GlowLoveThrive

Here’s the story… 🙂

No, but really. My teenage and early adult life consisted of not knowing who the heck I was and searching around to find it. I moved across the country, met the man of my dreams, kicked ass in my career, got married, had a baby and here we are. This probably won’t come as a huge shock but I LOVE my life. I created a life that I honestly never imagined I would have. I wouldn’t even let myself dream this big. I thought it was unattainable.

Here’s where it left me though.

Career – Check

Marriage – Check

Family – Check

Me – Wait, who am I? My career? A mom? A wife? Uh oh…

At the end of the day, if I wasn’t consumed by being a wife or mom or professional, I didn’t know what to do with myself or who I was. When your kiddo is an infant and in early toddler years, it consumes so much of your time and life that you don’t have a whole lot of time to think about the things you’re not doing. Now that my daughter is five though, I have more time to myself and I found it glaringly obvious that I didn’t know who I was or honestly what I liked to do. Let’s be honest, I’ve had signs and I’ve struggled with it before but it finally hit me like a freight train. Finally enough to light a fire under me.

So, here I am. You get to join me as I figure it all out. Right now it’s blissful. I know it’ll get messy, probably a little weird, but also freaking awesome. It’s all about the journey and I’m in.

Here’s where I’m starting:

Exercise – I love to workout and I love to run. I have never really stopped but I also stopped working toward goals. I’m ready to set my sights on a marathon and that toned body I’ve been dreaming about for far too long.

Cooking/Baking – I LOVE spending time in the kitchen. Extra bonus, my daughter is super into cooking right now too so we are going to embark on this journey together.

Health – This is coupled with the cooking and baking. I’m going to spend more time in the kitchen, but I’m also going to focus on creating delicious, healthy choice. All in all, we do very well but I battle with some yucky digestive issues that I’m ready to kick to the curb.

Knitting – Well, I have to have at least one activity that I can relax and do while I’m sitting on the couch. 🙂 In all reality you guys, it’s hilarious how proud I am of the small square of fabric I have knitted so far. #journey

I’ve read the quote so many times that essentially says you’re not tired, you’re just not doing enough of the things that spark a fire. I honestly never understood it. I was doing so much and I was doing things I thought I enjoyed. Then, I had a day on Saturday…

One thing I left out, I LOVE cleaning and organizing. Having a clean, organized home and the journey to get it there is honestly the greatest feeling for me. So this past Saturday I was cleaning and organizing (hello holiday season) and when I felt like I needed a break, I baked. By the end of the day I had done some serious work in my house, baked a loaf of bread, baked a chocolate chip cookie cake and decorated, and made sugar cookies that I frosted with my husband and daughter to round out the day. I started shortly after waking up and was on the go until about 10 pm and at 10 felt like I could keep going because I was so happy. It was such an amazing day and I now understand the quote.

Follow me on Instagram @elizabethmshinkle for some of my fun creations in the kitchen and other fun life events!

Happy Monday!!

With love,

E

I’ve been absent. For a week now, right? Yikes! In that time, I’ve transitioned to a new team at work, traveled to shadow my new team, and severely sprained my ankle. It’s bad. I’ve been wanting to write about it, but I really had to get my head right. I’m not going to lie it’s been very up and down. Let’s start at the top.

I play volleyball when I can/when they need me. I had to take a step back a few months ago because my travel schedule had gotten so hectic. They were counting on me and I was never there so I reluctantly stepped back. I had to put them first. Wednesday, I had the honor of stepping back on the court with them. This was after a long day onsite with clients and the game wasn’t until 9pm. I’m sure you have figured it out. This is when the sprain happened. I went up at the net and I came down on someone else’s foot. Damn did it hurt.

After laying on the bench with some ice, I decided I needed to go to the ER. The guys on my team carried me out to the car and a friend with the team sat with me in the ER while I waited for the results. No evidence of a break so it’s a sprain that I need to nurse back to health with the R.I.C.E. method.

I’ve been on crutches and unable to put any weight on it. It’s swollen like CRAZY and all of the colors of the rainbow. The pain has been pretty rough as well. Honestly though, none of this matters all that much. I’m not struggling with that part at all. I’m struggling with the effect it’s having on my life. No working out? No housekeeping / cooking / generally taking care of my family? No running around with my beautiful 3-year old? Not ok.

