1000 Strands

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Archive for the ‘Healthy You’ Category

In the famous words of Pretty Woman, “Take Care of You.” Come for new and old ways to take care of yourself from food to exercise to skincare and everything else we might think to do. Take care of you.

Good night’s sleep

Posted by Nicole on October 4, 2015

Body full of Soul is a series about life. Let your body and soul flourish.

You are a Body full of Soul

 

Let’s get a good night’s sleep, shall we? There are endless tips about how to do this, but here are two things you can do anytime to help relax.

Our minds are so much more capable of self-care than we realize. Relaxing and focusing in on certain parts of your body will tell other systems to let down their own guard and rest. We all need rest.

There are small things you can do even at work… even while taking care of wild children… even at the grocery store or in a stressful meeting that will relax you. These same things can help you enter sleep more quickly and with more intentional beauty.

First Try This:

Relax your tongue and jaw.

Let your tongue lay low in your mouth and let your lips part slightly.

(^^That part you can do anywhere. No one will know you are practicing relaxing in their presence^^)

You can take it further and…

Rub your fingers firmly from the inner edges of your eyebrows, along your brow line, gently through your temples to your hairline, and then firmly trace along your hairline, past your ears and against your jaw.

Relax. Breathe. Focus on long exhales.

“Relaxing your tongue and jaw sends a message to your brain stem and limbic system to turn off the stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol,” says neuropsychologist Marsha Lucas, PhD (from Prevention.com)

Do this to remind your body that you are safe and can relax.

*****

Second Try This:

If you are looking for a more complete connection between body and spirit before you enter sleep, try a Body Scan Meditation with a Prayer twist.

A great example of a recorded Body Scan Meditation is here at NPR.com.

The purpose Body Scan Meditation is to bring awareness and acceptance to each member of the body without judgement and without trying to fix anything. Sense and notice. 

As you lay still, set your mind on the purpose of this time: acceptance and awareness.

Now, begin scanning your attention from your toes to the top of your head. You are going to greet each part of your body with honor and love and awe. Even the sources of pain or discomfort, you will simply notice and send love through taking a deep breath as that part enters your mind or you can gently touch the area with the palms of your hands, if it feels right. 

After you have taken your time touring your body, you will end in prayer over your entire body with love. Feel the skin that covers you and knits you all together.

Choose a prayer to lay over each inch of skin that makes you a whole body. You can these just at the end or even all throughout your scan if you find yourself struggling:

 

“All beautiful you are, My Darling; there is no flaw in you.”

Song of Songs 4:7 Body Scan Prayer

“I will offer You my grateful heart, for I am Your unique creation,
filled with wonder and awe.”

Psalm 139 | Body Scan Prayer

If you are married, you could do the Body Scan Prayer together – let your spouse pray over every single part of you and gently lay their hands on your skin as they pray. 

 

 

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Wild and Precious Life

Posted by Nicole on March 2, 2015

sometimes, I wake up already feeling behind.
when this happens, I let the wisdom in my pen speak truth.

What will you do with your one wild and precious life?

You woke up this morning already listing the ways you will fail – the tasks that will meet resistance and never reach the finish line. You lay, covered in clean sheets and painless skin, and yet you felt strangling discomfort in your soul.

Why, Darling?

Why have you forgotten your place? You are a child – a wild, lovely, free child – living in the world run by the most loving and responsible Parent in the world.

So, what will you do with your one wild and precious life?

or rather

What ARE YOU DOING with it? You can only live right now.

Landsliding to-do lists and performance reviews care for the future, but what are you doing to care for right now? Set time aside to tend the future – a set time to let your mind wander into next month and next year and even this afternoon. Carve out time-travel appointments, but do not forget to come back to this time and this place…this is where you actually live, My Love.

You are a flower, growing for such a short time. Be here. Growth and beauty and achievement will come as you soak up sun, water, and nutrients. Feel the strain and sensation of now – know that it is leading somewhere but that “somewhere” is none of your concern. Take each next step.

The act of attention is a form of prayer.

You’ll be surprised to find that as you witness the universe, the universe notices you right back. This is the glory of a loving Creator.

