Disclaimer: I personally use the MetaPWR system and am a wellness advocate with dōTERRA. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration or Health Canada. I’m sharing my personal experience with products. As always, please consult with your healthcare team when incorporating new products into your healthcare routine.
What is metabolic health? And how does metabolic health affect autoimmune disease?
On the main page of my MetaHEALING program, I go over the concept of metabolic health but let’s get into it a bit further here.
Definition of Metabolism
According to this study found in the National Library of Medicine, “there is little consensus on the definitions of metabolic health.” However, we do have a definition of metabolism.
Let’s take it one step further and look at the definition found on the National Cancer Institute‘s website.
So if we want to improve our metabolic health, we are looking to improve our metabolism. But what does that mean? How can we look to support our cells in making energy, and provide the right material for our cells to grow, and reproduce, while generally staying healthy? Since metabolism is also a driver in reducing our toxic load there are so many benefits to improving our metabolic health for the sake of our overall health.
When it comes to autoimmune disease there are so many cases where we understand that the disease progresses due to attacks on healthy cells. I’ve always been of the mindset that if I take care of my body to the best of my ability and create an environment where my cells “don’t get confused” then I’m increasing my chances of having fewer “autoimmune attacks” over my lifetime.
I also understand that improving one’s metabolic health can lead to decreases in inflammation in the body. Which we also know to be detrimental to those living with autoimmune diseases.
So at the end of the day, having healthy cells and decreasing inflammation is enough for me to know that improving my metabolic health is important to me.
When I was introduced to the new dōTERRA MetaPWR system in September of 2022 I was really excited because they were speaking my language around health care but adding one more category that I hadn’t factored into my self-care health pillars.
I had already covered healthy eating, daily movement, stress management, and smart supplementation in my routine. I hadn’t factored in healthy connections into a pillar of health before. While I’ve prioritized connections and friendships in my life, I have definitely let these fall by the wayside to prioritize other self-care tactics.
Ok but let me take a step back first…
For me my energy has been super low since the twins were born, I’m holding onto postpartum weight gain, our sleep is sometimes interrupted with toddlers and I’ve definitely had days filled with brain fog. So my motivations for increasing my metabolic health are two-fold. One just better quality of life and two better quality of life while living with an autoimmune disease. I never want to have to worry about MS attacks in the future.
So What Can We Do To Improve Our Metabolic Health?
Healthy Eating
I won’t be prescribing any certain way of eating but I’ll ask you a few questions you can journal on to decide if you want to focus on improving your nutrition.
Are you eating anything that causes digestive discomfort?
Do you have healthy poops?
Are you dealing with indigestion, gas, or bloating?
Are you conscious of the nutrients you’re eating?
Are you conscious about eating a balance of macronutrients?
Are you eating anything that you know is not serving you?
Daily Movement
Are you moving your body at least 30 mins a day?
When I started taking the MetaPWR system which I’ll share about more in a second, I promised myself that I was going to be consistent with daily walks with my husband and our dogs every morning. In addition, I started a workout challenge where I was working out at least 4 days a week. I know that the consistency of these resistance and bodyweight training workouts is serving me well. I’m continuing them into 2023 and sharing some goals over in this post.
Stress Management
My go-to stress management tools are:
Movement (Workouts & Walks)
Meditation
Journaling
Epsom Salt Baths
Infrared Sauna
Diffusing Essential Oils
Talk Therapy
Orgasms
Breathwork
Do you have daily or weekly practices that allow you to rest and decompress?
Do you have tools that you use when you find yourself dealing with acute situations?
Connections
Are you prioritizing time with friends or loved ones where you are phones down, face to face?
Smart Supplementation
I’ve always been a fan of testing my blood to discover my deficiencies and then nourishing and supplementing as necessary. But I haven’t been taking anything specific to metabolic health.
Introducing the MetaPWR System. This system was launched during dōTERRA’s annual convention in September 2022 and I couldn’t have been more excited to try them.
dōTERRA launched 6 products within the system that include:
I have been taking the product for 90 days now. Consistently since September 19, 2022 for 30 days and then slightly inconsistently for 60 days over November and December as we’ve been battling sickness in our health on and off this fall/winter season with the kids catching all manner of colds from other kids at gymnastics.
My MetaPWR Routine
I take a MetaPWR softgel at breakfast, an Assist with lunch or dinner, a drop of the MetaPWR blend in my first Yeti of water in the morning and the Advantage as an Adrenal Cocktail mid-morning.
