A Healthy Lifestyle

Alright, can I just come out and say the issue with blogging is that sometimes you worry so much about one of two things: 1) offending others 2) how you will be viewed by others.  Am I right?

I am going to try to set aside these things- especially number two, and get down to the nitty gritty.  I wanted to make a post that will hold me accountable for accomplishing one of my New Year's Resolutions which is to live a healthy lifestyle.  In girl language this might mean "lose weight," but I hate the negative connotation that is attached to that phrase.  To me, living a healthy lifestyle is much more than cutting weight- it's becoming strong and taking control of one's self.  So, instead of facing the dreaded scale each week, I am going to focus my time towards making meals with more natural ingredients and continuing my workout regime- with a little twist (as you will see later). I'm not going near a scale because we have had a horrible history together!  With a scale, instead of focusing on how I feel, I focus on numbers. I have found that numbers don't really motivate me- my emotional and physical health cannot be weighed by a scale.

Now, I will have to be patient- which is not my strong suit. I am not looking to lose x amount of pounds in x amount of days, I am simply looking to revamp the role food plays in my life.  And hopefully once this lifestyle is incorporated into my everyday life, I can help instill it in my future children.  I love the phrase "Don't live to eat... eat to live."  I have to remind myself of this quite often.  Although I believe this process will take longer than past attempts, I feel that it will be more gratifying if I focus on how I feel rather than the numbers.  So, to start off on my goal I have done two things.

1. The app: myfitnesspal.  Anyone wanna be my friend?! I've just started and I don't have any.... haha! For those of you who do not know what it is- it's basically a way to track what you eat.  I used to do a journal because I found that it made me more accountable knowing what I ate, but it was SO much more work.  With this app, it has most of the foods already in the system, so all you have to do is click right on it!  Boom.  No reason to say you "don't know what you're eating."

2. New workouts!  I'm more excited about this one, I have to say.  Although Josh and I go to the gym daily, I was in the habit of doing the same few workouts ALL year.  That's horrible!  I should have changed it up every few months because if workouts remain the same, the body gets too used to what it is doing.  So, to break my streak of simply having an upper body, lower body, and ab day, I will be doing several different workouts- thanks to Fitmiss!  I've been following them on instagram (@Iamfitmiss) because they post daily workouts.  What I've done is accumulated some of these workouts and I've put them into a little journal I can put into my gym bag.

So... why am I telling you this?  I need buddies with the same goal as me to tell me their strategies to succeed this year!  Also, I like spreading knowledge, so for those of you who feel that these could help- my job is done (:

For those of you who would like to know more specifics on how I'm organizing my little notebook of workouts- let me know! I can post them if you would like.

Refreshed

It's been a while since I've last posted.  I had a little rough patch the past couple months, and I wasn't sure how my posts would translate over since I was stuck in a little pity party! haha is that lame to admit?  ...I found it difficult to express myself because I didn't want others to feel as if they were involved in the situation when they were not.  Needless to say, things are getting better and I'm looking hopeful to the New Year!

Of course, we've all pondered on our New Years resolutions... Am I going to make them?  Should I not?  If I do, will I feel even worse about myself if I don't achieve them?!  I'm sad to say, I have not completely discovered my official goals.  I have some ideas but they are not on paper yet.  It's difficult to get that alone time (especially during the holidays, when I want to be with family) to really retrospect on the past year and who I am as a person, since these things will mold what I want to achieve for this year.

Something that quickly came to mind when I had a little bit of time was how I want to forgive those in my life that have hurt me.  Now, I don't have a sad story to tell, so don't worry, I won't get too close and personal.  But I realized that these same people came into my mind much too often.  Each time, I had a sense of frustration and anger inside myself.  I knew something had to change.  Of course, I don't like confrontation, so I'm not going to approach them, although we are in different states so it would have to be over email.  Either way, I used the approach that has worked for me in a past: write a letter to the person but don't send it.

In this letter, I said everything that I would want to say to them in person.  I expressed how I felt due to their actions and why I felt that way.  It felt wonderful to get these things off my chest!  I knew that if I continued to hold these things against these people for much longer, I hadn't completely forgiven them- as much as I wanted to tell myself I had.  If I hadn't forgiven them, I wouldn't be able to forgive myself and without this, how could I feel good about self-improvement?

I would feel unworthy.

So, as the typical "first post of the year" would usually focus on personal New Year's resolutions, this is one that is essentially the same thing.  In my mind, I have resolved these relationships, allowing myself to feel better.  No more negative thinking.  No more blaming.  No more looking on the past.

I now feel refreshed, refocused, and ready to conquer 2014! 

Just a cute little background story for those of you who would like to know: a couple weeks into dating Josh, I went to pick him up from the SLC airport- committed, right?!  We went to get Chinese and I got this fortune in my cookie. I know it's weird, but when I read it- I immediately thought about Josh proposing in the future.  As you know, he didn't propose then (I would have FREAKED OUT...) but I could completely see it happening.  Little did I know, a few months later, it would come true!

Anyway, while this fortune was a fun little one to receive, I think it's perfect to bring in the New Year!

A tempting proposal will soon present itself to you.  Are you going to take it?