*****

The Summer Day
by Mary Oliver
Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

 *****

Wild Fox | www.1000strands.com

Photo found at http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/photo-contest/2011/entries/101679/view/

 

Wild Horse | www.1000strands.com

Wild Horse found at http://www.heartofahorse.org/category/beauties/page/158/

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3 Ways to Celebrate Your Birthday

Posted by Nicole on January 13, 2015

Did I mention it is almost my birthday and I also have issues?

This year, I am facing it head on. My Birthday monsters will not chase me into a dark corner to hide until this sucker is over. I will stay out in the open; sword-of-generosity in my hand and shield-of-oversharing around me.

Birthdays are hard but I sure love them. For our kids, we decorate the entire house the night before their birthday with some of their favorite toys and printed pictures of their favorite things. The year they loved Minions, there was a handmade Twinkies-in-the-shape-of-Minions cake.  In order to get their presents, our kids solve puzzles and clues to complete an epic scavenger hunt that often takes them underwater and to the houses of their best friends. This year we incubated duck eggs and fostered ducklings for a month because my daughter loves ducks. All of this, to show them how loved they are and how seen and how known – that they are WORTH IT… basically to communicate all the things we hope for our children … the rich soil I deep-down believe they need in order to grow up big and strong, so they can go out as courageous adults and save the world while still feeling totally rested and loved because their childhood birthdays were so so so good.

And now it’s my birthday. And I am about to become a moving target for anyone trying to really love, know, or see me.  On other days, it’s so simple.  On my birthday, it’s so complicated. My expectations are erratic because I either change my mind about the actual thing or (really) change my mind about whether it’s ok to want the actual thing. I want to see every person I love and I also need to be alone. It is impossible to fit everything I’ve wanted to experience into one day so it’s tempting to do nothing at all. When asked directly what I do want to do for my birthday, my brain goes immediately blank. It’s nearly impossible for someone else to make me happy on my birthday.  Basically my heart hides behind a black-hole-of-need that eats every nice thing.***

But I have found that focusing on a few simple, active things makes my birthday way better. I’ve been trying this for a few years in different combinations and I think I’ve figured out a pretty good plan.

3 things to do to Celebrate My Birthday Well:

1. Write out everything I want for my birthday. Write it all out. Who do I want to see? What do I want to do? What presents do I wish I could have?  What do I wish my life was like right now?  This is not going to be an essay to impress the humbleness judges. This is flat-out confession. What do I want? I think we struggle some days because we are afraid to call out what we really desire. It doesn’t mean I will get a single thing, but that’s actually the point. It’s in the acknowledgement of my own needs that the toddler in me can relax and actually feel seen. Part of why I do not feel seen, despite other people’s efforts, is that I refuse to really see myself.  My desires and longings are a part of my core self.  The more I deny them, the louder and weirder they get in their expression. If I am willing to mirror them back with passion and compassion, I will relax. We need to diffuse the situation and mirroring works – with actual kids and with the kids inside ourselves.

Try this with your kids or yourself and it will help: Next time your 2-year-old is throwing a fit because you said NO to them about something like having a cookie, try mirroring back, with lots of passion: ex. “Cookie! Cookie! You want a cookie!” And see what happens. They will often nod and pause the fit they are throwing. Follow it up with a big wish like, “I wish we could have a castle made of cookies and eat them all.” Your toddler will relax and feel seen and your inner toddler will too.  (If you have kids and have not read Happiest Toddler on the Block, I really recommend it. It helps me parent my kids and myself!)

2. Give myself a present. After I write out all the things that I wish for my birthday, I will take the time to pinpoint something that feels really tender and vulnerable and important on that list. That thing, I will get/do for myself. Maybe it will be a visit to the beach to watch the sunset. Maybe it will be a pair of yoga pants. Maybe it will be 30 minutes of reading on the couch. I’ll pick one thing I can actually do for myself and stop waiting for someone else to do it – not out of reactive anger, but in preemptive love and gratitude for my own life.