Adrenal Cocktail Recipe:
1 Orange Freshly Juiced
Top Mason Jar with Coconut Water
Pinch of Sea Salt
1 MetaPWR Advantage whisked in
My MetaPWR Results So Far
However, I’ve noticed an amazing difference. I’m starting to shed the weight I gain post-pregnancy.
The brain fog has lifted and my energy has increased so that I’m feeling lighter after work and able to engage with my family before we put the twins to bed at 7:30 pm.
Get Started With MetaPWR
The dōTERRA team that I’m a part of is hosting a class on Monday, January 9th at 8 pm ET. Come learn about metabolic health and all about the MetaPWR system.
Or if that day and time doesn’t work for you, you can watch a recording of the class here:
I will be running a 30-day program using the MetaPWR system products starting January 30th called MetaHEALING. Have a look at the page which includes ordering details. If you’re interested in joining us to increase your metabolic health in a way that feels nourishing for someone living with an autoimmune disease I’d love to have you!
Well here we are again, the beginning of a new year and I’ve got some goals to get. Without further ado, here are my 2023 Goals & Intentions.
So the first thing I do when planning out my goals for a new year is to do an audit on life categories based on the year before. I score them from 1 – 10. 10 means I feel like I accomplished all my goals and feel really good about this life category. 1 means I’m struggling in this life category, or I want to achieve certain things I haven’t yet tackled or it’s important to improve this life category. So here is how I scored my life categories in 2022.
Life Category Audit for 2022
Career – 6
Financial – 9
Health – 6
Fitness – 6
Nutrition – 8
Travel – 5
Home – 9
Spiritual / Stress Management – 6
Couple – 6
Family – 9
Friendships – 6
Leisure / Self-Development – 5
Based on this audit, I know that I’ll want to focus on Travel and Leisure first in 2023. From there I looked at all the categories I ranked as a 6 and then prioritized them just based on a gut feeling of where I wanted to focus. I’ll start with Career, Couple, Friendships, Health, Fitness, and then Spiritual/Stress Management. And then to round out the remainder of my life category focus in 2023 I have Nutrition, Home, Family, and then Financial.
My Intentions for 2023
The next step I do is to decide how I want to feel in different areas of my life. I choose 4-5 words and these become my core desired feelings for the year. I search on Pinterest for “Core Desired Feelings Library” and look through the different images there. When words stick out to me I write them down beside a life category on a blank sheet of paper. From there I circled a few that really resonated with me. And these 4 words stuck out to me this year. Wonder, Connected, Energized, and Enriched.
Wonder – when I was looking at my life categories and scoring how I felt about them in 2022, travel scored the lowest. This makes sense as I was landlocked to Canada for a while and it just wasn’t a priority with young kids. It’ll be a top focus for me in 2023 so I want to feel WONDER wherever I travel next year AND in how I approach my hobbies and self-development.
Energized – When it comes to my health, fitness, stress management, and nutrition I want to feel ENERGIZED. From the ways that I move my body, to what goals I’m tackling to optimize my health to how I’m nourishing my body. This also applies to how I approach my career, how I tackle stress management and my spiritual relationship with God.
Enriched – When it comes to relationships I want to feel ENRICHED by them. From friendships that I’m nurturing to the people, we surround ourselves with. My husband and I sat down and wrote out a value statement about community together. We want to feel safe & ENRICHED by the families we surround ourselves with. They are focused on wellness, curiosity & being heart-led. They are living an active outdoor lifestyle where everyone prioritizes play, feeling connected, and supporting one another.
Connected – When it comes to my family and my husband I want to feel CONNECTED. I want us to always feel present with each other. I value being present & connected through monthly & weekly planning, date nights, daily walks, and family time.
2023 Goals By Life Category
So after I decide on my core desired feelings for the year, I plan out my 2023 goals by life category.
I organize my life category goals in the order that I outlined above. After I look at my goals, I map the ones that are time bound to a calendar and then fill in the gaps based on the short or long-term goals I’ve set for the year. This allows me to see if everything is doable or if I’ve bitten off more than I can chew. Finally, I’ll reverse engineer the larger goals in Asana like I’m project managing a marketing campaign at work 🙂
Travel
Pre-kids, I had set a goal to always take 2 trips a year. I’ve always loved taking one adventure-based trip and one relaxing trip a year. This past year, on a retreat I took in October, we did a values reset program and wrote values statements for different areas of our lives. As I was writing down all the things that were important for travel and couple, I wrote down that I would really value going on a trip with Mike every year. I announced loudly to the group that I didn’t understand why honeymoons are reserved for only after a wedding so I decided Mike and I deserve a honeymoon trip every year. This goal is now built into my couple value statement.
