Amaze Yourself

There are many sweet moments to parenting and some not-so-sweet moments. But one of the things I am in awe of about my daughter is her self-confidence. At five years-old, there is nothing she can’t do, or so she says to herself. “Mommy, I can help you with that”. “Mommy, I can do this”. “Mommy, I can do that”. She is confident she can do whatever she puts her mind to, because no one has ever told her different.

No one has ever told her different, not even herself.

Because that’s what happens as we get older, right? We are our own worst critic. We tell ourselves that we can’t do something, we tell ourselves that we are incapable of doing something, we tell ourselves that we’ll never be good enough. Why are we so negative to ourselves? Why do we treat ourselves so shabbily, in ways that we would never treat another human being?

Self-confidence is not overrated; it is a necessity.

If you don’t believe in yourself, who will? If you don’t believe you can do it, how can someone else believe you can? If you don’t believe you can be amazing, how can someone else know that amazing person lurking underneath?

If you knew how capable you are, you’d stop worrying and start amazing yourself. -Shannon Kaiser

You, yes you, are an amazing individual. You’ve got it going on and don’t even realize it.

Somehow after childhood ends, and we enter those awkward teenage years, our self-worth begins to take a hit. Maybe somebody made fun of you or you didn’t have the right clothes or you did not have good grades. And then adulthood beams its unrelenting gaze on you, and your self-confidence goes on its epic roller coaster of highs and lows.

However you got here, it is time to get off the worry/self-worth raucous ride, and realize that you are capable of anything that you put your mind to. You have the capacity to be all kinds of awesome. You have the capacity to amaze yourself.

Isn’t that exciting?

You can rewrite this next chapter of your life and start BEING AMAZING.

Lest you think that this girl typing furiously on her keyboard has it all together, know that I don’t. But I desperately want to amaze myself. I know that I am capable of so much more and I know that you are too 🙂

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Spend Now Or Spend Later

Over the course of any given day, I read maybe 5 or 6 health related posts. And they run the gamut of all topics, whether it is relating to how your hormones being out of whack can affect you day-to-day, or how adding hemp seeds to your smoothie adds extra protein. Every day I read articles, not because I have too, but because I want to. Health and wellness are very important topics to me and I want to soak up as much information as possible.

One little nugget of information that I have heard over and over again is “Spend Now or Spend Later”. You are probably wondering how this relates to health. Well, it’s easy:

Spend the money now on good, healthy, unprocessed food, or spend the money later on doctor’s bills.

I realize the statement can be seen as simplistic but I like the simplicity of it. Everyone knows that whole foods are better for you than processed foods and yet… we’ve all been guilty of not eating as healthfully as we should. But here’s the thing: I want to live a long and healthy life and I can’t do that if I am eating bad foods. And honestly, I don’t feel good when I don’t eat what’s good for my body. I mean, have you ever gone through the drive-thru of a fast food restaurant, ate the food, and then thought “Yeah, that was a bad idea”. Yup, we all have 🙂 More times than I care to remember… #roadtrips

I have noticed that as I have gotten older, I want to eat more healthfully. I actually crave fruits and vegetables. I do not crave junk food. Sure, I am not immune to cookies or chips and salsa, but if I want cookies, I make them at home so I know what’s in it. If I am buying store-bought salsa, I double-check the ingredients on the label, so that I know exactly what it is I am buying. I am more mindful than ever, of what I am putting into my body, especially since I have had to go gluten-free. I spend a lot of time in the produce section, more than any middle aisles where the processed food is.

My grocery bill may hover at amounts that could be seen as shocking, but our family chooses to invest in its health. We are choosing to “spend now” on quality food and quality ingredients. We do not want to “spend later” on doctor bills and the like.

Health and all of its lovely gifts is not something that I take for granted.

How are you guys doing with your grocery bills? Do you purchase organic foods? Let me know in the comments! 🙂

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Five Things

I like “getting to know you” posts from bloggers because it’s fun to find out some things you may not know about the person who authors the posts you read. So, here we go!

