Reigniting The Feeling: Visiting Your Previous Self & Understanding What’s Changed
Have you ever gotten stuck? I would almost guarantee that you’ve gotten stuck somewhere along this journey called life. It’s mental hell sometimes, and you know what? I’m right there with you. We’re going deeper today to look at experiencing a spiritual awakening. Are you ready? — A few years ago my spiritual life changed. I woke up one day from a nap with one of my current and one of my previous dogs. I was face down, and woke up in such a shift that I can literally still feel it. They say these things only happen in movies, or that people make them up. I don’t believe that anymore. Because it’s happened to me twice. The first time was over a decade ago. I was out the night before, drinking heavily and drowning in whatever sorrows I laid out at the time. This sucked, that sucked, everything sucked, so because of that, I tuned it all out. But I do remember one distinct memory, having a red solo cup of whatever that was with a person I once knew. The next morning I woke up the same exact way. Face down, pulling away from my bed inhaling hard and fast. I was having a panic attack, and visited the hospital a short time later. Soon after this experience, I planned my move home, started over, and met my future husband on the 2nd to last day I was in town. Talk about some unique timing. Now some of you may read this and think I’m talking about experiencing a spiritual awakening. And maybe that’s what it was. I’m going to chalk it up though to some not so great life choices and then a shift that pushed me into becoming a better person for myself and for those around me. It took some time, a lot of time. Discovering who I was and who I am and who I still will be is taking some hardcore efforts. You would think this kind of stuff should just come preprogrammed in your subconscious, right? Unfortunately, we just ride the rollercoaster until it takes us for a spin that’s not so fun and tells us to turn ourselves around. I feel like most all of you could relate in at least one way or another. This was the first turnaround for me. The first oh shit moment that propelled me into a “grown-up” life and realizing that I needed to start taking myself seriously. The next came a few years back as I mentioned previously, and this one I would actually consider a spiritual awakening…have you had one? Related: Unlearning A Fixed Mindset: Leaving Old Habits Behind For some, experiencing a spiritual awakening might feel like a sudden realization or deep shift in perspective. It’s often described as a transformative event that can alter one’s view on life and personal purpose. I’m talking about the moment you discover you’re meant for more, meant to enjoy life, not just live it. I’m talking about those moments that flutter so quickly by each day because we’re moving too damn fast to really live in them. You know the ones. Those are the ones you look back on and dread because you forgot they even existed. You hate yourself for always being “too busy” or dedicated to the grind and the hustle that it’s actually caused you to demolish any sense of reality you have left. It’s the times spent looking back on our time spent. It’s relishing in the moments we lived through so hastily and wanting them back so badly. It looks different to everyone, but it happens to most every human. We forget our passion projects, our love for things, our drive to do something. When I had that awakening, I woke up that morning and the first thought that came to me was that I needed to see a therapist. But not just any kind. I wasn’t even sure what kind. So, like any modern day millennial, I started googling. I scrolled for awhile until stumbling on a girl from a town I used to reside in. How ironic, I thought. Life just became full circle. I called immediately and was disappointed that she didn’t answer right away. You see, that’s the problem. We have such immediate gratitude these days, that waiting on absolutely anything that we want right freaking now, is a whole anxiety inducing experience. She eventually called back, and we set up a video call to see if we were the right fit. 3 years later, I still see her every few months. — Yesterday I was talking to a friend about how my creative mind was coming up dry. I have been frustrated for weeks because I loathe putting out content that isn’t authentic. I don’t write just for the sake of writing, I write because I love it. It’s freeing, magnificent, stress-relieving, and therapeutic. I write online because I want others to understand they’re not alone in this ridiculous world and that I feel what they feel. I write to strangers on the internet because we’re all alike more than we think. We all self-ridicule, criticize, compare and forget to relate. We focus on others success and forget that we have so many of our own to be proud of. During this conversation, I realized that the reason I’d been having writers block is because I forgot what I was passionate about. I forgot how important this blog, this journey was to begin with. I forgot why I started it. If you’re new here, I’ll share a quick reminder. A little while ago I experienced what I thought was a stroke. Turns out I was just stressed to the max and didn’t even know it. I’m pretty sure 90% of the population is the same way, which is why heart disease is so popular. We overwork, overcomplicate, and overbook ourselves literally to death and I’m here to stop myself *again* from doing that. Related: The
Utilizing Garden Veggies To Save Money While Meal Prepping
