Health Goals / #BeBold2016 Link-Up

Hi guys! Sorry I've been so absent lately! It's really turning out to be quite a busy, frantic semester already and I'm a little bit overwhelmed with all my schoolwork. I knew my classes would be harder than ever but two in particular are really kicking my booty. I'm hoping to still post regularly this semester, but in all honesty, blogging is priority number #37 after work and classes and friends and family.

In other news before we get onto the fun stuff, I've finally gotten a pet hedgehog, which I've been wanting to do for months now. Her name is Flora and she is the sweetest little nugget in the world. I'm sure you'll be seeing more of her around here! Also, just because I'm silly, she already has her own instagram, @florathehedgehog.

Isn't she cute? Anyways, on to the link-up for this week. Just a reminder! This link-up is hosted by me (duh), Gina, Catherine, Christina and Kate. We would love if you'd head over and visit all the blogs--say hi! I know I've discovered a couple new blogs this week that I'll definitely be reading for awhile...maybe you will too! Let's review what the #BeBold2016 link-up is all about!

What are we writing about?

In the past weeks, we all wrote our own posts about our word or focus for the year and shared them here on your hosts' blogs. Then, we applied our focus to setting blogging goals. This week, we'll be applying the focus to our health goals. And then finally, next week on January 29th, we're chatting about personal goals. By that time, I guarantee you'll be super ready to put those goals into action for February and the rest of this year!

What do I do?

If you are a blogger, you can write your own post responding to the prompt for each week. Starting the Friday of each week, you can add your own post in the link up (the third one is below!). If you are not a blogger, we'd still love to hear from you! Leave your responses down in the comments.

No matter if you're a blogger or not, we'd love for you to take some time and check out some of the other awesome bloggers joining in this project (especially the hosts!). Leave a comment, send a tweet (use #BeBold2016!), or just take some time to check out some new blogs. You might find a new favorite!

My health + wellness goals for 2016:

It's really easy, when considering goals and health together, to immediately think about exercise routines + weight loss. And that kind of thing will make an appearance to some extent, but health is so much more than that. Real, holistic wellness comes from the mind and the body both being at their best + I want to reflect that in my goals.

MENTAL HEALTH GOALS:

/ Choose to speak positively about myself. Whether it's my body or my productivity or my performance in something, it's so easy for me to get swept up in a quicksand of self-destruction and unkind talk to myself. 

/ Continue to be a voice for mental health concerns on my campus.

/ Try to do one activity every day that relaxes me and makes me feel happy. Lately, this has been spending time with Flora! But it also can be coloring or reading or going for a walk.

/ A few other private goals. :)

PHYSICAL HEALTH GOALS:

/ Start logging my workouts on Fitocracy again. Fitocracy is a fitness app on my phone that lets you record your workouts and "level up" so to speak. It's helpful for me to remember what weights I used to lift + what weights I lift now.

/ Make a plan before I get to the gym. Lately, my problem has been that I get to the gym without a clear plan + then I just sort of amble around and do random things. I never feel like I get a great workout or like I use my time efficiently, except when I have a plan ready before I walk in the doors.

/ Incorporate fitness into my daily routine, outside of "workouts". Whenever I need to take a break from studying, a couple tuck jumps or a set of push-ups is great to rejuvenate + wake up my brain before getting back to work.

/ Take one group fitness class a week. I teach group fitness, but somehow I rarely make it to other instructors' classes anymore. I love group fitness and I want to support my coworkers.

/ Go dairy-free for a certain period of time. I absolutely love pretty much any dairy products. I love milk and cheese and creamy things and ice cream. Calcium is good and all, but I think the amount of dairy I eat may not be making me feel the greatest. I've also heard anecdotal evidence that limiting dairy can help clear up skin. I want to do a little more research on this before I do a dairy fast, but I'm curious if it would help me feel my best!

/ Eat a vegetable at lunch and dinner every day. I know, I know. I should be better about this.

Now it's your turn!

Sleep Savvy: A New Series

Ahh! Still can't believe it's 2016. WOO. I love the new year. 

