I'm setting my goals extremely high for 2014. I plan on it being the BEST YEAR TO DATE. And I know that it's totally achievable! Before the end of the year, I'll be setting up a few different POAs (Plans of Action) for different aspects of my life such as health and diet, Arbonne, and budget. Within each of these will be various categories such as self-improvement, monthly, weekly and daily goal setting and many, many to do lists. Those of you who know me, know my house is covered with these lists; they're EVERYYYYYYWHERE. I love stroking things off these lists and I'm so very super excited for the new year. Thank you all so much for your love and support of my blog over the past year(ish). It means a lot that I have a lot of loyal followers and I am so very grateful for each and every single one of you. Let's make 2014 your best one too! All my love and then some, Meaghan
So, for a zillion years, I've been wanting and (barely) trying to make a monthly newsletter for my Arbonne business. Today, I finally finished it! I'm super super pumped about it and hope that I can make it AMAZING and pretty and helpful to my clients. I even found out how I can link a "subscribe to my newsletter" on here! I'm going to try it and hope it works. Feel free to be my guinea pigs. Hope you are all well and that those of you out there Christmas shopping are almost done! If you need some help picking things out, I'm your girl!
I've been dealing with a variety of illnesses/plagues/inconveniences lately. I think it's my body's way of saying "getting your shit together and get back into running!" as well as "stop eating those g.d. peanut butter chocolate bars and all that delicious chocolate granola from healthy foods and more!" The cracked tooth care of the granola may also be suggesting that. I'm working on it, body. Just get rid of this last plague completely and I'll promise I'll be better to myself. In other news, care of yoga, I touched my toes for the first time. IN MY LIFE. Small Victory? Not quite. I've been trying to reach those things for years. Thank you, Beth, and my partner in crime, Gillian, for all the yoga amazingness. Sundays are one of the best parts of my week. I hope this evening finds you all well. Love and love and then some, M
So today, I watched two videos that inspired me in very different, but very much the same ways. The first video (see below) discussed how it's impossible to physically live up to media standards and how we will NEVER LOOK LIKE THE GIRLS IN ADS. The second video was about the reactions of some disabled individuals seeing themselves made into mannequins.
(I feel like I need to put a disclaimer out there: YES, I am a model. YES, I have done photoshoots and YES, they have been photoshopped. However, I also work for an agency that brings in models of all shapes and sizes from all walks of life. We are not all size 0s. In fact, most of us aren't, and this is why I feel like I can post the video below and have the negative feelings about the media and advertisements that I do.)
Cindy Crawford's comment about "I wish I looked like Cindy Crawford" really hit home for me. The alterations and digital re-vamping done completely changes how these people look. They end up not even looking like themselves! As if it's not difficult enough to survive life without comparing yourself to those around you at work or school, but there's this impossible standard in the media that consumes us. And it never ends. I'm definitely working on letting things go; realizing that I won't have the body I had when I was 16 and that if I don't have abs, WHO ACTUALLY CARES? As long as I am happy and healthy and taking care of myself, that should be enough.
The second video involved a few streams of tears. While this comes as a complete shock to no one, it was an amazing watch that reiterated the importance of inclusion; that it's okay to look the way you look and that you should always be yourself. The typical mannequin needs to invite some new buddies of different shapes, sizes and abilities into its store-front.
It's been almost a month since I last logged on. It's not that I haven't had anything to say, it's that I've let important things slide a little bit. I'm a gamer, a nerd, a League of Legends addict... and sometimes (more often lately than not), I've let it get the best of me. I have good, no, GREAT intentions of playing just two games a day and then all of a sudden, my entire evening is gone. I haven't left my bed, I've been eating non-stop, I've let the house turn into a disaster and I've stop caring about things that are important to me; friendships/relationships, my business, my house and most importantly, myself.
Tonight, I started examining my core values. I was reading a blog, written by who I call my "Arbonne Crush", Deb Borges, and she was discussing core values. No matter what people think or people say, do I let that change my core values? Do I change who I am depending on who I surround myself with? More often than not, YES. I've just decided that one of the core values I want to focus on is OWNERSHIP. I want to be accountable for my actions, my past ones, the ones I haven't yet made, and I want to learn from my mistakes and experiences. I don't want to be owned by a computer game, I don't want to care what other people think, I want to be SUCCESSFUL, I want to dream, I want to stand up for my beliefs, and I want to love myself, flaws and all. As New Year's approaches (it's not THAT far off, people), I want to come up with resolutions that are achievable and things I can be held accountable for. However, I also think it's important that the resolutions aren't so super specific that there's only one way to do them. How about "I want to take better care of myself" instead of "I want to lose 20 pounds"? If I only lose 19, then I haven't achieved my resolution and I'll likely say "forget it" and probably put that weight back on. (Emotional eater much?) I hope this entry finds you well. I will do my best to be back more often, and I'll totally take ownership if I'm not. As always, thanks for reading. Love muchly and then some, Meaghan Here is the link to Deb's blog: Alive and Empowered Blog
