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.
~~~~
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!
~~~~
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!
I hope that in one year I will be able to find my true self and my voice. I’m a very shy person by nature, and I find it hard to socialize at school, sometimes. I feel like I’m alone many times and that i’m just letting life pass me by. I want to be able to be a carefree teenager and have fun with friends. I feel disheartened when I see teens laughing and posting pictures of themselves on Facebook- I think, why can’t that be me?
One year from now, I hope I will be living half way across the continent, finally be able to show myself to others the way I want to without being afraid to step out and shine. I hope I will finally be doing something I love, gradually moving forwards to another pinnacle of my many stepped goals in life.
I hope that a year from now I will be strong and healthy, and will be living in my VERY OWN first house, right across from a myriad of running trails.
Happy Birthday to Oh She Glows! It’s been great to follow you along this year. (Even though I tend to be a bit more of a lurker than an active commenter!)
In a year, I want to be happy, healthy and maybe ready to tackle the marathon distance again!
Congrats on the blogiversary! In one year I’m hoping to be getting settled into my new career. You’ve definitely been a motivating force in my decision to quit my job and do something new, so thank you! Reading about you quitting your job to do something that makes you happy has helped me realize that that’s exactly what I need to do! I’ve been miserable in my job (every job, actually), but have been afraid to quit and pursue a career that means something to me. I worried what others would think and say about my choice. This new career path is not a prestigious one at all, and it has absolutely nothing to do with my university degree, but it’s one that will make me happy. In one year I hope to be as happy with my new job as you are with yours!
Next year at this time I hope to be at my goal weight of 130 lbs, to have completed at least 1 10k and 1 half marathon, be back in school finally finishing up my degree in Sociology. :)
[email protected]
One year from now, I hope to have completed my masters….as you know Ange, that is one hard thing to do! And I hope to be even MORE committed and content in my relationship with my bf…I’m one lucky girl to have found him.
Happy birthday Oh She GLows!
Wow, this time next year I want to be excited about my life, re-energized, and focused on my goals. I’m actually at a bit of a transition point and haven’t yet decided what my next goals will be. I hope to have them well-defined by the end of this year.
Just recently found your website and I have really enjoyed it. I’ve made a goal recently to take better care of myself so that I can better learn to love myself and I’ve liked the ideas on your blog.
In one year I will be almost finished with my bachelor’s degree, and applying for my masters… finally seeing the light at the end of the undergraduate tunnel! I also hope to be happier and more fit and better at loving myself for who I am and not trying to be whatever it is I feel society is telling me I should. I also hope to have run my very first race!
I see myself finally working in a job and my husband making money at the new business we are helping to launch. I also see myself expecting our first child soon. (fingers crossed)
In one year from now I want to be registered and training for an Ultra Marathon. That is 50 miles. Right now- I don’t even know if it’s possible, but that is something I want to achieve, and only I can make that happen. Bring.It.On. :) I also would like to go back to school and have plans for my own organic coffee shop! Let the planning begin. Thanks Angela for your constant motivation and inspiration. You rock!
One year from now, I hope to be on internship (the last step for me to take to get my PhD in clinical psychology), training to run the NYC marathon (I’ve completed several half marathons and I am dying to train for a full), continuing to deepen my yoga practice, closer (emotionally) to family and friends, and just plain content with life!
One year from today I want to be an inspiration.
One year from today I want to be living in balance.
In one year from today I want to be breathing deep, beautiful breaths of fresh air.
In one year from today I hope that I can look back and be proud of how I am living my life and treating the people around me with love and kindness.
Happy Birthday OSG!
And congratulations Angela on all of your successes in this past year! :)
I have made somewhat of a career change recently and I am hoping to never have to go back to the 8-5 workday. In a year from now, I hope I am still food blogging, possibly teaching, and/or doing something related to both architecture + food. And hopefully, restarting the ota.bar business!
In a year I plan to be physically in the same spot (at college), but farther ahead in my studies and with a stable job that I enjoy. Health wise, I’m hoping to have a regular workout habit, something I’m having trouble with now.
Honestly, Oct 31st next year, i will hopefully be pregnant with my second child!!!!
happy birthday oh she glows! i hope that, by next october 31, i’ll be promoted at work.
I see myself, happy, fit, and healthy. I will be very close to my goal weight and I will enjoy running and working out on a regular basis. I’m ready for the change!
Happy Bday OSG! You have the best recipes. :) I see myself in a house of my own, preferably married to my current Love, just LIVING! Having fun, going to work, cooking each day and enjoying the time of year! it’ll be halloween again! My bf and I are Halloween costume freaks! :)
Happy Birthday OSG! (Sorry I am a little late :) )
In one year I would like to be engaged, happy, healthy and living life to the fullest. I would really like to branch out into more volunteer positions with food and animals, maybe together even!
I hope you have a great day!