Anyways....the last few weeks have been lovely. I've been home from school, with my family in Michigan. It's been delightfully lazy and relaxing but I've quickly realized that I have a large problem--I've ruined my sleep cycle. 

Maybe you can sympathize with this. Whether it's due to work or classes or just preference, you probably usually have some sort of a sleep routine (hopefully). Really, it's a healthy habit to have. The more consistently we go to bed and get up at the same time, the more rested and healthy we are overall. 

THE PROBLEM:

But I know that at least for me, winter break can wreak havoc on that carefully constructed routine. During the semester, I got in bed around 10pm, read or watched a little TV, fell asleep between 10:45 and 11:15 most nights and woke up at 7:15am. It really was quite lovely. I rarely felt drowsy at all during my 8am classes and I was perfectly ready to sleep at the same time every night. And best of all, I naturally woke up without an alarm between 7:30 and 8 on Saturday mornings.

Thanks to winter break though, I've been going to bed anywhere between 10pm and 1am and I've been waking up between 8:30 and 11am. 11am. I am not a fan of this. Maybe you're in the same boat + you're ready to get your sleep cycle back on track.

WHY DOES THIS MATTER?

If you look at my current sleep habits above, I'm getting at least 8 hours a night, sometimes even way more. So in theory, I should be feeling rested and at my peak. But...I'm not. And I started wondering why + did a little research. 

You've probably heard of your "circadian rhythm", which is basically like a clock inside your body that regulates everything inside you that corresponds with your day, which encompasses a lot more than you think. Your circadian rhythm is in charge of how rested you feel, how productive you are, a lot of the hormones your body produces and your brain activity. 

That's a big deal! So when our bodies don't have a consistent sleep schedule off of which to build our circadian rhythm, we get out of whack in a lot of ways. Even if I'm getting eight hours of sleep every night, moving my bedtime around actually ends up affecting my mood and my productivity. 

SO WHAT NOW?

I'll tell you! Over the next few weeks, I'll be taking various sleep strategies--mostly ones you've probably heard before but I'm sure some are new. I'll be focusing on three main areas: getting up with an alarm, falling asleep quickly, and knowing when and how to take quality naps. In the next week, I'll take a look at that first idea--getting up with an alarm. I'll be testing a few different alarm apps and some strategies recommended by sleep experts and reporting my results right here on the blog.

WANT IN?

Join me! I won't be hosting an official link-up (but if you want to join a link-up, check out #BeBold2016!) but you can write your own related post and leave it in the comments or just come read my post. I'll be posting every other Tuesday. Here's the schedule of topics.

January 19: Waking Up (with an alarm clock or otherwise!)

February 2: Falling Asleep

February 16: Taking Naps

How do you maintain a good sleep schedule? Any tricks I need to try?

4 Reasons to Get Up Early

FINALS.

Just the word strikes a little bit of fear in my heart. My fellow college students reading this right now know what's up.

But amid the craziness, I've managed to make one lovely change over the semester or so: I'm getting up early. Not early early, but a comfortable seven o'clock. I'm lucky in that my first class is at 8:30am. I know it's not what most students would prefer but I've gotten in a smooth routine of productive mornings. And there's nothing that makes me satisfied quite like productive mornings.

I'm one of those people who just has to share when good things happen--I want you to feel the early morning goodness too! But in case you're just not convinced why the heck you should get up early, let me explain why I do.

+ I get alone time. As an introvert (granted a fairly social one), I loooove spending some quality time with myself. It makes me so happy to read, cross-stitch, doodle or even watch Netflix by myself. However, living with a roommates generally makes this difficult. Especially with our schedules, we find that we're often at home at the same time and even though we don't share bedrooms, there's always the temptation to go out and socialize. Which is great, don't get me wrong--I love my roommates. But sometimes, I just need a little quiet time. By getting up early, I have at least half an hour to work on stuff or get ready before anyone else is up and doing things.

