DIY Essentials…The Series Part 1

 

Are you like me and look at something and think, “I could make that for cheaper!”?

How many of you have seen do it yourself things and thought “I can totally make that”?

Only to try and fail miserably (thanks Pinterest for crushing me yet again).  Come on, I can’t be the only person?!

DIY is extremely popular these days.  You can make anything from a flower arrangement to a couch (I even lack creativity in my DIY examples).  You can seriously “make” anything these days.  The only problem (well for me) is that, most of the time I’m left with a pile of items glued, stapled or screwed together that serve no purpose because they barely resemble what it was I was trying to make.  Who’s with me?

I am the type of DIYer that goes out, buy all the supplies to create a masterpiece, opens the “pinned” post, puts my heart and soul into it and then BOOM all my hopes and dreams are crushed when the thing looks nothing resembling what it should and serves no function at all.

I am here to tell you that, there is hope!  Hope for us wannabe DIYers!  I have found foolproof DIY recipes and the best part, they are meant to eliminate chemicals from your life!  These DIY projects are for those things used on a daily basis that put chemicals into and onto the body.  They are basically foolproof and can enhance your health and wellness.  Now this is my kind of DIY!

So I thought I would share with my fellow DIY fail-ers and those that totally rock DIY projects, some of the easiest and best ways you can do it yourself, save money AND enhance your health and wellness.

I hope you will follow me as I regularly share different recipes.

So without further ado…. I present to you my first DIY recipe.

Household (multi purpose) Cleaner

My go to product!  I always have to have a multi purpose cleaner in the house.  I hate having to switch between cleaners for every surface or room I am cleaning.  So I made this and I literally use this on everything.

Here is what you will need:

16oz. Spray bottle- I opted for an amber glass bottle (no not because of the name) so that I didn’t have chemicals from a plastic bottle contaminating my cleaner.  I used 16oz so I would avoid having to make this cleaner too often (I’m all about saving myself time).

Distilled Water- This is so cheap! Distilled water is great because it has many of the impurities removed so it won’t interact with the essential oils or add extra minerals to your products.

Vinegar- No explanation needed (I hope).

Essential Oil- I chose to use Young Living’s Purification as it is a made blend and is great to help purify and eliminate odours.  You can use different oils such as lemon, orange, clove, tea tree.  I will write all about that soon.   In the mean time, please remember to not just buy any brand of essential oils as many of them contain chemicals and additives (see my previous blogs) and that will totally defeat the purpose of a chemical free household cleaner.

 How to make:

Are you ready for this?  Be prepared to be amazed with these intricate instructions.

Step One– Take your spray bottle and open it

Step Two– Add ¼ cup vinegar (if your spray bottle is smaller than 16oz. use less vinegar)

Step Three– Add 5-10 drops essential oil

Step Four– Fill rest of bottle with distilled water

Step Five– Shake

Step Six– USE!

Could this be any easier?  Honestly, it’s easier than driving to a store and buying a cleaner.  Especially if you are like me and order your supplies online.

Give it a try!  Let me know how it works for you.  Cause, I love this DIY cleaner!

 

 

Essential Support

It can be difficult to start something new or make changes in your life.  Whether it is starting a workout program, a change in dietary habits or venturing out to try something new, all can be challenging to start.  As if starting wasn’t daunting enough, add to it trying to maintain these changes for a prolonged period of time.

If you are like me, many things get thought about, started and then slowly (or fast in some cases) stop.  How many of us have started a workout program, went strong for a while and then stopped.  Oh and don’t get me started on dietary programs! I have started and stopped those more times then I can count.

The greatest thing to keep me going is, accountability and support. From my personal experience, if I don’t have accountability and support from those closest to me, many of my life changes go by the way side.  The greatest accomplishments in my life are achieved when I have accountability and support.

Accountability is one piece of the puzzle.  But bigger than that (for me) is support.  If the people closest to me are encouraging me, interested in what I am doing and cheering me on, that drives me to stay strong and move forward.  It can be extremely difficult to try something new and maintain it, as well as, have to justify yourself or move forward alone (that’s a recipe for failure).

