Reshape Your Life: Don’t Settle Because You Are Worth It

By Ali Landry

It is never too late to reshape an area of your life that is no longer serving you! And, with the new book by Ali Landry, Reshape Your Life, you will learn how making small, intentional changes to your current life can transform it into a masterpiece.

The truth is, when it comes to your health, your mind, your soul, and your heart, you should not settle for what isn’t working. After all, you only have one life to live, and you are worthy of making it the best one possible.

After years working in Hollywood on TV and movie sets, starring in iconic Doritos commercials, and gracing the covers of various magazines, Ali landed her dream job as a talk-show host on a popular network. However, after only a few weeks on the job, she began feeling out of sorts. Exhaustion, brain fog, thinning hair, slow digestion, and sleep issues took over. Instead of excusing the chronic discomfort as "aging," Ali decided to take back her life. Through research, prayer, interviews, and product-testing, she made dramatic lifestyle changes, creating a new brand called RE/SHAPE along the way, to show other women how to live to their fullest in mind, health, beauty, and soul, and remind them that it is never too late to rewrite your story.

In Reshape Your Life you’ll  find

• inspiration from Ali’s vulnerable narrative describing the challenges and hard lessons she faced on her journey to physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual renewal;
• tips on how you can change the trajectory of your life and reclaim confidence, purpose, and wholeness;
• research-based strategies for your health, skincare, diet, sleeping habits, and more;
• advice that will nourish your faith, refocus your mindset, and align your heart, soul, health, and beauty with your core value; and
• practical information on goal setting.

While it’s hard work, it’s necessary work, and Reshape Your Life, from actress, model, and 1996’s Miss USA Ali Landry, will guide your journey to reignite the fulfillment that’s missing in your life. If you are ready to reclaim your dreams and fire for life, Reshape Your Life is the book for you. Start today because you are worth it!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson
• Release date: Mar 14, 2023
• ISBN: 9781400235117

Ali Landry

After winning Miss USA in 1996, Ali Landry was featured in the iconic Doritos Super Bowl commercial that catapulted her into a successful career as an actress, television host, and brand ambassador. Ali is most proud of her seventeen-year marriage and three beautiful children. Through her lifestyle brand RE/SHAPE, Ali is committed to researching and curating the best resources, products, and wellness experts to build a community of women who are choosing not to settle and want to level up their lives.

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

SMALL-TOWN GIRL AND A CAREER RESHAPE

Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.

SAINT CATHERINE OF SIENA

Los Angeles, California, has been my home for years. I got my break in the entertainment business here. It’s where I fell in love with my husband. It’s where I gave birth to our three beautiful children. We’ve made lots of wonderful memories in LA with dear friends. There’s no denying the beauty of this place; after all, it is one of the most famous cities in the world. For me, there’s nothing like sinking your toes in the sand while the waves of the Pacific crash and foam at your feet, then driving just a short way to the mountains for a sunset dinner. LA is also recognized by most of the world as the entertainment capital, home to Hollywood and all the glitz and glamour that comes with it.

But I’m from a very different LA—LA for Louisiana. These days in California, I’m never far from Interstate 10. If I were to hop on that freeway and drive east for a few days, I’d wind up at the Henderson, Louisiana, exit, only three minutes from the house I grew up in.

My Louisiana Home

Just a small-town girl . . . That iconic first line of that classic Journey song instantly transports me to 1997, the year I moved to LA. I’d slide their CD into my CD player and sing along (off key) at the top of my lungs on my way to casting calls and auditions. Traffic in LA was tricky even then, so I’d carefully map out my routes using the Thomas Guide. We didn’t have Waze or iPhones or even GPS yet, so planning was crucial if I wanted to arrive early. All the while I’d be humming Journey’s song under my breath.

I still love that song. Steve Perry might as well be singing about me; that’s how I still think of myself: just a small-town girl if ever there was one. And the chorus perfectly captured what I learned growing up in Louisiana: don’t stop believing.

Cajun Roots

I grew up on the border of Breaux Bridge and Cecilia, two very small towns in southwest Louisiana. If I could take you there now, you’d see how the land stretches out forever into the horizon, the distances defined by varying shades of green hinting at crops—soybean, corn, and sugarcane—fed by the muddy waters of the Bayou Teche. I’d point out the crumbling silos from the old sugarcane mill. We used to lay under those ancient oak trees—majestic, mysterious, with their strong roots twisting, turning into the soil, their branches dripping with Spanish moss. Stepping under their canopy is like stepping into a different world.

