You Say Fatty Liver, I Say Eff That.
So guys. We’ve talked about getting older. We’ve raved about the benefits and boo-hooed about the bummers along the way. We have also discussed how we get tripped up in so many ways when it comes to preventing bad health because every doctor we go to just wants to treat it with Advil or Pepto Bismol or Tylenol instead. (Well not mine, because she’s awesome…get yourself a direct care physician, they cut out the middleman and provide one-on-one care by taking time to understand your full needs instead of shooing you in and out of an office). If you’re in the Pittsburgh area, check them out!) But anyway, I’m seriously tired of waiting around for an answer to my issues. I want to be able to do every single thing I can to start PREVENTING further complications when I’m 40, 50, or 60. So, who’s with me in learning all about our beings and making sure we can kick butt when we’re wrinkly. Leggoooo. Why Looking Healthy on the Outside Doesn’t Always Mean You Feel Good Inside Listen, I’m no expert in the medical field so please don’t go all cray cray on me in the comments. I’m just a regular (kind of) oldish lady feeling the waters of the aging process. It’s annoying to say the least. But we’re not here to say the least, are we? I’ve been in and out of doctor appointments for going on 2 years now regarding a pain in my side that has not gone away. At first I thought it was a pulled muscle, turns out it may actually be that (just a really, really deep one!), but alas, the nagging pain is still present, especially when I participate in the sports I love most. (Strength training, running, and BJJ). Anytime I hit the mats on that side, it feels like I land on a whole ass stress ball. It’s not super severe, but I obviously avoid it as much as possible, (therefore hindering my game, which is UNCOOL). It’s something I thought would have gone away by now, but it persists nonetheless. So I’ve gone through a handful of tests including blood draws, MRIs and ultrasounds. All of which to tell me that I’m *basically* completely normal and that I need not worry about my health since, on the surface, I’m a healthy, active, young woman. AHEM. Let me just bring back the old saying we all know and love. “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” Meaning simply, just because on the outside we look healthy and completely normal, does NOT mean internally we are doing “just fine.” And guess what? This goes for not only your internal organs and such, but also for anxiety, stress, depression, you name it. What you see is not always what you get. Some people just come out of the womb 100% present and confident in themselves and fully authentic from the start. And others, like myself, and maybe you too, come out scrambling trying to realize their own story and put piece by piece together of what brings them the most joy. I’m not saying it’s harder for us to find what makes us happy in life, but a lot of times, it really is that simple. So, don’t overthink it. But when it comes to my health, my internals that make me alive and beating, I want to ensure I’m doing EVERYTHING I can to make full use of all my years and not be bummed out at 50 because I can’t move as well as I used to. I need to feel better than that. I need to keep running, keep playing, keep competing every single day to feel alive and healthy in my current skin. A Safe and Confident Woman? We talked before about fatty livers, and how much more common they are than not. We talked about cysts forming from birth control and how it’s deemed “normal” among women in their 20s/30s in their “child-bearing years.” Like, wtf? No, sir or ma’am, that is not NORMAL. That is not cool, and not okay with me, and I’m sure to my fellow lady friends out there, probably not with you, either. I don’t believe that ingesting a pill for years on end that creates permanent damage to another organ is okay. I thought by taking that, I was being a “safe and confident woman.” And here, all along, I was just adding another problem in my life in the form of never-ending cysts that continue to grow. Whether or not that is the sole reason is unbeknownst to me at this time. However, I do know that it is chalked up to one of the “maybes” of why they are present right now on my liver. And it does not make me super pumped. Not only that, but whatever the issue persisting is, it’s growing. My instructions when I asked what I could do to help reverse the fatty liver or decrease the size of the cyst were simply, “continue doing what you’re doing,” or “there’s nothing you can do for it, we’ll check back in a year.” …To say I had fumes coming out of my ears was an understatement. I Won’t Stand Idly By I know there are likely medical professionals out there that know better, and by all means, I’d be more than happy to have one weigh in to drop some doc knowledge in the comments. But until then, I shall simply provide my two cents about why these statements cause me so much unrest. Why can’t I “do anything?” Why do I have no other options than to “continue doing what I’m doing,” and why the hell do I need to wait a full year to make sure it hasn’t grown more in size?! Like, no thanks, I’d rather stop it where it’s at now, mmkay. I try to stay a realist and understand that the medical field
Dealing With Change: An Uncomfortable Shift In Mindset And A Lesson Learned
