and Happy Halloween to all!!!!!
It is hard to believe it has been 1 YEAR since I started Oh She Glows! A year really CAN change a lot.
Missed Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, or Part 7??
If anyone is looking for a last minute Halloween costume- you could go as an Operation Beautiful note! ;)
Here is the one I wrote today on my big ‘post-it’…
It’s going by the door!
One thing blogging has taught me over the past year is that being true to myself has dramatically changed my life for the better.
I realized that the ‘real me’ WAS good enough! In fact, the real me is what everyone wanted to see all along, but I didn’t know that.
I always thought I had to hide who I really was- a goofy, silly, shy, yet fun-loving and IMPERFECT woman.
Once I took my wall down and was true to myself I realized that good things started happening to me.
I was happier, less anxious, motivated, and peaceful. I fell asleep quickly at night. I woke up eager. I dreamed big.
People around me seemed to like me more, probably because I wasn’t walking around stressed out and counting every calorie in my head over and over again or thinking about how unhappy I was.
Oh She Glows got me through one of the most difficult times of my life. It is what made me realize that I could do something that I loved to do. I could touch people with my words. I could help other women overcome their disordered eating, obsession, and negative self-image. I could be silly, and weird, and goofy, and basically do whatever I wanted on this blog. I could take a picture of a beautiful flower and post it. I could vent about a problem or talk about ideas, goals, motivations, aspirations, and visions…
Oh She Glows made me finally feel in control of my happiness.
I started to think outside the box. I dreamed big. I knew that I deserved to be happy.
Things inside me started to click.
I had spent the better part of my graduate program miserable and now I was miserable in my career. What would have to change until I decided enough was enough? When would my life be a HAPPY life?
Well, something happened along my blogging journey. I realized that nothing was ever going to change unless I did something about it.
Opportunities don’t just happen to people, you have to MAKE them happen.
When I realized this, my whole perspective changed.
I knew that unless I took action, I would be miserable my whole life. I pictured myself in the same job until I was 50. Is that what I wanted, to be a passive recipient of what life gives me?
Absolutely not!
None of us know what cards will be dealt to us. I don’t know if I will be around next week, next year or for my 50th birthday. It would surely suck to piss away these amazing years being unhappy. Where is the fun in being miserable all the time? It was the same sort of realization I had when I decided to give up obsessing over my weight, exercise, and food. Was it working for me? Hardly- I was stressed out and unhappy day in and day out. I was hungry all the time. Eric broke up with me for a few months in 2003 because things got so bad. Being miserable did NOT work for me with my eating disorder or in my career.
Each positive step that I took, I felt like I jumped a mile. Positive things breed more positive things. As soon as I broke the cycle of negativity in my life, I was a changed women.
It just takes a series of small actions and then one BIG action (think- KABOOM!) to finally break away from the chains that you have in your life.
My KABOOM! moment was when I decided to tell my boss, in a heated moment, that I was done. I felt like a bomb went off inside me. Suddenly everything was changed.
I thank my lucky stars that I started Oh She Glows exactly 1 year ago. I was a very unhappy and guarded person. I felt like a drone. Some days I didn’t feel anything except nothingness and a void. This blog didn’t just turn a light bulb on in my head, it turned on an entire football stadium of lights. Everything started to click. I had these amazing women who read my blog and believed in me. After a while I started to believe in me too.
After a bad day I logged on and just wrote. Sometimes light topics like fashion or make-up and sometimes more serious ones. It was sort of like cheap therapy for me. I was on the couch indeed typing my heart out.
This isn’t just a healthy living blog to me.
It represents HOPE for change.
Hope that each and every one of us can find our own personal definition of happiness. To be true to ourselves, and to believe in our own authentic power.
I still feel like I have a lot to learn, but the only difference now is that I feel like I am slowly on my way, and better yet, I am excited about it. I am no longer stalled or going in reverse like I was for so long.
I truly think that all of us have the same basic goals…to feel loved and to feel like we have a purpose on the earth. To feel like our true self is in harmony with what we do day in and day out.
The power within all of us is so great. If we only touched on it briefly each day we could all do amazing things.
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And now it is time for Oh She Glows birthday giveaway!
HOW TO ENTER:
Close your eyes. Picture yourself on October 31, 2010. Now leave a comment and tell me how you picture your ideal life 1 year from today. Maybe you have goals or hopes. Tell me what you want to be doing, living, breathing…The first step is writing it down.
The giveaway is for one lucky US or Canadian reader to win everything below! (Click to enlarge).
All of this is from the Health food trade show I went to. Tons of teas, bars, beauty healthy products, etc! I’m not naming it all, but you get the idea. :)
I also added some of my favourite products to share: Glo bars, Mary’s Crackers, Organic raw Cacao nibs, and PC Sun-dried tomato no salt added seasoning (the LBD of seasonings!)
YUM!
Contest closes: Tuesday Nov. 3, 2009 at 8am.
Bonne chance!
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Thank you to each and everyone of you for your amazing support over the past year! If there are any of you out there who have followed my journey since the beginning- well, that is quite awesome.
ONWARD and UPWARD!!!!!!!