Recently, I’ve dove into a life of essential oils (shocker, I know). Bringing essential oils into my life is something new, has involved some changes, lots of education and involves those around me (we breath the same air).  This new venture, I hope, is the beginning of something much bigger and in order to do that, I need to support of those closest to me.

So let me say that the support and encouragement I have received from my husband as I try to enhance our health and wellness through essential oils has been a driving force.   Having him along side of me, reading the books, educating himself, adding to my business ideas and wanting to use essential oils to enhance his health and wellness, has been amazing and so incredibly encouraging!

I’m no expert or professional but I am here to tell you my personal experience and that is, when you want to try something new, venture to a new challenge or make a life change, having support will make it easier.  Having a team behind you seems to make things easier, more attainable and much more enjoyable.

I highly recommend everyone to try something new, something that can be life changing and health enhancing.  Have a conversation with those closest to you, build a team, rally the troops and form a plan. You won’t regret trying something but you might regret not trying.

And… if it’s essential oils you are interested in, want to join my team or just want to learn how they can enhance your life; I’m here to be your essential support (I’m a really good supporter! Think awesome, happy cheerleader).

Additional Note:  I usually start and write my blogs over a period of a few days to weeks. I jot down things here and there and have several ideas going at once.  Then one becomes complete and I post it.  This one in particular, I started at the beginning of the week.  Little did I know, it would mean more now than when I started.  I hope in reading this it can help anyone out there needing to work on themselves or need some change in their life.  That you can find the support system you need to move you to a wonderful, heathy life.

Here is a little carry case that I filled with amazing essential oils for my husband to take while he is away (and yes, he will use them). 

 

 

DIY Iced Coffee

I recently shared this video on instagram and why no one can figure out the recipes is beyond me hahahaha!

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So since time lapse is so fast I thought I would share a quick post with the recipe.

Homemade Iced Coffee

1 cup Cold Brewed Coffee of choice (I used Hatch) = 17.5 calories

1/2 cup Almond Milk = 14 calories

1/2 tsp Agave Syrup = 8 calories, 2g sugar

Ice

Total= 39.5 calories (if I did the math correct hahaha)

This is 354ml as opposed to Tim’s 380ml which has 120 calories but is still a healthier option overall as the fast food place ones usually have saturated fats and such in them.

Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

Not Essentially The Same

If you were like me, you probably thought that every bottle of essential oil was the same. I believed I could go into any store and buy an essential oil and reap the benefits.  How could an essential oil be bad for me?  How different can each company be?  Isn’t lavender, lavender?

Venturing into a healthy lifestyle can often times be daunting, frustrating, even upsetting to have to tell the good from the bad.  Many times people just give up completely.  So I am here to help!

First, let me start by telling you this… not all essential oils are the same!  In fact you might be buying and using ones that hold no benefits (maybe worse) and are really just a waste of money, but smell nice (that’s at least something).  There are many factors to consider when purchasing and using essential oils. Considerations such as how the oils are grown, cultivated, distilled and packaged.

But why is this important?  Because if you want the benefits an essential oil has to offer you don’t want it diluted in solvents or distilled to the point there is no volatile components left.  For instance, an essential oil bottle can be labeled as 100% Pure and only contain 5% essential oil! And if that 5% was distilled incorrectly (for the type of plant), there could be very little beneficial constituents left in that mere 5%.  So why bother huh?

But I don’t want to sit here and type out all the things you should want to look for in an essential oil, because lets face it, you wouldn’t sit at your screen and read it all.  So I am going to keep this short, peak your interest, encourage you to learn more and beseech (I have never used that word in my life, why not start now) you to contact me for more information.

Let me share with you personally, my continued knowledge to start you in the right direction.  I want to help you choose a brand of essential oils that will bring you all the great benefits they have to offer and to guide you through all their countless uses.  I will take the confusion away and get you started.