Hello there and happy summer my friends of the internet! The time has come where we are midway through the gardening season in this neck of the woods which means a few things. Canning is upon us, green beans are full speed ahead, and I have more lettuce than I can fit in 3 salad spinners at once. How is your summer panning out? Did you decide on a garden this year? Or are you still in the research and planning stages for the year to come? Let’s talk about meal prepping with garden produce! Balancing Canning, Harvesting, and Garden Upkeep Gardening has always been a passion of mine, but the upkeep is a giant chore in itself. Hence why I huffed and puffed to my husband last week when we were canning because it is SO time consuming!!! I’m typically a few batches in when I start to lose patience on waiting to basically burn my fingers again and heat up the house unnecessarily. HOWEVER. Once the heat of summer and the overflow of veggies is gone for the season, I relish in the canned goods that we’d completed in the summer and am always eager to go to my canning cupboard instead of strolling the aisles at the grocery store. Homegrown goods are so much better for us and also gives us that sense of accomplishment, not to mention the fresh air and peace of mind you get from harvesting, weeding, and just being in the garden to begin with. I loathe weeding, but once I’m in the mix of it, I could literally be there for hours until my hands cramp up. It’s refreshing to not stare at a screen the entire day or to hear birds chirping instead of people talking. Weird, isn’t it? It’s still noise…just different. We talked earlier in the year about how we stuck with more root veggies this time around instead of more tomatoes and peppers, although we’ve had quite the batch of volunteers that I so hate to remove. Seriously, I feel bad about way too many things including plants. It’s a problem. Don’t be like me, thin your seedlings and let those babies breathe!! What’s your favorite thing to plant? Do you prefer harvesting more or maybe you actually enjoy canning (weirdo). I’ve come to realize that gardening overall takes a ton of patience and learning when to lean into what tasks should be spent more time on and what could be let go a little. Let’s talk about that next, shall we? Dive Into Our Autumn Gardening Like a Pile of Scattered Leaves Streamlined Gardening: Meal Prepping with Garden Produce I used to spend SO much time on every task. It would takes hours just to plant, then weed, then tend to, tie up, harvest, wash, can, label, date, organize, and repeat. Then, I realized, why am I doing all these things? Of course it would be different if I spent every day just spending time on my garden, but that’s just not realistic in todays world. We all have other things to accomplish in the day including a full time job, a side gig, a blog all about your journey through life, pets to take care of, a spouse or kids, parents to help, you get my point. Ain’t nobody got time for that. So, nowadays, I simply spend time on the things that matter most (in my opinion of course), and less on those that I deem well, not worthy of my magnificent minutes. Sure, you may disagree and that’s okay. Spending time on things you feel are most important will work for you, just as these things work for me and my family. Some of the things I’ve changed throughout the years include the following: Investing in an electric fence because fixing holes in a normal fence 10x per season gets REALLY old. Letting my tomatoes thrive in their natural state. AKA, foregoing the tying up. Mine are growing beautifully so far and it’s WAY easier to harvest them when I’m not trying to squish my hand in between old tomatoes and 20 inches of vines. I used to spend a lot of money on pretty labels and taking time to write nicely on the jars once canning was finished. This may not seem like that much time but trust me, it adds up. Add your date and move on friends. Thinning. I know it’s proper gardening to thin your plants when they’re small, they grow better, bigger, etc. However I am not trying out for the Guinness World Record so I’m cool with letting them take up more space and harvesting when they’re smaller. When it comes to weeding, we put black plastic down this year and it’s been doing a great job. We also experimented with another section where we just use grass clippings. It takes way longer to weed that tiny section than the rest of the garden. Definitely not doing that again! Next year though, we’d like to try something more natural so that we’re not adding plastic to our garden that doesn’t need to be there. Washing has become easier since dishwashers included a cycle for such, although I don’t have one of those, I do find that a quick rinse with vinegar water has done us just fine. I’ll fill up the sink and dip everything in, instead of washing them individually. Oh, and get yourself a MEGA salad spinner so you don’t spend oodles of time on one veggie. Meal Prepping with Garden Goodies One thing I started doing this year was adding meal prepping into our lives. I’ve attempted a million times but finally it’s starting to stick. Woo! I usually stick to meals that I can use my freshly picked veggies in, so I’m saving doll hairs from shopping at the market. AND guess what. When you’re waiting for eons to water bath those beautiful beans,
Unlearning A Fixed Mindset: Leaving Old Habits Behind
Ever since I was young, I always had this feeling like I’d never have enough time. This feeling was literally applied to everything, but as I got older, it became less like a feeling, and more like a mindset. It applied to bike riding with my friends, making funny home videos after school with friends, leaving those so called friends behind traveling to college, and even now while I sit in a cabin with my husband and dogs far from home, work, and other responsibilities. If you have FOMO (fear of missing out), or any sort of decision fatigue over how you’re going to spend your next 19 hours and 42 minutes, trust me, you’re not alone. Fear of Missing Out Examples in My Life For so long, this was how my thought process worked. Clearly, today it still happens, although I’m actively teaching myself to unlearn this annoying habit. It drives me crazy each time I catch myself falling into its trap again, but luckily I’m able to recognize it more often these days. Yesterday, when we were to leave early in the morning for our weekend getaway, I got huffy with the hubs because he had to work a little extra in the morning. EVEN THOUGH this allowed me much needed time to do some catching up on work myself, (and set up the house for an easy return), I was rather bothered that we would be missing half of the day outside of the home to enjoy each others company. Kind of petty, don’t ya think? Petty, selfish, we all have those moments, because that’s just how we humans can be at times. The good part is that we can keep working on becoming better