200th Post

Okay, wow. 200 posts. A lot has changed since my First Post.

Here is a list of the difference 8 months and 200 posts can make:

- I am down to a range of 123-125 lbs from 136 lbs

- I eat a mainly paleo diet (90-95% of my food is paleo)

- I eat a 99% gluten free diet

- I have maintained my lowest adult weight for so many months now, I believe it is real (I once touched 131 5 years ago, but never really got to linger below 135 for long... 140 was more the norm)

- I am a 46er (hiked NY's 46 tallest mountains)

- I did my first mud run

- I am engaged

- I took my first two week vacation with the love of my life

- My dad died

- I live in my childhood home

- I inherited my dad's dog

- My job ends in December and I can't go back to it (no more traveling for me with the house and the dog)

- I have a summer teaching job: I will be running my OWN class I need to prepare for

Yep!

I think this maybe is the most tumultuous 8 months of my entire life.

And you were all here to witness it!

It's kind of crazy. I wonder why, at this point in my life, at 30 years old, I decided to start a blog. And it just so happened to coincide with the biggest changes in my life (as far as diet, love life, financial life, pets, living situation and family life go). It seems... serendipitous.

This blog has helped me stay sane and focused while some of the best and worst things have happened to me. I am grateful.

My health is so important to me. Feeling strong and proud has translated into all parts of my life... it has allowed me to get through so much, even the current grief and depression I still feel tugging at my heart.

I am also glad for this record of my life.

It has allowed me to see change is possible. That I can do a lot. That I am a capable woman.

I will not fall apart.

My heart is really so full. I have a new appreciation for life: my life, others lives. I want to grab everyone I love and hold them close, experience this life with them, know that all these breaths and all these moments are precious. Because they are. And I am not going to waste a single one of them (by burying myself in food, by being unhealthy/unenergetic/etc, by not participating, by opting out, by isolating myself.... NONE of these will happen again. I choose life).

I love you all. I hope everyone has an amazing Thanksgiving and can see it for what it really is: a chance to share, to be grateful, to let those you love KNOW you love them. Enjoy every smile, every conversation. I know I will.

Namaste. Truly.