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!
Happy birthday OSG!
On 10/31/10 I picture myself with a job I love, my darling husband, and possibly a little one on the way. Plus still blogging and enjoying life.
Happy birthday Oh She GLows! <3 Here is to another year!
In one year from today I would love to be healthy and happy. I would love to be completely broken from my binge eating disorder and all of those nasty thoughts in my head that goes along with it… I am half way there :)
Congrats Angela! I’ve been reading since the beginning.. I actually won one of your first giveaways! Anyway, I love your blog and congrats in all the ways you’ve changed and grown with the blog. You rock!
A year from now, I hope to be done my masters degree, starting my Phd and finally getting wedding planning done. I also want to start running more and maintaining a healthy,happy lifeestyle. :)
Yay how exciting! I’ve been following ALMOST since the beginning.. I remember you still trudging off to work, you doing the fitness tests on the treadmill before you injured yourself, etc. What a year can change, indeed! You have certainly blossomed along with this site :)
In a year I hope to have been accepted into a Masters of Dietetics/Nutrition program and excitedly be starting that somewhere :)
One year from now i will be a happy parent to my second child. I just found out i was pregnant yesterday and haven’t even told family or friends yet…just everyone here! AAHHH!!!
:) Great post Angela and Happy Birthday to OSG!!
I loved this post and not just for the giveaway. I am so happy that you are doing something that you love and most of all that you are HAPPY!
That’s all I can really ask for within the next year is that I am doing something I am passionate about. I know many people who do not love their job and I do not want to be one of those people. I have a few dream jobs – either doing social media marketing for a health related company, being a wellness coordinator or going back to school and being a RD. Hopefully one of those will pan out!!
Happy Anniversary Angela!
Can’t wait to keep on reading your blog!
also, Happy Halloween! love the OB post-it!
When I close my eyes and I picture my life a year from now, I have vague thoughts of what it might be like. I picture my brother home from Afghanistan, healthy and whole and glowing in that particular way that people do when they are finally free of anxiety, unhappiness and unyielding pressure. It is the single image that stands out for me – the one that I picture when I Namaste in yoga, the one that I dream about at night – my brother, home.
I also picture my partner and I living in Halifax, by the ocean and near my parents so that I can talk to my Mum every single day and maybe see her more than twice a year! She is my soulmate and I miss her so much.
I picture myself, happy and finally healthy – free from calorie counting and the self-loathing that comes from eating a single thing that I am not ‘supposed’ to be eating. I think of hiking Cape Split – strong and content and soaking in the beauty of the sea and the cliffs and the trees – and walking on the streets of Halifax in the summer, with the sun hitting the pavement and the smells of excitement along the waterfront – salt and ice cream and toffee.
I hope that I am working at something I believe in – maybe finally updating my blog more often! I hope that I am on my way to finally writing the book I’ve always wanted to write. But most of all, I hope that I’m still *hoping* and dreaming and doing what is in my heart. It hasn’t failed me yet!
Congrats Ange,
You really are an amazing inspiration to everybody… Happy Birthday OSG.
One year from today, well I’ve recently lost my job, so in September 2010 I am going back to school, to pursue something I’ve wanted to do for a long, long time, so I’m assuming October 31st 2010 I will be dressed up with my fellow class mates, toasting to 2 months past of our new chapter of our lives!! Yay… exciting.
In October 2010, I will hopefully be starting graduate school! I want to become a physicians assistant, so im crossing my fingers that I will be accepted and be starting my studies by next year!
Congratulations Angela! Your blog is truly inspiring and I hope you are inspired by it too. Thanks so much!
Congratulations Angela on everything that you have accomplished! I absolutely love your blog and feel inspired every time I read it. Your positive energy and commitment to finding peace and happiness shines through.
At this point next year I hope to feel healthier both emotionally and physically. Right now I sometimes feel like I am going through the motions trying to get everything done. I am in a masters program, working part-time at a university and expecting a my first child in a few weeks. Life is too short to feel stressed and worried all the time. I would like to find a greater balance in my life so that I can enjoy life more and ultimately just feel happy. :)
A year from now…
I want to have let go all my eating hang ups. To never worry about counting calories but instead feel comfortable eating what I feel is right in the right quantities – so I can feel good about my body and self ALL the time, not just when I’ve eaten my “desired” alotment of calories.
For the past few months I’ve tried to get into running. I’m getting better, slowly but surely. The greatest part about it though is how accomplished it makes me feel. Next year, I want to run a 5K!
happy, bday, oh she glows!!!
One year from now I picture myself in my senior year of college- a happier more relaxed person. I won’t be stressing over the little things in life and I’ll be excited to graduate and start a career! Oh…and I also picture myself running a marathon :)
Happy blogiversary!
Happy 1st Birthday Oh She Glows! I have followed you from the beginning and am soo happy for you Ange! Thank you for being an inspiration for all of us to follow our dreams! One year from today, my ideal life is that I am successfully graduated from my Master’s program and I am happy with my new job.
A year from now I see myself on my way to finishing my bachelors, having saved enough money to live on my own. Happiness all the way!
Congratulations Angela! I visit most every day, even though I don’t comment. I look forward to your posts. :)
In October 2010, I hope to have finished a draft of my novel and run a half-marathon. I hope to continue on the journey I started this year of being true to myself.
Best wishes to you and all your readers!
In one year, on Oct. 31 2010, I hope to be preparing to run my very first marathon in NYC within a few days! I hope to be actively applying to grad school and I hope to be happy.
My Dad died a few months ago and I have felt really down. These goals are overwhelming right now, but I hope to take things one day at a time and make them a reality.
Love you OSG!
A year from now I would really like to have some *direction* in my life! I just have absolutely no clue what I want to do with my life, and a BA in Communication and Spanish really didn’t narrow things down… at all, haha.
Yay for a full year of blogging- I greatly enjoy your blog and am so happy to hear it has helped you fee1 better about yourself (while helping others at the same time!). Rock on!