Travel Makes You Richer

"Travel is the only thing that you buy that makes you richer"

Anonymous

When was the last time you truly enjoyed life? When did you last spend the day not mindful of the time, living off of tasks to do or the same old boring 9-5 routine? As my Mum has always told us; you don't live to work, you work to live. 

I remind myself of this saying every now and then just to refocus and gain a little perspective. Life is full of surprises both good and bad. It's one big roller-coaster of ups and downs and we need to push through the bad times and embrace the highs. 

Ever since I was little I have always been fascinated by other cultures; their food, history, weather and the people. Our world is a beautiful and astonishing thing and we should take the time out to enjoy it. There is so much we have not yet even discovered! My own personal goal is to explore the deep oceans, swim around tropical fish and manta rays and play with wild dolphins. I want to learn more and more about wildlife and how we can help save them from a world of ever growing pollution and damage. I know that realistically we cannot all afford to go jet-setting off around the world, but we can take active steps to pave the way for us to make it a realistic goal. 

Next time you are feeling down, lost or fed-up, take the time out to re-think what you want to do with your life. What are you goals and aspirations? Spend more time doing the things you love and your life will be full of richer experiences. Your mindset will change and you will feel so much happier for it. 

Believe In Yourself

Take the time to invest in you; invest in your health by eating foods that will provide you with energy. Take time out to move your body and relax your mind. And most of all - believe in yourself. 

You can achieve all that you want to achieve. It all starts with your own thoughts. Even if you struggle to believe this at first, keep telling yourself that you are worth it because you are! Invest in a little self love each and every day and your thoughts will directly impact your actions. 

I saw the following quote recently and it couldn't be more true. Don't let your life be full of regret. Take that leap over any barriers...you never know you might actually enjoy it ;) 

"Our headspace dictates our perspective...our perspective dictates our experience...our experience is nothing short of life itself."

Andy Puddicombe

Surround Yourself With People Who Encourage And Motivate You

I am a firm believer that no matter how hard you strive to achieve your dreams and goals, it can be incredibly hard, even hinder your success if you have to go through the journey alone.

 

If you surround yourself with people who encourage you to do well, support you to achieve your dreams no matter how big or small and motivate you when it feels like there is a mountain to climb, you will honestly feel a lot more invincible knowing there's an army behind you.



Luckily for me, I have a boyfriend and family who have always encouraged me to follow my aspirations. They just want me to be happy no matter which path I choose to follow and I am so grateful for that. I can only imagine how difficult and heart-breaking it must be when the people closest to you don't encourage you to reach for what you truly want.

 

If you are embarking on a healthier lifestyle like me, please feel free to comment or send me an email; whether you are going through a rough time, need some motivation or just want to chat, I am always here :)

 

The online fitness community can be very encouraging, but it's important to take the right advice and not go down the wrong path. Don't get me wrong, I'm no fitness and health expert (just yet!) but I am in the process of studying Fitness Nutrition and will only ever post advice that is real, scientifically proven and that I follow myself. I sought to gain a qualification so I could eliminate all the rubbish out there and to know once and for all not only for my own journey, but for all of you lovely readers who may want everything you need to know in one place.

 

Please feel free to let me know if you have any questions or comments, and I will endeavour to answer them to support you and your own journey. 

Strive For Results, Not Perfection

Too many times we compare our progress to someone else's. It's good to look to others for inspiration, but don't forget to focus on you. Listen to your body. Eat when you are hungry and make sure you let your body rest. Pamper yourself and protect your mind by taking time out each day to just be. After all, it's far kinder to our souls to focus on achieving our own personal goals rather than the unachievable image of perfection.

Learn To Love Yourself

We've all been there. You've eaten more than you can stomach and you're feeling pretty guilty. You've worked SO hard to keep on track and now you've gone and blown it on a takeaway. 

It's not the end of the world. Don't beat yourself up about it! As I said above; we've ALL been there and you're not alone. 

This time of the year is particularly difficult. We've just spent the previous month indulging in our own body weight chocolate, mince pies and turkey, and now we're all on a health-kick to start off the new year. The problem is, at first you may be motivated and determined, but once you're a few weeks in your body will naturally start to crave all the junk food you've been recently used to.

Many nutritionists claim it takes us about 5 weeks to drive our sugar cravings away. 5 whole weeks to get rid of any sugar cravings?! Just how addictive is sugar?! But by making small, achievable goals, you will feel far less overwhelmed and a lot more likely to stay on track. I've found that sometimes I set myself huge challenges and then when I don't quite hit all of them, I feel disappointed and annoyed with myself! It seems ridiculous to be so hard on ourselves when we should really be focusing on the positives. By choosing to do a workout when I was tempted to chill out and watch TV. By cooking a healthy meal from scratch when I really fancied fast food. These healthier decisions are what I am ultimately working towards; a healthier lifestyle. Therefore in some respects I have already achieved this by making these changes which can only be a good thing! 

In time, these choices will become healthy habits and will only get easier to make as the cravings wear off. Exercise will become part of my daily routine, and I actually already enjoy cooking dishes from scratch knowing that every ingredient is fresh, clean and nutritious! 

I hope I can encourage you to learn to love yourself, be proud of your achievements and to not be so hard on yourself when you don't quite hit your goals. We are only human at the end of the day, and any progress is good progress. So eat healthily, move your body and remember to treat yourself ;) 

A New Year, A New Start

Sometimes we forget to take time out to just be. To sit and relax and take the time to stop worrying about everything. I feel like personally, I have not been myself for a long time. The once cheerful, happy and outgoing Amy has got buried under a tonne of work and stress which when you take a step back and look at from the outside, was pointless to even be fretting about. 

It's taken me about 8 long months to realise that I am far from the outgoing girl I used to be. I think personally, I had swept my feelings to the back of my mind and pretended that everything was the same. It was only when my sister came to visit that my feelings came flooding to the surface and I poured out my heart to her. She made me put things in perspective. She made me reassess my life and get back on the right track. She is my inspiration. My best friend. 

If I can learn anything from 2015, it's to communicate more with people. Yes, social media makes it easier to talk to people all over the world, but it also prevents us from speaking to people close to us. Take time to actually have a chat and you never know you may not feel as lonely when you can have a conversation face to face. 

Through this blog I hope to inspire even just one person to re-establish their relationship with themselves; to feed your body with the nutritional foods it really deserves, to enjoy exercise and to achieve happiness.