+ I have time to plan out my day. The other day, on a Saturday, I made the mistake of staying in bed until 9:45, which sounds fine, until I realized that I needed an hour to shower and get ready and then 30 minutes to allow to get to campus. And to save you from doing the math, I'll tell you that I was almost late to my 10:40am meeting. When I get up early though, I can easily plan out my morning--and even my whole day! I like to write a list of my classes + to-dos for the day, and then figure out where I can fit tasks in my day. I get so much more done!

+ I feel accomplished. This sound silly, I know. BUT we all know that getting up early is hard. Really hard. But when I get up early, I've already done something awesome. It may just be a simple mind trick, but after getting up early, I feel like the rest of my day will be easy. There's something to be said for doing something challenging first thing every day just to remind yourself who's boss (YOU ARE).

+ I make time to do things that I might not otherwise get around to. I know I don't really, but getting early helps me feel like I have a little more time in the day. When I stay up late, I'm rarely productive. But early in the morning, I'm eager to get stuff done. This means I get to write blog posts, read my Bible, read blogs or listen to music. Other days, these things just don't happen + I'm a little less happy because of it.

Do you get up early? Why or why not?

3 Reminders for When You're Sick

My boyfriend H visited me in Florida this past week and it was so so good to see him. I haven't seen him since August so I was so happy that he came to see me. That being said...he brought a nasty cold with him, which I of course caught from him. Thanks for that, babe. 

And so I'm already on life since I've been spending all my time with H + now I have to deal with being pretty sick. It's not a good place to be, right? I know we've all felt this way before and been in this situation. So here are just a few things that I'm trying to remind myself + that you may need to remind yourself sometime!

A break or a nap might be the most productive thing you can do. I'm the kind of person that will just work and work and work half-heartedly when I feel sick. I feel like I have so much to do that I can't take a break so I just keep working and not really getting anything done. Know the feeling? Sometimes I have to just remind myself that an intentional nap or break can be the thing I need to do before I can really get anything done.

Choose tasks you can still do. If you're sick, maybe let your intense workout slide down to a gentle walk. It's okay! Feel free to postpone what you can and just do what you feel like you're able to do. Pushing too hard will only put a bigger strain on your body and keep you from healing.

Prioritize where you use up your energy. It can be hard to deal with having much less energy than you're used to all of a sudden. Naturally, you're not going to be able to do everything you might have planned, so it's best to consider what tasks need to be done sooner and which tasks can really wait until you're feeling back to your old self.

What else do you tell yourself if you're sick? 

3 Steps I'm Taking to Eat More Mindfully

You know what I'm really, really horrible at? Not eating ice cream five times a day just because I feel like it. 

You too?

That makes me feel better. 

It's really really easy to get in that habit of eating whatever you want, whenever you want, without thinking about the consequences. I've definitely learned the hard way that there are consequences to that kind of thinking (i.e. getting fatter than you want to be), but it's still a really easy trap to fall into, right? So over the last few weeks, I've been trying to eat more intuitively, focusing on what my body really wants at a given moment in time. Here's what I've been working on:

1. I decide what I want to eat before go to get it. 

If I'm bored or want a snack for whatever reason and go to the fridge or the pantry, you know what I eat. I eat everything, that's what. I'll decide that some pretzels sound good...but then after the pretzels I'll realize that what I really wanted was some leftover quesadilla...and then after that (half the time) I'll realize I was just thirsty and needed some water. 

So instead, before I go into the kitchen, I'm trying to think about what I really want at that moment. Is it ice cream? Is it some fruit or crackers? Or really, am I just thirsty? Or maybe I don't really want food at all, I'm just bored. If I really want ice cream, I'll usually have some, but only if I'm sure it's going to satisfy me. Make sense?

2. I think about how the food will make me feel in the future. 

This is actually sort of two-pronged--you have to think about how a food will make you feel mentally and physically, because those are two different feelings when it comes to food. 

Mentally, there are some foods that I've labeled so thoroughly as "bad"foods (whether justifiably or not) that if I eat them, I tend to feel bad about myself and it actually affects my food. And while I probably shouldn't be labeling my foods in that way, it's something to consider. If I'm going to feel upset at myself for eating a food, it's probably just not worth eating. Likewise, physically, there are some foods that I love but aren't worth the nasty feeling they leave in my stomach (I'm looking at you, Panda Express).

