Week One...

Here is a wrap-up of my First Week of Change!

Day One: Started the 21 Day Elimination Diet.  I have cut out Eggs, Gluten, Dairy, Corn, and Soy, and I have never eaten Peanuts or Artificial Sweeteners - and I am cutting out Sugar (eeks!)
Day Two: I learned a little bit about Marketing
Day Three: I cleaned out my inboxes of UNread messages.... all 1247 of them! (Junk thrown in with good stuff...) I also UNsubscribed to many things I signed up for...that was liberating.
Day Four: I treated myself to a massage and it was more relaxation than therapeutic, but felt nice all the same.
Day Five: I purchased guitar music. I am not a fan of guitar, but my husband is, so got some CDs that will hopefully inspire us to actually learn to play ours!
Day Six: I don't want to do anything that Scares me again!  I ended up in the ER - good news is, all of my tests came back fine - bad news...they have no idea what's wrong with me.  So...no more "Scare" things!
Day Seven: I bought Quinoa... it's a step... Maybe next week I will actually cook it.  Oh, and I bought Brussel Sprouts...I think those scare me more than the Quinoa!

What I learned about myself this past week:

 Well, going on an Elimination Diet is more difficult than it sounds, and I don't eat a few of the things to begin with.  I think on Sunday I finally stopped having cravings! I also have found it a bit difficult to find new things to do, learn and try.  I am looking forward to being more proactive next week.

challenge...

30 Days of Change!

 I was looking at High Existence.com website today and saw this 30 Days of Fear Challenge... and it got me to think.  What a neat thing to do - challenge yourself for 30 days to do things you normally wouldn't haven't or do those things you need to do!  However, I didn't like the title, so I changed it to "30 Days of Change!"  I am already embarking on a huge change at the moment, so thought that I would challenge myself to do just that!

You must do at least one of the following each day (not all three):

• Something that makes you scared (a little or a lot)...
• Something you’ve been putting off.
• Something you’ve never done before.
• Learn Something new! 
• Something to Pamper Yourself!

In my book blogging world, I sign up for challenges to help me read different types of books.  Why not do something that for my real-world life - the one I live outside of books.  Yes, I must come out from the stories I read and interface with the real world.  What a perfect thing to do!

So, I starting my 30 Days of Change TODAY! I have started a 21 Day elimination diet wherein I remove 7 high Food Intolerance foods, based on The Virgin Diet (no, you don't turn back into a virgin, nor do you throw virgins into an angry volcano...and hopefully won't have to worry about Unicorns talking your ear off!). Today, and for the next 20 days, I will not eat anything with: Eggs, Corn, Gluten, Soy, Peanuts, Artificial Sweeteners, and Dairy.  The hardest part will be the eggs and the corn.  I have been dancing with dairy and gluten for the past several months, but always make an excuse to eat just a little.  Not for the next 21 days!

I will do a weekly check-in on how I've done for the past week.  I plan on doing many things that I have put off doing, especially for my schooling and business (to be!) and I will try to do a few things I have never done before, as well as a thing or two that I fear (like getting rid of eggs and corn for 21 days!)

Join me if you'd like!  Challenge yourself to CHANGE! Let's do this together and see where it takes us!

like the Nike commmercial...

...Just Do It!

That is what I keep telling myself.  In order for change to happen, I Just NEED to Do It!  Whatever IT is... be it exercise, change the way I eat, move, positive attitude, and learning Self-Love...

Just Do It!

I need to do this for ME.  Not for anyone else but me.  If I don't do these changes for me, but for someone else, then the changes will not be a part of who I am and who I am Becoming.  If I do not do these changes for me, then they will mean nothing, and I truly am not vested in the project.

When you do things for  yourself, you KNOW what the reasons are behind the changes and you know the goals that you are working towards.  Yes, you want to lose weight, but WHY do you want to lose weight?  Only you can answer that question, and by answering that question, you have that deeper motivation to get there.

However, make sure that you follow the WHY down the Rabbit Hole.  It is more than a simple "I want to lose ten pounds."  Discover the Why of that goal... what brought you to consider this change in the first place, and KNOW why you are going on this journey.  If you don't know the Why, you won't have the Heart to follow through.

When you have set a goal, know the reasons you have set this goal and then you are able to....

Just Do It!