I am beginning this conversation and I hope you will continue it with me.

 

 

New Title!

Well hello again!  It’s been a while (I seem to say that every time I post).  There has been some changes.  Let me bring you up to speed…

Sometime ago, I set out on a journey to remodel my life.  To one that surrounded me with positivity, strength and happiness and the void of too much negativity.  While this process will be never ending, ultimately I feel I’ve reached a point where I am able to maintain a life with a positive mind, happy heart and deal with the bumps in the road as they come.  Needless to say, I haven’t had much to write and share on this topic.

So instead of permanently deleting this blog, I’ve decided to change the title and start to share some of the amazing things I am learning to bring health and wellness into my life. Why hide these things from the world‽ (note: I am not discovering new things just things I, personally may not have know about before and you may not either so why not share)

Welcome to, Essentially Healthy and Fit a reboot of Remodeling My Life.  Here I will be sharing with you some of my passions and how they are bringing health and wellness into my life and maybe they can to yours too!

Life is about balance.  I try to eat healthy and clean but sometimes I eat a cone filled with cookie dough.  I try to use a reusable shopping bag but sometimes I forget and have to use the plastic ones.  I am here to share the things I do to bring a healthy option into my life to balance out the inevitable bad we are faced with daily.  Little changes here and there to a healthier option will only enhance your life in ways you never knew.

I am no expert and I am far from perfect but I am trying and having a ton of fun along the way!

I am essentially healthy and fit.

Work In Progress

When I started my journey to remodel my mindset, attitude and how I handled challenges and hurdles in my life, I honestly thought I would put in some work and tada I would be living this great, positive life and be spreading positivity to all those around me.  Just call me the Santa Claus of positivity.

Boy was I wrong!  This process in remodeling my life has proven to be a perpetual work in progress, kind of like trying to renovate your house by yourself with the help of Youtube (at this rate I’d be living in a tent).

Let me tell you, this has been my biggest challenge yet.  One that continuously throws me off my track and onto a path I’m not sure I want to be on but not sure how, when or why to get off.  I truly believed I could read some books, do some personal development work, look at things from a positive view and my life would have been remodeled, renovation complete!  But the phrase, old habits die-hard has proven to be the truth, times 100!  My negative outlooks on life, my “of course this happens to me” attitude and my old ways have come back with vengeance!

I’m not sure if it’s the negativity that I find myself surrounded by, be it with friends, family or globally.  If it’s being stuck in a job that I don’t enjoy (really really really don’t enjoy) or if it’s the never ending to do list that I am faced with everyday that is all consuming overwhelming that has gotten me here.  Whatever it is, I am finding that it is much easier to stick with my old attitude to make it through the day rather than trying to tackle these things with a positive attitude, learn and progress in my life and journey to remodeling my life.

So where does this leave me?  It leaves me at a fork in the road.  I know I have two options but I honestly don’t know which one to choose.  The easy path that contains an unhappy, go through the motions life or the harder path containing constant work towards happiness, health and better things.  Which path would you choose?  It seems like common sense doesn’t it.  But if you just look around you, everyday you will see that negativity is all around you.  So many of us have chosen the easy path because in a hectic life the easy option is just that, the easy option.

So while I stand at this fork in the road deciding which path to venture down, I will start with step one, write a blog to get my thoughts out.  Hopefully this leads to a step two.

Who’s with me?  I know there are people out there at the same fork in the road.  Which path will you choose?  How will you proceed?

Stay tuned as this is a work in progress.

Grass Isn’t Always Greener On The Other Side

Hello, it’s me.  I was wondering if after all…. this time you would like to read my blog. Ok, who get’s that?  Anyways, it’s been a while since I last wrote a blog post.  Life has been busy!  Life has been great!  Life has been challenging!  I hope to be able to write more in the coming weeks, as my journey in remodeling my life is forever ongoing.  So for now, here is a new post for you to enjoy.