3. I'm becoming less afraid of hunger.

Oftentimes, if I know I'm going to be busy for a few hours, I'll eat a big snack, just so that I don't get hungry later. But that's really not how I'm trying to do things. There's nothing wrong with feeling hungry for an hour or two--if anything, it makes it easier to be in touch with how your body is feeling. 

Do you try to eat mindfully? Any tips for me?

Baby Steps to Minimalism in Your Beauty Routine

Baby Steps to Minimalism is a new recurring series about my efforts to cut out things in my life that are neither good for me nor making me a happier human being. Join me!

I am not a minimalist person by nature. I love to shop and I love my stuff. I do. I'm not a huge fan of uber-minimalist interior design or fashion. I love color--lots of it. But there comes a point when having more things doesn't make me happier, it somehow makes me less so.

I know this and I know that you know this. It's nothing new. But how can we tell which things make us happier and which things leave us wanting more? I think the answer is to experiment with it. One of my unofficial goals in 2015 is to cut out things that aren't good for me and/or making me happy. If something isn't doing either of those things, there's no reason to keep it in my life. 

The first thing I thought of was my beauty routine. I've never been someone who loves being in the shower or playing around with makeup, but yet here I am taking long, hot showers and wearing a face full of makeup, every single day. It definitely doesn't make me happier to wear lots of makeup and spend thirty minutes getting ready in the morning + I'm pretty sure it's not doing me good.

I'm challenging myself to try these little itty bitty baby steps into minimalism + I'd love if you'd join in!

+ Take shorter, cooler showers. Obviously, this'll seriously cut down on the energy that your shower takes and it'll keep your skin + scalp from drying out in the winter.

+ Use one (or more) fewer items in your daily routine. Plus people will notice more when you do fancy up! Maybe even take a day off of makeup here or there. On an average school day, I wear foundation, powder, liquid eyeliner and mascara (and bronzer/blush/eyeshadow about half the time). My goal is to forego the eyeliner (or at least stick with a pencil) at least a few days a week and save those last three items for special occasions. 

+ Take a few days a week off from straightening, curling or blow-drying your hair. It's so good for your hair and makes getting ready so much easier!

+ Just buy less. Whenever I see something in the beauty aisle that looks cool (or oh my goodness, smells good) I tend to just buy it. Half the time, I use it once or twice and then it sits in my cabinet. Now I'm trying only to buy new products when I am totally or almost out of what I have.

+ When possible, use natural products. I haven't explored this idea too much but I've heard about using oatmeal or honey on your face and baking soda and apple cider vinegar in your hair.

Why minimalism? Less attachment to beauty items helps us be more comfortable in our own skin. Plus if you ever had the chance to go on a jungle exploration trip, you can start worrying about buying a plane ticket instead of how you're going to survive without your hair dryer.

What do you think about this whole idea of minimalism? Would you ever try any of these things? 

3 Apps for Beginner Meditation

I'll be honest, meditation is a weird thing. It sort of makes me think of foreign movies with monks chanting and whatnot. And I'll admit, I am not the expert on meditation. I meditate maybe three times a week, if that. So it would seem like I am not the person to be telling you about meditation, but I've started practicing it and I think it's worth a try, even if it feels totally weird at first. I just want to show you that meditation is easy + doesn't need to be something that only woo-woo hippies and monks and life coaches do. 

I could do a quick google search and I'm sure find many benefits of meditation on all parts of your life, but I'll just tell you my experience. Meditation helps me chill the heck out. I'm not a huge worrier but I do get anxious sometimes (which is actually very different). Meditation is great for calming down if you are a worrier or if you're like me, just a better way of maintaining your peace.

