On October 31, 2008, I was just a girl grasping for hope.
I was struggling with disordered eating that still lingered despite my best efforts to beat it. I felt like I had made a lot of progress, but there was still a missing piece to my puzzle.
Self-love.
I fought a daily battle of self-acceptance, depressive thoughts, and anxiety. Despite the smile on the outside, most days I felt like I was crumbling on the inside. I was simply going through the motions of life and the days were passing me by. Indeed, I was truly thankful for so many wonderful people in my life, but the one thing I couldn’t be thankful for was myself.
I wasn’t quite sure how I was going to get to that place of self-acceptance or happiness, but I decided the first step was going to be writing about it.
And so it all began with a simple Boo on Halloween day!
I have always loved writing because it comes to me easier than expressing my thoughts out loud. It is just me and a keyboard or piece of paper talking to someone out there and thinking things through. Writing is a way for my inner voice to be heard when often it is silenced by all the thoughts swirling through my mind. Writing gives each thought a chance, each thought a moment to be heard and I often clear my mind or work things out as I write.
I guess this is why I was never meant to be a researcher. While I did spend most of my time writing in grad school, my writing was very very formal, scientific, and sterile in many ways. I felt suffocated when I wrote a research paper and I always felt like I couldn’t express my true self. In a paper, there was little room for jokes, sarcasm, stories, or occasional curse words (trust me, I could have used them many times!). It was all too structured.
I wanted to set my thoughts free.
Starting this blog was a way for me to have a creative outlet at a time when my creativity felt stifled in many areas of my life. OSG was the one place where I felt like I could express myself fully. I would simply write about what I wanted to write about, just like in my Creative Writing class in high school that I loved so much. My teacher had us make Creative Writing journals in high school and we could write whatever we wanted to in them. Personal stories, clippings, drawings, poems, deep thoughts, jokes, and anything that we wanted to share. I absolutely loved this journal and I would talk about my struggles with disordered eating, my love for delicious healthy food, animals, exercise, running, the desire for happiness, and whatever else I wanted to talk about.
Over the past two years, I have found that missing piece of self-love. Even on the days when I can’t find it and I am having a bad day, I know that it isn’t far away and it will come back to me. I have met amazing people along the way and I have been touched by the support and kindness of others.
Today, I write because I am truly thankful for these past two years, for sharing my life with you, the ups and the downs, and the discussions, inspiring words, and support. My hope for the blog going forward is to give back as much gratitude, love, and inspiration as I get from writing each day.
Thank you for letting me come into your lives each day and also, for allowing me to come into yours.
As a small token of my appreciation, I am going to do some giveaways!
1) Draw for $25 Glo Bakery gift certificates to be given out to 5 random people
2) Draw for a homemade batch of cookies, Glo bars, or muffins (any from my recipes page!) shipped to your doorstep.
3) Grand prize draw for $100 Glo Bakery gift certificate to one random winner
If you’d like a chance to be entered in the giveaway, please leave a comment below telling me anything about your own passions, journey, or perhaps something you have grown to love about yourself. Contest closes Monday Nov 8th.
I’m off to the kitchen to shoot my video for Challenge #7! Hopefully there aren’t as many flops as last night. ;) Happy Halloween!
Happy Blog Birthday OSG!!!
My passions are health, wellness, and cooking!
Hey Angela,
I wanted to thank you for your encouragement, enlightenment, and your positive energy. You have helped so many people these past two years and I am so proud that you have healed yourself in the process. Happy Halloween and Happy 2nd Anniversary :) Keep up the great work!
First off, thank you for your honesty, enthusiasm, passion, and positivity! The way that you are able to find joy in life is inspirational, and you should be proud that you are able to use your skills to help others while helping yourself.
By the time I had finished undergrad, I managed to really, sincerely get to like myself and where I was in life. I am now in my second year of medical school, and have been struggling with feeling inferior to my incredibly impressive, accomplished, brilliant peers. It’s been difficult to reconnect with what I like about myself and my life in such a busy, stressful, “go-go-go” environment, but I’m working on it. Reading blogs like yours, singing, cooking, exercising, and writing are all things I cherish, even on the most study-swamped days. Rebuilding is hard (I know that you know), but I’m confident that I’ll get back to myself.