3. Give Reverse Birthday Cards and Gifts. As I write out my birthday list of wishes, I will also write out a list of the people who have made my life better. My mom. My sister. My husband. My kids. A few friends. I will write out the names of the precious people I would grieve if they were not in my life … and I will TELL them that they matter to me. I will tell them how much I appreciate them and how glad I am that they are alive. I will give them a Reverse Birthday Card or present.

Reverse Birthday Cards

 

 Those are my first three steps. What do you do to celebrate your birthday? You probably do something really selfless like accept NO presents and just have everyone you know give to EXODUS ROAD or CHARITY WATER because they do good work. I could do that too. 🙂

 

-Nicole

 

 ***This does not mean you should not try to make my birthday special.  That would be a ridiculous conclusion. I’ve pretty much fixed all my problems and anything you do for me will be met with real gratitude. There will be explosions of joy. 

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How to Make Your Own Birthday Better

Posted by Nicole on January 10, 2015

There’s one surefire, tested and proven way to make your own birthday better.

Is your birthday ever hard for you? Do you find yourself moody, disappointed, excited, happy, tired, sad, or a nap magnet as your birthday gets closer?

Doesn’t it feel like birthdays not only make you brutally aware of your actual age, but ALSO bring up issues from previous ages? Did you feel lonely on your 8th birthday? Surprise! The 8-year-old-you is coming to visit on your 28th Birthday as you sit on the bathroom floor quietly singing, “It’s my party and I’ll cry if I want to.”

You know how in sci-fi movies about time-travel, one character will take a piece of paper and carefully fold it in pleats in order to explain to the newbie character, “See? THAT’S how it works. This point touches this point and you can just directly GO TO THERE.”  Well, birthdays are like that: the point in those pleats that lets you travel back in emotional time.

*****

It is almost my birthday.

Every birthday I find my blood pumping and giving me energy as I simultaneously long to climb in bed and hide til it’s over… I want to work like crazy to accomplish #allthethings and I also want to climb under my cozy nap blanket and wake up in a month… NOT just because I am getting older. No. No good comes from regretting my years. I have lived all of them to the best of my ability and I cannot deny living any of them. Each year adds to the patina of Me.  I am the age that I am.

No, I find my birthday difficult because my childhood ME comes to visit.

*****

I struggle with the level of influence and worth I have in the world. I do. I always will. It’s not something to solve like a puzzle anymore. It’s more like a tough yoga pose that I come back to and let work in me; causing a discomfort that opens and strengthens me if I can manage to breathe instead of shutting down.

I have always struggled with feeling like I mattered.

I remember sitting on the floor of my living room as a kid, on the orange carpet we pretended was lava. I would look around at my family – each doing their own thing – and get this sucking feeling in my stomach. It was like nausea but worse.

Its source, I finally figured out, was that I believed a strong, debilitating lie:

It did not matter that I was alive. Nothing was different with me in the world.

Of course, my mom and sister would disagree with that statement, but it felt so real and the desire to matter became a life-long black hole that I wrestle with to this day.

Most days I can be content and loving, but at my birthday, that black hole SUCKS.

*****

So, I started a tradition five years ago that has completely changed how I feel at my birthday. I want to share it with you.

If you struggle at all at your birthday…

This is the #1 thing I can recommend to make your own birthday better :

Write {Reverse} Birthday Cards. On your birthday, GIVE cards to the people in your life who matter to you. 

When we give, we finally gain a little distance from our own black-holes-of-need.

As I write each card, I remember how much that person matters to me and how much richer my life is because they are alive and in my life. This totally takes the focus off of me {my fears, expectations, disappointments} so I can relax and enjoy the life I have.

Actively loving other people, fills my own black hole of need!

Try it at your birthday or any time you feel that black-hole-of-need start opening in you. Giving to other people will be the best present you ever give to yourself.

Happy Birthday!

Reverse Birthday Cards

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Take Care of You

Posted by Nicole on January 10, 2014

It’s time to TAKE CARE OF YOU.

****

When I was training for my half marathon (that phrase still makes me laugh, it still seems preposterous, but I did it)….

When I was training for my half marathon, I ate whatever I wanted.  I needed fuel! If I was hungry after a run and wanted In n Out, no problem!  If it was 10p and I was starving, absolutely I could eat some delicious Honey Bunches of Oats (with almonds!).

