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!
Congratulations Angela! Your blog has been a great inspiration, thank you and keep up the fabulous work!
Here’s my vision of the future (music: d-d-d-d-d-d-! bring!)
October 31, 2010 – I open my eyes. It’s early afternoon and I’m getting my two girls into their boots and jackets, as we’re about to leave for a family hike. I’m so happy because for the past year I made a commitment to get outside in nature every day (not an easy task in crowded North New Jersey!). I grew up in a small town and miss the natural world immensely. But This year I’ve gotten outside to breathe some fresh air every day. Plus my kids love it – they love rolling in the grass, crunching fall leaves, playing in the snow and in the rain and in the dirt. We’re all much more connected to the earth and we get plenty of fun time together, too.
I’m also happy because I made a commitment to a low-fat, low protein vegan diet with lots of fresh, raw food. I’ve finally overcome my issues with food, and recovered beautifully from giving birth to my second baby last December (in fact, I’m below my pre-pregnancy weight!). I’m fit (I’ve always been a good excerciser) and I feel great. Plus my hubby and kids are eating better than ever, too.
Most importantly, I am happy that I finally had the guts to really be ME. I quit my job that was stressful and included a horrible 45 minute each way commute (on the NJ Turnpike, yuck!). Now I’ve put my arts administration skills to work with a non=profit company that teaches young kids how to eat fresh, healthy food and get fit. It is the most rewarding work ever, I do a lot of desk work, but I also work with the kids in schools, helping educate them and doing fun events like taste testing fruits and veggies and showing them how to make healthy snacks! I also help mothers learn how to pack fun and healthy lunches for their kids. One weekend a month I’m training to be a Natural Foods Chef. Cooking has always been my passion, and I’m finally doing the creative work that I’ve always dreamed of doing.
TO top it off, my job is within walking distance to my house, so I am finally living my dream of being almost car-less. I can walk to work, walk the kids to daycare, my hubby can ride his bike to work. It’s so wonderful after years and years of long, brain-sucking commutes.
It wasn’t always an easy journey – it was hard to make these changes during the same year as having another child, because we were worried about finances. But the truth is, things worked out, and we’re happier than ever because we’re actually living our values. My dream and my reality are finally in synch. :-)
My ideal life? Settled into a home of my own, doing a job I love (and getting paid what I deserve) and just being happy with who I am.
Yes, that means I have to quit obsessing over my weight, hair, clothes, etc. :)
Love,
Jaime
HAPPY BIRTHDAY OSG!!! My b-day is coming up too. :-)
I have a vision of where I will be a year from now – but I’d rather wait to share it after it becomes official. Just know that I imagine myself feeling inspired, creative, fulfilled, busy but FREE. :-)
In one year, I see myself happy and healthy. I am currently in a doctorate program, and this time next year, I will be in my last year of academic classes. I will be thinking about where I want to be in the future with my career. I will still be a runner. I *might* have a boyfriend. I will NOT be obsessing over my weight or the calories I take in. My family will still be the most important thing to me, but I will start to think about ME and what will make ME happy in the long run, instead of trying to please everyone else. I think this will involve breaking away and leaving New England. I see myself taking chances and breaking free! I also hope to have a blog by then! :) Wow, I see myself making so many changes, but at the same time, I know EXACTLY where I will be next year. Strange thought. :)
One year from now, I will know better the new city I’ve been living in and will have created a good happy life for myself. Surrounded by friends and busy with activities, I will feel lighter and will have overcome the anxiety that made me binge eating sometime. I will find the right balance and will see food and exercising as a gift to myself.