5 things you may not know about me:

1) I am really good at Jeopardy. See, I retain useless information and it rattles around in my brain and then Jeopardy comes on, and finally the useless info has an outlet! I may not be able to remember what I wore yesterday, but I can tell you what year The Way We Were with Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford came out at the movie theater: 1973. Who carries that kind of random info in their head? This girl…

2) I have never been to another country. Although I definitely, definitely want to travel outside the US, it just has never been in the budget. But one day when I can afford it, my passport will get some serious wear and tear.

3) Bethenny Frankel did a signing years ago at a supermarket near me around the time when she first came out with her signature Skinnygirl Margaritas. She is on The Real Housewives of New York, if you aren’t familiar with who she is. My daughter and I got to take a picture with her. She is a cool chick. And her margaritas are the bomb 🙂

4) If I could go to Disneyland every day, I would. It’s not called “the happiest place on earth” for nothing!

5) I was seriously into Madonna when I was a kid which appropriately, was in the 1980’s. I may have received the plastic stretchy bracelets she always wore during the Material Girl phase, as a birthday present. And I may or may not have worn out my True Blue cassette tape. That may have happened…

5 things I know nothing about:

1) I don’t know how to change a tire.

2) I am not a technological person. Seriously, if someone starts talking about code or updating this or that, my brain turns to mush. *does not compute*

3) I know nothing about investing. See above comment about brain mush.

4) I know nothing about people’s fanatical interest in The Walking Dead. I don’t get it, but to each their own.

5) I do not know how to sew. There, I said it.

 

5 things that I believe:

1) Everything happens for a reason.

2) Not everyone is meant to stay in your life. Sometimes it is just for a season.

3) There are such things as soul mates.

4) A trip to the beach can cure a bad mood.

5) That I was right when I (nicely) told my high school science teacher that dissecting a frog, especially first thing in the morning, was not going to benefit me in any way shape or form, in my adult life. That knowledge of the inner workings of a frog is still information I have yet to use.

What is something that we may not know about you? Are there things in life that you don’t know that you wish you did? 🙂

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Choose Today

The past can be a nasty creature that holds on to you, squeezing you quite literally to death until you are grasping for a breath, any breath that will get air in your lungs and a grasp on reality. But why do we let the past grapple with us so? Why do we give the past life? Why do we give it so much power over us?

The past makes us replicate certain behaviors, sometimes for the good, sometimes for the bad. Our mind says the past is a good barometer for what is going to happen, right? “Well, if XYZ happened in the past, it is probably going to happen again so put those walls up, put those defenses up, protect, run, hide!”

Some sort of conversation like that happens from time to time, right? But what if that conversation happens more often? What if it is a weekly or daily occurrence? What if you are caught in a cyclical cyclone of anxiety and you don’t want to be tethered to your past?

This feeling is something that I am familiar with, being tethered to my past. And I am working on untangling myself from the tentacles of yesteryear. And although it is going to be a long process, I carry with me the thought that every day is a new day. Every day is a day to start anew. We get a fresh slate when we wake up every morning.

A clean fresh slate.

I am working on not choosing yesterday.

I am working on choosing today.

Because today is what matters. The here and now. Being present and mindful is harder, it is harder than one would think. But it something that I am striving for. To be healthy and well is important to me and I don’t want to retreat into the hollowness of yesterday, of the past that wants to welcome me back into its bosom and suffocate me.

No, it is not going to happen again. Not this time. What happened is not me. What happened does not define me. What happened is the past.

And I am choosing today over what happened.

And so should we all.

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The Smallest Step

You know me and quotes. Or if you don’t know me and this is your first time here, I love quotes. Words speak to me and when I read a quote that resonates, I have to share it. Like this one:

Sometimes the smallest step in the right direction ends up being the biggest step of your life.

To whomever wrote these prophetic words, bless you!

How true is this one sentence? How many times have you been stuck at a crossroads not knowing which direction to take? When you finally make a decision you take a very small step onto that road that you need to take. But didn’t that one small step just completely change your life?