My own journey has provided me with the most wonderful husband and three children. My husband is military so the Air Force has taken us all over the world and has now landed us in California. My journey has been a bumpy one, as our youngest daughter is special needs. But I would go over those bumps as many times as needed because all my kiddos are such amazing beings. My passions for eating healthy and teaching my children to has taken me to college! I’m the first one in my family to go to college and will (hopefully) be graduating in the next few years and move on to pursue my RD license!
Such a happy day!! I’m so grateful that you share your thoughts and amazing recipes! I have a similar feeling towards blogging – it has definitely helped me to become more self-confident and I have built self-love that helps to fight off any doubts or worries I may have. :)
I really look forward to reading your blog when I get up in the morning. Thank you for sharing all your thoughts, ideas, knowledge, recipes and pictures. I have really taken your advice to look to your childhood for clues about what hobbies I have and to possibly pursue. Your recipes always inspire me to get cookin’. This plant-based diet has really lead me to love myself as I am right now, not who I want to be.
I am passionate about finding something exciting to look forward to/learn about every single day! Happy 2nd bday OSG! :)
Boo back at you!!!
And a very happy 2nd anniversary. Best wishes as you continue in this journey of life!
I am passionate about knitting and running. And I started my blog on my 40th birthday and it has become a passion, too! I share your love of creative writing and blogging is such a satisfying outlet, isn’t it!
Best wishes with your video!
Happy Blogiversary! I am hoping in the near future to turn my passion (vegan cooking) into my job, just as you have!
Happy blogaversary!!! Here’s to two (times twenty) years more :) What I love most about your blog is how open and honest it is, and how relatable you are. And of course, the recipes!
Since starting my blog I feel that I too have found so much confidence. A year ago I was still depriving myself and still secretly hated my body. I’ve learned to love myself for what I am RIGHT NOW- which doesn’t mean that I don’t still have difficult days, but that I recognize that it’s just that- a difficult day. Life is too short not to embrace everything about it!!
Happy blogiversary! My blog isn’t destined to be a big one, but I too find that I love writing and ‘getting stuff out there’ even if no one else is reading it. I loved creative writing class in high school and secretly hope to be the next Sue Monk Kidd one day. She wrote The Secret Life of Bees, which is one of my favorite novels. I was ecstatic when I learned that she was also a nurse who graduated from the same college as me, worked in pediatrics for a while, and then went to grad school for creative writing and took off! I’m still working as a nurse, but I feel like writing is starting to come back to me now that I’ve been blogging for a year.
Thanks for the inspiration and positivity! They mean more than you could know.
happy birthday osg! not only are your recipes useful as i’ve recently had to give up dairy and eggs, but your outlook on life and lifestyle are refreshing and a constant reminder of the balance everyone needs and deserves. you bring a lot of beauty into my life, daily. and i’m so thankful for it. congrats on two wonderful years and many more to come.
Congrats for the blogversary Angela!!
Your blog is not only very inspirational but also full of the most delicious recipes, I totally love oh she glows!
My own journey on the past few years have been on getting to know me better, understanding who I really am and how I came to be where I am now. It is amazing how as we mature we get to really stop and learn about ourselves, most importantly we learn to accept and respect ourselves, listening to our bodies and to our mind. I love who I am today and wouldn’t change it for nothing.
Thanks for doing the giveaway, I would love to try your glo-bars, they look totally amazing!
Ana
Happy Birthday OSG!
While I have many passions and challenges both, I think the thing I most want, and that I take away from your blog, is the fearlessness and drive to go forward and DO things. I love baking, maybe as much as you do. I love healthy food. I am passionate about feeding my family and friends beautiful, delicious and healthful meals. And, I am perhaps most passionate about yoga. Where does it all lead? I don’t know yet. As a former dancer and person who’s struggled with body issues for more than half of my life, I sometimes find that these particular passions stir up my issues as much as they help me heal from them. It’s funny how nothing is black and white. But I hope to put my creative energies to better use day by week by month by year. Maybe one day we’ll celebrate my blog-iversary!