Then, I ran the race in December!! It was amazing. I’ll tell you all about it soon.

And I just kept on eating in the days after the race too. Want pizza for dinner? Right on! Let’s do it.  It’s almost Christmas; let’s have pie!

Now, it’s been a full month AFTER the race and it’s time to get my act together. My body needs some anti-running exercise. My body needs some lighter food. My skin needs some winter care.  I’ve gotten so lazy after the exertion of the race that I don’t even like brushing my teeth.

Can you relate? You probably didn’t run a half-marathon. (Why would a sane person do that?)  But, you probably have some kind of whole food / walk everyday / drink a smoothie for breakfast / P90x / brush your teeth 2x’s a day ….. kind of goal for this month. Let’s do it together.

To quote one of my favorite movie lines ever; it’s time to “TAKE CARE OF YOU!”

It doesn’t have to be anything big. Small things can change your life.  I will bring you my favorite food, self-care tips and products, and exercise plans both here on the blog and on my Pinterest Boards.  Bring me yours too!

****
****

Today’s Take Care of You TIP:

While I was running every day, I needed more food (thus all the eating) and I was finally brave enough to try Greek Yogurt. You may be way ahead of me on this but OH it’s awesome! If you like yogurt AT ALL, do not be scared to eat Greek Yogurt.

It has way more protein than regular yogurt and I find the consistency fluffier and more indulgent too.

Mix in all kinds of things.  I get the plain yogurt and add a little sweetness with the add-ons. Also, I cannot tell the difference between the 2% and the 0% fat so pick whichever makes you feel better about yourself.

My favorites toppings: sliced almonds and dried cranberries (since it is winter) but I bet fresh berries will be perfect in the summer.  I also like to use granola and chia seeds (they taste like nothing and have great nutrition, just ignore the fact that they look like tiny alien eggs).  Go crazy.

This was my breakfast today.

Greek yogurt with granola and dried berries

Greek yogurt with granola and dried berries

 

This year, be a good parent to yourself. Be consistent. Keep your promises. Lavish love. Make good food. Laugh.

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I’m Betting On Myself

Posted by Nicole on June 2, 2013

That’s right, I’m betting on myself.

Because sometimes when you say, “For you, I will,” the you is actually YOU.

Equinox

In the month of June, I will be part of something that made me laugh and then, as I let it marinate in my brain… well, it inspired me! (kinda like this /\ /\ picture! /\ /\ )

**********

Do you ever need a push sometimes? Do you ever bribe yourself to workout or finish an assignment? What prize  motivates you?

This time, I am betting actual cash on myself.

I made a little wager that I could lose 4% of my weight in the month of June. It’s a good thing, I promise!

It’s part of a motivation challenge on Casey Ho’s blog-  www.blogilates.com

Casey is a woman dedicated to health and happiness in herself AND others. She is silly and energetic and smart and strong. So, when she started this Diet Bet I wanted in.

(My link is: http://bit.ly/10YD0P4 and http://www.dietbet.com/player-profile/58323)

Already there are over 3,000 people in the mix. Everyone who loses 4% or more wins their $25 back and then we split any money left over if other people don’t reach their minimum goal.

Listen, it could be easy to criticize this idea if you wanted to; I get it.  Shallow? Maybe. Not the point of life? Of course.  For me though, putting a little money on the line for my health … I need this.

Don’t you need a push sometimes? Do you ever bribe yourself to workout or finish an assignment?

What’s your most motivating prize?

Hey, maybe next time, if any of you need a loan that you’d only have to pay back if I reach a new goal, let me know!! I could be like a bank with a six pack in a couple years.  🙂  I could call it ButtKickStarter! (don’t steal it!)

So, throughout June, I will be getting my physical act together. I’ve been sliding down this hill of sugar and salt and naps and depression for a while now and I’m ready to dig my fingers into the cliff and climb back up.

Ducklings

I’d love your support. Come back and read as I write about my June experience as well as my past health challenges, injury recovery, food love/love relationship, and all the other things I pretend I don’t care about on a minute-by-minute basis. AND join me if you need a ButtKickStart.

