10 Wellness Tips from a Work in Progress

Hey all!

Whew, what a whirlwind the past few days have been!

Between trying to advance in my career, dealing with my living situation, and trying to fix my body, I’ve learned a great deal about my body and the simple things I can do to treat it right. I’d like to pass on some of the things I’ve learned, and hopefully some (or all!) can help you too!

1. Be kind. If you’re trying to lose weight, remember that it does not happen overnight. This is a process, and if you stick with it, you will begin to see the results.
2. Scales are neither your friend, nor your enemy. I see a lot of motivational quotes on Pinterest and Instagram about how the scale just shows a number and you should not measure your self worth by it. I agree with this, however, don’t forget that the scale can also help motivate you. If you see the number go down, the excitement, the happiness, knowing you’ve grown closer to your goal can keep you motivated to keep going, and not give up.
3. Don’t forget to enjoy yourself. Do your friends want to meet up for dinner and a drink? Do you want to go? Go! Yes, there are empty calories in alcohol and probably more than you should eat at dinner, but as long as it’s not every night, don’t forget that you are a human being and you deserve nice things, good food, good drink and good company.
4. Don’t forget about the free stuff. I may be a little spoiled with this. Here in Wilmington, we have the Cape Fear River Walk. It’s a long walk by the Cape Fear River. I did it yesterday and, even though I got caught in the rain, I walked over 10,000 steps (including my regular day to day activities). It’s free fitness. Check around your area to see if there are any local walkways or anything similar.
5. Get rid of toxic people. They will bring you down and the stress will cause your body to go into turmoil.
6. Laugh. Watch a funny movie. Tell jokes. Laughter has such a positive effect on your body, and it feels as good as a much needed cry.
7. Cry. And don’t feel bad about it either. Is your heart broken? Does your job suck? Did you just have an all around bad day? Cry it out, man. It’s cathartic and it will help. Do not forget, you are human. 
8. Find something beautiful to look at. I don’t mean “thinspiration” or any of that Pro-Anorexia nonsense. I mean something truly, naturally gorgeous. Like these I took yesterday of the Cape Fear River at sunset:
9. Get angry. Feel the rage, the fire burning inside of you. Use it! If something is making you angry, screw all those people who tell you you’re being dramatic, overreacting, that you should “calm down”. F$%^ them! Take that anger and go for a run. Take it and rip up something, throw some punches at a punching bag. Break something you don’t need anymore (I threw a martini glass once when I was PISSED. It felt so good.) Get that anger out of you! (Don’t get violent. Keep it classy, people.)
10. When all else fails, take a step back. Reevaluate what your goals are, and how you are going to get there. Start a journal, a blog, anything. But be patient, be kind, love yourself and stay positive. No matter how small the steps are, you will succeed if you do not give up.

I’m not a perfect person. I’m over emotional, a little weird, and overly romantic. I get hurt easily because my whole heart goes into everything I do. I am learning to be kind to myself, to accept myself the way I am. I’m a work in progress.

Stay updated, my friends. My new project is a book of poetry. I’m still working on my novel, but in the past few days a sudden obsession with documenting my feelings with poetry has taken over me. My goal is to write enough to self publish a book.

Above all else, be kind. Love you all!

-Stephanie