partners, and better individuals to be around. We can improve our attitude toward adventures and still allot enough mental space to have a nice time. Today, I had another one of those moments…didn’t take very long to creep back in. Rude! I was standing outside letting my dogs find their perfect spot, thinking about how checkout is at 11am tomorrow. “Crap! I thought, only 22 more hours in this beautiful place…wait, no! 21 hours! Ughh!!” Talk about annoying voices in your head. *eye roll* Related: How Self Reflection Helps You Grow as a Person Tips for Helping FOMO I’ve been working on leaving a plethora of old habits behind in the last several years, some of which you’ve probably already read about, and some of which may come about in the future. This overthinking, annoying fear of missing out thought process is most certainly one of them. The angst and the overwhelm about what I need to fit into these small chunks of time that I somehow managed to carve out of my hella busy schedule just want to take over sometimes and I’ve been working on ways to not let that happen so easily. Some of these tips may sound repetitive, but I promise you, that’s for a solid reason. They’re working for me, and if they can work on this ridiculous mind that runs a hundred miles a minute, I promise they are most likely going to work for you, too. Here’s my faves: (I’ve even implemented some of them this weekend so far) The 4:7:8 breath work technique. It truly is a winner. Check out a video if you’re not sure what it is, (I’ve linked one in the text on the home page for you!) Replace those racing and negative thoughts with better ones. Clear your mind and reset. Try visualizing exactly what you want to look like or where you want to be in 3 months, 6 months, or a year from now. Like really see it in your mind. Look inward. Someone recently was sharing a tattoo, in which we both agreed the inner work was the hardest part. This goes the same for your inner work on yourself. Spend some time working on being more mindful or trying to recognize when you’re getting stressed. You could even go as far as writing those moments down to reflect on them on a future date. Sit down or go for a walk (if you’re like me, when you’re thinking you cannot walk at the same time), don’t feel weird, just know it’s not just you! Try not letting any thoughts flood in during this time. Just focus on being present, and make sure you’re in nature, not a closed gym. Touch some trees. Or hug them, yes really. I recently traveled to my dads with my husband where we cut down a tree that’s been there my entire life. When I hugged the empty stump at the end, my husband laughed. But seriously, it was my way of feeling the goodbye entirely. I felt more whole doing so, and I’ve let go of feelings of guilt, shame, or people thinking I’m weird for doing things, because you know what, weird is just what I am, and I’m finally okay with that. Related: Moving Ahead And Appreciating The Now Leaving Behind a Bad Habit Another habit I’m leaving behind this month is alcohol. I’m seeing where things take me, but as a self-proclaimed health nut, it’s just no longer for me. I’m looking toward a healthier and happier future where alcohol doesn’t consume my free time over reading, writing, being present with myself and loved ones, the list goes on. The more I do this thing called reading, the more I am educated about the cons widely outweighing the pros. And as a person (or woman, rather), in her 30s, it’s high time to make better decisions about what I’m ingesting. (This goes for nutrition as well! Which I promised in a past post that we will continue to touch on, so stay with me folks!) I’m hopeful that during this part of my journey with leaving old habits behind, you’ll be willing to follow along and do the same. Whether that looks like overthinking, drinking, or
Beauty and Beginnings, Rooted in Health: Starting Your Garden With Root Vegetables
Hello friends from all over! Have you started your garden yet this year? Do you have any plans that you’d like to share? Today we will talk about how our garden differs this year from others and what we’re doing to keep a little more for when everything is done growing. Let’s grow! Shifting to Root Vegetables: Our Decade-Long Garden Evolution and Techniques for a Bountiful Harvest We’ve had a substantial garden now for nearly a decade. Each year it’s been adjusted slightly and reorganized, but mostly it stays the same with the exception of moving around the veggies. This year though, we’re looking to harvest more crops and store more as well, which means we’re trying out some different ways of organizing and growing. Usually, we have a large portion of tomatoes and peppers, (shout out to the nightshades fam!), but this time we’re more into the root veggies and stocking up. Since we have realized that we never tend to use all of the tomatoes or peppers, we’re going to save room in both the garden and storage area for other goodies this time around. Starting us off in the root veggie arena, we have beets, as well as carrots, onions, potatoes and sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes were a challenge (and still are) since the last time we failed to produce anything but tiny inedible potatoes. Boo to that! This year, we started some slips in a container, so that they had some time to produce roots before adding them to their soil. We purchased a bag from a local farmers market, added some soil to a large plastic container, and placed them on top. After a few weeks, roots were forming and leaves were beginning to grow! (The purple ones worked MUCH better than the orange ones for us). Each slip should produce approximately 10 potatoes each! Fingers crossed! Related: How Gardening Is Good For Your Soul Mastering Beets, Carrots, Onions, and Potatoes: Tips and Tricks for a Successful Harvest Beets have been something we’ve grown for years, each time getting a little better. We love to juice these (with their leaves) and store the juice in mason jars in the freezer to add to smoothies! However, this year we’re going to can them so that we can keep that healthy fiber inside! (Make sure to thin your seedlings so that you can grow hearty bulbs!) Carrots have been tricky, but we finally made sure