Today, I have a choice in the matter of how my body feels. So, I am going to move and dance and nourish this lovely place I live in. I have spent a full year just doing what I felt like doing – going on nice walks (sometimes) but mostly eating Chic-Fil-A and staying very, very still. It is a lovely mirage to believe I will feel good if I just stop feeling guilty about not eating healthy foods and exercising, but it is just a mirage.  I know what happens to my body when I don’t strengthen it – I can feel it slipping into entropy.

I want joy, strength, power and to get out of bed excited for a new day.

Everything is connected. The better my body feels, the better everything will feel.

Let’s go on a LIFE and not a die-ette!  Let’s Celebrate LIFE. It’s now or never.

-Nicole

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What are you hungry for?

Posted by Nicole on February 1, 2013

Hi Friends!

 

So I started asking myself, “What do I want in life?”

The answer that came back immediately …

“Coffee, please.”

“Maybe also a chocolate chip cookie and a long nap too.”

 

On one hand, that’s lovely and simple.

On the other hand…  That’s all I want out of LIFE?  Really? That’s it?! That’s just kinda sad.

That’s what I define as an attainable wish.

 

Somewhere in me is a quiet, desperate whisper for more.

 

There’s got to be more to life than the wish for a few sensory comforts, right?  Something real, big, energizing.

The little whisper for real meaning and purpose is so, so quiet most of the time and the longing for comfort and pleasure is oh, so loud: I want it!  I want it!  I want chocolate!  I want a nap!  I want quiet and time to myself!  I want pizza and diet coke and cookies and warm donuts and a margarita (together or separate – I’ll take ’em how I can get ’em)!

If I am not careful to pay attention to my true desires, i will

live from numbing agent to numbing agent trying to escape the boredom, sadness, isolation or frustration  – and when I am not doing that I am using those same things numbers to celebrate or care for myself.

I’ve been asking myself those hard questions you have to ask, if you ever want to change. What do I actually really want?

“What’s the thing behind the thing?” – Rob Bell

I want to feel good. Do you know what feels good?  To eat and drink until you are so full you just need to sleep. aaahhh!  You can then curl up and take a nap or watch a wonderfully mindless TV show and forget everything but that heavy, sweet, full feeling.

To put it simply: I want to feel full.

We all want to feel full… fulfilled.  I do not like emptiness. I do not want to have a longing in my gut that continues to get my attention and demand I do something about it.  I have mistaken that longing for a solely physical hunger for far too long. It is a spiritual, physical and psychological need and I cannot separate them. Deep down, I actually want to find fulfillment for my whole self and I am settling for just a physical sedation.

Until I stop stuffing the pipes with doughy goodness, I will never make room for the other good stuff to pour into my life. Until I change and upgrade my goals from “avoiding hunger and finding sugary carbohydrates,” I will never have enough energy or drive to pursue bigger and better things.

I MUST DEFINE NEW GOALS based on my deeper desires.

What do I do when I have a free hour?  If my goal is comfort and food (my normal), I eat some sugar and take a nap. If my goal is health, I workout and dance and eat vegetables and fruit.  My goals define how I spend my time. So, until I change my goals, I will not change my habits and actions.  And until I actually want those goals more than I want the items I am addicted to and my old ways, I will never change.  I have to let the hunger remain so I can FEEL what I am really hungry for — not just healthy food but a more purposeful life.

I was made for more!

 

Aristotle said, “We are what we repeatedly do.”

I want to be more than sugar and sleep.  That’s what I repeatedly do.

I WANT to be vibrant, powerful, loving, healthy and really ALIVE.
If I really mean that, then it’s time to repeatedly DO vibrant, powerful, loving things.

There are deeply-set reasons I have learned to settle, though, as I am sure there are lots of reasons we ALL settle: I am overwhelmed with the demands of family, kids, work, school… “Adult Life”.  So, I dull the pain. I fill the void as quickly and easily as I can.

I give my tired soul a quick fix.

The quick fix doesn’t last, though, and I am quickly empty again. This can’t continue.