Everyone has ebbs and flows in their life; after all we are only human. And some people are able to bounce back accordingly.

But for those of us for whom the struggle is a bit more difficult, just even taking the first small step is a huge accomplishment.

That first step. That first small step.

If you are looking to make changes in your life but feel overwhelmed by all of your proverbial steps, know that it is okay. You don’t have to take all the steps all at once. Just take a small step. And then another. And when you are ready…simply take another step.

That is what I am doing. Taking one small step at a time. One small step in the right direction.

We can do this together 🙂

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Moving Forward

Hi Guys…

I know it has been awhile since you have heard my voice here on The Random Path and I apologize for that. I hadn’t meant to take such an extended break from the blog, in fact I hadn’t planned to take any sort of break at all from the blog. I like my blog to have positive vibes so I am not going to go into too long of a detail, but as I have mentioned in past posts, I suffer from depression. January just was not a healthy month for me but I am making my way back and that is definitely a good thing.

So let’s move forward, shall we?

So back in December, I had worked on a post I was going to share about my goals for 2016. It was over a thousand words and I had really put my all into the goals I had mapped out and how I was going to accomplish them. But than January happened…

And I realized that not one of these goals that I had written down seemed as meaningful as I first thought. In fact, one of them I knew right away would never get accomplished by the end of the calendar year. So I said screw it, and deleted my thousand word post.

I had an epiphany.

I didn’t want to have several goals just for the sake of having goals and feeling like I needed to have something on paper showing I was accomplishing something just for the sake of accomplishing something.

I wanted something BIGGER than that.

I realized that all I really want to do is move forward.

Move forward with my life, move forward with my health, and ultimately move forward with my blog.

The past is an evil entity that latches on to you, deteriorating your well-being, trying to break you, memory by little memory.

And I am truly fed up with it. I am fed up with the past and I just want to break free from it. I want to live in positivity and just live my life the best way I can. I know that life is not all unicorns and rainbows; believe me, I know that better than most. But I am tired of the past lurking in my shadows and I am tired of being sick and tired.

Enough is enough.

I also want to move forward with getting my body healthy. Start eating more good stuff and less bad stuff, and meditating and exercising. Stop making excuses and just do the damn thing already.

Blogging is important to me and I want to do more with my blog. I want to stop talking about someday doing something about it and just move forward on it and DO IT.

Move forward.

I am breaking free from the past and moving forward.

Who’s with me? 🙂

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Be Gentle

Be gentle with yourself. You’re doing the best you can.

Isn’t this quote, like the best ever? Especially now during the busiest month of the year???

Look, we’re all overwhelmed, exhausted, sleep-deprived human beings subsisting on nothing but caffeine and short tempers. (If you haven’t got to the short-tempered part yet, be afraid. It tends to rear its head at the most awkward of times).

December is supposed to be the happiest time of the year, but in reality, it is honestly a mixed bag. Sure the holidays are fun but Christmas and all that it entails can be stressful. I know that it is not supposed to be, but December can kind of throw you for a loop. Especially if this is your first holiday without a loved one. It can be rough…

You are doing the best that you can.

If December has you got you feeling all grinchy and grouchy, and maybe you are thinking that green guy was on to something, take a deep breath.  And then another. Have faith that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Take everything one step at a time. Breathe again. Maybe this year isn’t the year to do all the things.  And that’s okay.

Remember to take care of you. Be gentle with yourself.

Take a bubble bath. Get enough sleep. Drink enough water. Watch Elf for the millionth time.

Relax…

This is advice to everyone, myself included.

I mean, the song says “It’s the most wonderful time of year”, right? I think they are on to something 🙂

 

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Inspiration For The New Year

Hi friends!

I know that we all are knee-deep in holiday festivities 🙂 Between present-shopping, cookie baking, and holiday parties, I know the last thing you want to think about is the new year and bettering yourself mentally and emotionally. But I think it is important, especially when the season begins to knock you down physically and you feel spent and overwhelmed.