I saw sometime online today.  Well, I see a lot online, but this one thing got me thinking.  It was of a man standing in a yard.  The grass he was standing on was grey and bleak.  On the other side of the fence, was a yard that was green and bright!  The kind that so many people wish for.  So, the man climbs the fence to get to this greener grass, only to have that green grass turn grey and the grass he was standing on turned green.  The man then climbs back to where he originally came from and, guess what?!  The grass, yet again, turns dull.

These days, people will often say to me, “you are so positive”, “I wish I had your strength” or “you inspire me” and I often wish I could convey to people that they too can have the ‘greener grass’.  They can take their lives by the reins, become positive, strong and inspire themselves and others to be happy and healthy.

It took me a while to get to this place and it wasn’t easy.  I didn’t wake up one day and all was right in my life (it still isn’t ALL right).  Just as you can’t just ‘climb a fence’ and expect things to be different, especially if you continue doing things the same way.  I wake up everyday and work hard to always find a positive attitude and to move past the bad times.  For each of us, getting to a place where you are happy, feel positive and have strength to always push forward, is going to take time.  You’ll want to try different techniques and have a lot of patience to allow the changes to happen in your life.

I’m not saying that I don’t have bad days.  I still get many (many!) days that frustrate me, upset me and bring me down.  Let’s get that straight, because I’m sure many people who meet me think everything is all butterflies and rainbows in my life.  FAR from that!  I still have a lot of things happening in my life that require daily courage and strength to not break down and I still have bad days at work, at the gym and in my personal life.  But I choose to take these days as lessons.  Sure sometimes I go home and “give up”!  I just go to bed to put the day behind me.  But all these things are still pieces of my life that make it whole.  These are part of my process and make me stronger, happier and positive.

For me, my journey started at a time in my life when there was a lot of negativity and negative experiences happening.  It was dragging me down a path that I didn’t care to be on for long.  I decided to take some time and do something for myself, which led me to crossfit.  Little did I know that crossfit would be the thing that gave me the push, strength and courage to start a change.  Not only did crossfit make me feel better and healthier, but it made me happy.  That is when I knew I wanted more happiness in my life!

Knowing I didn’t want to always be under a cloud of negativity, I decided to work to make MY grass greener (I am loving this metaphor).  Along with continuing to work out, I read books and blogs on how to bring more positive change into my life, started journaling and writing blogs, talking (and listening) to people, signed up to receive newsletters and joined groups with life coaches and happiness gurus.  I slowly changed my path into one with more positivity, happiness and growth.  I was able to get off the path of sadness, anger and negativity.  In doing so, I have also learned how to better handle the roadblocks that still arise, every now and then.

Along my journey, I have learned more about myself and things that I enjoy and want in my life.  I want to help people, to realize they too can have this.  The grass isn’t greener on the other side.  I want people to know that if they care and maintain theirs, they can have the greenest lawn on the block!  Wishing your grass was greener or climbing the fence to try to get to better things isn’t going to work because your behaviors, habits and negativity will just follow you over.  We need to make a change our ‘our side of the fence’.

Maybe, one day I can become a life coach and help people as much as I have been helped along in my journey.  Until then, I will lead by example (through my actions and continued work on myself), since there are still of a lot of changes I can make and want to make.  Who knows, maybe along the way I will inspire a few people to find their strength to make a change to a more positive and happy life.

WON’T GIVE UP!

When I started this journey, a large part of it included a new health and fitness lifestyle.  Taking care of myself was going to be my number one priority!  I committed myself to an intense regular workout schedule, I started eating much better, and I have altered my life in ways that have enabled me to surround myself with the things I love and to be happy.  This change has led to such amazing things!  I have never felt better, stronger, I have met and made friends with some of the most amazing people, and I have done and am doing things I never thought I would do (just to name a few).  But recently there has been a drastic shift in the mental aspect that being healthy and fit has brought.

