Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Eat the Damn Cookie

There are plenty of posts circulating that you can read about "How not to break your diet this holiday season," or "Avoid the Holiday Bulge," and "Tips for not ruining your life with all the indulgences this holiday season," etc. These are great, helpful even, if you really are one of those people who worries about diets and dieting and gaining weight "this holiday season."

Yes, I am well aware that temptations are a-plenty. Hors d'oeuvres with ooey, gooey goodness, creamy dips that make you wonder how can a bowl of white glob be so darn good. Treats, and sweets, and candy and booze, oh my!

So yes, watch what you eat, if you really must, don't gorge yourself nightly for 2 weeks straight, but if you get drunk or eat so much you need to be rolled home from the holiday festiveness, enjoy, be festive and merry and bright. Don't worry.

There is something to be said about just having a grand-ole-time with your coworkers, your friends and your family. So what if you "cheat" or are "bad" - enjoy! If you spend so much time fretting over what's in that dip or how many cookies did you really eat or what number glass of champagne is this, oh and now I must punish myself and eat salad for the next whole month, you my friend are not just being.

Embracing the holiday festiveness, enjoying the merry, love, laughter, dips, treats and champagne will not ruin you, your diet or all your hard work towards health nirvana. If anything being healthy is a lifestyle not a one-off, will be ruined by a few days of indulgences. There is health in love, in connecting with those you love, in laughing, sharing a meal and singing carols together. The feel-good hormones you get from the love and sharing that is the holiday season is nourishing enough on a soul level and will actually make you live a longer, happier and healthier life. Stressing about avoiding the snack table and bar will actually cause more damage in your inability to just be and live and love, than if you just ate the damn cookie (or 5 ;) ).

So my tip for the holiday season is try your best. Try to maintain balance. Drink some green juice to counter the cookies. Add a dark leafy green your holiday feast. If you get the chance to move your body, even if it is just dancing with your grandpa or chasing the kids, it counts! Have your Christmas morning mimosas, New Years' Eve champagne, your Hanukkah Manischewitz wine, and Festivus nog, because this time of year comes once a year. You may as well cut yourself some slack and enjoy, indulge, feel loved, give love, and just be, because you'll actually be healthier and happier than trying to remember the hundreds of tips of not gaining that holiday bulge.


Merry, festive, brightness, balance, peace, love, laughter and joy to you all. 
Cheers!


Thursday, November 12, 2015

I Give You Permission

I just had lunch with a friend and she gave me the permission to have down time.


I know that seems silly that I would need permission, but it wasn't like she said, "Oh you can," in fact she said, "You must!"

This friend mirrors my own faults and strengths, because she too, has the same strengths and faults, just a few more years of saying fuck it and doing it her way. I admire that about her in so many ways, I am not even sure she knows how much I look up to her. She has broken the mold, goes against the grain, and trudges her own creative, fulfilling life-path, in all the glorious cliche on-liner ways possible – but in a totally real, authentic way.

But back to permission....we do not give ourselves permission to be. To be in silence. To be alone. To decompress. To actually ask, "what do I want?" We go, go, go and expect that we can get it all done and then some; struggling with the expectation that we can have fulfilling lives that are stress free, full or greens, great health, tight abs and restful sleep. Well, that is just bullshit! How can any of us know what fulfilling and happy is for us as individuals if we don't allow ourselves to come to center first?

I have finally given my notice at the job I hate (!!) which is exciting and relieving and stressful all at the same time. I have placed this insane amount of pressure on myself that I need to wrap up this 9-5 job in a pretty bow, so that anyone who precedes me will have a nicely mapped out road map – what the fuck, right!? They didn't have that for me when I started 4.5 years ago, why am I taking it upon myself to fix that now that I am leaving??

I am applying further pressure on myself to stay on top of my school work, start my health coaching business in full swing – take on clients left and right, build my website, host workshops and cooking classes, and network like a mad woman – and continue getting freelance work in marketing for some source of income right now, and keep doing marketing work for a client I already have, AND write great blog posts ;) , and build my brand; AND lose the stress, sitting-for-too-many-years-at-a-job-I-hate weight, that try as I might won't budge (even though I know as soon as I am living my authentic life, it will just slide off), AND to have a more balanced diet, drink less wine, watch less crap TV, and, and, AND!



It stops here! I'm going to do what I can between now and my end date at the 9-5 and then I am going to just BE. I need to just remember who I am, what my priorities are, how to focus on my health and self-care, also to catch up on sleep, and remind myself of the simple things that make me happy.

I am still going to pursue all the things that I am super excited about establishing – a health coaching business, helping people do exactly this - prioritize health; a marketing and design business; and working as the program coordinator for a mentoring program that I love and greatly believe in – but I am going to allow myself the luxury of nothingness after the holidays. I hope the whole month of January is a month for me. A month to breathe, to come back to center, to prioritize and re-emerge with purpose, focus, good health, mental and emotional strength, and can-do hunger to manifest the life I know I can make.

For the friend that gave me permission – I too, give you all permission.