A few years ago, I decided that I was going to take control of my life and get healthy. My eating disorder was toxic and sucked the life out of me. I finally hit rock bottom and the only way out was up.
I knew I had to make a big change in my life, but fear made me resist this change for a very long time.
I started to take baby steps in the right direction, even though I often felt like I was taking one step forward and two steps back. It didn’t matter though because with a determined spirit anything is possible, I just didn’t know it at the time.
One day, as I was chatting with my friend Leah, she said something that struck a cord with me.
She said, ‘Ange, I can tell that you are being good to yourself because you have a real glow now that you didn’t have before.’
She knew that I was trying to beat my ED and her words of encouragement made all the difference. The word glow stuck with me so much that I decided to make it my theme.
From then on, my goal was to do things that made me glow and avoid things that did not.
It was simple and it worked.
Over time, I realized that inner happiness and confidence is more attractive than any number on the scale. I wanted to be a Size Healthy, not a size ‘x’.
Despite my good intentions, I don’t always feel the ‘glow’ in my life…especially during the gloomy Winter! It is easy to fall into a slump and just get discouraged about things in general. Instead of letting negative thoughts get the best of me, I now know that the beauty of life is not in being perfect or happy 100% of the time, but it is overcoming the challenges that we all face.
The good news is we can always take action if we are not content with something in our life. I used to see myself as a product of my environment, but I learned that I am in control of my happiness and no one else.
I don’t just want to be inspired, I want to harness inspiration in my life. I want to grab a big lasso, throw it in the air, and pull inspiration toward my life. Some days, inspiration hits me when I least expect it- a positive thought, idea, or plan of action- and I get all excited about it, only forgetting about it later on as I go about my day. If only I had written it down, I often say.
I have a blog, so why not write it down?
I have always felt like there is a wonderful energy on this blog…all of you. We can channel this energy and use it in a positive way to build each other up and inspire each other to do simple, but great things. My writings and conversations on this blog gave me the courage to leave my unfulfilling career. This is when I really started to realize that great things can happen when you put a group of people together…even virtually!
The Daily Glow feature will be a place to write down inspirations, thoughts, questions, themes of the day, quotes, and the like, as they come. They will be short reflections and inspiring thoughts to hopefully add some joy, reflection, and inspiration into our lives. Daily Glow will not be on a ‘daily’ basis literally (unless I am really feeling inspired that week!), but I hope to include this feature on a regular basis. Most importantly, I will need your help, your ideas, your contributions. I think that we can do some amazing things if we put our heads (and hearts) together.
I will kick it off with a quote that I love.
Life without a purpose is a languid, drifting thing; every day we ought to review our purpose, saying to ourselves, ‘This day let me make a sound beginning’.
-Thomas Kempis
I often find myself going through the motions of life, without taking time to reflect…to stop…to breathe. I catch myself holding my breath or taking very shallow breaths of air when I feel tense about something in my life. This quote reminds me to stop and reflect on my purpose, even if only my daily purpose. It is very easy to lose sight of what is meaningful among the clutter in our lives and in our minds. My goal for today is to reflect on the actions that I take, the thoughts that I make, and to be mindful of my breathing.
What does this quote say to you? What can you do today to live with purpose?
It is a happy coincidence that you write this quote and ask these questions. I JUST had a moment or a reminder to take the time to remember that I choose my happiness and I should remember what it is that makes me happy, and that should be the MAIN focus of my life. In this case it is career wise….the next steps after I graduate college. I’ve been pushed and figured it was best to go for a segment of the industry that I actually don’t want to go for. I know what I love, and should not be afraid to pursue it because I fear what some people around me might think, or some not-really-existent disappointment from my parents (I know that they actually just want me to be happy). So, thanks for writing this quote and really giving me the extra extra reminder for my choices right now.
I feel like giving your life a purpose makes it worthwhile. Sometimes, the purpose can be a daily and obligatory thing like going to the grocery store. Or your purpose can be lifelong, like committing yourself to your marriage, your relationships, your health. Either way, a purposed life means an accomplished life. Having a purpose makes you feel like you are working towards something, striving to better your life, and feeling accomplished when you reach your goals along the way.