to add some sand this year to the soil! (Adding sand can help to create a better well-drained soil). I’ll keep you in the loop on how they turn out! Red onions are my personal favorite, although sweet are the most popular. We were lucky enough to be gifted some walking onions last year however, so those have been fun to watch grow! Check them out if you’re not sure what a “walking onion” is! If you’ve ever grown regular potatoes, you’ll know that a little can go a long way! We try to keep some of what we grew from last year that have grown eyes to plant again, but if you run out that’s okay! You can grab a bag from your local market just like the sweet potatoes and cut them up before planting in mounded rows. We’ve always had great luck with regular potatoes, I love that they’re more of a “set it and forget it” type of veggie! Why We Are Switching It Up This Year Why are we switching it up this year? Not only are we shying away from more peppers and tomatoes, but we also want to get a higher dose in our diets of additional vitamins that may not be as prevalent in other veggies. Did you know? Root vegetables have….”high nutritional value due to their richness in dietary fiber, vitamins, and minerals.” And guess what?! Garlic and onions have great benefits as well when it comes to being anti-inflammatory. (If you’ve been keeping up with these posts, you’ll know that I can use all the anti-inflammatory I can get these days! Not to mention that the Standard American Diet also plays a huge role in causing the inflammation in the first place.) By growing, harvesting and ingesting more root veggies, we’re doing our bodies a solid in dumping in some more vitamins that we would otherwise be missing out on. Related: 5 Steps to Achieving Your 2024 Goals Efficient Garden Organization and Canning We’ve organized our garden a little differently, so that we can keep things separated and have more space to walk around to harvest them. We’ve also created a little screened table next to the garden so that we can easily wash these veggies right away instead of in the tiny kitchen sink. Effective and efficient! Yay for that! Because we don’t have a lot of freezer space like we did in the past, we’ll be canning many more veggies than we ever have before this year. Not only because our lack of space however, but each time the power flickered our freezer would reset and therefore give us anxiety about everything in it getting freezer burn! To lose those veggies that were time consuming to preserve was a huge let down and we’re trying to avoid that happening again. Whether you pressure can or water bath, (I prefer the water bath method like my mother-in-law, but my sister-in-law likes pressure canning instead, both are okay!), I suggest doing them in small batches so you don’t get overwhelmed. I’ve noticed in the past that I would wait too long to can a bigger batch, and then be upset that it would take the entire day. Enlist the help of your significant other and work together to move quickly through small batches so that you can not only can right after harvesting (the sooner, the better!), but also so that you don’t feel stress about it being all on your shoulders. Gardening can be a huge task if you’re in it
Shining Light on Stress and Mental Health Barriers: Lessons Learned From the Solar Eclipse
Hey all! Have you heard? May was National Mental Awareness Month and we passed recently through National Stress Awareness Month in April! If you’re anything like me…or the many humans that experience stress and mental health barriers, you’ll want to check out today’s post for some apps and tricks on how to navigate some of the daily stressors we all face. How the Total Eclipse Resonated with My Mental Health If you didn’t get a chance to check out the total solar eclipse this Spring, please be sure to head over to NASA’s website to view some incredible pictures of what you missed! We were lucky enough to both request off of work in time so that we could drive out to the totality zone and snag ourselves a prime seat for taking in one of the most beautiful things we’ve seen so far! We passed a ton of spots where people had pulled over into parking lots and propped up a lawn chair, not to mention the MASSIVE amount of spectators awaiting its arrival on the many turnpike rest stops! The grass was filled with families, pets and a whole bunch of solar eclipse sunglasses. It was definitely a sight to see! (Ahem, instead of through feeds on our phones!) On the way out, we were thankful for our sunroof since we haven’t really had much use for it up until then. As the time approached for the sun to start sneaking behind the moon, we got to peek through the shades and witness the orange crescent becoming smaller and smaller. Even though this was the least exciting part of the whole eclipse, it grasped my attention for hours at both the beginning and the end. Once we arrived at our final destination, which was this cute little ice cream shop in town, we grabbed a milkshake and listened to the college kids next to us that were filming the transition and counting down. It felt like we were in our own little New Years Eve moment with the countdown and description of what part of the sun was showing. Very cool. What started as a beautiful blue sky day slowly turned into a darker, almost eerie haze. The skies became darker and the street lights turned on, you could see the bright sky all the way around us (instead of just on one side like normal when it gets dark out)! The shadows started to show on the pavement and before we knew it the total eclipse was upon us. We took off our solar eclipse glasses for the totality part, and were able to witness the incredible white glow around the sun. I kept wishing it would last longer as it was so amazing to view. We decided then that we would travel the globe more often and seek out additional places that we would have the opportunity to ingest this beauty for more than just 3 to 4 minutes. This was one of those experiences that really made me appreciate the work I’ve been doing on becoming present in the moment and really soaking in those important times in life. More From Habitual Balance: Moving Ahead And Appreciating The Now Did you know?? “Solar eclipses are fairly