So here are the trips we’re thinking of taking or have already booked:
1 Adventure Trip – we want to go back to Vancouver Island with the babes (traveling with the twins is an adventure) and this time maybe I’ll be able to go surfing in Tofino (which I haven’t done for years!) So traveling with kids and a sport combines two types of adventures.
1 Relaxing Trip – There are a few Web3 events in Lisbon later in the year so I’m thinking of drawing a work trip out and bringing Mike so we can do a relaxing trip in Portugal and then maybe Spain where a girlfriend of mine owns a house.
1 Honeymoon – We’ve got a week booked at a resort in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic at the end of February so we can escape the winter and get some sun therapy. We’re going back to a resort that I’ve already been to. Mike and I actually haven’t been to a resort on our own so I’m excited.
Other than those planned trips there is one work trip that I’m thinking of taking to Austin, Texas for the Consensus convention.
Leisure
In 2022, I created a self-reliance challenge for myself. I loved learning one new self-reliant skill a month so I’m continuing this challenge into 2023. I’ve put it under my leisure life category because it encompasses a few hobbies as well. I’ll share more in a post about the challenge but here are the skills or things I’m thinking of learning this year or continuing to learn.
Meat Brine Curing & Smoking
Change A Tire
Purchase/Set Up a Generator
Gardening
Composting
Plant Identification
Home Evacuation Plan & Run Through
Water Storage
Fire Starting Skill
Root Veggie Storage
Hunting
Knitting a Hat
Self-Development
In addition, to the self-reliance challenge which is also a form of self-development, I’m also challenging myself to a resilience challenge.
Resilience Definition: The capacity to withstand or to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness.
And while I believe myself to be a very resilient person, having endured several tough life moments. I also recognize that I struggled with stress management in the last few years. And while I’m giving myself grace, I thought I could challenge myself to one thing a month to build physical and emotional resilience.
Here are some of the things I’m thinking about doing:
cold water plunges (3 x a week)
Wim Hof breathing (daily)
no sugar (for a month)
no TV (for a month)
reduce phone time by 50%
10 pull-ups (daily)
10 push-ups (daily)
do 1 thing a week that scares me
daily prayer
daily time in silence
weekly friendship dates
15 mins daily sun gazing
I’ll of course share more in a separate post and document both challenges on my Instagram.
Career
I definitely have diversified interests when it comes to earning an income.
In 2022, I started a full-time contract role with a US Web3 marketing agency and product studio. I’m really lucky in the role that I have and I’m hoping to continue my web3 knowledge and marketing skills. I’d also like to explore taking on at least 1 client as a fractional CMO in my “spare time” outside of a 9-5 to diversify my income further.
As a side hustle, I’ve loved building my dōTERRA business for the past 6 years and will continue to build this business. Over the past few years, I’ve had a few business partners and customers churn so I’ve set a goal for myself to rebuild my business to the level that I experienced previously as a Premier and then Silver.
My husband and I also incorporated a business in 2021 but we haven’t gotten it off the ground running yet. We have been looking for the perfect property to make it happen on. We’ll hold off property searching in the winter and resume the search this spring.
As a published author I think I’m ready to publish my next book. An idea that popped into my head this past year was a jointly published book with several authors. I’d like to publish a book all about Autoimmune Thrivers and showcase their stories of diagnosis, healing, and thriving.
Additionally, I’ve always wanted to publish my own planner. I’ve been dreaming up formats and I think I’m ready to bring this project to fruition in 2023.
And last but not least, I’m ready to monetize my writing. So I’m hosting a substack newsletter focused on documenting my resilience and self-reliance challenges.
Couple
I’d like to re-focus on scheduling a weekly date night because it’s important for me to connect with Mike on a consistent basis. I also want to create the space for us to plan our months and weeks in a way where we feel supported and aligned in taking care of our family.
Because I use Asana daily I’ve been experimenting with using it more and more for my personal life. I’ve scheduled several monthly recurring tasks for myself on the 1st of every month. When it comes to Mike and me the tasks include:
Schedule Weekly Date Nights
Schedule Monthly & Weekly Planning Meetings
Friendships
It’s important to me to plan time on a monthly basis to connect with key friendships to kindle connection and mutual support.
