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!
A year from now I hope to have my own kindergarten or 1st grade classroom! : ) I’m in school right now and am majoring in Early Childhood Education with a concentration in Special Education. I graduate in May and CANNOT wait to have my own classroom!! : )
What a great post! Very inspiring, indeed. If I imagine myself one year from now, I hope to have finally opened up my own Etsy shop after wanting to do so for such a long time. I hope to start my life in a forward motion (like you said in your post), and to feel good about my body almost every day! :) Thanks for all the inspiration, Angela and congrats on your 1 year blogiversary!
Happy Blog-iverasary! :D
In one year I plan to be an RN and hopefully getting my Nurse Practitioner Degree. And I imagine my boyfriend being home.. possibly even living together! :)
What an awesome giveaway! Next year, I want to be fully involved in my holistic health counselor practice, have quit my corporate job and am living somewhere a little sunnier! I’ll be happy, healthy and excited about my life!
Here’s to the next year!
I see myself as happy, healthy, less obsessive about food/weight and more content with myself.
I know my family wishes that I would just say I hope to see myself “20 lbs heavier.” But I want more than that. I want contentedness (word?). I want to be at peace with my mind and my body. I want to work with kids and possibly be an inspiration to someone in the world. I want to be loved.
In a year, i see myslef as happy with myself.ALso, i would like to be someone who doesnt give up so easily, so that i would have something to be proud about my self for.
emily
Ideally a certified child life specialist, if not a clear idea of where I want to live and job prospects in that area as an assistant.
Congrats! You truly are an inspiration and a kick in the butt to many people, in a good way! Because of your blog and a few others, I really have my brainstorming cap on to pave the path to things that will make me happier. I can’t believe you have only been blogging a year!
First of all, that Operation Beautiful note is so sweet!
Next year, I see myself being able to run at least 5 miles without stopping (right now I can barely run one-eek!) I set a goal for myself to finish my first 5K on New Year’s Eve this year.
Also, I hope I will be a lot happier and doing better in school. I’m a student at Penn State right now, and even though it’s a great school and I understand why everyone loves it so much–it’s not for me. It’s too big and I just don’t feel happy here.
Actually, reading your blog about changing your career inspired me to apply to other schools as a transfer student. I finally stopped thinking, “I should be here because of its reputation”/”I should be here because my best friend is”/”I should be here because everyone will tell me I’m crazy for transferring”. And to be honest, I’m not able to live as healthily up here as I would be somewhere else. It’s hard to find organic, vegan food on campus (practically impossible) and I can’t keep up with all of the drinking. It’s not me. Thank you so much for inspiring me to do something that is right for me and my body; showing me that it isn’t impossible or wrong to think of myself first sometimes.
PHEW…longest comment ever, I’m sorry! HAPPY HALLOWEEN AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY OSG! :)
angela, i just want to first say thank you for this site. i started reading it because of green monsters, but now i am so hooked. going to this site is part of my daily routine. i had tears in my eyes this morning, because it was like you were speaking directly to me about living your dreams, etc. thank you thank you thank you for helping me change my attitudes and behaviors about overall wellness in a mere 3 months! my husband and kids too. we are a green monster family here in louisiana. oh, and my work lunches are soooo much healthier now! the photos you post have a subliminal effect on me i really believe. : )
a year from now i would like to be living more in the present moment, letting go of useless anxiety, and letting my light shine. :)
This post made me so happy! A year from today I will still be in school, hopefully having figured out exactly what I want to do!
Congrats on your one year blogiversary! I’ve been reading almost the entire time and am so glad that you’ve found what makes you happy and have embraced the real you. It’s been inspiring to follow your journey!
A year from now I will be taking my yoga teacher training, getting ready for a trip to a country that I haven’t visited yet and will have run a 10K.
In a year, I want to:
– have traveled somewhere new
– changed jobs
– figured out some long term goals
– only go out for special occasions.
Fantastic post! Your blog came along at just the right time for me this year. I’ve been in the need of a lot less hiding “me” and a lot more revealing of the real me. For the last few years I’ve really struggled with feeling like I want things for my life that don’t mesh with my having such young children, but through this year I’ve found that this was really just an excuse to not change anything at all. As I become more open to who I really am (at age 41!!) I realize just how awesome life can be as “me”. In one year I will be realizing many dreams and in the process teaching my 5 year old daughter that she is exactly “right” just the way she is. My dream for my own children is that I will be able to encourage them from the beginning that they can do anything they want to do when they grow up – teach them to find what they love and follow that dream and to not get caught up in what will make them the most money or prestige or that they even need to get married. There are so many possibilities in this life and my goal is to help young children – especially girls -realize that they have a special calling from God and encourage them to reach for their dreams. I imagine a world where our generation of women and all our knowledge on how we’ve allowed ourselves to be less than authentic will teach our new generation of girls to soar. Thanks for your blog :o)
Hmmm…. where did I put that crystal ball of mine.
Here it is!
In a year… I hope to be writing, even if they are little articles here and there on little websites with little traffic.
I hope that I am with someone who loves me completely.
I want to move out of where I live now and into my own place, putting the “alex” stamp on it. I want to be living in a community where I know my neighbours, where going to the grocery store is a social experience.
i want to have been traveling.
I want to be working somewhere that has me bounding out of bed most mornings (have to assume not every day is perfect!) where I work with an amazing team of people.
I want to be free, content, and joyful. I want to be in my own adventure.
love you and your blog!
Wow- it’s crazy how far away 1 year feels like! I’d like to run the same race I did today (my first 5k ever! finished in 28:30!), but instead of the 5k I’d like to run in the 10k! I’ll be a junior in college, so I’d like to be happier and healthier, not only on a mental level but at a physical level too. I’ve struggled with my weight for a while now but I hope that within the next year I can take control of it and find my “happy place!”
I’d like to thank you for all you do at Oh She Glows. I read the blog everyday and am continually inspired by your positivity. You inspire me to get off my butt and run! THANK YOU!
Thank you so much for sharing your story with us Angela!! It’s so inspiring to watch you live out your dreams! I hope this time next year that I’m living out my dream of starting up my own business, so that I can leave the job that is making me miserable.
Happy blogivsary!! Here’s to another great year!!
Happy Birthday, OSG!!!
One year from now I want to be doing WHAT I’m doing now, but on a larger scale. Right now I’m still a full-time student but I’m making gains as a part-time freelance writer and I also have a part-time job at a small PR company that I absolutely love. So, in a year I want to be doing the exact same thing, only full-time, minus the student part!!
Those goodies look awesome! I mostly just want to be happy and fulfilled! I see myself employed at my first real full time job and with a half marathon completed. I hopefully will be working towards new goals that haven’t even been set yet!