numerous, about 2 to 4 per year, but the area on the ground covered by totality is only about 50 miles wide. In any given location on Earth, a total eclipse happens only once every hundred years or so, though for selected locations they can occur as little as a few years apart.” – nasa.gov Don’t Let Stress and Mental Health Barriers Eclipse Your Life So, did you catch that? My friends, if you’re willing to travel a little more, and you’re a total space nerd like myself, you can see a total solar eclipse much more often than just once in a lifetime! Last year we hadn’t traveled much due to work and matters of life hindering us left and right. We’ve all been there. This year however more experiences like the eclipse have shown us just how important it is to take the day off, hang out with your loved ones, jump in and take a road trip, because we have only one life. We may as well enjoy it to the best of our ability, right? Whether those experiences are traveling for you to a solar eclipse, reading more often in the park on a hammock, or maybe just enjoying some more you time in ways like a hot bath, a walk or even just laying down in the grass and staring at the clouds, focusing on mental health and becoming aware of the world around us is something that needs to be addressed more these days. We talk a lot on this blog about stress and how it can cause so many different issues in our lives. “Four of the top five causes of death are stress-related: heart disease, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases, and stroke.” – psycologytoday.com That’s scary peeps. The best thing about it though? We can control these outcomes, better than we have been and better than ever before with the help of new apps and new approaches to understanding mental health and becoming aware of creating more time for self-care routines. Looking for a friend or therapist online? Check out Better Help to talk through some of your most stressful moments and find new roads to travel around them in the future. Need to incorporate some more meditation in your life? My personal faves are Insight Timer and Headspace. I really feel that when I was a beginner meditator, Headspace helped me to get started. Now though, I enjoy Insight Timer much more as there are many different options I feel I can search for that get me to that perfect meditation that I’m searching for. If you’re having trouble sleeping and need help obtaining more of that more often, I recommend investing in the Hatch sunrise alarm clock. It’s exceeded my
Navigating Hardships: Finding Strength in Slowing Down
Hey friends, Last week we talked about how working through personal problems is at best the one of the hardest things we as humans have to do…and we’re often doing that alone. It’s not easy, being you, and I just want you to understand that I’m here for you. I’m here providing an open book on my own struggles and want you to be in the know that we all have our moments of hardship and struggle. The thing is though, we can get through it. We can push past those hard times and come out stronger. I promise. Let me talk about how I’m getting through mine…can you relate? No Pain, No…Well Some Pain Last month, I had some exciting news. I can finally compete in my new favorite sport, BJJ. That took a backburner when I had to take some time off last year due to working too much, struggling with setting myself back on a mentally healthy path, and most recently, a work injury to my right wrist resulting in my first set of stitches ever. It sucked, and I was instantly angry knowing exactly what I’d just cost myself. Let me explain a few things to get you caught up to speed. I’ve been practicing BJJ now for nearly 2 years, several times a week with my best friend (aka the hubs). We’ve loved it since day 1 and he’s got to compete once already. I was super jealous because I, too, wanted to stand by him on that day. Unfortunately at that time, I just wasn’t ready yet. Hell, I don’t even know if I’m ready now. Probably not, but we’ll just roll with it, right? So as you can tell, this has been a want for some time. Once I finally pushed through getting myself back on a good mental track, once I finally stopped participating in the rat race before my personal growth and relationship with myself and my husband and BJJ, I was feeling more ready than ever. Then, I had a relapse. The Road Less Traveled: My Journey To Healthy Part 1 Oh What a Rush Not of alcohol, not of drugs, not of anything crazy…but of rushing. Rushing: aka – going too damn fast, running around without necessity, speeding tasks along where they didn’t need to be. You see, I was especially mad this time because this time, I knew better. I knew there was strength in slowing down. Yet this time, I had experienced the angst that rushing had caused me in the past. But I did it anyway. There I was, working my day job when the most ridiculous thing happened. It was 20 minutes until my shift was over, and 2 short hours before my private one-on-one class with my Coach’s coach. I was so excited to learn from him especially since he only comes to town once a year. Before I knew it, my (dominant) wrist was bleeding heavily. I ran up the hall to my manager’s office and said I needed something to stop the bleeding. I’d broken a plate against a counter and caused the need for 6 stitches within the hour. It was when it felt like I was holding a ton of bricks that I knew I would not be participating in class or much of anything else fun at least for a few weeks. As the super active person that I am, I was in pure dread. Irritation above all else, since again, I knew better. Finding Strength in Slowing Down I used to rush around all the time, until I continued to get bumps and bruises that I didn’t recall happening. Do you ever have that problem? Most people I talk to do. Crazy, right? The fact that we move so fast sometimes without really being present that things like literally hurting ourselves just go by the wayside. We need to do better, friends. How often do you have these moments in life? Are they frequent? Not so much? Maybe not at all? What were you doing when those moments occurred? Were you really present at that moment? Like, 100%?? It’s doubtful. For 4-6 weeks I was in and out of MedExpress, annoyed