When I was building the eBook for my Meta Healing Program I included this image from dōTERRA’s MetaPWR launch materials. These are 5 things we can do to improve our metabolic health. And while I am doing a great job in the healthy eating, daily movement, and smart supplementation areas of my life I know I need to improve upon stress management and healthy connections. So this is where monthly friendship dates play a role.
In addition to improving my metabolic health, it’s a value of mine to feel enriched by the relationships and people around me. So here’s to more consistent friend dates in 2023. I’ve also incorporated into the resilience challenge, one month where I’ll be booking weekly friend dates. However, over the course of the year, I’ll be prioritizing getting one friendship date on the calendar every month.
I’ve also set a monthly recurring task for myself in Asana to “Schedule Monthly Friendship Date” on the 1st of the month.
Health
I took some time this month to reflect on my “health goals” or the things that I’m working on healing in my health or things I’m looking to optimize. I’m conscious of language and how some verbiage can be triggering to some. I’ve been working with a Naturopath, an Ayurveda Practitioner, and a Nutritionist over the past year. I love understanding different modalities and taking tips and tricks from each to take care of myself holistically.
You’ll hear in the wellness industry to avoid language around “fixing” oneself as it then implies that we see our body as broken. I like to think about it as something that we need to oil before it breaks. My body is not broken but it sure is yelling at me. Things are squeaky and need attention.
Here are 7 things I’m looking to heal / optimize / or whatever language is appropriate and doesn’t trigger a wellness practitioner to DM me 😉
So many things are interwoven. I received multiple iron transfusions after the birth of the twins in 2020 which led to high liver enzymes which has steamrolled into an iron overload (that I was probably already dealing with pre-pregnancy). After doing multiple tests in 2022 from a DUTCH test to a hair mineral analysis to a full monty blood panel we discovered mineral imbalances, high oxidative stress markers, and a hormone imbalance.
So with smart supplementation, lifestyle changes, and nutrition, I’ll be continuing to support my body in optimizing my health this year. I will share more on this in-depth as I work through the healing.
Fitness
I want to continue to be consistent with at least 4 workouts a week. And potentially upgrade to 5 workouts a week if that feels good for my body. I will continue with weekly yoga classes and daily walks with Mike and the dogs.
I’ve also scheduled a weekly recurring task in Asana to schedule my weekly workouts and book my weekly yoga class on Sunday nights. I already have 4 weekly workouts scheduled in my calendar for 5:30 am 4 days a week but on Sunday I’ll figure out which workout I’m going to do so I don’t have to think about it at 5 am in the morning.
Spiritual / Stress Management
I’ve got a really good stress management toolkit. However, as with most things if I’m not consistent with my tools how I react to external stress takes a toll on me. I rated this category a 6 in 2022 because I struggled to maintain consistency. I prioritized extra sleep in the morning or scrolling Instagram before my morning workouts instead of quiet time for myself. So here are 5 things I’m prioritizing in 2023.
Here are two things I will do on a daily basis:
Morning Meditation
Journaling
And here are two things I will do a few times a week:
Epsom Salts Baths
Infrared Sauna
And here is one thing I’m committed to doing once a week:
Weekly Group Therapy
Nutrition
When it comes to nutrition and food, Mike and I wrote out a shared value statement. We value that at least 90% of our meals are farm-to-table. I love being able to purchase and support local farmers directly. We also value giving our kids treats so they don’t feel restricted in our way of eating. We are really proud of how we nourish our family.
And because of this, I want to work on creating a farm connection event or farm connection community where customers can easily connect with and learn how to support local farmers in a sustainable way for their lifestyles. This might include a map with a clear indication of what products are available locally for purchase, what days farms are open to in-person buying, what farmer’s markets they attend, and when and potentially even a way for consumers to trade volunteer time for produce. Lots to think about here but my wheels are turning on this one.
Home
There is not much more to do to make our house a home. I only have a few items left on the honey-do list. Mike should be happy to read that. The main one I’d really love to have completed this coming year is to have living room built-ins installed.
And I want to finally outsource cleaning our home. For me, having a clean and tidy home is in direct support of my stress management. So I’m going to prioritize that financially this year.
