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! You’ve inspired me to try so many new things, now my cupboards are full of quinoa, nut butters and chia seeds!
I love your blog for many reasons: yummy recipes, beautiful picture, entertaining stories, but most of all for the sweet way you portray yourself and your life. You are so beautiful on the inside and out :)
I am beginning a journey of mental and physical health. I have a long way to go with both because of a lifetime of poor eating and not taking care of myself mentally and spiritually. However blogs (like yours) are such an instrument of support and I know I will continue to grow in health each day.
I just learned of your blog a few weeks ago. I wish I had known about it earlier. Two years is a great accomplishment. Keep up the good work.
I have been reading OSG since March 2009 and my day is not complete without a daily dose of inspiration and love from this blog. I like to think that I have also improved my health since then as well. OSG has inspired me to explore healthy unprocessed food options and to not be afraid to try something new. Because of this blog, I have started running and learned that there is nothing wrong with being the beginner, it’s all about the improvements you make.
So, Happy Birthday OSG!! I hope that there are many more to come!
I am so beyond happy to have found your blog, and read it everyday as I can relate to so many of your feelings and posts regarding healthy living and the struggle to find your “best self”. Thank you for all you contribute to your readers, especially those you don’t even know you’ve touched! I would love to have the opportunity to sample some of your fabulous GLObars, please enter me into the contest :)
Happy blogiversary!! I still think I am in the process of discovering my passions but well on my way to doing so. My journey has been long and I have struggled with my body image for as long as I can remember….I’m trying to get help from loved ones because I think that will help me see reality a bit better.
Good luck with the video! I can’t wait to see it! :)
Happy 2nd birthday, OSG!!!! Thanks for doing whatcha’ do!
I am learning to stop comparing myself to others and be fully content with the awesomeness that is my own! Heck yeah! :)
Happy 2nd blog birthday!! I love reading your posts every day. Your blog, and others like it, have inspired me to get on the healthy-eating boat. I love all your recipes!
congrats on 2 years! i’ve been following your blog for about half a year now and this is the first time that i’ve commented – you deserve it after so much work and love you put into everything!
i’m a junior in college and it never ceases to amaze me how much i’ve changed in the past 3 years. i went from hating myself and calorie counting and eating 100-calorie snack packs of processed gross-ness to a completely plant based way of eating and i’m in week 3 of a 4 week vegan pledge and i’m loving it! i don’t count calories, i love how i look (even if my clothes don’t fit right that day, there’s always something to love!), and i’m full of energy – life is way legit ;)
reading some of the other comments to this post is really beautiful too. thank you for creating such a health and loving atmosphere :)
Happy Blog-irthday! I finally started blogging after being inspired by you and others!
happy birthday osg. i love it here. :)
happy bday OSG! yet another thoughtful entry. i love your honesty. you are very inspiring!! i am a nurse and found that my interest and passion was leading me towards natural health, especially food, so i went back to school, became a holistic nutritionist. i love what i’m doing everyday and feel i’m on the right path, but have yet to find my purpose…but it will come. being true to my authentic self is the best thing i’ve done and each year that goes by gets better and better.
Happy birthday OSG!! I can’t wait to read the blog from the beginning (I’m working on doing that with my favorite blogs).
I have a passion for horses that I discovered out of the blue when I was 8. My mother was going to start taking horseback riding lessons and told me about it… Then out of nowhere I said “Can I do that too? I think I like horses.” Even though I had never been up close to a real horse. I watched one of her lessons and instantly fell in love… My first lesson I was trembling with excitement. I found my true self when I was 8 years old. Not too many people can say that. :)
happy birthday to your blog! my passion is cooking and baking! whenever i’m stressed i get my butt in the kitchen and start baking. by the time i done, everything seems right in the world. :)
Congrats on two years of blogging, Angela! I’ve enjoyed coming along on the journey with you, and learning to play more in the kitchen, to boot.
Cooking has never been a passion of mine, and still often feels more like something to fit in between school, work, training, traveling, etc… But over the past few years I’ve begun experimenting a little bit more in the kitchen, and have learned to have fun with the process and appreciate the final product. Thanks for all the great recipes!
Happy 2nd blogiversary OSG!!!
Angela I can honestly say that your blog is one of my favorites — you always have amazing recipes and you have the ability to motivate me to want to be a better person. I see your strong marriage to Eric and it makes me so happy to see you two together and it makes me want to build an even better relationship with Jason.
My dream one day is to be a mom to 2 amazing kids. I cannot wait to spend my days with them, visit dad at work for lunch each day, go to the park, museums, make art, read books, to learn and grow together. I hope to share my journey through my blog (perhaps!) or through a book. Even if the book is only for myself and my kids/grandkids, I want to accomplish that one day.
Happy Birthday OSG!
Thanks to your site, I have learned to love running. Even though it can still be a challenge, I have learned to appreciate how much my body can do. I have also found a passion for eating healthier, though I still have have days that I struggle I know that eating healthier makes me feel so much better.
IMy legs have always bothered me. For the longest time, I thought of them as short (I’m barely 5’3) and thick. A few months ago, I read a comment someone made on another blog. She described her legs as strong and petite, rather than short and stubby! Ever since I have grown to love my strong and petite legs!
I love reading your blog…I’m going to try out the apple oatmeal square recipe today!
Aw, happy two year blogiversary! I love your blog and your passion for food and color and your good moods and everything else about the blog.
I have come a long way since two years ago, too! In October of 2008 I put in my notice at a “good” job that I absolutely HATED so I could take life coach training and try something different with my life. Now I’m blogging, too, and coaching, and working part time at a nonprofit. I am really much happier and still working towards my best life!
Happy birthday to your blog!
I understand what you mean about how research isn’t for you. For so long I was planning on doing my Master’s and PhD in Psychology, because it just seemed like the next natural step to continue my life in academia. But after doing my undergraduate thesis last year, and realizing how unhappy it made me, I realized that I couldn’t spend the rest of my life (or however long I’d be in school for) devoted to research. I realized that what I really wanted and needed was to actually apply some of my knowledge to help people and so now I am studying OT, and I couldn’t be happier about it!