Let’s start with taking care of my family. I’m used to being superwoman. I’m used to taking care of everyone else. Someone take care of me? Nope. I’m good. I can take care of myself. Having my friend from the team sit in the ER with me was overwhelming. Having my husband wait on me hand and foot AND take care of EVERYTHING around the house, including our little one. Excruciating. I’m already learning so much though. I’ve been intrigued by the minimalist movement. I’ll save all the details for another time, but I’m ALL IN. I spend way too much time cleaning up clutter and generally fussing over things that don’t matter. I’m able to do some of the basics still so I’m doing what I can and leaning on my husband when I can’t. Even my daughter has been amazing. She has been a HUGE help. I’m going to lean on her more, she likes when she is given responsibility, so I’m going to give her more of those opportunities.

Now on the rest. I’m not able to run or work out like I’m used to and that’s been the hardest part. I’m going crazy. There are two things that I’m focusing on moving forward. I’ve always complained about my upper body strength. Don’t need my foot for that. Here we go! Also, since I’m not going to spend a couple of hours on upper body every day, I have more time that I’m going to dedicate to nutrition. I see an elimination diet in my near future and overall cleanup of my day-to-day nutrition. I told my husband that we are going back to simplicity which he is all on board for. No more elaborate dinners. I don’t have time for that every night, we end up wasting a lot and most of the time, I don’t enjoy it.

You can probably feel the roller coaster of emotions in this post. I’m focusing on the opportunity and the fact that I’ll realistically be on my foot in “no time”. That doesn’t mean that it’s been easy. I had a total breakdown last night, the night before, and probably the night before. 🙂 I’m not letting it creep back in. I am lucky to be generally healthy and to have a wonderful family to support me when I’m not quite myself.

Here’s to a great week!

Elizabeth

I made a decision today. Let’s start at the beginning. I work from home. I have a busy schedule but I also like a clean living space. This means that when I feel like I need a break from work, I clean. This has led to far too many work breaks. It’s become more like a procrastination tool and I find myself not making the best use of my time during the day. I also get angry with my husband if I have to do even a second of cleaning when he gets home because I’ve already done so much. I’m making my case for minimalism. 🙂

As of today, I am no longer cleaning during my day. It was AMAZING. I always felt like I should have the house perfectly clean when my family gets home. Why? Yeah, you read that should. It’s because I’m a woman and I feel like that’s what I need to do even though I work full time just like my husband. No more. I had more time to work out, I got SO much done, I finally worked on projects I have been wanting to work on but couldn’t seem to make time for. Guess what? It’s the end of the day, my house is just as clean as if I would have spent all day cleaning. Interesting. Thanks again Erin Falconer!

Some other good things happened today too. I had an awesome workout this morning. I created an accomplishments PPT that I will keep updated on a regular basis. I made one for professional accomplishments and one for personal accomplishments. I have it broken down by quarter and category, with a slide for “major accomplishments” for the year. It felt good to see the accomplishments piling up so quickly.

I also signed up for the mindbodygreen Functional Nutrition Program. I can’t wait to get to the bottom of my reflux issues and I know this program will help. I will certainly share the experience with you along the way!

I’m looking forward to another amazing day tomorrow. Hopefully without the accompanying reflux! I’m taking strict notes now to help identify triggers.

Here’s to tomorrow!

Elizabeth

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Falconer, Erin. How to Get Sh*t Done: Why Women Need to Stop Doing Everything so They Can Achieve Anything. North Star Way, 2018.

“Mindbodygreen.” Mindbodygreen, http://www.mindbodygreen.com/.

If you read a recent post of mine, you know I’ve been battling acid reflux for years. Last night was my final straw. I’ve had my fair share of bad days, but I psych myself out (cough, cough denial) when I have good days to follow. I know better. Even though I fought to have a better day today, I still struggled.

I know what triggered the reflux. I did better but not great. I know a ate a few things that aggravate my reflux. I was road tripping the last couple of days and wasn’t as well prepared as possible and indulged along the way. 🙂 I’m always trying to find a quick fix because this is so painful. What I now know is that the quick fixes are wreaking havoc on my digestion (and probably a lot of other things). Even though I wanted the quick fix today, I resisted. I tried Natural Vitality’s Calmful Gut and it helped take care of the mild discomfort I was feeling this afternoon. After dinner it struck again, hard. All I wanted was the easy fix. I thought maybe a better option would be my doTERRA DigestZen Touch.  Again, I was able to escape the Tums! Big win for this lady tonight.

I know reaching for the quick fix is appealing. Whether you’re battling a cold or heartburn. I urge you to stop and think about the consequences of your quick fix. What is it doing to your body? Are you making things worse in the long-term for some temporary short-term relief? Are there other options?

Try them. Try to find relief another way. Maybe a little self-care would help just as much as that pill. Something to relax you. If not and you absolutely need relief, reach for a natural option before traditional OTC meds.

