Good morning everyone! Thank you so much for all of your sweet comments from last night’s post. Self-doubt is a scary thing, and I don’t know why I beat myself up once in a while over these things. I do firmly believe that I am where I am for a reason, and I just need to make sure that I remember that! Once again, I’m so thankful for all of you, your sweet comments, and the blogs that expose your beautiful lives as well!
Last night Nate did everything he could to cheer me up, and that alone reminded me that I am a very lucky girl to have such a sweet husband! He even let me pick Noodles & Company for dinner (he’s not the biggest fan). It was either that or Subway, but eating lettuce sandwich just didn’t sound good to me. I got the Bangkok Curry (regular size) which is only 490 calories, 13 grams of fat, 7 grams of fiber, and 9 grams of protein:
And then, in honor of Stephanie’s birthday, Emma brought this incredibly fabulous chocolate cake:
Nate was about to eat it whole:
But seriously would you just look at that?!
Heaven will be made of this:
That cake was seriously amazing. It had the most subtle hints of coffee, and it was just so moist! Happy birthday (tomorrow) Steph, and thanks for the cake Emma! After we left, I realized that I had a massive headache, so I ended up going to sleep at 9:30. Yes, you read that right! But honestly, it was just what I needed…driving home the streetlights were KILLING my head, and closing my eyes was the only way to make it go away. I woke up bright and early and did the WMM2 and yoga parts of the HPJ workout, then headed to the kitchen to make a smoothie:
This bad boy had:
- 1 cup nonfat milk
- 1/4 cup nonfat plain yogurt
- 1/4 cup oats (I mixed the milk/yogurt/oats together and let them sit for 20 minutes while I got ready)
- 1/2 cup frozen raspberries
- 1 frozen banana
- 5 ice cubes
I wanted to soak the oats because I figured it would blend into the smoothie better than way. This ended up being a great combo! I didn’t really taste anything different with the oats in there, but I have been full a LOT longer than I normally am with a smoothie. Hello favorite summer breakfast!
As a result of yesterday, I’d like to take this time to talk about how you’ve MADE things happen in your life. What have you done to consciously change the course you were on? Did it end up better or worse? What would you do/what ARE you doing now to change the things that are making you unhappy? I know when I was unhappy working at Starbucks I jumped right into being a personal trainer without any research, and ended up even more unhappy than I was before! BUT we also took a step to move to Colorado from Dallas, and that is something that has ended up bringing us a lot of joy as well! As for this recent unhappiness, I’m going to start putting myself out there for freelance projects and start writing articles and posts even if there’s no where to publish them (yet)! If I love writing, I should be doing it regardless 🙂
CAKE!!!! How was the icing?
mmm chocolate cake…not as good as yellow, but it’s still cake! I’m cake-less. Good job writing! You can do it! Moving here was huge for me, I wanted to work here and I found a great job and have excelled. It’s good to focus on the good and not just where I could be moving and going faster!
i seriously want to dive into that cake. nom. i have made slight changes in my career but nothing major–just have always followed my gut to try to stay on the path of “do what you love”. what drew you to PT that led you to not like it? i’m rather new to your blog, so i apologize if i’m asking questions you’ve written about…if you could do anything, what would it be? and why?
that cake looks SO good. I used to be obsessed with the mac n cheese at Noodles n Company..thankfully I’ve never seen one in NYC. I used to take my bag to the gym before classes,lock it, go to class and then HAVE to go to the gym to get my bag/work out. No choice but go! It really helped me stay dedicated to the gym, I don’t even have to lock my bag anymore..it’s habit!
Honestly.. that cake looks so decadent! I’d love to have a piece of it ha!
Something I did to change the path I was on, was to change my career. I was a receptionist/office manager previously. It was a job I hated! So I applied to university. Now I’m in a program I love and will be a professional writer when I’m done.
Life’s to short not to take risks, right?
I just came across your blog. I feel like many bloggers (at least ones I have read with myself included) are wanting to change careers or thinking about it. I also am wanting to change my path after teaching for 4 years and wanting to be a teacher my whole life. It’s hard to take a leap and I haven’t done it yet so I don’t know I have any advice. You aren’t alone though!
