don't get me wrong, i adore kate moss and to speak ill of her seems somewhat blasphemous however as edie evolves i do try to post things that promote inspiration and motivation for style, fashion and more so recently health and wellbeing. what i have noticed is there seems to be a lot of blogs out there that promote the aesthetics of unwellness. well promote is probably a harsh term but there just seems to be a lot of posts glorifying smoking and emaciated models and as i write this i think fuck have i really turned into one of these people. am i really starting to question my loyalty to an industry i have obsessed over my entire existence??? perhaps it's with an evoloving ethos and in becoming an aunty to a little lady that has really made me sit up and take notice but images like these...
are not a picture of health or beauty or state of cool. my hope for my wee niece is that the trend of fitspiration and wellness grows to epidemic proportions. i want something better for her. when she sees images of smoking, life in excess and models who could get a sidejob as a coat rack, i hope she doesn't see inspiration but motivation to treat herself with respect and love. i want people like beyonce and miranda kerr to be her aspiration. she may be thin, she may be curvy and both are beautiful when your living your life well. now i don't want to be a hypocrite, i smoked as a teenager, i partied, i ate all the wrong foods, tried every quick fix diet and detox available and never kept up with consistent exercise because while i hated how i looked i lived in a cycle of unwellness and i guess unhappiness. we get bombared with a quick fix, results now message and when you work hard at it and don't see instant results you get discouraged. essentially i never put my resources in right the places. i tried to alter my exterior without reshaping my interior.
we need to take responsibility. person responsibility for what we put out into the world and that's why you'll never see images like the above on edie. you also won't see me celebrating 'plus size' for the sake of balancing the scale. health and beauty comes in all shapes and sizes, it's not a one vs the other or an either or situation. it's an aim for an aspiration that makes you feel better, stronger, happier. it's a lifestyle choice that means making your wellness a priority everyday.
here's how i started:
1. i woke up. i didn't want to make excuses anymore, i didn't want to be victim of a life so ordinary. i wanted change.
2. i honestly asked myself what makes me happy?
3. i altered my career path to accommodate this, which meant going back to university. it also meant letting go of my orginal dream that realistically was holding me back rather than propelling me forward.
4. i cut out as much of what makes me miserable as possible.
5. i got a dog (when you start caring about another's wellbeing its amazing how it changes your perspective).
6. i started seeking and surrounding myself with positive and motivating influences, from people to posts.
8. i went to an acupuncturist and nautropath to sort out my health problems that i used as excuses for my unwellness. within 3 months i feel better than i ever have. i actually never knew it was possible to feel this good.
9. i aim for consistent exercise which means walking my dog keith as often as possible. using my money to pay for personal crossfit training rather than disposable fashion and gradually stepping it up to incorporate as much movement as possible in my day. i try to do exercise that i love like crossfit, walking and yoga and i'm starting to train for a 5km run. i also aiming to up my incidental excerise by swapping the bus for a bike this summer (although the fashionista in me, wrinkles her brow at the thought of helmets hair). i also try to do things on the weekend that gets my arse moving, meeting my sister for a walk and as the weather heats up perhaps throw some swimming into the mix. my point is even if you start small, just keep on building up your program.
10. i cut different things out of my diet to see how i'd feel. i seemed to really hit my stride when i limited gluten and sugar and eat as organically as possible (which is also expensive but again it comes down to priorities). i also cook for myself rather than buying lunch or processed foods. now a trick to sustaining this is not 'banning' anything, you'll notice i say limit rather than cut out because as soon as i tell my brain 'i'm not eating that cupacke', i want to eat a dozen of the damn things. i try to stick with an 80/20 rule. 80% as healthy as i can and 20% for things i enjoy like drinking red wine, eating chocolate goji berries while studying or eating out at restaurants. my biggest tip, be prepared. i find i tend to fall down when i haven't made the time to have my meals organised. i've also started my own veggie garden so soon i won't be spending a fortune for the fresh stuff.
11. i work on my state of mind. happiness is a choice that i now take responsibility for. you are what you think and i've found this is the key to progress and also one of the hardest obstacles to overcome. 28 years of bad brain habits are hard to break but even science backs up neural plasticity or the ability to rewire your brain. herein lies the power of positive thinking.
i hope i haven't come across as a cult leader for wellness. i just know how much better i feel now that i'm taking responsibility for my wellbeing and my hope is that a new wave of thinking is catching on. it's called responsibility.
live well peeps becuase you're worth it xx
want more? check these out: charge crossfit, charlotte dodson yoga, paleo recipes, organic wholefoods, eat fit food, grazia fit club (see the mag for details), move nourish believe, kora organics blog, coming soon - wellness site your zen life by teresa palmer and phobe tonkin, the lost dogs home, urban remedy juice cleanse , reid cycles, beyonce let's move initiative and get onto book depository and start building your living well library!!
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