I was standing in a beautiful stone built shower this evening with clean, hot water running over me. As I washed my hair with what some may call bougie shampoo, a question popped into my head. Why is it so hard to believe that I may have just changed? What is the real problem with dealing with change, anyway? Why does it feel so weird and why can’t we accept that it is a normal, part of self-growth…part of life. I Forgot I Could Change We backpacked through the backcountry for 3 days this week. We experienced outdoor showers, more than one secret oasis, howling coyotes on the hunt and a random horse pass our tent. We trudged through more than 30 miles of hiking, including up the tallest mountain in the state as well as the wilderness, the desert, the tundra, the forest, and a canyon. We viewed sunrise after sunset at some of the most stunning places we’ve ever been together, including great meals and many memorable moments together. We enjoyed talking, walking and even silence during hiking struggles. So, why is it that today, when the first thing went wrong, that my overthinking brain hit the roof? I wasn’t seeing clearly earlier, but since that refreshing hot shower, I’m a little more understanding. You see, I forgot that I could change. I forgot that it’s okay to adjust what you do as you get older, or how you approach new situations, or even situations that you previously were in. It’s okay to feel the hurt when something doesn’t go your way, we are allowed to have feelings when things just plain suck sometimes. But at the end of the day, we have to realize one thing. That thing is that dealing with change is always going to be present in our world, change is always going to happen whether we’re ready for it or not. The thing that hits hardest however, is how you handle the change that comes your way. What change have you encountered lately? Related: What Are Your Pillars? Mental, Physical, Emotional Health Foundations Dealing With Changing Situations and How I React to Them It’s becoming more and more clear to me when I need to adjust my mindset. I often even realize it now in the middle of an actual conversation, where I’ll start to work on self-talk inside my own thoughts. It doesn’t always help right away, but reflecting on it throughout the day is where I find the most progress. Sometimes I’ll talk to my partner about it. Sometimes I’ll put away my screens and just sit to reflect while working on breath work. Other times, I’ll talk to you. As much as I’m hopeful these posts will enlighten another in the world to their potential and understanding of self, it helps me just as much to be able to use this canvas to paint new perspectives on how to adjust my way of thinking or being to better fit into tomorrow. Focusing on the good in our lives is often so much more difficult than focusing on the negative. If I had to keep a tally for this trip, the positive moments would far outweigh the negative ones. Yet, when someone asks me how it went, you know the first thing that will come to mind might just be this one negative one. Why is that? Why does our brain trick us into thinking that those moments are more important to highlight? Human beings like drama, and drama is memorable. My goal this year is to focus on becoming more aware of how I react in changing situations, such as when I was conflicted earlier about whether or not to get another campsite, or a tiny home. After MUCH back and forth contemplation, I decided I was in love with neither and that I should look some more. (All the while missing out on beautiful landscapes passing me by). Low and behold, I found another airbnb that was perfect. We decided to upgrade for the evening and clicked “book.” Changing Rooms and Changing Attitude When we got to the place, there was clearly issues allover. There was soot everywhere from an apparent fire from the person before us, broken things nearly all the places we checked, and just bad vibes throughout the room. The maintenance was kind enough to relocate us to an even more beautiful room, although I was initially upset since that was my perfect aesthetic carefully chosen place. I complained to my husband about the new one, how it was so different and how the patio view wasn’t as nice. I complained about the slowly draining jet tub that I’d longed for after those miles of hikes. I spent so much time complaining that I forgot to look outside and remind myself how magnificent of a place I was already blessed to be in… In that shower, I realized that I was complaining about things that I was taking for granted. Things that I’d grown accustomed to in our travels and things that I was craving so much after missing them for days, that when the slightest thing went wrong, I’d gotten angry, annoyed, even ignorant to my surroundings. Dealing with change is so difficult sometimes. Especially as an adult. We get so used to doing things one way for so long, or being used to how we did things as kids and teenagers, that when that adult life hits us, we expect to continue on with those feelings. I realized that since I’d loved camping so much as a child, that of course I must love it just as much now. And I do. But my back, my joints, my body, the cold, the up at night to walk 100 feet to a half-working bathroom (if there even was one), the constant reminder I was nearly alone in the wilderness, those were things I was not used to. Those things I needed a break
Embracing Vulnerability : The Art of Slowing Down and Seizing New Experiences
