Delayed Gratification (Whole30)

Since publishing my ecourse is done and the bulk of the work on that project is over, I have begun a new journey for my health. I decided to participate in the Whole30. The point of this program is not necessarily to just lose weight (although that is a side-effect for most participants). The goal is to improve overall healthy, wellness, and energy by revolutionizing your diet.

So the creators of the Whole30 have a special rule -- one that I have not ever encountered on any other diet. 

You can't step on the scale during the entire 30 days. 

One of my Whole30 meals

This program is challenging for me. I turned my diet upside down by giving up sugar, bread, and dairy. Instead I fill my plate with protein, tons of veggies, a little fruit, and some healthy fats. Plus, I have to cook almost every meal as it is quite difficult to eat out. So that means lots of time in the kitchen and tons of dirty dishes. 

The first week I was fighting sugar withdrawal. I felt terrible, especially on days 3 and 4. I'm feeling better now and I'm starting to see the benefits this way of eating has on my energy, but that first week was particularly tough. 

There was more than one morning that I desperately wanted to step on the scale. If I can just see that it's working, I'll be motivated to stick to it. 

But what is the definition of "working"? Just losing weight? 

And it got me thinking. Our culture is one of instant gratification. We want specific things and we want them now. For me, I want to lose weight. Like, yesterday. 

But when it comes to long-term health, there are no shortcuts (at least, none that I can find and trust me, I've looked). The goal of the Whole30 is to break those old habits and create a new way of thinking and eating. That means taking a break from the scale and the instant gratification of losing a pound or two and rather focusing on how the food you eat makes you more or less healthy over the long-haul. 

Yes, I hope to lose weight on this program. But I also want to feel better and be healthier. And that means delaying gratification, at least for a little while. 

It's here! My ecourse is LIVE!

Hello my faithful readers! I'm excited to announce that my first ecourse, Attending College Faster and Free from Loans, is live on Udemy. If you would like to grab one of the first 100 seats, it's absolutely free. Just click here to claim your spot.

This is a self-paced course so even if you do not have time to go through it today, you can check it out another time. But you have to claim your spot if you want it free.

Please let me know what you think of the content and the course creation. I don't consider myself super technical, so recording, editing audio, and putting together the video that was probably the most challenging part for me. The content came pretty easy as I am describing mostly life experience.

And I did it. I put together an ecourse and I'm sharing it with the world.

It's not easy putting your ideas and experiences out there. What if people don't like it? What if they think it's lame?

But what if they think it's awesome?

You can't please everyone, so do what you're gonna do for you. Life is an experiment. Sometimes we discover something new. Sometimes we create. Sometimes we crash and burn.

I'm hoping I didn't crash and burn this time; but even if I do, I had fun, learned a ton, and will either succeed next time or fail better (:

This was the final part of my Personal Development Project. Big thank you to T.k. for the challenge and keeping me accountable.

Enjoy!

Creating Something New

Something that my Praxis advisers were always encouraging us to do was to always be creating. The act of creation sparks creativity. That's one huge reason they want us to blog regularly, even daily, since writing is an act of creativity.

Several months ago, I was feeling a bit trapped and uninspired. Even though I am no longer a current Praxis participant, I reached out to our education director, T.k. Coleman, for advice. He had me commit to a 30 day PDP (personal development project) where I went through the "You Don't Need a Job, You Need Guts" ecourse and blogged once per week. Check out the tag "You Don't Need a Job" on this blog if you want to read my posts on the ecourse and PDP.

Going through the course and having to write my thoughts about it definitely sparked my creative side again. It also got me thinking about what I'm capable of doing.

So even though the PDP lasted just 30 days, it inevitably lead to another goal. I decided to create my own ecourse.

Now I am getting super close to finishing and I plan to publish the course this month. It will be about how I have earned college credit quickly and debt free and how others can do the same. I decided to make it about this topic for many reasons, one of them being the interest in my blog post on the same subject which has received over 800 views (the most of any of my posts)

I'm a bit nervous about publishing this course. Doubts creep into my mind. What if no one buys it? Or worse, what if they buy it and hate it? What if people think it's lame? What if...

But the PDP taught me that I need guts. I need to give it a try. If it's a failure or a flop, so be it. But what if it's not?

If you're interested in checking out my ecourse at a discounted rate once it comes out, subscribe to my blog as I will post about the course once its finished and available for purchase. Thanks!

Episode 1: My Homebirth Story

Here is the new Episode 1 of the Sitch Podcast. My little sister joins me to tell my homebirth story and describe some of the differences between a home and hospital birth.

I forgot to mention in the podcast that other than the IV antibiotic, my midwife was also able to administer a bag of saline via IV and had an oxygen mask on me toward the end of labor when I was pushing. This further emphasizes my point that whatever medical devices I needed other than an epidural or performing a c-section, my midwife was able to provide.

Big thank you to my midwife, my doula, my chiropractor, and my husband, mom, dad, and sister for all of their support throughout the process! I could not have done it naturally and at home without my team.

If you have questions about homebirth, please comment below!

Have a story about your own birth experience (hospital, birth center, or home)? Feel free to share in the comments as well.

I'm new to podcasting so forgive my audio editing skills (or lack thereof). I'm sure it will get better with experience as I record more.

Thanks for listening!

(Note: above photo is not of my baby)