Family
When it comes to our family, we value making memories through seasonal bucket lists. We spend time together eating, learning, playing, adventuring, and in quiet moments together. We grow relationships individually within the family.
So for 2023, we’ll create a winter bucket list to tackle and then a summer one. We’ll also prioritize, at least twice a month, a mommy-son date / daddy-daughter date and then a mommy-daughter date / daddy-son date. This is important to us so that our kids get dedicated time with one parent as our attention is always pulled in different directions constantly when we’re all together.
Financial
Financially we are doing really well so I’d like to focus on at least 6% annual growth in our investments. And then plan for a few projects or purchases that require a sizeable investment like purchasing a generator for the home as a part of the self-reliant challenge. Mike is also working towards his pilot’s license so I want to ensure he has the financial means and support to achieve that.
I have also scheduled a recurring task monthly to review our investments as I could do a much better job at looking at them more frequently.
Every year before sitting down to set some goals for the year, I decide how I want to feel as I move through the year. Most importantly, how do I want to feel as I achieve the goals I’ve set out for myself. Before we get into my 2022 year in review, here were my 2022 core desired feelings that I wanted to feel as I moved through the year.
Here’s a little more about the choice behind each word:
Energized – I wanted to feel energized in my body and in the things I choose to pursue from career to hobbies to friendships and more.
Clarity & Brave – I wanted clarity on how I’m meant to show up in this world and I want to always be brave in all of my actions.
Sexy – I wanted to feel sexy in my body and in my skin.
Shine – I feel like I’ve been hiding over the past few years and I was ready to stop hiding.
Bliss – I wanted to feel bliss when I’m with my family.
I know that I’ve felt more energized, as the weight comes off my body. As my facial acne heals I’m starting to feel sexier in my skin. I know that I felt like I achieved bliss at home and with my family. However, I definitely need to re-evaluate clarity, brave, and shine and see why I didn’t spend more time working toward those feelings. I wonder if it’ll become apparent as I write this post.
2022 Goals In Review
So at the beginning of the year, I set out different goals for different areas of my life. I first rank each area of my life and the ones that scored the lowest are the ones that I focused on first!
In 2021, House, Fitness, Health, Stress Management, and Podcast all scored 5 out of 10 so I wanted to make sure I stuck to whatever goals I set in these areas. And I’m really happy to say focusing on these paid off.
House
When I look at my core desired feelings I definitely wanted to feel bliss when spending time at home. We did a lot to upgrade our home over the past year. After finishing renovating the upstairs bathroom at the end of 2021. We hired contractors at the beginning of 2022 to renovate the current primary bedroom walk-in closet, create a master bath ensuite (where there used to be a bedroom), and renovate the existing downstairs bathroom. A gear closet was added where there used to be a closet in the old bedroom as well (unfortunately I can’t show you pics of this 😉 – I’ll let you figure out what we’re storing there).
We hired landscapers to lift up and relay the patio stones on the back patio, build a new retaining wall (due to tenant damages from 2020), and then lift and relayed the front interlock, rebuild the front steps, and we got a brand new asphalt driveway. I’m so happy with all the renovations (well almost all of them – I have rattling pipes in our new bathroom that I need to solve for) and I can fully say that I feel complete bliss while having Epsom salt baths in my new bathroom.
Oh, and Mike also got an incredible amount of energy over a couple of days and created a beautiful new guest bedroom with a feature wall for visitors when they come to stay with us.
Fitness
My goal was to work up to 5 – 6 workouts a week. I can gladly say I failed and have been able to work up to 4 workouts a week and daily walks with my husband and the dogs. Which actually feels really good for my body.
While I got my husband to program a few workouts for me, the majority of the time I’d come up with the workout the morning of. In the middle of September, I signed up for my friend Danielle Pascente’s Strong in Fall program and was able to consistently achieve workouts up to 4 weeks of a 6 week program. I’ve been on and off with sickness for 2 months since the beginning of October. However, I did restart the program at the beginning of December to get myself back into things and will work towards the 6 week program. I really love how it’s programmed. It includes at least 4 workouts a week so it’s perfect as I get back into consistency. Who knows if I’ll ever work back up to 5 – 6 workouts a week. Maybe that’s not what my body needs.
I was also craving an in-person yoga practice again and was able to find a studio that did not discriminate at the beginning of the year. After mandates were dropped I was able to return to a studio close to my house with my YTT teacher trainer who I adore taking classes with.