Up until now, this lifestyle has catapulted my mental strength.  I thought I was better able to handle things in life.  I have been able to work on moving away from the old things that have brought me down, move towards much better things and I try to see the lesson and growth in everything that happens (or so I thought).  However, lately my fitness regime has been taking one heck of a toll on me mentally and bringing up some past fears.  So much so that, I’m sad to say, I have thought about giving up.  WHAT‽

This lifestyle has become part of who I am and where I want to go.  I have goals of being in the health and fitness field so that I can help others achieve their goals, feel better, and be stronger (mentally and physically), and feeling like I want to give up has been a big blow to me mentally.

Recently, I decided to focus on building my strength so I started a pretty intense strength program.  The first two sessions on this program were great.  I did more squats, bench, and deadlifts than I could ever want to, and I left feeling great, like I did what I set out to do–increase my strength and get better.  Sure, I wasn’t able to walk well for a few days, but even after just a few sessions I was already feeling the benefits.

Then day 3 of the program was next, the dreaded Olympic lifting!  I arrived at the gym motivated to work on these lifts ( I am the worst at these!).  I was positive that if I worked my hardest I would be a step ahead from where I was.  I was eager!  So to say that this session kicked me down, chewed me up, and spit me out is an understatement.  This session was far from a positive experience.

Struggling so much with these lifts, that for the life of me I cannot seem to comprehend and execute, brought my spirits down.  As I sat in the corner dreading my next set which I knew would be just as horrible as the last, my positive attitude quickly changed.  I sat between sets, watching others working hard and having a good time, fellow gym members offered some words of advice (which in my mindset only made things worse).  So I did what I could do and finished the session and went home feeling defeated and upset.

I knew that even though I had one bad session that I wasn’t ready to stop.  So it was time to get back to the gym.  Just like the first week, the first two strength training sessions of this week went well.  Then, again, it was time for day three of that week.  I repeated to myself “You can do this! You got this!” and was off to the gym.  Arriving to the gym with the same motivation I have every other time, I warmed up, grabbed my bar and… got kicked down, chewed up, and spit out again.  Worse than the first time!  This time, however, I could not handle the mental blow this workout continued to give me, so I graciously put my bar away, grabbed my things, and left with the thought that this was it….I give up.

It’s crazy, because it isn’t like I haven’t failed at a lift or a WOD before.  But this time it feels very different from failing at a lift that I just added more weight to.  This time it feels like I have completely failed at what I am trying to do with my life, that I am back to where I once was, putting my heart and soul into something and trying so hard to make it work only to have it ripped away and leave me broken again.

 

This feeling saddens me.  Have I not been able to actually remodel my life?  Is it ok to feel like this?  Why am I taking this so hard?  Why do I continue to let these feelings take control of my life?  All of these questions I am slowly finding the answers to.  I seem to be running away from this in hopes that I won’t get hurt instead of facing it head on and seeing where it goes and what happens (because it could be wonderful!).  I am forcing myself to stay away from the gym because I’m afraid of what might happen and that my new path and dreams will be crushed, and this is crazy!

Instead of being afraid of failing again I now start a new phase of my journey…how to push through and keep
going.  I am learning that maybe this isn’t all about just a bad workout or two (or months of not being able to do these lifts), it’s a fear of my past.  I need to live without this fear and see where I end up and continue to embrace the journey.  Who’s with me‽   

Remodelling my life is an ongoing process.  I am a work in progress, and I am ok with that.

P.S. I miss the gym.

 

 

Out Of My Comfort Zone

About 5 months ago, I signed up for a crossfit competition as part of a team of 4 (2 girls and 2 guys).  And this started a whole journey unto itself.  The goals I set with my trainer were all focused around being able to perform to the best of my ability, at this competition.  We signed up for the amateur division based on the “criteria” of what you needed to be able to do, such as pull ups and weight amounts for things like cleans and deadlifts.  But, I had A LOT of work to do.