That cake looks amazing!
I don’t know if I’ve ever consciously changed the course of my life – but I know my plans never work out. I seem to just ‘fall into’ the next stage of my life at the right time, and I’m learning to trust myself to make the right decision 🙂
I actually have a tattoo that says “The choices we choose” which is meant to imply it is up to us make the choice on how we look at things and what we do to make things better for ourselves and others every single day. It has helped me through a lot of things. When I had a horrible job, I looked down at my wrist with the tattoo and realized I needed to do what was possible to change my circumstances rather than just dealing (since we do just have ONE life, why waste it on awful jobs). From that moment on I did what I could to turn it around. Eventually I did. And just working towards making things better by doing specific things to change it made me feel better.
Hi Heather,
I am new to your blog. I love the thoughtfulness in your posts! I especially love this question!
I took a huge risk: dropped out of High School and moved to another continent in order to be with my best friend (now husband). It was the best decision of my life.
Also, along the way I changed my mindset and realized what happiness truly is and where it comes from. I do at least one small thing every day to actively appreciate what I have and to be happier (often just by having certain thoughts).
Thanks for this post!
PS: Your smoothie looks so similar to the one I recently posted on my blog! But it is completely different 🙂
That chocolate cake looks SO very good. YOM.
I’ll have more to say about this soon but what I will say is just DO IT and do it to the best of your abilities!!! Have a plan and execute.
I had put numerous years into a career in collegiate athletics and after finally getting to a position of respect and having some power, I LEFT!!!
This was beyond difficult for me, but I started doing what I do now (teaching online) and left the stressful job that was very thank-less. It was mainly so that I could go live with my fiance for the first time after 6 years of long distance. I am so much happier and so glad I took the chance!
I gave up something that i had put so much hard work and effort into and came out happier and much less-stressed!!!
~Christie https://rollerkoesterrun.wordpress.com
I want to try oats in my smoothie like that! Yum!
Going to grad school to get my MFA in creative writing seemed like a silly move, but having three years to focus just on my writing was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Plus, I met my husband while I was there, so you can’t argue with that! 🙂
Follow your heart for sure and sometimes jump in full force…..Always keep people around who reinforce and support your decisionS
Great question!
The biggest change I made was to quit my corporate job and go get certified to be a Nutrition Manager…BEST DECISION I EVER MADE. Money-wise it was tough at first but I made it and I am a happier person for it! 🙂
Oh..that cake…yum!
How did you get certified to be a nutrition manager? I think that’s something we’d all love to know!
one thing you can try is make a list of 5 things that inspire you and and 5 goals that correspond to those values. then make two calendars, one displaying how you allocate your current schedule and another displaying how you would re-order things to meet your 5 goals to integrate those 5 things that inspire you in to your life–and compare the two. even if you have to say no to some things in your current calendar, it is okay.
for me, i’ve always wanted to help young kids learn how to be active and eat healthy, so i’ve made time in my schedule to volunteer with a non-profit that specializes in exercise programs in elementary schools. while it means i can’t go to my usual “group power” exercise class during that time, i’m still doing something active and making a difference in kids lives.
i’ve also been struggling with not getting enough satisfaction out of my professional career, so rather than throwing in the towel (at least for now), i decided to get my certification to teach yoga. it has given me an incredible amount of balance from my professional career and has introduced me to many other wonderful yogi’s like myself! BONUS! it has been a huge time commitment and i’ve had to sacrifice time with my boyfriend and time to catch up on life every couple of weekends, but it has totally been worth it!
just MAKE it happen girl!
I agree about the writing – you should do what you love girl.
The cake… OMG. YUM!!!! And the oats in the smoothie is a good idea! I’ll have to try that.
One thing I did that changed the course I was on was switching from early-childhood education to business, 1 semester from graduating. yeah. Am i glad? Yes and no. I still don’t know what I want to do with my life career wise and I have no idea where to go from here.
Um, that cake is UNREAL. I need to take more steps to being unhappy. You are right on that!