on walks or hikes because my wrist was out of commission. No strength training, no BJJ, no pushups, pullups, opening of doors the wrong way or pushing myself up from a chair without shooting pain. Talk about frustrating. Sure, there are several of you out there that may have had similar or maybe even worse experiences, and I feel for you, truly. The good part through all of this is that we have a choice. We always have a choice. The Role of Self Reflection in Personal Growth Discovering Power in Embracing a Slower Pace How did it make you feel? How did you or are you dealing with this current struggle? Are you pushing past it and finding new ways to function? Or are you pouting on your couch? (A little of this is of course absolutely okay!) But I strongly suggest you get back out there and get after it. Through my own experience, I learned to improve my ways of doing things. I learned to slow down more like I had in the past, and also how to use my elbow in BJJ instead of relying on my hand. I’ve opened doors now with my forearm (which is technically healthier anyway!), and I’ve worked hard to start strength training again with more oomph than I have ever before. I’ve come to realize that with age comes increasingly more determination, even if you have a harder time physically doing something. Do you feel the same? I run faster, train harder and work more slowly. I pay attention to others talking, listen to stories people tell, and try to spend less time worrying. I’m grateful for my working legs, my healing wrist, and my ability to still compete in something at 32 years
The Road Less Traveled: My Journey To Healthy Part 1
Hey there all of my beautiful interweb friends. I’m sure some of you may be wondering where I’ve been the last few months. Off and on here, that’s for sure! That’s because of several reasons. Both personally and professionally. Some of which we’ve talked about on the blog. But I’d like to talk to you today about one that’s a little more personal. If you’ve struggled with weight loss (of any kind!) throughout your journey in this life (for whatever reason!), this may be just the post for you. Habitually Unbalanced Let’s start from the beginning. January of 2023 held some major setbacks in a lot of manners of my life, but mostly through my own self-growth and self-care routines. I wasn’t spending the much needed time that we all should be on the parts of life that really matter, (as in, taking care of me, myself and I), and my body started showing signs that it needed a well-deserved break. A break physically helped immensely, but as time droned on, I came to the realization that my mental health needed a nice refresher as well. So, I started taking better and better care just a little bit at a time of all these different aspects of this beautiful life. Today, almost 1.5 years later, I’ve crossed a bunch of boundaries, resolved a lot of personal disputes, and crushed multiple goals in both my physical and mental health. However, one agonizing thing has remained a burden, my weight. Health is More Than a Visual Test You see, I would be what they call “in good shape” from the outside. The unfortunate thing is that I am and forever have been one of those persons that consistently felt I: “…could do better.” “…could use some toning.” “…could try harder and just focus.” “…could eat less and move more.” “…could just NOT EVER do what felt good.” This got to be super annoying over time and I came to feeling like nothing I did was going to get to my “dream body.” I have a feeling a lot of people go through this particular journey, but as a woman, I think I can speak for the half of the population that feels it’s much harder going through hormone changes and body changes and all of the wonderful things that come with becoming a woman in your thirties. I basically gave up after hitting extreme burnout and put on even more weight for another period of time, which was super upsetting given that I have always been a highly active and energetic person that’s played sports all year round and ate healthy most of my twenties….”healthy.” Or so I thought. What pushed me onto this new road that I’m currently on was because of a few factors, but mainly being concerned about my health. Something I never thought would be an issue for an “active” person such as myself. Related: What Are Your Pillars? Mental, Physical, Emotional Health Foundations Finding Out What Was “Wrong” Throughout the time since last January, I talked about several new journeys and how this blog got its start. What I didn’t talk about however was how I had chronic side pain that would just NOT go away. It would be there randomly during a work shift so stabbing that I would go to the bathroom just to sit on the floor and wait it out. It would come and go on walks with my dog, runs with my husband, and slow me down in BJJ since I was concerned “something had to be wrong with me” that it wasn’t going away. I think a lot of things in life make us feel as if we have things “wrong with us,” when in fact, it’s simply a more common problem that most of us just never heard about. This is what happened. I went through countless abdominal scans with ultrasounds and MRIs, including this one that vibrated on my liver. It was super weird. And my arms went numb from holding them above my head for an hour. But I digress, it was more mentally challenging than anything as I waited months and months to find ANYTHING about what the issue may or may not be. After another appointment early this spring, I found that it was nothing too serious, but that I have a few things to be aware of now that these scans were done. I have multiple small cysts on my liver, (mostly benign hemangiomas)…THAT ARE LIKELY CAUSED BY BIRTH CONTROL PILLS AND “NOT A BIG DEAL” BECAUSE THEY’RE FOUND MOST COMMONLY AMONG YOUNG WOMEN….like, what?? I have one benign larger cyst that is considered safe but needs checked in the future just to be certain. I have “Stage 2” or “Grade 2” NAFLD: aka, Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. “A condition in which excess fat builds up in your liver. This buildup of fat is not caused by heavy alcohol use.” So, that’s annoying, right? Learn More: NAFLD If You Are Ever Concerned, See Your Doctor When I received this information, I was super frustrated for one thing. Not just because cysts from birth control are so damn common that it’s considered “normal,”. But also because I was certain there was just no way I had extra fat stored in my liver. I was “active” and “healthy!” After this, I did some research and realized that it is a pretty common thing to find out. Which frankly, is kind of sad. It also is really not cool that if for some reason you don’t find this out in an earlier stage, that it can go on to turn into cirrhosis of the liver, which is irreversible. IRREVERSIBLE, my friends! Luckily, mine is still in the reversible stage, which I highly intend to report to you along the way on how this journey is and has been going. If you’re going through anything similar, we’ve got this! I’m asking you to be my accountability partner and to stay