How often do you get the chance to try out new experiences? How many days of the year would you say you are able to put on your big girl pants and step out into the unknown? How many seconds of each day are you able to grasp without rushing and just breathe in the surroundings one moment at a time? My guess is not very often. If you’re like many of us humans, you’re always rushing to the next appointment, meeting or grocery store to mindlessly choose your next meal that you won’t even get to enjoy because you’ll rush through that too. I wanted to revisit the topic of slowing down today. I want to stop focusing on things we “shouldn’t” or “can’t” and start believing more in what we “could” or “can.” Finding Strength in Vulnerability I love a good book. What are some of your favorites? Recently, I’ve been reading Feel The Fear…And Do It Anyway. I’m sure you can see how it’s reflected in these recent writings. But that’s what this blog is about, after all. My learnings and findings and understanding of what in the world we’re going through as humans and to share that with you, my friend. This trip away from the world has given me ample opportunities to become more vulnerable with my partner and with myself as well. (We talked about that a lot more in the last post if you’d like to check it out). Oftentimes we will suppress those feelings of fear, of doubt, of anxiety to impress or prove to others around us that we are more brave or fearless than we actually are. I wanted to let you know that being afraid of something is okay. It is okay to be vulnerable. It is okay to look at the world with question and ask others their opinions or understanding of it all. They’d probably be happy you asked, because they are probably feeling that same thing. So, why not be the one to begin the conversation? Because I’ve “felt the fear and did it anyway,” on this trip, (within reason, of course), I’ve gotten to paddle board for the first time with my husband. Not only paddle boarding, but to a tiny oasis below our campsite that had a massive ancient cave with a secret beach inside of it. I’ve gotten to feel more comfortable in my own skin talking to him about how important it is to need support through this new vulnerability and to be able to learn from him as well. You see, we need others to feel validated. We do not need to do every single thing on our own in this life. We need to be independent when those times arise, but we also need to feel at ease leaning on others when it is necessary. If I didn’t have the support of my incredible other half, I may have taken months or even years longer to start down this path of true freedom from fear, anxiety and doubt. Lean into your support, you don’t have to shy away from it. Your person doesn’t have to be your spouse. It can be a friend, a parent, a loved one, a teacher, a therapist, whatever you feel comfortable with. It can even be yourself in the mirror if you’d prefer to keep things private and focus on self-talk. The choice is yours of where to begin, but don’t delay. The time, energy and awareness I’ve felt through being more vulnerable and becoming more comfortable and confident has completely changed my outlook on this life. I’ve become more aware of my surroundings and more in awe by Mother Nature and more obsessed with learning and becoming my higher self. I want you to have those feelings, too. Related: Shining Light on Stress and Mental Health Barriers: Lessons Learned From the Solar Eclipse Letting Go and Living Fully We can do amazing things. We can conquer anything that we want. It’s always been within reach, we are just too afraid to let go of what we feel comfortable with. We feel the fear and back away, we say we “can’t,” or that we “shouldn’t” because we are to concerned of the outcome instead of just enjoying the ride. My goal is to always become better at “going with the flow.” It’s something I’ve been actively working on for years. Seeing what happens instead of wondering and questioning “what if” has given me so many more days of bliss and happiness, so many less days of anger and frustration and lashing out at others. It’s been amazing. I promise it’s better on the other side. A lot of us use an escape to mask these feelings though. Escapes such as over-exercising (without knowledge of how to properly do so), such as coping with our “hard days” by drinking or another form of addiction. These escapes only highlight those feelings of doubt…they only increase your “stuck” feelings instead of letting them go. I used to feel that way. I used to mask my fear and doubt with alcohol. I used to drink when I felt uncomfortable and make sure it was always there, “just in case,”…almost like a security blanket. That’s madness. This spring I stopped using alcohol as a coping mechanism and started using my own courage to begin putting myself in these uncomfortable situations. I stopped worrying about bringing it on vacations and stopped ordering it every time we go out to eat. I stopped treating it like a normal thing and started looking at it for what it is, poison to my mind and body. (I want to remind the reader really quick that this is purely my own experience. This does not mean I am an expert in this field, only that I want to share my own learned knowledge and understanding of what it means to me and why I’ve changed the course. Please keep that in mind while continuing on,
Breaking Through The Pressure Of Society’s Expectations