Happy Anniversary Oh She Glows!!! And thank you for being there for us :)
Wow I absolutely LOVE this! I had times of pure misery in my life as well and I feel like I am out of it! These last few months I have been slowly chipping away at where my life is going. I just started my own health food blog and I am going to fight like mad to keep it around. On October 31, 2010 my happy life will (hopefully/prayerfully) consist of continuing to write my blog, hopefully it will have grown and evolved and I will have truly found my voice. I might be taking classes since I am considering going back to school. I am not sure where I want to go..RD? Cooking? Both? But I know it’s going up from here. I finally know where I want to be in a year. I’d love to be doing social media for some companies, writing freelance projects. It’s so exciting! I am graduating with my education degree and I don’t regret it, but as I graduate in a month and a half..I have finally found what I truly want to do. Better late then never! ;) This is truly inspiring!
Congrats on one year! You’ve accomplished so much and I admire you! In one year I hope to be the BEST mother I can be for my child. Our first baby is due in April 2010 and I couldn’t be more excited or scared.
Happy Halloween! I love your supersized operation beautiful note :)
One year from now I will have made E-6 and will just be waiting for my promotion date. I will also have completed my first half-marathon and marathon.
In one year I will be:
*healthier – I will have reached a happy weight that I will feel strong and sexy.
* working on Project Bun in the Oven :) This is one of my biggest motivators to get healthy.
* halfway finished my Masters.
* working on or finished a book – I want to be a writer.
* just as determined in that future moment as I am now!
One year from now I want to have a job that I love! I was laid off last March and am currently working 2 temporary jobs while I look for something else. The problem being that I don’t know what that something else is! I have so far hated my jobs as an attorney and really hope to find a job that I love going to each morning!
Frist of all, COngrats on OSG’s One Year Anniversary!!! Sooo awesome that it’s been an entire year that you have been touching the lives of us all! ;)
Second, this is such a fabulous giveaway. Wow, talk about mega loot!
Third, I LOVE the entry requirement. How truly inspiring!
Okay, in one year from now, I hope to be making a REAL difference in others lives. Really, I want to offer a tangible form of love that is noticed by so many.
Thanks for this sweetheart and again, congrats!!
One year from now i want to still be at my job but still improving and becoming better at it every day. I also want my financial situation to be more stable and not to rely on credit. I also want to be in a happy healthy relationship.
Way to go, Angela!
In a year, I’d like to be confident, focused, and well on my way in my Masters program. I’d also like to show the “real me” to others even more.
Thanks for inspiring!
Congratulations Ange! I can’t believe you’ve only been doing this a year!
One year from now I hope to be waking up in my very own home, getting excited to hand out Halloween candy to kids. Sounds like such a little thing, but living in an apartment, supporting hubby through school, living on a shoestring…. those years are hopefully behind us!
I also hope I’m able to eat a couple pieces of that candy without feeling guilty. I’m trying really hard to embrace your words and really LIVE. It’s starting to work – and hopefully a year from now these bad food and exercise habits of mine will be history.
Happy Halloween and blogiversary!
In one year, I see myself with my BA, with my dream job, and having run a half! And hopefully, happier than ever!
In one year, I hope that I will be truly pursuing a career than means something to me instead of just taking a job because my degree will not allow me to find something different. I hope that I will finally find a place of peace in my body instead of living in fear that it is going to one day balloon up if I let go of control. I want to be happy everyday instead of having periods where I feel like I just can’t go on. I want to make a difference in the lives of others. Mostly, I just want to feel like I am living the life God designed me for and right now I feel pretty far from that.
Congrats on all of your accomplishments Angela!
What an inspiring post!
One year I’d like to feel confident in who I am as a person and not so worrisome of what others think. I also hope to be entering a PhD program and working on becoming a Dean at a University.
Happy Birthday OSG! :)
One year from now, I hope that I’ll be training for a full marathon, have made a career change, and lost the pounds and find my “happy” weight.
Though I doubt myself every day, in one year I hope to have graduated college and moved out west to pursue the job of my dreams. I want to be happy; something I haven’t truly been since I left for college 3.5 years ago. I miss the old “me”! Thank you for inspiring me, Ange. And happyyyyyy birthday OSG!
After many losses and years of trying, I will be taking my 1st baby trick or treating! I will also be 30 and have just ran my 1st 1/2 marathon. I can’t wait. It is going to be an amazing year.