Overwhelming desire to be good challenge

Happy Halloween!

We don't really celebrate halloween in Australia but I have got my lollies ready for any potential trick or treaters that may happen by my house. Problem is I keep eating all the lollies...there wont be any left for them soon! 

But onto the real reason for this post.

 Does anybody else out there in Internet land ever feel overwhelmed by blogs, Instagram and Pinterest to be the most perfect, happy, domestic, healthy, fit and beautiful version of ourselves at all times?

Don’t get me wrong, I love all of the social medias, it’s just sometimes I feel completely overwhelmed by all the things I “need to do” in order to be happy.

·      I need to meditate twice a day, each day to remain calm and work on my mindfulness.

·      I need to do yoga every morning to keep my muscles toned and flexible.

·      I need to eat whole foods and cut out sugar.

·      I need to embrace super foods like chia seeds, coconut oil and weirdly named berries.

·      I need to create my own moss paint (check my Pinterest).

·      I need to drink fancy green juices out of mason jars with pretty straws.

·      Make my own spiced almond milk.

·      I need to make ten different types of chocolate vegan protein balls.

·      I need to print my own chevron cushions and dip-dye my dog.

Image Source here: Peaches Geldof's dog

OK, so that last one was clearly a joke (although I do have a white cat…hmmm).

But seriously, out of all the crafty/DIY pins that I have on my pinterest board, I have attempted a big fat zero. I would dearly love to, but where would I start? There are far too many. Probably easier just to keep pinning more craft projects. 

I am guessing I am not alone? Please guys, tell me I’m not alone!

Don’t get me wrong; this isn’t a preachy blog post about how you can find yourself without doing any of these things.

I still very much want to do all of the things!

So the challenge I am setting myself is to focus on one thing at a time, and for added incentive, reward myself with coveted items (because I’m worth it). Feel free to join in if you want and choose your own challenges and rewards.

The rules are simple.

One. Thing. At. A. Time.

&

Keep. It. Simple.

Watch this space guys, I will be kicking off on the 1^st of November with a new Monthly Challenge!

Liv x

Design a life you love – vision board

In my last post I talked about saying yes to things that I really want to do, but have usually held back in the past. Well I recently came across an online workshop called Design the Life You Love. It has been created by Adelma Lilliston, a wellness and life strategy coach, and the aim is to discover what you really want in life. You can learn more about it on her website Joy & Brussels Sprouts.

This seemed like a wonderful opportunity, however my first thought was no, it’s too far out of my comfort zone. But we can't have that sort of thinking now can we? So I gave myself a bit of a metaphorical kick up the backside and signed up.

The workshops start on Wednesday, and to prepare for the first workshop we have been asked to create a vision board by flicking through magazines and selecting pictures that jump out at us.

Last Sunday I sat down with a bunch of old magazines, some scissors and a glue stick and set about to create my vision board.

Here is what I came up with:

I notice a bit of a country theme going on, with lots of greenery. Do I secretly want to move to the country perhaps? There's also a cute doggie, horses, children, chickens and stationery (wait...how did that get in there?).

It’s also been really great looking at others vision boards on the Facebook group page and I am really looking forward to the first session tomorrow night.

I’ll keep you posted on the workshops and how I find them!

Livalini x

Just Say Yes – a post about anxiety & conquering my fears

My whole life I have been a bit of a scaredy cat. I have never done anything out of my comfort zone and I have been too afraid to try anything new.

In February 2012 I had a panic attack. It wasn’t my first, but it was definitely the worst thing I have ever experienced. I still don’t feel comfortable going into the details at this stage, perhaps one day I will have a post dedicated to my anxiety and panic attacks, but you need to know some background. 

Today, I feel anxious often, but I use a variety of methods to keep panic attacks from re-occurring including cognitive therapy, controlled breathing and not doing anything out of my comfort zone. I have had a couple of panic attacks since, but nothing I haven’t been able to control.

I have missed out on so many experiences in my life so far, because I have been to scared to give them a go. It started from a very young age and is continuing today.

For example, I didn't get my ears pierced because I was scared of the pain, I didn't participate in sports days because I was afraid of failing and looking silly, I didn't go on a single show ride as a child/teenager because I was too scared, I could never put myself out there with other people because I was afraid they wouldn’t like me.

This is just a snippet of experiences I missed out on as a child because of my fears.  And I haven’t even mentioned all my other fears such as spiders, public speaking, ghosts and the dark.

Let me just get this straight before we go any further. I don’t want this to be a self-pitying blog post. So on to the fun bit.

Mark and I on the Ferris Wheel at the Show in September this year.

A month ago I decided to start conquering my fears. And no I’m not about to go hold a spider in a dark room. I’m talking about things that I have always wanted to do, but have been held back by fear.

So I have started keeping a Conquering my Fears Journal and I hope to share many of these with you as I do them! In the back is a list of challenges. It looks like this:

Just Say Yes Challenge

• Public speaking
• Going on a show ride
• Getting my ears pierced
• Flying (haven’t been on a plane since my panic attack)
• Getting a tattoo
• Going to Ikea (that is where my major panic attack happened)
• Getting my Drivers Licence
• More driving lessons
• Going to the dentist
• Getting a pap smear test (sorry if that’s too much info)
• Go to see a Kinesiologist
• Have my fortune told
• Go horse riding
• Go to Fiji next year
• Go skydiving in NZ when we go in 2015

In the front of my journal I write the challenges I have completed and draw a little picture to go with them.

I have already completed a few and I will share one of these with you each week and hopefully some new ones as I complete them. The list will be constantly updated, as experiences come up in my life that I would usually turn down, because the goal is now to say yes.

Just. Say. Yes.

Livalini x