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!
Angela,
One year from today I will hope to have MY own at home business up and running, much like you. I also hope to be the kind of woman that LOVES to exercise and am able to be the star of the rollerderby again.
One year from know I hope to be at my “happy weight” and working somewhere inspiring and creative that I want to jump out of bed each day for.
I just want to be happier and more healthy and living my life to the fullest.
This time next year, I hope the economy has improved so much that everyone, including myself, can get a job more geared to their interests and education… Personally, I hope to have a “real” job rather than an hourly one in retail. It doesn’t pay the bills!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Oh She Glows!!! You have come SO far Angela! :)
One year from today, I will be off on my own in my own apartment, starting out a new life in college! I’m so excited and plan on doing everything possible to make those years a happy, wonderful success. :)
xxoo
Heather
I think it’s so great that you have followed your own dreams the past year and inspired others to do the same. I am very happy with my life right now, but I still have small goals to reach in the next year. For one, I hope to be happily married by then :) I also hope to continue my blog for that long…it’s been about 6 months now. I hope you have another year of great things ahead as well!
Happy blogiversary and Happy halloween!
I picture myself finding who I am supposed to be. I think I have been so caught up in finding a job that is the right fit, and a CAREER, as opposed something I love. It’s hard in this economy though, but I want to do something I am truly passionate about!
I also hope I continue with my healthy ways, because putting on jeans that used to be too tight and having them fit, when I haven’t been dieting is the best feeling ever, and says I am doing something right!
I also wouldn’t be too upset to be pregnant this time next year :)
One year from now I hope to have all my grad. school applications in, content at my job, and at peace with myself and my body.
One year from today I will ideally be about midway through writing my dissertation, with an article or two published. Now I’d better go do some work to make sure that happens. :)
A year from now I WILL be 1 month into my Bachelor of Education and whichever University lets me in. haha
I WILL be at my goal weight and leading a Weight Watchers meeting or two!
I WILL be happy, fit, healthy and successful.
In a year, I hope to be in a different job. One that I love and look forward to doing every single day.
Hmmm…one year from now I see myself working full time as an RD, settled in my own apartment/house, and training to run a half marathon.
Happy Birthday Oh She Glows!!!!!! I am so happy that I have been a part of the journey over the past year :-)
In exactly one year, I hope to be happy. I hope to be healthy, and surrounded by people I love and those that love me. I hope to have accomplished a lot, and yet still have dreams for the future. I hope that I will be content with where life has taken me, but inspired to look for even more. I hope that I will be true to myself, and honest with my intentions and ambitions. I hope that one year from now, I am still me. In exactly one year, I hope to be happy.
Jolene xoxox
Happy birthday !!
in one year from now, I hope to be out of school and doing something I love. I hope to be truly happy for once and LIVING instead of just going through the motions.
I work in the retail business where I help ladies pick out outfits that fit the best or look the best but the main reason I help these ladies is because they don’t know how great they really look (and I’m not just saying this because of my job, I get paid hourly wage not commission wage). Alot of women will point out their flaws quickly and think that they have a big bum, or that thier hips are huge, you name it they think it. But you know what and I tell them this as well that 98% of that is a figment of their imagination or how they perceive themselves really isn’t an issue. I let them know yes you have a nice round bum….embrace it!!!!! Alot of women will kill for it including me. When those ladies walk out of that store they feel confident, happy, and that really gives me something that I take home each and every day that I have done a difference in someone else’s life. I love my job, I don’t do it for the pay! Each day I go to work excited, wondering what the day will hold. As far as a year from now I really can’t say I just live in the moment :).
I will be out of school and just starting my first year teaching in a grade that I love. I WILL NOT BE SICK ANYMORE. I am working like crazy to make that true. I will still be with Chris and maybe engaged. ;) I will comfortable and confident in my body and not feel like I am my restrictive diet.
Thanks for such a wonderful post! You’re an inspiration!
It’s amazing how much your blog has helped you grow. Please know, it’s helped me to grow too. XO
Oopps, my goal… I want to be able to run a 5K. My training is slow, as running does NOT come easily to me, despite being in very good shape. Fortunatley I have a lot of women in my life who have begun running as well, and they are there to encourage and support.
That is such an awesome post about how much your blog has changed you as a person. I have had similar reflections on being exactly who I am at the core and not doubting myself.. it is so liberating once you just accept who you are completely!
Ahh, 2010. By October of next year, I will have just completed my internship for my master’s degree!!!!!!!! I will also have relocated from NC to NY to move in with my long-distance boyfriend! I will (hopefully) have a job, either working with at-risk youth or veterans (my clinical interests are so varied…). And maybe, just maybe, I will have an adorable puppy.
I can’t wait!
Happy Birthday OSG!
In one year, I will be living in a different country, on externship for school. I will be keeping up all the healthy habits I’ve learned while living in my comfort zone and apply the to my new home. I will be soaking up every minute of the amazing experience I will be getting, both culturally and education-wise.