in your heart that you know you're gonna go after it no matter what odds are against you. And I can tell you this from personal experience, there are so many times that even kind, loving people have told me not to do what I was going to do because they were trying to protect me. They didn't want me to get hurt. And if I would have listened to them, so many things I would have not done in my life, even to this day, and it's not because they don't love me. They just were like, oh, do you really need to be doing that at your age? Do you really wanna go after that? They're just coming from where they are. Doesn't mean they don't love you. So I'm very, very, very picky on who I talk to, who I share my dreams. I wanna go after people that I know, not that they won't be honest with me, but they're coming from the same space to reach for the stars. And I think that's really important, especially when you're on a crossroads, that you select who those people are and then realize that if you really want something, it may not turn out the way you thought, but there's another way. I used to say that all the time in business, I could go to 66 people and they would tell me 66 different ways and all would work. So there's not just one way. So pick the way that works for you. That's it. Wow. We can mic drop on that one. Again, I love it. I love it, Sandy. I really love it. So let my audience know how can they follow you, how can they reach you? Okay. So Sandy Joy Weston, S-A-N-D-Y Joy Weston, W-E-S-T-O-N. I'm on all social media platforms, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok. My website is sandijoyweston.com so they can find all my podcasts, speaking engagements, books, everything is on my website. And they can also buy my book, all my books. And I have journals, different journals out there on Amazon. I came out recently with Recess to Reset for Kids, which I really love, six to 12 year olds. So they can find everything on Amazon. There you have it. Sandy Joy Weston, thank you so much for taking your time to be on the show today. I really appreciate it. I'm so glad you reached out. I really appreciate it too. Great. Thanks for tuning in to Real Talk with Reginald. If you enjoyed the show, please share with anybody you feel that needs to take this journey on being a better you. See you next time.