It’s time to start a life... to let the emptiness linger so I can feel what I really desire. Desire. Hunger.

What do I want out of life?  I have to shut the quick answers up so I can hear that slow, quiet whisper in my heart… what do I really want out of life? What am I here for? (Because I don’t think I am here JUST to eat cookies.)  If I can’t hear the whisper, I will never learn what my new goals need to be and I will never change my habits.

I have to end the cycle and feel the hunger.

I. Do. Not. Want. To.

But, I get the feeling I will never want to. Ever.  So I better be my own parent and just cut myself off. Give myself a time out. Go to my room. And think about why I did what I did. Why I do what I do.

On my timeout, I will wait for the whisper. I will let the waves of cravings move on past. And I will wait for the real desires to rise to the surface. They’ve been buried a long time. This may take a bit… and I pray I can hold out, because I am seriously getting my hopes up that it might actually be worth it. I think it’ll be worth it. I was made for more than I am living for.

What about you?

-Nicole

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Let’s Celebrate Life

Posted by Nicole on January 31, 2013

When you go to Disneyland, you can ask for a big button to wear all day. It will say “It’s My Birthday!” or “Let’s Celebrate!”  And you can fill in your name underneath or write what you are celebrating: “Anniversary” or “Graduation”. Then everyone who works at Disneyland will see your button and comment and welcome you.

“Happy Birthday, Princess!”

“Happy Anniversary!”

We live near Disneyland and go often.  The other day my little girls and I were walking through the huge plaza full of people as another woman walking towards us caught my eye.  She wore a “Let’s Celebrate” pin, crew-neck t-shirt, big white sneakers and high-waisted shorts;  Typical, comfy, I’m on vacation from rural (fill in a state) attire.  I always think about the people at Disneyland as they walk past us. Is this their first time?  Are they spending 3 years’ savings to make these memories with their families at Disneyland?  What’s her story?

Then, as this particular woman moved nearer to us, I looked closely at her button and saw that it said “Let’s Celebrate… LIFE.” Instantly, all the details I had subconsciously noticed about her came into focus:  Comfy clothes. Thin, short, newly-grown-in gray hair. Pale and slightly puffy face…  New cancer survivor. Laughing with her friends. Walking through the Disneyland plaza. Celebrating LIFE.  Smiling at me as she passed.  She’s on a LIFE.

 

Life.  I want to be on a LIFE. Let’s celebrate… LIFE.

“Happy LIFE, Princess!”

 

So, step one of going on a LIFE – what that woman in big, white sneakers and high-waisted shorts wore all over her gorgeous face: Gratitude. For Everything. For Life Itself.

(pause.)

Gratitude.  It only happens in this exact moment.

 

What makes a LIFE? How does a person permanently change, ditch the Die ette, find gratitude, or even choose a new path without using fear, peer pressure, strict rules, pre-made meals, a personal trainer and a nanny?  How do we combine all the things we currently want into one nice life where everything fits and we’re happy about it?

LIFE is in our habits. In the moment-to-moment choices. This is who we are. Whether it’s what we eat, watch, say, do… We ARE our little decisions. It’s so hard to celebrate life when our little choices keep veering off course.  It’s so hard to feel really alive when my little choices – my little steps – keep taking me further away from the life I want. Do you ever feel that way?  You want something so much and yet you continue to take little, tiny steps away?

This is why DIE-ettes don’t help. They are temporary black & white fixes to life-long, complex issues and goals.

I am done pushing and striving to follow a short-term, fix-me-quick die-ette. Spending so much time researching, trying, failing, being on day 3 for the 100th time, judging results … I am looking down and forgetting to look up with gratitude.   Gratitude that I am alive.

Now, I am done with DIE-ettes BUT the issue is still here. I am still not living Life to the fullest, healthiest, most vibrant standards and I know it because I feel conflicted. I want things that contradict each other.  I want pizza and a flat tummy. I want a deep connection to God and to watch The Bachelor.

This year I am going to get deep down in this messy little spirit and body of mine and try to get to the HEART of why I choose little DIE-ettes instead of LIFE.  I am going to stop surviving and start living.