Health
I’m so glad to say I feel more energized when it comes to my health. After dealing with high liver enzymes since December 2020. I started a supplement protocol with my naturopath that brought my liver enzymes down and then I did some testing with a nutritionist that revealed more issues. We also started looking at my hormone health since I’ve felt so off since giving birth to the twins.
Due to stress management, I had MS symptoms popping up at the end of last year and I’ve successfully been able to remove them from my life again. It is crazy how stress is so linked to my health and when I tackle dealing with stress, my health immediately improves.
I have so much to say about what I discovered this year, but I’m still working through some things so I’ll share more as I learn and apply.
Stress Management
While Mike did not continue to be an early riser, I reverted back to my old ways. Heading to bed at 9:00 pm and getting up at 5:00 am to get in a workout around 5:30 am.
Once the new bathroom was finished I started enjoying Epsom Salt baths every other night. I really didn’t have any consistency during the renovations last year and this year. I enjoy alternating baths with Infrared Sauna sessions and my body really loves ending my days that way.
Something else, that I did for myself was join and attend a weekly women’s therapy group every Wednesday morning. I’ve had some of the darkest days of my mental health in the last 2 years and this group has been one of the reasons why I can now honestly say that I’m doing much better. I shared in my goal-setting post in January that I was having “some hard thoughts lately and moments of panic attacks or extreme sadness and I know it’s time to get the help that I’ve sought in the past and know I so desperately in need of right now.” Stress unfortunately for me is something that I really struggle with and how I react to it. And due to my health, I’m struggling in this department but have all the tools and healthcare team members around me to work through it.
Another powerful tool I learned this year was breathwork. I had enrolled in my friend Sarah’s Wildly Wealthy Empath and I simply loved the format of the course and how she incorporated breathwork weekly. I had some of the most profound healing sessions after doing breathwork with her. I think I even exclaimed once that 1 breathwork session was better than 10 talk therapy appointments.
My stress management tools remain to be:
Movement (Workouts & Walks)
Meditation
Journaling
Epsom Salt Baths
Infrared Sauna
Diffusing Essential Oils
Talk Therapy
Orgasms
and now Breathwork
Podcast
While I’m sad I stopped recording The Alpha Female Podcast, I needed some space back in my life this year to take care of me. And I found some well-deserved space with this hobby off my plate.
Relationships
I had set a goal of 1 weekly date night for my husband and me. And we kind of failed at that goal. It was a mix of things. I struggle to put it in our calendars every week as I didn’t want to be the only one scheduling it. But if I don’t schedule it, it doesn’t get planned. I know that if I schedule it and label it as “Date Night – Mike Plans” then he’ll plan it willingly, I just have to do the pre-work to get it on our shared calendar. We also struggled with exhaustion and just being too tired at the end of the day.
I think we also had a hard time asking for consistent help once a week in the evenings. We have full-time help during the day but only really asked my parents to come over after we’ve put the babes to bed so we can go out. And with the amount of sickness we’ve been enduring this fall, we haven’t been able to ask for as much support. We did manage to find a friend of a friend who has a 13-year-old daughter as a babysitter. She’s come over once to sit at the house while we went out to an escape room. I just have to get better and book her in more. I’ll be honest though, I did struggle a little bit with the concept of leaving the twins and dogs alone with her for an evening. 13 years old seems so young to me!
Reading
So I set a goal to read 1 book a month. ANNNDDD that did not happen. Shocker I know. Audiobooks kind of put me to sleep so I clearly needed to prioritize getting ample sleep over books this past year. I also have been prioritizing watching TV before bed instead of reading. I was trying to read early in the morning but now I’m prioritizing workouts. So maybe I’ll cut the number down a little next year and just let reading happen as it happens.
Raw Milk and the Search for Human Kindness: Overcoming Fear and Complacency by Michael Schmidt – sold privately by the author
Writing
I have loved writing blogs over the past year. I definitely stopped writing as frequently and realized the posts are much more meaningful when I actually have something to say.
However, I have definitely missed writing. It’s so soul-soothing for me. I have a thought in the works for how I bring this more about in 2023.
Career
I started off the year, excited to achieve some goals at the sales development company I was hired at in June of 2021, and then due to cash flow problems, they let me go in February 2022. While also telling me they shouldn’t have hired me in the first place as they knew they’d need my salary for buying out a co-founder. Thankfully, I had negotiated a 3-month severance clause in my contract so I had the time and space to take some time to decide what to do next. After being let go while on mat leave from the job that had moved us out to Vancouver Island in 2021, I felt a bit frantic finding a new role. This time I wanted to enjoy some time off, further my education, and find a role that would be great for me and our family.