What fun prizes you’re offering. Sign me up!
I’ll make this short and sweet because I know you are going to get TONS of comments. I had an eating disorder. I refused to go to a rehab center, and I was determined to save my own life. Over the next year I gained weight but still had low self esteem. I played softball, but I realized it wasn’t making me happy so I switched to running (much to the chagrin of my doctors..) and it taught me to treat food as fuel. It introduced me to a new circle of friends and gave me the confidence I needed. Not only was I thriving mentally and socially, but I was actually good at the sport and I became number 1 on my team. Now I can say I absolutely love myself the way I am, my thoughts aren’t consumed by food, and I am healthier than ever.
My passion is tennis, which is kind of a bummer because I haven’t been able to attend practice as much since school started.
Previous to my now healthy diet, I was the kid who ate McDonald’s everyday in elementary school. I think my Journey towards Health began in the eighth grade. I had just come back from New York and I weighed 150 pounds, I had lost a bunch of muscle from tennis due to so much inactive time. I immediately went on a diet and intensified my tennis training. I had whole grains and lean protein at dinner, and even managed to eat some of the veggies that I had hated for so long. Unfortunately, my diet was less than ideal. As someone who had always had portion control problems, I relied on Slim Fast to lose the weight. I did lose it, getting down to a slim 123 pounds and having a nice amount of muscles, but I wasn’t really happy with the way I was eating. Thinking back, my body probably wanted whole foods. During spring break I even went so far as to eat Slim Fast for breakfast, only a special k snack bar for lunch with a little edamame and a tiny frozen meal for dinner. I lost six pounds that week, but it clearly wasn’t in a healthy way. When I started ninth grade, I gained some weight back, I was unhappy at first, but after a while it didn’t bother me. I was at a healthy weight, I adopted a vegetarian diet that soon became very focused on whole foods. My performance ability in tennis sky-rocketed. I felt strong and healthy, but I still enjoyed 100-calorie packs and fat-free, oil-free products. I ate a lot of whole foods, but I avoided fat almost like the plague. I had very little variety in my diet, even if it was healthier.
Now, I enjoy avocados and olive oil in my foods, I love veggies, and whole grains. I’m so much healthier and happier, I’ve made the transition to vegan. I truly enjoy everything I eat, it fuels my body for what I need. I may still have a problem with stress but I feel like I’ll be able to manage that in time. Your blog and other healthy-living blogs have really helped shape my journey to health. I started reading blogs in the 9th grade (I’m now in 11th) and it has truly changed my life.
Also, I really used to hate my muscular legs, but now I’ve learned to appreciate them. They carry me where I need to go, and they have shape.
Happy 2nd birthday OSG! I think it’s so cool that you have this blog as a “diary” of your journey—you should be very proud of yourself for how far you’ve come AND for how you’ve inspired and helped others through OSG.
My journey has led me to believe in myself and to trust in my decisions. It hasn’t been easy, but I weathered a lot of change in the last 2 years and I’ve come out stronger and a better person. And for that I’m incredibly grateful!
Happy 2 year birthday OSG!!!! I am so addicted to your blog that I look at it first thing when I get home from work. I love your recipes and can’t wait to try them all the time. I print out so many that we run out of printer ink too fast. SO, Angela, I beg you to make a cookbook with all your fabulous recipes. You are truly an inspiring person. I became a much healthier cook and eater since reading your blog. You inspire me in so many ways. Thank you!
Happy Birthday OSG! I have a passion for running and healthy eating, but I still struggle to not give in to self-damaging thoughts. I love how positive and uplifting OSG is!
Congrats on your 2 year Anniversary! I really enjoy reading your blog everyday and trying your recipes! My passions in life are my children and my husband, yoga, running, and cooking and baking in a healthy way that does not sacrifice taste!