Sometimes I wonder how I got here. How did my liver decline to the point of needing to reverse it? How am I nearly 33 years old without one single child? Did I do something wrong? Or is this somehow all actually more right than I would like to give it credit for? These are the things I think about as a middle-aged female millennial. These are the overthinking, anxiety-inducing, stress-causing burdens that blur out the everyday tasks that we all blindly walk through…can you relate? Do you feel pressured by society to fit into a certain circle? Do you feel like if you were actually your truest self that it may not sit well with others? Why are we designed this way? And better yet, how do we do better? The Pressures of the Grind and Burnout I stare blankly at my brick walled fireplace wondering why this migraine persists although I am “not stressed.” It’s as if somehow the longer I stare, the more I find answers from within. We talked about this recently on the blog. About how we are all so busy all of the time. About how it’s nearly impossible to find time to “self-care” let alone to let yourself think. Meditation comes in many forms… Today, I fear I’m still facing the burnout. It lasts awhile, you see. Because for some amazing reason the human body is resilient. For some reason, even though every single morning when my alarm goes off for the daily grind, and I promise myself if I’m out earlier than expected that I WILL ABSOLUTELY nap…I don’t. I wait and wait and push and push until the point where the migraine sets in, until the point where all I can do is blankly stare at fireplaces hoping for the next adrenaline rush to kick in. But eventually, those run out…or the Red Bulls do. Why do we do this to ourselves? We’re all guilty of it in some way. Whether you run miles each day or bike in the gym classes or work 3 jobs to make ends meet. It looks like a busy parent at the end of the day low on coffee and high on advil. It’s the teacher frustrated that they can’t do more to share their skills. It looks like the teller at the bank dreading the next workday in this monotonous world they live in. We skip from rock to rock, trudging through life as if we’re on one of those long moving walkways that you see in airports…(and other busy places). It’s a theme, you see. The more busy life becomes, the more we’re unknowingly put on autopilot. Do you really want to live that way? More From HB: Unlearning A Fixed Mindset: Leaving Old Habits Behind The Questions Society Puts On Us My guess is no. No, you do not. At least I’m not going to. That’s one of the reasons for starting this blog. To track, to understand, to learn and evolve and hopefully help a few others along the way. This is a health blog, both mentally and physically. This is a mindfulness blog, a fitness and gardening and foodie blog, a being a freaking human in the world blog. Are you with me? So many times we’re told we have to choose. We have to dedicate all or nothing to one sport, one activity, one hobby, one topic, one job. I call BS. We are beautiful beings made of stardust and water for effs sake. Why in the universe are we limiting ourselves?? What is behind the pressure I feel to be a mom at a certain age? Why do I feel like if I don’t have kids by the time I’m 35 all hell will break loose and my body “won’t bounce back?” Why can’t I just feel comfortable trusting the process that I’m on the path that I need to be so that I can get my mind, body, and spirit in check before bringing another life into this world? If you feel it’s right, it probably is. Go with your gut, it’s your second brain after all. What is it that you’re looking for in life? What is it that you want to do now, 10 years from now, 50 years from now? Think big. Who’s stopping you, really? I don’t know what to title this post yet. It’s still a mystery. That’s why I love writing. It’s basically like life, in tiny little letters on your digital screen. Changing, rearranging, fixing, undoing, adding. There’s always something different that comes to mind to improve upon. So, instead of continuing to redline on the verge of bursting out of your skin, find something you can create. Mentally, physically, spiritually, emotionally. Let it take over and just grow wild. Who cares what they think, no one knows who “they” is anyway. My two cents is to start focusing on you. Stop being busy for the sake of being busy and let the universe guide you into who you need to be in this lifetime. Who do you think you were meant to be, anyway? Finding the Right Outlet I want to be an emotional writer, a good wife, a pet mom furever and someday a mom of more humans, a kind person, a helpful daughter, a fun soul, a big sister. I want to start embracing myself in ways I haven’t yet done. I’ve come a long way on my journey so far, but I’ve got miles and miles to go to the finish line…and there’s a whole lot of doing I have yet to do. If you’re a creative you may understand what I’m saying. I call it the “squeezy head” syndrome. It was derived from my previous dog, he would literally get so overwhelmed at times that he would squeeze his little forehead in such excitement and anxiety. That’s exactly how I feel sometimes. I get this feeling that my head is just full of ideas
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,
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 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.