Life Lately and May 2016 Goals
April was…different. I wouldn’t call it difficult, per say, but definitely different in both my personal life and my blogging world. ICYMI, Dustin and I packed up everything and moved from my beloved dry and warm Arizona to Louisiana (the land of insane thunderstorms and flash floods.) The last two weeks of March were filled with packing, cleaning and living on an air mattress and also resulted in having to take a 2-week unplanned blog break. We finally got settled into our new home here and I jumped back into blogging at first with full force, so glad to be back at it. I launched my FREE Refresh Your Blog eCourse and had such a great response to it! I did a minor redesign of my site to incorporate more pin-friendly colors. And then…I struggled. Hard.
Life Lately
I had to adjust to a completely new lifestyle with Dustin’s new job and work hours and at first, that meant being feeling very lonely and trying to fill my time with Grey’s Anatomy and sending texts to all of my friends and hoping they would text back. I also had to learn my way around a new town and adjust to not having an office space anymore (we’re in a 1 bedroom apartment for the time being.) Dustin’s whole work team lives in the same apartment complex for the summer, so I’ve been pushing myself to get out of my introvert ways and get out and make friends with the other wives here. It’s been really enjoyable to have real life friends again (I had one really good one in AZ) because working from home can put a damper on your social interactions. So, I’ve been doing my best to not spend all day in front of my computer and out and about with my new friends here, even if that means spending all afternoon face swapping on snap chat and laughing so hard we’re almost in tears.
Another reason why it was easy for my to put my blog on the back burner was because I was really feeling the weight from playing the comparison game. It was causing me a ton of anxiety when I would write a post and worry that like it wasn’t long enough or informative enough and that my numbers would tank. It was exhausting and much easier to just ignore my blog altogether.
If it wasn’t for a few sponsored posts I already had lined up, I might not have blogged for the rest of April! I’m glad I didn’t completely drop the ball, though. I’ve worked really hard to get HTC to where it is today and I’m really happy with the growth I’ve seen and the amazing collaborations and brands I’ve been able to work with. And with the new month of May and my blog recently refreshed, I’m feeling ready to move forward.
All that being said, I didn’t reach any of my March goals besides launching my eCourse, and I’m actually totally at peace with that. I needed to do some soul searching and figure out the ebb and flow of my life here. I finally feel like things are settling and I’m ready to move forward.
May Goals - Personal
I’m declaring this the month of health because April has been terrible in that department. Before Dustin and I moved, I had lost about 8 pounds and was feeling really great and this last month has ruined it all. I’ve gained all my weight back, I’ve made TERRIBLE eating choices (like eating a whole packaged of raw cookie dough in the span of 4 days) and just being lazy.
First, I want to say that I’m not a crazy lady who obsessed over her weight. But I am almost 5 years out from my knee replacement and my weight has a LOT to do with how long it will last me before I need another one. I’ve ignored that for a long time, but my knee has been pretty tender and painful since we’ve been here (#humidityproblems.) I know, deep down in my heart, that losing weight and trying to strengthen my knee will help me be able to manage the pain better, but man is it hard to want to move it when it hurts.
However, since I’m on a constant journey to accepting my body for what it is (in it’s patched up glory) I feel like I owe it to myself and my knee to try to take care of it a little bit better. It did beat cancer, after all, so prolonging my next surgery as long as possible would probably be a nice favor for it, right?
That all being said, here are my health goals for the month:
Soda Fast - (After I finish the last two cans of root beer in my fridge) I’m going to cut out all the soda and sugary drinks for the month of May. I’ve done a soda fast before and although it’s hard for me (I love my root beer) replacing my daily soda intake with flavored water makes a huge difference.
Replacing Crap with Good Eats - No more cookie dough and Blue Bell Ice Cream. I was recently introduced to these chocolate avocado cookies and not only are they tasty and help curb my sugar tooth, but they are TEN times better then the cookie dough I was pounding down last month. I’m also striving to eat more salads for lunch and just reduce snacking in general.
Other Goals:
Read Me Before You: Everyone’s been talking about how good it is and I want to see the movie because I love both of the main actors, so I want to get my hands on this book and read it this month!
Get Ready Earlier in the Day: Right now, Dustin and I lounge around all morning together because that’s the only time we have to see each other. Then he gets ready and leaves for work by 12:30, so I’m not dressed and ready for the day until 2:00. It puts me into a funk and I already know that I do much better productivity-wise when I’m dressed and ready early in the day, so I just need to not be so lazy!
Blog Goals
Back to my Roots: I’ve already shared what I’m planning on doing with my space over the next couple months here, but the short of it is this: I’m going to worry more about writing what makes me happy and worry less about how many people read and share it. This means writing some more personal posts and getting back into the beauty portion of my blog because #ilovemakeup
Videos: I recently was able to purchase a ton of amazing lighting equipment for photography and for filming videos (see a test photo below!) I keep thinking that maybe I’ll start doing youtube, but in all honesty, I’m terrified about it. Writing on my blog is one thing, but putting myself out there in video format is really intimidating. I don’t want people to make fun of me or think I’m weird! But….this is the year of being fearless, so I should probably pull up my bootstraps and just do it, no? What do you think? Would you watch my youtube videos?
Well, there you have it. Not too many goals this month, as I’m focusing on just getting back to my roots and finding my blogging joy again. Thanks for letting me just chat today and share these things; it’s very therapeutic to write them all out.
Also, I’d love your feedback: Do you want any posts about my health journey this month? And what are your thoughts about videos/youtube?
Holla at me! And hey, thanks for being a friend here. I appreciate you more than you know.