Now, BED TIME at 1:20am. Tomorrow AM: Finish making up the fake house, costume + party planning, and baking!
PS- There is also a giveaway for GLO BARs over here! Leave a comment to enter!
I’m hoping that in 1 year I’ll be a marathoner! Or the mother of 5 (I already have 4!)
I picture myself graduated in a career somewhere new and thrilling that I love to go to every day (or work from home and do things that I enjoy). I would be healthy and athletic… learning new athletic skills, improving my running (training for a marathon?), improving my cooking skills, etc. I am so excited for life!
In one year, I see myself healthy and happy without counting calories. It’s an addiction, for sure, and I’m trying my very hardest to focus on healthy eating instead of studying labels and tallying totals. I’ll be free from this in a year, I know I can do it!
I see myself at my goal weight happy in clothes and happy in life, happier in a job that I am satisfied in (not like the one I am doing right now)…not sure if that will be still in Canada or in England, hopefully I will get another work permit in September so that I can stay in Canada :o)
ps. great giveaway and a very inspirational story of how you got to where you are now..if only I could figure out what I wanna be when I grow up.
congrats ange! you are such an inspiration to tme, and i look forward to your posts each and every day. thank you. in one year from now i see myself getting out of the 9 to 5 biotech rut that i have been meaning to get out of for, oh, 8 years now? its up to me to just DO IT! find something i love and go for it. like you did =)
I would like to see myself almost done with my master’s, managing my stress well (aka not stress eating) and keeping in mind the important things in life like relationships, friends, family, health and wellness.
One year from now I see myself as a happy, less anxious wife, Mom, sister, friend and woman. I’m not sure if those were ordered correctly. ;) I hope to accept that I can’t make the perfect decision every time and accept that I really do give my all and try my best. I do want to do more for myself in the next year. Maybe get my hair done more often, buy myself some new clothes, make time for myself etc. Somehow, I’ve put myself last even though I think I know better. That’s okay. It happens, I’ve caught myself, I’ve forgiven myself and now I just want to accept who I am. So, on Oct 31, 2010 I see myself as a Stay at hom mom to my then 7 and 5 year olds taking care of them and accepting that I am doing a good job. And I am also taking care of myself along the way. Whew, I hope that made sense!
happy birthday Oh She Glows! In a year from now i hope to be completely content with my life, find a balance in my relationship with food, and learn to let the little things go in my relationship with my fiance. Maybe a little ambitious, but i think it can be done!
A year from now I see myself having a job that I love, a new house, and a healthier lifestyle.
I hope to be HAPPY,HEALTHY, and a 1st year medical student! Happy birthday OSG!
In one year from now I will be done my undergraduate degree, have just started working my first real job (it starts October 4) and working towards my CA. It’ll be a busy time-but very exciting!
In one year, I hope thst my husband will be back and we will be happier and healthier than ever and that I’ll be moving on to a great grad school with him.
One year from now I would like to have competed in a race, improved my skills at work even further, have increased my financial savings, and be on my way to getting married.
In one year, I hope to have:
Saved more money
Ran another marathon
Continued to improve my healthly living style
Visited at least one other country
Spent more time with girlfriends
Happy Birthday Oh She Glows! It’s so great that the blog has helped you to make your life better! And that you are touching so many other women!
And I love the Operation Beautiful note! Yes, how important it is not to wear a mask (other than today of course)!
One year from today, I want to still focus on living a balanced life, think before taking on new projects, and make spending time with those I love the most important thing in my life.
Happy Halloween! :)
While it would be nice to work less, i think that will take longer than a year. I’m lucky enough to have amazing friends, boyfriend and family in my life. My real issue is with working long hours, finding the motivation to go to the gym in the morning and keeping up my energy. I’d like to be eating less processed/sugary things, which i feel is a process and i’m on my way. So next year I’d like to see myself happier in my job, having more energy, and having a workout routine that provides me with happiness, balance and energy so that i may feel like a complete person. great post!
Happy Birthday OSG!!!
In a year from now, I hope to be in a great place with my career, practicing yoga and running, with a strong relationship with my boyfriend (maybe fiancee?) … and I don’t want to let food or exercise take over my thoughts anymore!! I know how smart and strong I am, and I could do so much more if I just let go of obsessions!
In a year, I hope to have finished off my weight loss (I’ve lost 100lbs so far and hope to lose another 10ish) and to have built a stronger, healthier relationship with food. I hope to be settled into my job in health research and hopefully have moved into a more professional (less administrative) role.
In one year I will be a dentist. I hope to be practicing in the Ottawa area.
I also plan on being fit, healthy and happy. I am already started on those goals and hope to have reached some landmarks by next October.
Congratulations on your one year anniversary!!
I always seem to have ideas or things in my mind that I would like to change or do in my life, but to sit down and write it out makes me so much more motivated! In one year, I hope to enjoy being a newlywed, working at a job that I love, and overcoming my struggles with an eating disorder. I acutally wrote all three of these things down and posted them on my night stand to see when I wake up and before I go to bed :) Thanks for a great blog, Angela! Happy Birthday to Oh She Glows!