I decided to educate myself about cryptocurrency during my time in between jobs. I took Cohort 11 of Pomp’s Crypto Academy. After I finished the course, one of Pomp’s coaches shared that the marketing agency that she works for was hiring. I interviewed for a Marketing Director role at Serotonin and the rest is history.
I started in May of 2022 in my new role. After 7 months, I’m really enjoying being in an agency role again. But this time in the world of Web3 and cryptocurrency. I learned a ton during Pomp’s Crypto Course and am constantly learning every day from each of my clients. I’m having fun creating and executing marketing strategies for a variety of clients who are really kind and really smart (which I haven’t been able to say while working for agencies in the past). I get unlimited time off to spend time with my family and a great work/life harmony. It’s a great next role that I was looking for.
Side Hustles
I still love my dōTERRA Business. I was able to build my business during down times in between full-time jobs in 2020 and 2021 and 2022 respectively. After attending dōTERRA’s convention in Salt Lake City for the first time since 2019, I was fully reinvigorated. Especially with the MetaPWR launch. I was able to attract one of my close friends as a business partner this year and I’m really excited to grow our businesses together!
I attempted to re-launch my Autoimmune Thriving program – renamed the Healing program this year. But it didn’t really go anywhere. I had a bit too many things going on at once and tried promoting dōTERRA’s products after the annual convention while launching my Healing program while promoting a 30-day program using the MetaPWR products. I should’ve learned it was just too much.
I mentioned that my husband and I incorporated a business in 2021. We’ve been searching for a piece of land to run the business on since April 2021 and although we’ve put in multiple offers and looked at multiple pieces of land we just haven’t found the right one and don’t want to settle.
Personal Development
I set out on a monthly self-reliance challenge. I feel pretty accomplished in all that I challenged myself in. There are a few skills that I wasn’t able to tackle so I’ll be adding them to my list for 2023 as it’s something I want to continue to challenge myself in.
Got any suggestions for the list next year?
I’m also going to challenge myself in a different way on top of self-reliance. I never lack in finding ways to grow in the personal development space.
Nutrition
I did want to continue to try new nutrient-dense recipes every week and I’m constantly striving to plan new recipes in our meal plan.
After working with a nutritionist this year as well, there were a few key things that I’ve started eating or doing.
Eating breakfast within 30 mins of waking up (a quick protein snack if I’m working out first thing).
Drinking a cup of raw milk every night as a snack before bed.
Eating raw carrot salads to help reduce excess estrogen.
Eating more liver or taking desiccated liver supplements as a source of retinol, b vitamins & copper.
I’ve felt really good in the nutrition department and with how well we eat in our home.
It’s the Monday after remembrance day. We decorated our house for Christmas this past weekend and couldn’t be more excited about the holidays. I am all about creating memories for our young family and anchoring them in with essential oils. Did you know we can anchor memories with scents? That’s why essential oils are such a huge part of how I’m making holiday memories.
Memories are made in a part of the brain called the hippocampus. Memories that are accompanied by external stimuli such as emotions or scents are typically easier to recall. That’s why certain scents can instantly conjure memories and even help you recall additional details.
We ordered Christmas cards to send to our friends and family and I’ll be using this recipe before sending them out.
Should I use Holiday Peace or Holiday Joy?
Holiday Playlists
I’ve created three playlists you can enjoy with your family as well. We played the first one when we were decorating the house for Christmas. I’ll play the next one on Christmas Day when we wake up and open presents around the tree. I’ll play the last one during dinner time with our families in our house.
Recipes
I can’t wait to bake with the babes. It’s definitely a bit of a mess but so worth the cleanup. Here’s an AIP-friendly gingerbread recipe you can use. I would substitute ginger, cinnamon, and vanilla extract for ginger, cinnamon bark, and vanilla absolute essential oil.
I’ll be making the cranberry lime spritzer for Christmas Day lunch. And Apple Cider for Mike and our parents to enjoy after dinner.
Diffuser Blends
Here are three holiday diffuser blends that you can use to create scent memories in your home. I diffused the Holiday diffuser blend while we decorated our tree and home for the holidays. I’ll diffuse Christmas Eve on its day, and the Merry & Bright diffuser blend on Christmas Day.