Lastly, while finding a way to get some short-term relief, think about what major life style changes could fix the problem once and for all. I know I am!

Have a great week, friends!

Elizabeth

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“Natural Calm Magnesium Products.” Natural Vitality, 5 Jan. 2018, naturalvitality.com/.

“DōTERRA Essential Oils.” Essential Oils Pure and Natural, 11 Dec. 2017, http://www.doterra.com/US/en.

I give thanks for all that I have.

Let me tell you a story. I’ve always battled with reflux, but since my pregnancy it has been much much worse. It was pretty excruciating while I was pregnant and I haven’t been able to get a grip on it since. I’ve tried different diets thinking it was because of food I was eating with no luck. I stopped lighting candles because that seemed to aggravate it. The worst part is that I would think I had a hold on it and then I would go right back to where I was. Take the last two days for example. Yesterday, no reflux. A little bit in the evening after I had a beer. Today, I ate the exact same diet and it has been out of control all day. Ruined my run, in fact. For those of you that have it, you know that you can hardly breathe when it is acting up so running was pretty painful. To top it off, I’m crazy bloated. Not a great day.

I was catching up on some Instagram at a lull in my afternoon and saw an ad from Natural Calm. Apparently, magnesium helps with digestion. Side note: all of those antacids I’ve been bingeing on for years now are majorly hurting my ability to digest food properly. Here’s an interesting fact I learned from Dr Axe today:

Magnesium helps to relax muscles within the digestive tract, including the intestinal wall, plus it neutralizes stomach acid and helps move stool through the intestines.

Here I thought the only reason to take Natural Calm was to help my anxiety. Come to find out it could be helping my digestion too?! I have noticed a correlation between bloating and that “need to poop” feeling and increased reflux. Here’s hoping this is a life changer! I’ll certainly keep you updated! Let’s be clear tomato-based and citrus foods are still a no go!

Last but not least, be kind with yourself. My workout this afternoon was pretty awful. Between what seem to be allergies or the onset of a cold and this lovely reflux issue, I should have known that my workout would suffer. I didn’t set any expectations to kill it. I told myself that getting up and moving my body for 30-60 minutes would be a win. Even if I wasn’t going at my usual pace, I was going. The old me would have been such a bitch right now and I’d be tearing myself down. New me: “Well, you could’ve used those as excuses and skipped it altogether, but you didn’t.” Win!

Have a lovely weekend friends!

Elizabeth

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“Health and Fitness News, Recipes, Natural Remedies.” Dr. Axe, draxe.com/.

I recognize my wins today, no matter how great or how small.

In case you missed yesterday’s post, I struggled. I didn’t eat enough throughout the day and it led to major fatigue and well, starvation. Two days in a row I ended up binge eating at 3pm which made me feel good and bad at the same time. I felt good because my body was finally getting food. I felt bad because I was reaching for everything I could find (aka processed foods)!

My focus today was to change that. I planned out what I would eat and when. Guess what? I felt AMAZING today! I ate real, regular meals and what a day I had. The only other thing I will improve upon is my water intake. Did you know they say water intake increases your productivity? Gulp. Gulp.

To add to all the joy, I tried a new Clif Bar flavor today, nut filled peanut butter. Holy sh*t. So delicious.

I also learned something new during my IIN studies. It’s amazing how powerful short teachings can be. The freedom that comes up ditching perfection for living. There is so much more to wellness than what you put in your body. You can eat all the kale you want but if other areas of your life aren’t well balanced, you won’t be well. Nourish and worship your body while enjoying life and all it has to offer.

Until tomorrow friends!

Elizabeth

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“Clif Bar & Company: Feed Your Adventure®.” CLIF, http://www.clifbar.com/.

I recognize my wins today, no matter how great or how small.

It is a darn good thing this is self discovery week. Based on how I felt today, I really needed to pay attention rather than try to push through it and pray for a better tomorrow. That is what I would normally do, but not this time.

Here’s what happened today. I thought I felt pretty good throughout the day. Looking back, if I’m being honest with myself, I didn’t feel as great as I might have thought. I didn’t have any real meals. When I was hungry, I’d have what I could realistically call a snack. Clif bar. Green juice. You get it. I was constantly looking for another snack.

I guess you wouldn’t be surprised to hear that I drank quite a bit of caffeine and yet, by 3pm, I was famished and could hardly keep my eyes open. I ran to the kitchen for more snacks and after eating half a box of cereal, fell asleep. I was a MESS. Clearly my body was trying to tell me something. Old me would chalk it up to a long, stressful day. The mindful version of myself realizes that I didn’t properly nourish myself today and my body was trying to tell me something. I hear you!