What Are Your Pillars? Mental, Physical, Emotional Health Foundations
Hey you. How are you doing? Mentally, physically, emotionally? Is all well or is one of these three pillars of your foundation on the brink of collapse? Let’s chat today about life in 2024 and how we’re handling it thus far. As well as how we can approach situations differently and come out on top from here on out. Three Pillars of Your Life – Mental Wellness Pillar The three pillars of your life come in many shapes and sizes, but these three are what the majority of us probably focus on most of the time. Should we focus on one more than another? Should we even care about all of them as much as some? These are the questions that linger in my psyche and most likely in some of yours as well. First let’s talk about our mental wellness. Have you done any taking care of that lately? Do you have plans to do so in the near future? If so, how? Here are a few options to check in with yourself if you’re lacking ideas as of late. Call up a friend, laugh a little, enjoy your time without looking at the clock. Go for a walk with your dog(s), or cat…or ferret. No judgements here! Get you some nature, friend. Take a nap. It’s okay, really. 10-20 minutes will do the trick. Get off your phone and get in your head. Our mental health tends to take the back burner when life is throwing all kinds of crap our way. There’s no time to think about ourselves when we have to take care of everything and everyone else, right? Unfortunately that’s not the case at all. Taking care of yours truly first and foremost will more than definitely have a positive effect on the world around you. Related: Road to Success: Embracing Perseverance in Life in the Face of Adversity in 2024 Don’t Forget About You – 3 Physical Pillar Tips Have you checked in lately with that good old flesh and bones of yours? Bodies are weird, they come in all shapes and sizes too, but alas the one you call home needs some TLC now and then. So, my advice? Give it some! More often than not. Here’s some to-do’s for you. Run. Run for a minute, an hour, whatever you’re feeling. Running fuels the body and mind so much differently than walking. Give it a try. Move some weight. Whether this be your own bodyweight or dumbbells at the gym, push yourself and really freaking mean it. Go ahead, grimace, the world isn’t watching. Stretch yo self before you wreck yo self. No but seriously, it’s one of the most commonly looked over natural healers of chronic pain. Promise yourself 2.5 minutes each morning and night and then feel the difference as you increase your time. Every time I’m tense from work, family, or my own internal issues, I try to implement at least one of these things. Of course we have lives and taking even 2.5 minutes for something trivial like stretching can pause your day for what seems like eons. Just think, you can help your body heal in the same amount of time as watching 5 TikTok videos. All the Feels – Emotional Pillars Ahh, emotions. Those will get the better of us more often than not. They suck and they’re beautiful all at the same time. Help yourself grow into more emotional maturity. How do you do that? I’m glad you asked. Talk to a therapist. No, not a friend or family member, you’re not paying them to hear your problems, and they probably get bored of listening anyway. Check out BetterHelp online, it’s a cost-effective and incredibly convenient option to get your mind right. Read! It’s like our generations embraced the growing online community and forgot all about those smelly old hardbacks sitting on the shelves. There’s something nostalgic and comforting about brushing the dust off a good self-help book and flipping through the pages without needing blue light glasses. Change your mindset. Including the words you speak and the things you choose (or choose not) to say. Listen more and understand people and yourself just a little deeper. Becoming emotionally mature is something I’m forever working on. It’s hard to grow up in some ways and understand that life is short and we are so tiny in this universe. Stop rushing and begin working on ways to level up in your own best interest. Related: Lost and Found: Finding Yourself and Gaining Clarity In Life There’s Still Time This Year If you have had a rough start to the first quarter, don’t back down. Push through and know that you’re only 1/4 of the way through 2024. Lean into what successes you did have and don’t shy away from new challenges at work or in life. Try to adapt to new ways of thinking and sit back and relax just a little more. Have you read a good book recently? Do you prefer Audible instead of paperback? Drop a comment below, let’s talk about the key differences and why both options are healthy choices for us individually. If you’re still looking, here are a few options in the meantime. Can’t Hurt Me, by David Goggins The Universe Has Your Back, by Gabrielle Bernstein Grit, by Angela Duckworth Let me know your thoughts! Take care friend. Thank You For Reading “What Are Your Pillars? Mental, Physical, Emotional Health Foundations” Thank you for reading today’s post all about discovering what are your Mental, Physical, Emotional Pillars. What has your path looked like? What will it look like tomorrow? Let me know what resonates with you. If you have a suggestion for our next post, let us know. Don’t forget to check out our sister site Rooted in Reselling.