I like to meditate when I get up in the morning, before bed and in the middle of a busy day. It doesn't have to be a long time--I usually only take 5-10 minutes. I really like apps that offer guided meditation because let's be honest, meditation is a really weird concept and it's always helpful to have someone tell you what to do. Here are my favorites:

Stop, Breathe and Think / I especially love this app because before you start, the app asks you to take a moment and assess your emotions--are you concerned, content, distracted? Then it offers meditation tracks based on what you report. The only con of this app is there aren't many different tracks to choose from (maybe 10-15). But it's totally free, so it's still a great option.

Buddhify 2 / This is the only paid app on this list and at $3, I think it's worth it. The cool thing about buddhify is it aims to have you practicing mindfulness throughout your day. You choose from activities like traveling, walking in the city, in nature, and for when you can't sleep (and a bunch more). There are lots of options in this app + it always helps me connect with my day.

Deep Relax / This is not exactly a meditation app because it doesn't offer any sort of voiceover telling you what to do. Instead, it's just natural sounds and white noise that can be used as a background for your meditation. I have a saved mix of crackling fire, rain, waves, quiet frog croaking and a quiet buzz in the background that I use for meditation. This is also great for yoga and falling asleep! I swear I sleep better with rain noise in the background.

Do you meditate?! Do you have any tools that help you incorporate meditation in your daily life?

A Better Way to Respond to Stress

Wow, what a week. Right after I posted on Tuesday, I came down with a gross flu sort of thing that has had me in bed way more than I'd like for the last few days. Luckily, this is really the only couple day stretch where my schedule isn't jam-packed. After this weekend, I start my finals. So I'm just glad that I should be on the up and up before then!

Since I know a lot of you are students and the next two weeks are probably the most stressful time of the year, I thought I'd share this TEDTalk about stress and a healthy way to manage it. H showed me this a few weeks ago when I was stressed out of my mind and I loved it! 

What do you think of this video? Do you have any other methods for tackling stress?

Tips on Starting a Journaling Habit

At the beginning of February, I decided that I wanted to start a regular journaling habit. I've said it time and again: journaling is not for me. My brain thinks faster than I can write and I get impatient that I can't get on paper my true thoughts on things. But I've read over and over and over again how good journaling is for you, both mentally and (surprisingly) physically. And so I keep giving it another try. 

Over the last six weeks, I've miraculously found a habit for myself in journaling. For the first time ever, I actually enjoy journaling. I don't journal every day--maybe only 2-3 times a week. But now I see why it's such a valuable habit to invest in. Journaling helps me review my day and forgive my mistakes and celebrate my victories.

01. Don't reread your entries.

I used to write journal entries with the intention of 'sounding cool' in case I ever went back and read them later. I would pretend like I hadn't really messed up or that I didn't get embarrassed or like I had it all together. But I didn't (duh). Journaling should be a place where you can let out the feelings that you hide all day, not another place where you have to pretend to be someone you're not. If you find this is hard for you, try journaling on a scrap piece of paper and then ripping it up. Eventually, I learned that I can write anything.

02. Skip what you don't want to talk about.

On that same note, I felt like I had to mention every part of my day. Journaling is for documenting life, but it's more a cathartic experience. Don't try to make a scrapbook for your kids out of your journal. If something was boring, stressful, sad or uncomfortable about your day, you can choose to journal your feelings out or you can choose to ignore it. It's your choice.

03. Have a prompt.

Sometimes on less busy days, it was tempting to skip journaling because I felt I didn't have any 'news' to record. Turns out, those are the days I enjoyed journaling the most. When you don't have a lot to say, choose a prompt to center your entry around. I'll do a post on sample journal prompts soon, but some simple ideas are to talk about two good things and two bad things about your day, a mistake you made, or something that made you smile. For more ideas, I wrote a post a few weeks ago with 10 prompts for gratitude journaling.

04. Set a timer.

Journaling can be tiring; that's just a fact of the matter. Especially when it's a new activity, it can be easy to journal too much and get burnt out. If you find that happening, set a timer for 5, 10 or 15 minutes. Remember: you can stop whenever you want--even if you've only written one sentence or you're mid-story.

