Healthier Living & New Adventures

I hope everyone had a great holiday season and are looking forward to the new opportunities and adventures that 2012 will bring. I've decided that this is the year I focus on becoming as healthy as possible and I hope you are all trying to incorporate new healthy strategies in your life too.

During my life I have always been a thin person. Even after 7 pregnancies I was thin.  I would lose the pregnancy weight 3 months after each baby was born with absolutely no problem. Then, I became pregnant with twins and experienced morning sickness for the first time. The kind of morning sickness where you feel nauseous unless you are constantly eating. Didn't like that, and didn't like the weight gain that came with it.

Twins are a lot different than singletons. Imagine that! Of course I thought I knew that, but it was more challenging than I thought. I completely felt like a zombie for the first two years of my twins' life. I didn't lose all my weight, and wasn't exercising. So, of course, when the fog finally lifted and the twins were 2 years old, I started exercising and felt great! Then exactly 2 weeks later, I was visiting my son at the Air Force Academy with my family for his birthday and went climbing around the rocks at Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs. What fun we were all having!

Suddenly, I fell, and not wanting to land on the 2 year old I was carrying, I landed HARD on my shin.  OUCH!  Besides the embarrassment it brought it hurt, A LOT! Being the fun mom I try to be, I didn't stop to look at my leg. I just kept going. Climbing rocks, going out to lunch, climbing a few flights of stairs to the motel room, etc.  Of course my leg hurt, but we were visiting my son and I didn't want to ruin it.  Then I ended up in the ER later that night. Well, long story short, I seriously injured my leg and couldn't walk for a long time. It has taken 2 1/2 MORE YEARS to get to the point where I can exercise again.  YAY!!! I can finally exercise and I'm having fun doing it.

I've celebrated little victories. At first, I could only walk around my property 1 time before my leg hurt too much. I just kept going and added laps, a little at a time.  It took 6 months before I could walk 10 laps around.  Six months may seem like a long time, but I did it! I can now do much more.

My point is, if you have challenges in your life, just keep on trying. Even if your progress seems like it going along at a snails' pace. Just keep at it. If you do, who knows what you can accomplish! I couldn't exercise and felt unhealthy, so I decided to tackle other areas of my life to make them healthier. That's when I decided to eliminate as many toxins my family was exposed to. I started to make homemade soap, laundry detergent, cleaning products, etc. We started eating freshly-picked veggies from the garden, and incorporated many other healthy habits into our lives.

Who knows, if I didn't have twins, I may never have tried to make soap. I LOVE making soap and I love being the owner of Bare Body Soaps Organics so that I can share my soap with others. I hope I am helping others to choose healthier options by creating handcrafted soaps from certified organic oils that nourish the skin.

So, make 2012 the year you try new things, eat healthier, start a garden, eliminate toxins in your home, exercise, smile more, and have great adventures!