What I learned this fall

As November nears its end this week, I realized it was time to write my season summary. These past three months have been a complete whirlwind. September began with our wedding, an amazing trip to New York for a reunion with friends, numerous meetings with banks in regards to a business loan, turning 31 at the beginning of October, celebrating Tom’s 28th birthday a week after, taking a trip out to Colorado, starting and then abruptly stopping a Whole30, celebrating my mom’s birthday, Friendsgiving, running the Berbee Derby, and finally celebrating Thanksgiving. And that brings us right up to speed. Here are a few things the past few months have offered me in knowledge…

Ben Bergeron is a wealth of knowledge and I particularly loved his podcast on “maximizing your minutes.” I already linked this podcast in an earlier post but it found me at a particularly frazzled time in October and I really took it to heart.

I started the Whole30 for the wrong reasons. I initially wanted to try out a Whole30 so I could speak to it from my own perspective when clients asked about it. Additionally, I thought it might help me cultivate more discipline in my life. After about two and a half weeks, I called it quits. I wasn’t experiencing any of the amazing benefits you were supposed to feel (ex. increased energy, awesome sleep, better digestion, decreased joint swelling and headaches), instead, I mainly just felt deprived. I wasn’t hungry but I was never fully satiated because I wasn’t able to eat intuitively. I already meal plan and cook 7 days/week. I rarely eat processed food and am naturally drawn to fruits/veggies/whole grains. So the Whole30 wasn’t a huge lifestyle change, mainly I just wasn’t able to eat pasta (which I love to do once/week) or enjoy chocolate. I had no idea how much joy food brought me until I had to place these restrictions on myself. I was suddenly the super annoying girl at a restaurant poking at her sad salad and not being able to enjoy a bite of dessert or a cheese curd. My goodness, life is too short. And for that discipline component, my awesome sister pointed out that I am already never any fun and I’ve got plenty of discipline to go around. So that was that.

I need to take back my power. The past few months have been a roller coaster professionally and it culminated in me crying on my sister’s couch telling her how unexcited I was about our future endeavor. I was about ready to throw in the towel on everything. After a day or two, reading a book, taking walks, and listening to a podcast I realized that I had given away all my power. I was letting other people tell me how I should feel and what I should do. I let all of these words sink into my soul and I started creating limiting beliefs. I decided that success looks different to everyone and I no longer needed to follow in anyone’s footsteps. There could be another way and I was going to take that road instead. And just like that, I had my power back.

Fresh air and a change in scenery will always be exactly what the soul needs. Even if it’s only a couple of days, you will never regret hiking in the mountains, exploring a new city, and getting away from the normal routine.

What have you learned this fall? I would love to hear 🙂