Thinking About The Future Keeps Me Sane
Seeing New Parts Of The World
You guys know that we love traveling. Ash and I always have since we were little. We were very fortunate to travel most of the United States when we were kids. We had the best road trips packed with stops to receive new “prizes” along the way from our parents. We even had mishaps like arriving a day late to Disney World because our brother had to stop to pee, and our car broke down when we made that stop! At least it didn’t happen while we were driving! In 2017 we traveled to some amazing new places. Norway was by far our favorite trip of last year, especially Flåm. I also had a great time in the Bahamas because I had dreamt of going there since I saw Holiday In The Sun. Any other Mary-Kate and Ashley fans out there? Spending Valentine’s Day in Paris was incredible, and headed back to our favorite city, London, was just the cherry on top to the year! In Monday’s newsletter we announced the first four places we are traveling to in 2018, and there are so many other amazing ones to come! Get excited, because I can hardly contain myself! I’m ready to get traveling now!
Trying Out New Recipes and Food
We have talked alot about this over on our YouTube channel, but we have recently changed up our diets. I use diet loosely, because it isn’t a diet. It’s a lifestyle change. With the possibility of an autoimmune diagnosis for myself, I want to try and heal my body naturally and with food instead of with steroids and other medications that just suppress your immune system. We are doing a 30-60 day elimination protocol, which takes out any inflammatory foods. So that means we can pretty much only eat animal protein, vegetables, and fruit. It sounds very scary, but with proper planning it can be done. I honestly thought it was going to be so much harder than it is. We are 16 days in and I have felt like it has flown by. Every day we are trying out new recipes to get creative and it has been really fun. I’m enjoying food again instead of just cooking something quickly and then scarfing it down. My plan is to continue making recipes like this for the rest of the year, but I would like to add in some foods that don’t cause inflammatory responses for me.
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Focusing On Mind Based Fitness
I have talked about my anxiety, yoga, and meditation before, but this year I want to really start focusing on this. I don’t workout to lose weight. I workout to keep my mind healthy. This year I want to really get back into Yoga and other low impact workouts. Ash and I just did our first mat pilates class of the year this morning, and we loved it. Things like that is what I want to incorporate into my fitness routine this year. I like to do yoga on my own at home. I swear by the Yoga Studio app. It’s for all levels, and timeframes. If you only have time for a 15 minute practice they have you covered. They also have some great meditations. Meditation is what truly got me out of my bad period of anxiety. If you feel like you are stuck and can’t get out try meditating. I promise it will change your life.
Reading More Books
A couple of weeks ago Ashley and I were talking about books. Out of nowhere I said “You know I don’t think I read any books in 2017.” I couldn’t believe what had just come out of my mouth. Was that really true? Thinking back on it, unfortunately it was. I was so consumed with YouTube, Netflix and Social Media that I didn’t read one book the entire year. I’m honestly ashamed of myself. Go ahead and judge me, I deserve it. My kindle app is full of books that I purchased years ago and never read. My goal this year is to read all of those and then even more! I’ve always been the person to choose TV over a book, but I’m going to start making the mindful decision to pick up a book before bed instead of watching reruns of Grey’s Anatomy!
Taking More Personal Photos
The other day I was looking through the photos on my phone, and all of the pictures from the last 6 months was either for the blog, of Poppy, or screenshots of memes that I most likely sent to Allix. I haven’t taken any personal photos in the last 6 months!? How crazy is that? Nothing on Christmas, nothing on Thanksgiving. I don’t have any photos with my parents either? Better believe that when I see my mom next week we are going to take a lot of selfies! Hi Mom! 🙂 I’ve never been one to be behind the camera. In the least vain way possible I like being in front of it. I just don’t have that natural eye for setting up a great shot, but this isn’t even about that. I just want to be more intentional of taking personal photos with my loved ones!
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What are some things that you are excited about this year? 2018 can be a year of growth and happiness for all of us. It’s all about having the right mindset and attitude. You can accomplish anything, especially creating your own happiness!
Shelbs xx