I knew I was going to be the weakest link of my team.  I had two badass guys (whose biceps looked like they had grown every time I saw them) and an amazingly strong girl who was a powerlifter (dare I say turned crossfitter now). And then there was me, all of 100lbs, who had been doing crossfit for approximately 6 months.  But off I went, day in and day out, training as best I could, to be able to keep up with my team.

Preparing for this competition, I knew that physically, it was going to be hard. Heck, I die doing one WOD at the gym and these would likely be more intense and, not only one WOD but, several in one day.  So to prepare, all I could do was train hard, every time I was in the gym.  But I wasn’t sure how to mentally prepare for what I was about to do.

Over the past year, I have been through some life changing situations that have made me second guess who I am.  I have been treated, by some people, like I am lesser or not as good as them.  So in my journey to remodeling my life, I have been working on myself and making sure that I don’t feel lesser and that I feel confident with who I am.  All this work has been for me and within me.  I haven’t yet put myself into a situation where, if I failed, I would be held accountable to others such as on a team.

My crossfit training has made me stronger mentally and physically but it has been all for me.  If I fail at a lift, I don’t worry because I can try again another time.  But in a competition you only get one chance. And being part of a team, you only have one opportunity to do your best and “pull your weight”.  So to say I was nervous, is an understatement.

I did all I could do to mentally prepare.  I pushed myself into situations that were out of my comfort zone knowing that what doesn’t kill me, will only make me stronger.  And I went in with an open mind, a positive attitude, a whole bunch of nerves and a calming sense of belonging to an incredible team, a great gym and an unbelievable support system from my family and friends.

So off I went that day, to battle 4 WOD’s, on a sandy beach (very different footing than the gym floor), on what was probably the hottest day of the summer (so far) and with thousands of people walking around and WATCHING.  I did my absolute best and my teammates were incredible. We worked so well together and pushed each other to strive to be our best that day.

The day didn’t go as perfectly as I had pictured it going in my mind.  I fell down in the sand, twice, in one WOD.  I also failed at three attempts at a clean and jerk which meant my partner couldn’t take over until I made the lift.  At which point,  I may have had a bit of a meltdown.  BUT with the support of my family and friends I took a moment and finally made the lift!  Only to then make two more at that same weight!  The feeling of being there, doing something that I love, surrounded by an energy that could pump anyone up was incredible. I had my Mom, friends and teammates cheering me on and I made new friendships in the process.

This competition allowed me to be myself, be proud of myself, be proud of my team and to feel good about where I am in life and where I am going.  It has showed me that being out of my comfort zone really isn’t that scary or bad at all.  What more could I ask for?

It never gets easier; you just get stronger, mentally and physically.  And by putting myself into this situation I realized that I don’t need to be perfect or the best, I just need to try. I am so glad I decided to do this and was able to experience this.

I hope along this journey I have been able to help you get out of your comfort zone, take care of yourself, to do something that you have always wanted to, try something new or to branch out with something you are already doing.  If I can do it, you can!

Looks like its time to start training for the next competition (in September).

 

 

Stay calm and focused. You got this! 

 

Running to my goal

Well today I achieved a goal I have been chasing for a very long time. After many failed attempts at running, I finally participated in my first 5k run!  Seven weeks ago today I set a goal to start running and to be able to run a 5k and today I accomplished that.

Running is something that I have tried before.  Year after year I have tried to learn to run and have failed.  I had come to terms with being someone who just couldn’t run.  But through accomplishments I have gained because of Crossfit, I have learned that I can push myself mentally and physically to achieve things I never thought I could. I know how amazing it feels to try and try and finally succeed.  So I thought it was time to try again!  To push through the failed attempts, to push my body and to run a 5k run. And today was the day I finally get to cross this off my list of things I’d like to do!

Today, I went out in the cold and rain and ran with my friend and 583 other people through a muddy and wet trail. I completed my goal of running 5k non-stop and finished with a time of 31:36 and a ranking of 139/584, 112/511 woman and 20/119 in my age division! Not too shabby for my first ever 5k run.

 

I feel proud to have achieved this goal and ready to take on another run!