The air is thick and smells of fresh-cut grass. It tends to rain every day, though sometimes just a drizzle. There’s nothing like walking to the end of a dock as a light rain falls on the bayou, the fish and tadpoles breaking the surface of the water to say hello. Church bells ring out the hours. A symphony of birds and insects plays all day, rising as night falls.

The pace of life is a little slower there. Everybody knows everybody. We Cajuns are known for our hospitality, so when you run into someone you know, you stop and visit, unlike in Los Angeles where everyone is in such a hurry. We’d visit my family. There’d be no need to call ahead—doors in my town were always open and there was likely a meal to feed ten simmering on the stove.

That’s the way I grew up, close to all my family. Some of my sweetest memories are of running from yard to yard, playing hide and seek. You see, both sets of my grandparents lived on two large pieces of land that they separated between their children. We lived on my dad’s family’s land, so I spent a lot of time with Mom Landry, my dad’s mom. I loved the stories she would tell me about days gone by, her weathered hands telling a story of their own. I loved hearing about what came before me, stories of humble beginnings and hardworking people connected to the land, their faith, and their community, always showing up to help each other out.

My dad is one of twelve children. My mom is one of eight. All our family lived close by, so I grew up with lots of cousins—forty-five first cousins in all—plus my brother and sister. Every Friday my grandmother would cook for the whole family. My aunts would go to my mom’s beauty salon to get their hair done. And then they’d walk next door to my grandmother’s house to have lunch and spend the day together. Fridays during the summer were my favorite days. My cousins and I played while all the women were in the kitchen helping prepare lunch—shrimp stews, crawfish étouffée, fish coubion, rice and gravy, or gumbo. We’d gather in the afternoon and share that delicious meal. It was heaven.

My family’s land stretched across several acres. My parents’ house was right next door to my grandmother’s house. We had the run of the place. It was a magical childhood. Nature was my playground. A classic tomboy, I was always running around outside, climbing trees, and leading my cousins on wild adventures. During harvest season, we’d dive into grain bins filled with soybeans, pretending to swim in the ocean. I rode my bike, jumped on the trampoline, played in the barn, and dug in the dirt for treasures.

Running around barefoot, climbing mossy oak trees, traipsing around in the creeks and bayous, watching chickens hatch from eggs, watching the rise and fall of the bayou—that was how I spent much of my childhood. It’s funny because in the wellness world I am in now, this is called forest bathing or grounding. For us it was just growing up in the country.

I could tell when rain was coming by the scent of the air. From a young age, I saw how living things are always changing, growing, moving. Nothing alive stays the same. That was something I knew in my bones. It was a thrilling thought, especially for someone like me with a big imagination.

Landry Life

My dad worked in the oil fields—seven days on, seven days off. So I was used to not having him there all the time. When he was home, we totally catered to him. I never heard my parents argue or raise their voices to each other. Never. He was and still is a bit of a homebody—hardworking and all about family. Sugar cane ripened in the field behind our house. I can remember my dad and I walking out to the field on a hot day. He’d pull out the knife he always had in his pocket and cut a piece of that perfectly sweet ripe sugarcane. I can still taste it. Dad was most comfortable out there on the land or at home. He was famously good-looking and known to be a brawler back in his younger days, but he’s still one of the gentlest and kindest men I’ve ever met.

My mom is the social one. Everyone knew if you wanted something done, you called Renella. She could and still can do anything she sets her mind to. I think this was my first lesson in mind reshaping. My mom was an entrepreneur and ran a thriving business as a hairdresser in her little salon built on the side of our house. It gave her a perfect work-life balance. If you’ve seen Steel Magnolias, that was basically my mom’s beauty shop. Nothing fancy—just three chairs, two hair washing basins, and a couple of dryers. She could go back and forth from the salon to our house to check on whatever she had cooking, usually rice and gravy, and then tell us to pick up our rooms. She could go back and forth and never miss one beat. She worked all day, so she was always busy, but she was always, always there to check on us. She would run into the house quickly, grab a bite, and then go back into the shop to take care of her customers. And we kids were always in and out. I can still hear that screen door opening and closing, opening and closing. She was such a wonderful example of a strong, confident woman who took care of everyone she loved. All that I am is because of my mother. She is a creative genius who runs circles around me, energy-wise, even to this day, which is why I knew when I was in my midforties and exhausted that something was off. She shows up in the world in the most selfless ways for her friends and family and will always be my