05. Set a time. 

If you're trying to set any habit, it's incredibly valuable to set a time every day or every week to do it. I journal right before I get in bed. I'll brush my teeth/floss/etc and hop in bed with my journal and my pen. Eventually, my mind starts to remind me when I hop in bed that it's time to journal. If you're just starting out, an alarm or a phone ping can be especially helpful!

Do you journal? What are your tips for starting a habit of journaling?

Six Weeks of Wellbeing: Week Two Recap

Some days, rules just need to be broken, even if you made them yourself. I promised to recap my second week in the Six Weeks of Wellbeing project today, but that's just not happening. It's been a really stressful week. I had a big research paper, not to mention exams coming up. Sometimes, despite our best intentions, our own wellbeing becomes overlooked.

But I'm not going to get mad at myself or let it bother me because that would go against the whole point of this project. I want to be good to myself, no matter the circumstances. So on that note, I want to start the next week fresh. 

I've actually pulled out a notebook (like it's actually physically sitting next to me right now) that I will use to document my self-good-doingness (totally a word) (okay, I lied, not a word). I've decided that my "theme" for the week is forgiving myself for my mistakes + learning from them, starting today. That's kind of hard for me to handle. I'm not sure how to differentiate the ideas of forgiving myself and learning from my mistakes. 

So just for starters, today I realized that I can be really rude to H when I'm stressed. It just happens. I say things to him that I don't mean unkindly but in my own preoccupation, I say things that I wouldn't say to anyone else. And part of that inevitable comes from a comfortable relationship, so that's great. But if I'm honest, I subconciously assume that I'm "more stressed" than he is or that my work is more important, even though I know neither of those are always true. And as equals in a relationship, I need to practice more respect for him because I love him. 

In the spirit of being good to myself, I'm publicly saying that I forgive myself. But that doesn't mean I'll forget about it, nor does it mean I'll act the same way (on purpose). 

How do you learn from your mistakes even if you've forgiven yourself? What can you forgive yourself for in the name of being good to yourself?

The corn on the left shows the damage that a Lepidoptera (corn pest) can have on corn. The corn on the right is the genetically modified corn that is resistant to the Lepidoptera larvae.

Bt corn is an example of how biotechnologists can manufacture genetically modified organisms (GMOs or GM foods) that aid mankind's survival. In this case, a gene from a soil bacterium (called Bacillus thuringiensis if you want to impress anyone at a dinner party) was found to produce a protein that can kill Lepidoptera larvae, a type of corn borer that likes to nom on corn. Scientists isolated this gene and inserted it into corn DNA, so then when the larvae try to eat the corn, they get poisoned (poor larvae). Farmers can use this new kind of corn as an alternative to using pesticides that target the corn borer. And less pesticides = less chemical pollutants in our water. Yay! There are risks, of course, but Bt corn is on the safer side of genetically modified organisms. 

And if the idea of eating genetically modified organisms weirds you out, just know that if you've had corn, soybeans or beets (random) today and live in the United States, you've most likely had genetically modified food. 

Introducing: Six Weeks of Wellbeing

(source)

Hello lovelies! How is your Thanksgiving break going? I'm in Florida with my family and I've been cooking all day which makes me super proud of myself haha. This girl cannot cook at all. I even took a picture of my potatoes to send H's mother since she's always trying to get me to cook. Y'all should be proud of me.

I want to tell y'all about a sort of project I'm doing for myself and invite you to join in. If you recall, one of my goals for the rest of the year was to do something good for myself everyday for the rest of the year and write it down. And I'm really excited about this. I'm putting more thought into building health into my life: healthy relationships, healthy eating + exercise, and healthy attitudes. 

If you'd like to join me, you're more than welcome to! At the end of each week (ending on Wednesdays), I'll be sharing some of the things I did during the week to improve my wellbeing. I'd love if you commented and shared what you did!

This project will be going on for six weeks--five weeks until the end of the year and one more week to start off 2014 on a good foot (can you believe it's almost 2014?! I feel like 2002 was yesterday).

So how about you? Are you in? Let's dedicate some time to our own wellbeing! 

Your turn: I plan to do things like call my grandmother, write thank you notes, and exercise. What ideas do you have for improving your wellbeing?