DIY Recipes
Here are three DIY room spray recipes you can make. You can use these on curtains, couches, towels, pillows, and sheets to create amazing scented memories.
Kid Crafts
Here are three crafts that I can’t wait to make with our twins or organize so our nanny can create some magic with our babes 🙂
I wish you the best this holiday season. I wish you nothing but beautiful memories and having a hand in creating rooms full of love and essential oils 😉
To meal prep or not to meal prep. That is the question at hand. Do you prefer meal prepping in advance of the start of the week or fresh cooking every day?
I used to meal prep religiously every Sunday afternoon or night from around 2009 until 2020. That is 11 years of meal prepping. And then all of a sudden, my husband and I started cooking everything fresh. I’ve started really thinking about what’s best for someone living with an autoimmune disease and I don’t have the be-all-end-all solution for you. However, I’ll share the pros and cons and you can decide what works for you depending on your daily/weekly routine.
Meal Prepping
Meal prepping, means preparing all your food for the week ahead of time. In the past, for me, this included breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as organizing snacks for the week. This worked really well for me because I was working in an office and I would eat breakfast and lunch at my desk and then dinner immediately when I got home or after the gym. I was well nourished and I didn’t end up ordering food too often out of fatigue or laziness.
A Sunday Meal Prep Picture From Year’s Ago
I loved meal prepping. It gave me control, and organization and I was setting myself up for success each day. Meal prepping comes with the need to meal plan. And while I do not currently meal prepping once a week, meal planning hasn’t changed for me. It’s still very key to leading a nourished life.
Many years ago, I discovered a tool called Real Plans and it made meal planning so much simpler. To this day I still use the platform to plan out our meals. The way we prep our meals has just changed. So when did it change and why?
Cooking Fresh
Along came 2020 and like many of you, our routines changed. I was pregnant with our twins, we had just moved across the country and there was a pandemic with lockdowns. When my husband and I moved to Vancouver Island in 2020, we started cooking fresh instead of meal-prepping. I had arrived in Port Alberni at the beginning of January 2020, my husband then drove across the country and landed the day Canada basically went into lockdown in March of 2020. My husband really stepped into the role of chef during this time and would cook our dinners fresh every night. I barely had any energy at the end of a workday to stand up with the weight of the twins in my belly. Leftovers would then become my lunch the next day. And I only really need to prepare a few breakfast meals a week.
There is just something about a freshly cooked meal instead of heating it up in the microwave. Of course, the whole topic of using microwaves is a loaded one. But even just heating up a meal on a stovetop is sometimes less than ideal. I also definitely noticed that in our shift to cooking fresh that we wasted less food. We weren’t throwing out as much food at the end of the week due to spoilage.
Pros And Cons of Meal Prep vs. Cooking Fresh
Here are my pros and cons to meal prepping or cooking fresh…
Pros
Cons
Meal Prepping
– Order Out Less – Save Time & Energy During The Week
– Food Can Spoil If You Don’t Eat It – Doesn’t Always Taste Fresh
Cooking Fresh
– Fresh Food – Flavourful
– Need Time & Energy Daily – End Up Ordering Out When Tired
I remember when I shared my meal-prepping ways on social media one of the many questions I would get over and over again was “Is it safe to eat meat at the end of the week?” I never had an issue but some might.
Regardless of whether your meal prepping or cooking fresh the meal planning part is still an integral part of setting yourself up for success. That way you know what you’re eating every single day and don’t have to take time or energy each day to figure that out.
What Meal Prep Looks Like For Us These Days
We moved back to Ontario in April of 2021 and have found a new routine in our house and as twin parents. I still sit down on Saturday or Sunday to meal plan for the week. I place an online pickup order at our local grocery store and my husband grabs the groceries on Monday morning. While my husband still cooks dinners every night, I’ve also started meal-prepping a few key meals for us. On Monday, I’ll make a key breakfast meal like Maple Sage Breakfast Patties that will last us a few days. Then on Tuesday, I’ll make an Instant Pot soup like AIP Instant Pot Cauliflower Soup that will last us for a few lunches that week. So while I’m still meal prepping, it’s no longer being done on Sunday afternoons or evenings just throughout the week as my work schedule allows.
Do you like meal planning?
Are you busy on Wednesday, October 12th? I’m hosting a Meal Planning Masterclass at 8 pm ET if you’d like to see how I use Real Plans to meal plan.
