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!
In one year I would love to be working. Something food related. Maybe hospitality related as well. It would be amazing to know. But if life goes as it’s going, I’ll probably still be a student. :S le sigh.
As I sit here in a whirlwind of Grad School applications, I dream of serenity. I want to find a place where I can breathe clean air, never drive through traffic again, stop sitting in this cubicle and doing meaningless busy work, be around green grass, trees, fresh food, open spaces, and my beloved boyfriend. It’s bringing tears to my eyes right now, thinking about how very simple my wishes are yet how unattainable they seem!
In a year I hope to be living EASILY gluten free and vegan. I am mostly vegan veg, and just recently went gluten free. still struggling. :)
I also hope to be running again soon, injury took me away several years ago, and I am ready to be running again;
I keep saying I want to be a food blogger. yes, I know. :) That’s another thing I hope to be doing!
Happy Blogiversary! :) :) You are a huge daily inspiration… More Than You Could Ever Know!
Thank you…
Kristina
Happy First Birthday Oh She Glows and Congratulations Angela!!
One year from now I see myself in molecular remission from my leukemia (CML), happy and healthy and planning my dream wedding. Hopefully I will also have just completed the Nike Women’s Half-Marathon in San Francisco and raised $10,000 for Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
My running goal is to run a half marathon next fall. I will also be finishing up my final year of my engineering degree! I’ve had internships and realized that this is not something I want to do for the rest of my life. I hope that in the next year I will be able to figure out exactly what it is that I want to do. I’m really interested in holistic cooking and want to take some classes to see if it is something I want to per sue. I stumbled across your blog one day while I was looking for a healthy muffing recipe and have been reading it ever since! You are an inspiration to so many!! Thanks and happy blog-iversarry!!!
One year from now I see my self running my first 1/2 marathon. That should be a good enough push to start training hard! AND to keep a good work out routine through the cold winter =o)))
Happy 1st Birthday!! I just started reading your blog and am loving it!
One year from now I hope to see myself being happy and healthy. I want to go back working, hopefully food or health related. I also would like to see myself running 5k without walking or stopping and trying my way to accomplish my next goal, which will be to run 10k.
Happy 1 Year!! Congratulations, also, for all that you have accomplished in the last year. In one year, I hope to still be running on a regular basis and continuing to have a healthy focus in life. It can be so easy to “get lazy”. I also hope to be helping others in some way find their own healthy balance. I want to inspire and inform others on the benefits of exercise and eating right. I also hope to be volunteering more and devoting myself to others rather than my life being so “me focused”.
Congrats again!
One year from today, I expect to have a Ph.D. and finally being in a job that allows me more flexibility and control over my time.
Hmm… one year from now I hope to be healthy in every way – emotionally, spiritually, physically… healthy and balanced! Being healthy in every way will bring happiness with it :)
One year from now I hope to own my own business. I would like to have a women’s eco-clothing store and website!
On October 31st 2010, I hope to be well enough to throw a Halloween party!! I haven’t dressed up in years and can’t remember the last Halloween party I atteneded. This year I am undergoing chemotherapy and will be next year at this time too – but I hope my body has adjusted to it by then, at least to have enough energy to throw a bash!!!!
In one year I hope to be having an excellent year at college. I want to be in tip top running shape. I want to have excellent Halloween plans.
Angela, you truthfully inspire me. I found Oh She Glows right after I started writing my own blog, Ohh May. Every post is uplifting and informative. You represent so many of my goals!
Next year will be my freshmen year of college. On October 31st, 2010 I picture myself waking up on campus somewhere far away. I would wake up and go for a long, fulfilling run. Due to my injury 10 months ago, I can’t walk much further than 800 meters or stand for longer than 30 minutes. Next year, I envision myself finally healed and not facing constant pain. I will be strong again. I know I’ll be able to spend the night dancing with friends, instead of just watching. Soon, I’ll be able to dance again. Soon I’ll be able to take my dog for a walk. Soon I’ll go for a run. I believe in one year, with the right attitude I can be back to my former strength at a school I love.
I recently got out of a long-term relationship. I’m living on my own for the first time in 2 years and really just taking the time for me. So, this time next year I want to still be running min. 2x/week, still practicing yoga 2-3x/week, still eating mostly whole foods, still spending time with family and friends and doing things that make me happy. This next year is all about me.
I just found your blog about 2 weeks ago and have been thoroughly enjoying it! I have just made my own “Health/Fitness Bucket List” and I enjoy a Green Monster every night before work ( I am a night time Nurse Manager )
In one year I hope to
-Be proudly SHOUTING my victory at completing a Marathon
-Still be taking Tae Kwon Do with my children ( we are all Black Belts ) and
-Be 3 classes away from a second degree ( this one in Nurse Management)!
Happy blogiversary, OSG! You have clearly hit a nerve with many people, Ange. You, your spirit, and your blog have been a gift to many people and I’m happy I found your blog this year!
As for me, this time next year, I hope to be successful in being “The Real ‘Dee”. Not anyone else’s version of me, just me. That means staying true to recently rediscovered habits that have set me on the path to discovering who that really is, like helping my body wake up to fitness and health and enjoying this new love of running after too many years of stress, inactivity, and neglect.
Like setting my timer for 30 minutes and allowing no interruptions while I write – anything and everything, no agenda, just write to get back into the rhythm of writing and to rediscover how fulfilling it is to my psyche to create something that was not there until I imagined it.
Like going on date nights with my delightful husband and keeping our marriage fresh and loving and fun.
Like traveling more regularly to see my family and my beloved home state and feeling that instant connection to my heritage and my home when I hear the loons on the lake.
And, this may be more shallow than some of my other hopes, but for me it crystalizes where I want to be with my health and fitness. I want to be on a boat on a quiet sea somewhere, and I want to be leaping off the bow into that quiet sea. I do not want to make the mad dash from the sarong to the sea so that nobody can see my “hail damage” :) I do not want to tell my husband “don’t look!” as I climb, self-conscious about every wobbly bit, from the water. I want to do all of this with freedom from those mind-traps, knowing that my body is fit and healthy and serving me well and there is no need, mentally or physically, to tell anybody “don’t look!”
Happy Birthday to OSG!
One year from now I want to be a few steps closer to a career change that is focused entirely on wellness and the art of living well. I want to still be practicing yoga 2-3 times per week and I want to be back into running as I have fallen off that wagon recently. I want to feel energetic and alive and be making choices that are healthy for both body and mind the majority of the time. 2009 has been a challenging year for me but I very optimistic about 2010.
Happy 1 year blogging anniversary!! Next year at this time I hope to be injury free and running consistently. And I’d love to be taking dance lessons! I’ve always dreamed about learning to dance in some fashion and now’s as good as time as any, right!!!
Happy Birthday OSG!!!
In one year, I dream to be glowing. I hope that the healthy choices I am making now will shine through next October! I also hope that I still get to read OSG in one year ;)