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!
Great post, Angela! By next year:
* I hope to be even more in love with my amazing husband
* I would like to be at my current job but to finally begin to feel like I am truly good at it
* It would be awesome to finally feel comfortable with myself, my body and my eating habits and to not always feel as if I am ALMOST good enough, but to finally feel like I AM enough as is
* I hope to be at least somewhat pursuing other passions of mine such as starting a side business or non for profit
* Overall, I just really hope that I can learn to live in the moment – I love my life and am so blessed, but I’m a planner and am always looking to the future which can sometimes get in the way of true happiness
So fun to think about all of this! :)
Happy birthday!! :)
hmm 1 year from now I will be happy and comfortable in my body. I’ll have transfered to a great Uni., have participated in my first 5k , and be completely dedicated and focused on my passion. And really be confident in my own body.
ahh dreams dreams..we are nothing without them!
A year from now i see myself running regularly, being comfortable in my job, and almost done with school!!
In one year I hope to be completely and permanently self employed as a life coach, teacher, healer, and writer. I will travel frequently and have plenty of time for me, my mental, physical, and spiritual health, my sweet heart, my cats, and the rest of my family. I will live in the present.
congrats on your blog anniversary! Yours is truly one of my favorites.
The first thought that came to mind was that in one year I want to have completed my first marathon. I did my first half marathon in September, which I never thought possible. Now I’m thinking, why not?!
In one year, I hope to be enrolled in my first year of grad school, working hard but enjoying it at the same time. I hope to have my health, as well as the health of all my loved ones and pets. I hope to feel good and happy with my life, which is all I can ask for!
Happy Anniversary and Congratulations on your first year, it’s an amazing accomplishment!
In one year’s time I hope to be living with my husband (we are both in the military and currently live in separate provinces and bases), be finished my training, have a promotion, have run another half marathon and be making my own meals – using as much organic and seasonal food as I can manage.
What an amazing post, and happy anniversary OSG!!!
In one year, I would be totally happy with any of the following:
– Be in a job I’m passionate about and love
– Be pregnant
– Be a mom
One year from now I want to be in a career as a food scientist, happily situated with my husband and hopefully buying our first home and starting to think about starting a family. I would also like to have taken control of my weight and have increased self confidence so that I can be my happiest and healthiest self!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BLOG! Congrats as well! And Happy Halloween!
In one year, I plan to have run two more half marathons and the Chicago Marathon! I also plan to have a lot of things on the to do list for my new house done: wood floors in place of carpet, painted bathroom, new living room curtains, new carpet in the Master… I also plan on being that much closer to finishing my advanced degree.
This time next year I will hopefully be close to graduating college–(Finally! A semester late is better than never!)and figuring out that next step. It’s still all up in the air–which is exciting! Thank you so much for this really fun contest–it’s exciting to think about the future even if it can be a little scary, too.
happy birthday, oh she glows! i have been reading since november last year (i just don’t have time to comment much, sorry ’bout that) and i have very much enjoyed your blog. i was going through some very tough times when i found your blog, coincidentally through katheats’ comments. there were a lot of things going on with me pushing me toward change in my life and your blog was one of them. i was miserable in my job and also had some personal things going on. two months ago i was let go from my job and that was only because fear kept me from quitting. i have been pursuing my dream of becoming a professional photographer for the past year and being let go from my job has given me the time i need to really put my dream first. thanks so much for the inspiration!! oh, and this time next year i hope to be making a living off of my photography rather than just taking jobs here and there. here’s to another year!
A year from now, I hope to really find myself and discover my potential. I don’t know what exactly that will entail, but I am excited to find out.
Thanks for the giveaway! xoxo
I’m pretty content about everything in my life right now except I’m working on recovering from a knee injury… so on October 31, 2010 I hope to not only be running again bt running smartly and injury free. That’s the only thing I wish I could change for next year!
By next Halloween, I hope to no longer have piriformis pain (I feel like I’ve tried EVERYTHING…back to the doc I guess) and I think I hope to be pregnant by then too — I ain’t gettin’ any younger. LOL
Happy blog anniversary! A year from now I’d like to have ran my first marathon and also be in my first semester of graduate school. I want to either get my MBA or go back to become a dietitian!
I see myself teaching pilates, as well as yoga, wagging more and barking less, and glowing from the inside out….
One year from now – I’ll be getting our home ready for my husband to come home from Iraq and we will finally be able to live together! Twelve months is not to long to wait for something so wonderful:-) Love your blog, love your thought provoking posts!
Lets see, a year from now I hope to be comfortable in my own skin, I hope to never count another calorie or never have a thought of what others are thinking of me. I hope to find a new and different exercise that I love and break out of my normal running and gym routine! And last but not least I hope to be one year closer to graduating with my bachelors, and moving on to RD school! Have a great day enjoy your halloween!
This time next year, after having a year of nursing experience under my belt, I hope to pursue traveling nursing-or continuing my career in Arizona. I first went to AZ when I was 16 for ED treatment (along with 3 more stays after that). I love the beautiful scenery there along with the weather! Also I want to see myself further along in my ED recovery and living life to the fullest!! I want to be healthy and happy and just loving life!