I have created a plan tomorrow to make sure this doesn’t happen again. I’ll be eating full meals. Here’s the thing about me. I try to be so perfect that I end up depriving myself. I am so worried about the things that I eat that I’m semi-paralyzed with fear of what is healthy and what is not. This almost always leads to bingeing when I’m so hungry I just need something in my body. I’m working on this every day.

With that being said, I did have some wins today. I had some good accomplishments at work and went on a nice run this morning. I would even consider the downfall of my nutrition a win. It allowed me to learn.

I also tried something new today that I LOVED. Beetology’s cold-pressed beet juice beet + berry. So much YUM. Buy it! There are several different flavors to choose from. Beet + berry is the first one I’ve tried but I’m certainly a fan.

What’s better than berries? Berries and Beets of course. This fabulous twist on a basic berry juice layers in the berrilious flavors of Strawberries, Raspberries and Bilberries. Yes Bilberries…like blueberries but even juicer.

Also, Harney and Sons Love Life green tea.

Delicious, refreshing tea with a charitable twist. Named for GMHC’s slogan and logo, our Love Life tea is a refreshing blend of Japanese Bancha green tea with fresh flavors of strawberry, coconut, rich vanilla, and puffed rice for a light, fruity brew. 50% of the sales from this tea benefits GMHC, an organization devoted to fighting for an end to the AIDS epidemic and uplifting the lives of those affected.

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“Delicious, Organic, Cold-Pressed Beet Juice .” Beetology | Delicious, Organic, Cold-Pressed Beet Juice, http://www.beetology.com/.

“Fine Teas by Master Tea Blenders | Harney & Sons.” Harney & Sons Fine Teas, http://www.harney.com/.

I have proclaimed this week, self-discovery week. My hope is that this intense focus of self-discovery this week will lead to a heightened focus on the days and weeks to come. So, what led to this?

To be very clear, this has been a focus of mine for quite some time. The problem was that I only took it half seriously but put immense pressure on myself. It’s the same as my blogging journey. I put so much pressure on myself to be perfect that I can barely start. I’m throwing that all way. From now on, I’m doing. I’m living. I’m doing what I think is best in certain moments and keeping track of the results. No judgment.

This blog will follow the same suit. Instead of trying to come up with some inspirational, philosophical post every day, you’re doing to get the good stuff. It’s going to be real. Uncensored. Life.

I’m reading the brilliant book, How to Get Sh*t Done, by Erin Falconer*. It has me digging deep about myself. It’s uncomfortable as hell and I’m loving it. Today’s realization had me realizing that I wander through most of my days frantically trying to check tasks off my list with no real structure. While I may be achieving task completion, I’m not achieving goal completion. Boo.

“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” -Benjamin Franklin

I followed all of the advice in goal setting in self-help books. I wrote my goals down. I looked at them constantly but I still wasn’t achieving them. If I want to actually make progress on these goals, I have to plan each and every day. I have to create routines and stick to them. I have the fortune of working from home which allows me more freedom in my daily schedule than the average person and damn it, I’m going to use it to my advantage.

After years of trying to get a hold of my nutrition and end my yo-yo dieting for good, I’m in a good place but I could be better. I still have reflux that I battle on a daily basis and it has wreaked havoc on my mental state. In February, I set an intention to eat more plants. Without actively trying, I’ve been vegetarian ever since.

As of this week, I am officially enrolled in the Institute of Integrative Nutrition course beginning May 2018. Expect to see some major shifts in my nutrition throughout the year-long program. At the moment, I’m toying with a raw diet. Today consisted of a green juice to start my day, YES, and a mid-morning smoothie. Lunch consisted of a Superfood Soup from Market of Choice. A delightful day of eating!

I have also been re-engaging with yoga recently. It has been a goal of mine for a long time and I’m finally really making it happen. I have a membership at a local studio and I will be able to touch my toes by the end of the year! Yes, it may seem very pedestrian but I have never been able to touch my toes in my life. Big deal for this lady.

Not having a routine strikes again. I did ok this morning and found some positive things to incorporate into my routines. By the afternoon, things went downhill fast since I didn’t have a clear path. Let’s just say I found myself in front of the TV, eating a bag of chips. It’s all about balance, right?! 🙂

Here’s to lessons learned today and hope for tomorrow!

Elizabeth

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*Falconer, Erin. How to get sh*t done: why women need to stop doing everything so they can achieve anything. New York: North Star Way, 2018