Meet the Shaneyfelts

Hi! For those of y’all who don’t know me, I’m Victoria Strader and I am so blessed to call Sarah a close friend who’s been made via blogging. 🙂 I have been married to my husband Ben for almost four years and we have a precious four month old boy named Beau William. In our four years of marriage we’ve renovated a fixer upper, traveled the world (with Beau, too!) and learned a stinking ton from walking with the Lord each day. I’d love for you to stop by my blog! 🙂

Sarah asked me to share what I’ve learned from marriage, and I’m so glad! I often thinks lessons learned from your daily life can pass you by unless you intentionally sit down to allow room for you to process. So this is me, processing! 🙂

1. Communication makes all the difference
… and we are not good at it. I would say 99% of our conflicts come from a lack of clear communication. Consistently making an effort to communicate with each other well always sets us up for success when we take the time to be intentional with the way we ask things of each other, or share information.

2. Your spouse is your family
When we first got married, one of the coolest things to me was that Ben was now my family. Not my boyfriend.. but my never leaving family member. I don’t even know if this is a “lesson” but it’s a huge comfort. No matter if you’re leaving an awesome family when you get married, or a broken one, there is a sweet solace in knowing that you can build a family with your spouse. I thank God every day for making my dreams come true and giving me Ben and Beau. That sounds so cheesy, but it’s so true!

3. A loving and supportive environment will help you have confidence to reach goals and pursue dreams. 
Prior to marriage, I was really insecure about my body. I’m not naturally athletic and don’t enjoy sports, so unless you take the time to learn things about how to live an active lifestyle, you’re stuck. After I married an extremely active fella, over time I realized that I had to overcome the hurdle of thinking that fitness wasn’t in the cards for me. I gathered courage to start working out, lost 25 pounds, and changed my life. I now LOVE working out and believe wholeheartedly that self discipline with your health gives you freedom to enjoy the life and body God has given you. I’m never going to be a size 0 but I’m at peace with myself for the first time ever, even postpartum. I could never have put myself out there if Ben hadn’t cultivated an atmosphere within our marriage that made me feel like I could achieve my goals.

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