So take a read, and if you are knee-deep in egg nog and wrapping paper, earmark this post and come back to it when the fresh air of January beckons 🙂

Last Year’s Baggage: Are you stuck holding onto emotional baggage? Feel like you can’t move forward? Guess what? You can!

If It Doesn’t Open, It’s Not Your Door: “Beating your fists against a door that refuses to open diminishes your spirit”. Maybe that door you are trying to open, is not your door.

A Meaningful Life: “Remember it’s the tiny little actions that steer you towards a meaningful life and impact your life in the best way possible”.  Are you living a meaningful life?

If I Waited For Perfection: Are you waiting for the “perfect moment” to accomplish your goals and fulfill your dreams? Are you still waiting? There is no perfect moment. The time is now.

It Is Not Too Late to Dream: If you feel like you are too old to have dreams or the time has come and gone for you to accomplish your dreams, then this post is for you. It is not too late. I repeat, it is not too late.

There you have it. Inspiration for the New Year.

New Year, New You, right? 🙂

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Last Year’s Baggage

Nine weeks or so until the calendar of 2015 gets yanked unceremoniously off the wall and a heavy-sighing, slightly hung-over you, puts up a fresh 2016 calendar.

Let that sink in for a minute…have anxiety yet?

Yes, in less than two months 2015 will be in the rear-view mirror and January will open with the promise of possibility and far-flung goal-setting that will end in a fire of disappointment.

No, I am not being pessimistic. I am being honest.

We as humans carry around a lot of baggage. Emotional baggage that weighs more than one could ever know. Sure, we adjust the weight of the baggage so that it is not too taxing on our shoulders and maybe we shift it around a bit so our neck doesn’t hurt or our head doesn’t throb from the burden of carrying it all.

But it is still there…

It is no wonder that we fruitlessly try to adjust our lives January 1st, and by the middle of the month (sometimes sooner), we’ve said, well we will start over again next month or we’ve simply just thrown in the towel, saying there’s always next year.

Don’t bring last year’s baggage into the new year.

Just don’t.

January means a clean slate. 2016 as a whole, means you have twelve months of endless possibility. Twelve whole months in which to dream big, shoot for the stars, live a holistic and meaningful life! Doesn’t that sound amazing?

It sure does and you can totally do it…on one condition…

The baggage has got to stay. Take it off your back and set it down on the floor. The horrible 2015 baggage that said you’re not good enough, smart enough, beautiful enough, thin enough, “insert-here” enough… Set. It. Down.

That baggage is a liar.

And you know that deep down.

2016 is going to be the year of you. Awesome-sauce you. You are going to fly, my friend. But your wings only let you soar sans baggage.

Don’t bring all that emotional baggage from 2015 into a new year.

Flip the page, literally. You can do it.

I know you can.

 

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If I Waited For Perfection

“If I waited for perfection, I would never write a word” -Margaret Atwood

If I had waited for perfection, I would have never started a blog, written a post, and made new friends via an online space of continuous community.

If I had waited for perfection, I would have never applied to colleges other than the college of my dreams. I would have been bitter at not going to the school of my choice, and would have missed out on a learning experience that still stays with me to this day. I would have missed out on that amazing moment of holding my bachelor’s degree in my hand and marveling at the fact that that is indeed my name on the document.

If I had waited for perfection, I wouldn’t have taken the job after college that led me to a chance meeting with my future husband. Had I waited for what I deemed to be the perfect job,  I would have missed out on a future with an amazing man and a precious and beautiful daughter.

If I had waited for perfection… I would still be waiting.

Because life is not perfect. In fact, it is the absolute opposite of perfect. Sure, there are good moments and most of the time, things seem to work in your favor. But the whole of life is messy and imperfect, like some sort of beautiful disaster.

And that is how it is supposed to be.

Don’t wait for perfection. Don’t wait for “the perfect moment”. Let life happen.

I guarantee there will be bits of perfection sprinkled through 🙂

 

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