This quote resonates with me because what helps me most in overcoming my eating disorder is that every morning is a new beginning & every moment is a chance to turn it around. I know that if I go to bed thinking, “I did not treat myself the best today. I should have eaten more/been less self-conscious” etc. etc., that tomorrow I can start again.
I think it’s important to learn something or do something that makes you happy every day. I don’t want to waste any more time on unhappiness!
I can be bold and know that I need to live for msyelf and not live to please others. I will channel what I really want and make steps to achieving it!
What a fabulous idea! I know, whether it be one particular day, or over the course of many days, we often need to add a little glow to our lives!
What I’m doing today to live with a purpose = continue to fight the flu/influenza mixture that I have!
” I want to grab a big lasso, throw it in the air, and pull inspiration toward my life. ”
This quote of yours seriously shook me to my core. This is exactly how I feel! Exactly! (—> if I could bold the word “exactly” and make it a size 18 font to show you how serious I am, I would!)
In the last 2 weeks I’ve started working out and eating healthier and I feel like I’ve gotten my glow (if you will, or my “spark” … I don’t want to steal your word!) back too. I feel confident, happy and alive again. It’s almost as if, the months before.. I was just going through life, a day at a time — not enjoying, or really LIVING.
I feel so good again. :) and this blog post of yours meant a lot to me.
What a great idea. For me, I try and get up and remind myself that no matter what happened yesterday today is a fresh start. Maybe I need to keep moving in the right direction or maybe I need to work on something I couldn’t deal with well yesterday but I’m much better equipped today.
I love this and I think it will bring a touch of happiness to my day!
we live in a society where our output for others is the focus (such as work, business, commerce).. not for ourselves! i’m learning to do things with intention for myself as well.
What am I going to do today to live with purpose?
Some days it is simply spending time connecting with family and friends.
However, today I have an interview for a volunteer position at a womens shelter!
Wish me luck!
I love the space you create on your blog and I can imagine you create the same space in all of your interactions. If we all strove to create the same kind of space, the world would be a better place.
In response to the quote, I recently quit an unfulfilling job with the idea that I would use my free time to figure out the direction I wanted to move in. It’s proving harder than I thought it would be. The time can just slip by without me really figuring anything out. So this is a great reminder every day to start with a purpose and strive to fulfill it – whether it’s a daily purpose or part of something larger. Thank you so much!
I’ve got an important meeting today- and while it could mean great things for my career, I don’t want to stress myself out too much about it because I can’t control the other person’s opinion of me or my work. I’ll go in with purpose, knowing I’ve got a lot to offer and if this meeting doesn’t produce anything, at the very least it serves as practice for the next one. Thanks for your boundless positivity, Angela!
“Begin doing what you want to do now. We are not living in eternity. We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand-and melting like a snowflake…”
Francis Bacon, Sr.
-Love your blog Angela! Keep up the amazing work.
I needed this. I love your blog. YOU are my inspiration today :)
Mindful breathing is so good! I need to practice it more, but I’ve been doing a simple 5 minute meditation a few times a week and I love the calmness it brings me. It’s also so much easier than I thought :)
Such a great time of year to start something like this! It’s so important to slow down and take a minute to appreciate the things that are in your life that are worth celebrating- it’s easy to just breeze past them!
This is such a great idea. We ALL need these little reminders and inspirations!!! Look forward to reading the posts! have a great day.
This post really resonates with me. In early December, in craziness of the christmas season and the end of my semester and everything else that was going on in my life, I just decided to press the pause button and assess my health and happiness. I sat down and identified the things I needed in order to be truly happy and healthy, and then made an action plan. It didn’t happen overnight, but over the last month and a half I’ve been making little changes here and there (getting on a regular sleep schedule, spending less time on the internet, eliminating different processed foods by making them from scratch, etc) and I feel so much better already. It’s not even just that these things make me happier, it’s that I took charge and am doing these things in order to make myself happier, you know? I realized, “Oh, I can control my life!” and that really puts things into perspective. I really look forward to this new blog feature!
This is just the inspiration I needed today. I have had a rough couple of days and this was the perfect reminder to just be for now.