Will you join me?  Whether you read this today or a year from when I’ve written these words, I am throwing out a strand your way.  Grab hold. Let’s go on a LIFE.

Posted in Free Flying Faith, Healthy You | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments »

Stop the DIE-ette (diet) and Go on a Life

Posted by Nicole on January 30, 2013

Diet. Die.

“This diet makes me want to die.” “I’d rather live fat and happy than die skinny and miserable.”

Have you ever heard someone say something similar?

DIE ette: A little death. I am on a diet… I am dying a little bit every minute I am on this DIE-ette.

A diet used to simply be what someone or something ate regularly. A lizard eats a diet of crickets.  A koala eats a diet of eucalyptus.   Mythological super models eat a diet of champagne and cotton balls. I eat a diet of coffee, chocolate covered almonds, and pizza interspersed with meals of kale and chia seeds. (balance, People, balance.)  This kind of diet is FACT. It’s what I actually eat.

Then, there’s the DIE-ette. The one that kills your soul and sometimes your body a little each day.  This is the strict, short-term list of rules that You or Slimquick or the 4 Hour Somebody or Fruitarians United have decided you should eat.

I am suffocating under the conflicting Die-ettes I should be on. I don’t want to be on a DIE-ette. I want to be on a LIFE.

I WANT TO BE ON A LIFE.  Hear me?!

Do you want to be on a life too?

People go on diets together all the time. Let’s go on a Life together. We will start tomorrow. But for real this time.

Let's go on a life!

Let’s go on a life!

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Swag n Stuff – Best Shape of My Life

Posted by Nicole on January 31, 2012

I’m in the best shape of my life as I write this to you. I am glistening with sweat – my abs hard and my hair somehow still voluminous and sea-breeze blown.  I’m enjoying eating a kale, chia seed salad and drinking a room-temperature glass of lemon water.

…Not really. Not ever. That’s not true.

I’ve been better than I am today, though… God knows. He knows. I’ve. Been. Better.

When I was in the best shape of my life, I actually got there after a 6 week diet and exercise bootcamp.

My abs have never actually been what other people would call “hard” or “fit” but I did have an actual waist. I was smaller at my belly button than at my boobs. It happened.

Funny thing. I thought I was changing for good… Forever. I thought I would never be the same after that bootcamp — I gave it a big push and worked hard.

I was proud. I had swag. Confidence. My hair bounced like you wish yours did.

New, baby, beginning habits were formed. I studied and gained knowledge. I set goals. I learned Right from Wrong (the capital letter kind of right and wrong).

Then, slowly, I made exceptions and had set backs… temptations… and celebrations… Consolations.

And now, I am my old, normal self again. The one who is a slave. A slave to destructive habits of comfort, indulgence, addiction, and doughy pizza. (oh, pizza… you abuse me and I like it)

Part of me still knows eating and laying around don’t lead to a healthy, vibrant life … but that part can’t convince the rest of the parts to get it together again.

Here’s why… That part knows it’s a forever decision this time. That big push.. Bootcamp… Diet…DIE-ette…  it was short. It had a deadline. It was temporary. Now ALL of me knows success takes a forever commitment. And I don’t want to forever commit.

But if I want to really live… if my goals are health, energy, that elusive waist, shiny hair, confidence and swag into my 60s and 70s… then I must change my daily habits and I must change them forever. Everyday is a second chance at success. Why am I choosing failure when success is an option (thanks Jillian Michaels for the catchy shame-phrase)? Why do we do that?  (Or is it just me?)

I am in some of the most jiggly shape of my life as I sit here and write to you. It happens. Things get jiggly. I am still beautiful (I’ll say it til I believe it). I just don’t have any clothes that fit and I spend my days dreaming of the next sugary and/or salty, doughy and/or crunchy bite to satisfy my endless, black hole-like cravings.  I am a slave to those cravings and it must stop.

Are you a slave to something? A craving? Addiction? Behavior you wish you could just stop?  Grab on. This train is leaving. We are leaving this place of hopelessness and droopy souls.

Wanna join me?  No more DIE-ettes. We are starting a life.

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