Road to Success: Embracing Perseverance in Life in the Face of Adversity in 2024
In the last post we talked about trusting the process and how it means different things to all of us as humans. Today something similar has been floating around in my mind and that my friends is the word, perseverance. To trust the process of life, we need to persevere through the ups and downs. Perseverance in life is not easy. We need to shove past the sneaky negative thoughts floating in as well and tune into our more intelligent selves! Perseverance is Finding the Right Path and Forging Ahead Because it’s crucial to keep forging ahead, we must recognize that each problem faced is a path forward in some way, shape or form. Even though this path is not always easy or obvious, it’s often those paths that end up leading us to exactly where we need to be. I won’t lie, persevering is hard work, especially when you start to become doubtful of the process. It can look all wrong when it’s supposed to be all right. These are the times that opportunity lies in front of us with new beginnings and new challenges. How is your perseverance different in 2024 as opposed to 5, 10, or even 20 years ago? Do you look to new outlets to find inspiration? For myself and my husband, it’s YouTube videos on hiking difficult trails or traveling to interesting places. Watching these create new emotions that push us to book new trips that we never would have dreamed up before. What are your outlets for you and for your family? Ask around to see what you have in common with your loved ones or what you can learn from them. Related: What Does Trust the Process Mean in 2024? Three Tips to Help You on Your Path to Perseverance in Life Every now and then we face boulders in the road that stop us in our tracks. They’ll need strategy, force and determination to push past or punch through…which will in turn show us new ways around future obstacles by presenting us with new experiences to take along with us on this journey. The journey of perseverance is long and grueling but trust me, you’ve got this. No matter what is necessary to make moves on your future road, I believe in you! Just keep putting one foot in front of the other and creating new steps along your dreams. In the meantime, here are some easy to carry with you tips that may help during that process… (print them out or summarize them to keep with you if you want!) It’s okay to look back, but don’t live there. A lot of times you may hear “Don’t look back,” but I encourage you to do just that. Self-reflection is so important to realizing our growth, and oftentimes goes unnoticed if we don’t start tracking it. I just downloaded “Setgraph” (I’ll let you know how it goes!), which is a log to track your workouts which I plan to do more often now that I’ve begun my training for our upcoming Grand Canyon camping trip! 5 Steps To Achieving Your 2024 Goals and How I’m Planning Mine Track your progress! Just as mentioned in Tip #1, tracking your progress and growth is something that may be difficult to get going, but is super worth it once you get the ball rolling. Try out one of the many apps available to start tracking your daily goals or just use your notepad on your phone to create a reflection journal. I’m loving that my iPhone just updated to include a new Journal app that reminds me of recent events to journal on! Try out a checklist. Checklists have helped me immensely to stay on track during days that I’m feeling off, and have encouraged me to continue on in my day’s duties when I feel like the world is caving in. My favorite checklist currently is oddly enough the “Tasks” option on my Google Calendar. No need to spend extra to engage in some more self-care! Keep Going, One Step is One Step Closer As you can see, you don’t need to spend extra to focus on living your best life. Persevering is trusting the process and recognizing that you have it in you to keep going. Try out the tips above in the days and weeks ahead to prove to yourself that you can stay on track and keep hitting back when things don’t go according to plan. For the first time in my life recently, a co-worker told me how I gave off “relaxed vibes.” I honestly didn’t know how to react, so I just replied with “Thank you!!” As someone that has endured different bouts of anxiety over the years, this was the highest compliment I could have gotten. It was such a relief to hear that someone else had recognized the work I’ve been putting in, and I want you to shoot for that feeling as well! Every day is a challenge, big or small. Just keep in mind that each day you only need to make small changes. They’ll add up, and your confidence, ambition, and strength will too. Thank You For Reading “Road to Success: Embracing Perseverance in Life in the Face of Adversity in 2024” Thank you for reading today’s post all about how to find your perseverance in life. What has your path looked like? What will it look like tomorrow? Let me know what resonates with you. If you have a suggestion for our next post, let us know. Don’t forget to check out our sister site Rooted in Reselling.
What Does Trust the Process Mean in 2024?
Not long ago we talked about goals and ambitions for the year ahead. While those are still in the forefront of my mind, life steps in and takes over, therefore changing the many ways of thinking that we continually experience. Today let’s talk about how to move through these changes and what it takes to trust the process. When I Started to Trust the Process Oddly enough, “trust the process” was something I wrote on my whiteboard several months ago, perhaps even a year. It’s something that’s sat by my bedside to look at each morning and night so that I continue to remember how life likes to play itself out. It’s also something that I looked at differently with each day, understanding that with new times and days that it could mean new things and ideas. Trusting the process can be excruciatingly hard when life becomes uncomfortable, yet it’s a phrase that is known far and wide in the mental health community. What’s a phrase that hits home for you this month? Is it a keyword maybe? Our a full sentence or book excerpt? Related: 5 Steps To Achieving Your 2024 Goals and How I’m Planning Mine Trusting the Process is Different for Everyone When I began to let go a little more and start accepting the fact that life knows what it’s doing, the universe started allowing me more time to understand what its plan was. Trusting the process or letting go even a little is different for everyone but difficult for all of us. What does it look like for you? Changes in our lives can throw curveballs that we never expect either in a good or bad form. I’ve had a few of both this year and it’s only February! I’d like to say that all changes have been positive but unfortunately not all change is for the good. We age, our parents age, our pets age, and our children age. We grow new skin and shed it back off and all the while don’t notice a thing until it’s so quickly passed us by. As I age year over year, I begin to understand more of how life likes to kick you while you’re down…but also how it gives you amazing opportunities to pick yourself back up. How Do You Trust the Process? Do you trust your process? Do you even have a process?? Changes create conflict, but conflict creates resolutions. With each new journey we step into a new part of our soul that is created and molded into exactly what it needs to be. Through headaches, heartaches and anxiety we can come out stronger and more knowledgeable about these new challenges that are upon us. What is your most powerful challenge to conquer? Is it as simple as sleeping more soundly with background noises fluttering throughout your home? Or maybe it’s trudging through another pet with health issues that pulls on your heart strings. Is it a family member that relies on you for just a little too much or a friend that brings you down? The good news is that we can change the changes that are upon us. We can look in the mirror today and know that we are more intelligent, beautiful, and capable than the person we were 24 hours prior. Change is beautiful. It is necessary. And it is crucial to trust your process. Related: To Conquer Your Goals in 2024, You’ll Need To Become Your Own Teacher Thank You For Reading “What Does Trust the Process Mean in 2024?” Thank you for reading today’s post about what it means to trust the process. What has your path to balance looked like? Let me know what resonates with you. If you have a suggestion for what our next post should be let us know. Don’t forget to check out our sister site Rooted Drawers.