Monday was the re-launch of All the Healthy Things, and I cannot even begin to say thank you enough for all of your kind words and positive feedback. Knowing that you read my blog is such an amazing and encouraging gift that I don’t take lightly. November 18th made the official anniversary of pushing publish on my very first blog post. Honestly, I can’t even believe how time has flown by. I’ve learned a lot about myself over the past year. I’ve unearthed hidden insecurities and found surprising strengths. Blogging has been a huge form of self-discovery for me, and today I’m sharing what I’ve learned over the past year of sharing on the internet and what to expect from All the Healthy Things in the future. 


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What I’ve Learned

If you’ve been following All the Healthy Things from its inception, you know that it didn’t start out as a healthy living blog. When I started the blog, I was feeling unfulfilled, a little bored, and in need of an outlet. I’d been talking about starting a blog for a while (I actually wrote down “blog/online presence?” as one of my 2016 goals) and it just seemed like the perfect time to finally take the leap. The only problem – I put myself in a box. “I went to law school, I’m supposed to be a lawyer, I can’t start a health + wellness blog!” “What will people think?!” “I just spent all of this money to study law, it should be ALL I care about”, “I’m not a size 4, I don’t have abs, or look like a fitness model – no one will believe me!” “who is going to care what I have to say about health, or food, or anything?!” These were all the thoughts that bombarded me when I thought about taking the plunge and starting a health + wellness blog. So, when I finally did start All the Healthy Things, it was a health law + policy blog that focused on legal and policy issues relating to health. I played it safe. It wasn’t what I really wanted to do, but I felt like it was my only option. 

After publishing a few “Friday Health Roundups” filled with health policy news links (and being bored out of my mind) I finally got up the courage to create the content that was really on my heart. I wanted to create recipes, give health + wellness tips, talk about my faith, and share my personal journey of learning to love my body and live a balanced life. Even though health policy was interesting to me, I knew it wasn’t what I wanted to spend all of my free time focusing on. So, I started small. I shared one recipe, and then another. Finally, I realized that life is too short to be afraid of what people think (as my friend Hanha from Transparency Blog would say – “who cares?!”) and decided to switch the entire direction of my blog. 

This past year I’ve embarked on the challenging process of learning how to manage my time, create meaningful content, and learn as much about blogging as I possibly can. All of that has been easy in comparison to doing the internal work of letting go of comparison, self-doubt, fear, and concern over what people may think of my choices. It’s been tough stuff, but so liberating in the best way. I’ve learned to give myself and others more grace. I’ve learned to focus less on my physical appearance. I’ve learned to be more forgiving towards others and myself. 

When I started blogging, I could have never imagined that it would impact my self-confidence in the way it has. Blogging has taught me to love the sound of my own voice. Not in a vain way that needs to be the center of attention, but in a way that says what you have to offer is valuable, meaningful, and helpful to the world. What I have to say is worth the saying. 

As we approach Thanksgiving, I can’t help but be grateful for all I’ve learned, but even more so, for all of you — to all of you who are reading this now, who’ve commented, messaged me, sent an email, made a recipe, or even just liked a post. This community is incredible and such a gift. So thank you from the bottom of my heart for all of your love. I promise to serve, support, and empower you to live your healthiest happiest life, and I am so very glad you’re here.

 


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What to Expect from All the Healthy Things

 

Content

My main goal for the foreseeable future with All the Healthy Things is to give you as much quality content as possible. Recipes, health + wellness information, lifestyle, and any faith-based posts that God lays on my heart to share. Chavez (my boyfriend) asked me a couple weeks ago what I really wanted to “do” and if I had to distill it down into one phrase it would be, “help people.” As clichè as that may sound, it’s the truth.

Everyone has their own way of helping people. We all have different passions, talents, and skills that the world needs. Over the past year, I’ve realized that helping people live their healthiest lives is my passion. 

Personally, I believe that one of the simplest ways to positively impact your physical, mental, and emotional health is by eating nourishing, nutrient dense foods, moving your body, and engaging in some kind of self care practice. I want to give you helpful content that makes it easy for you to do that. Whether it’s through recipes, grocery lists, health + wellness tips, info on non-toxic beauty products, or posts on ditching comparison and trusting God’s plan for your life, I want All the Healthy Things to be a site that inspires you to live your absolute best life. 

 

Community

I’ll be the first person to tell you that I’m perfectly fine being alone. I’m independent. I’m more introverted than extroverted. I genuinely do not mind spending my weekends all by myself, talking to no one, and binge watching Netflix. For the longest time, I’ve worn my independence as a badge of honor. It’s something that I was proud of, and still am. But, I’m learning that community is important.

Over the past year, I’ve really felt God impressing the importance of community on my heart. I’m learning that it’s good to be able to be alone, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that you always should be. Recently, I’ve tried to do things that foster a greater sense of community in my own life and in the lives of others. Whether it’s coffee with a friend or inviting people over for dinner, I want my life to be an extension of the love God has for others, and I believe that God loves community.

Because this blog is essentially an extension of my real life, I also want it to be a place where community is built and grown. One way I’m aiming to do that is through the All the Healthy Things Tribe. My vision for the Tribe is a place where people can go to share resources, advice, recipes, recommendations, questions, and so much more. It’s also where any notifications, blog updates, and posts will be shared FIRST. Over the next year, I plan to be much more intentional about sharing in the Tribe and engaging with members. I can’t wait to see that community grow! Click here to join the Tribe!

 

Collaboration

Along with building community comes collaboration with other incredible voices in the health + wellness space. There are so many wonderful people and companies out there wanting to share their insight and resources with others and I’m so excited to begin collaborating with them.

This means that you’ll likely see a guest posts here and there and possibly even some sponsored content. Please know that transparency is my top priority. You’ll always know if a post is sponsored, if something is an ad, or if a post contains an affiliate link. Also, rest assured that I will NEVER recommend a product or brand that I don’t personally believe in myself. Affiliate links and sponsored posts keep this blog running and help me bring you more helpful content, but I’ll never do anything at the expense of your loyalty and trust in me. 

 

Consulting

Last, but certainly not least, by this time next year All the Healthy Things will also be the place for you to work with me as a Nutritional Therapy Consultant (NTC)! I begin studying to become a NTC through the Nutritional Therapy Association in February, and I could not be more excited! There will be more on this to come, but for now just know that I am so excited to take my goal of “helping people” one step further and provide 1-on-1 consulting services. In the meantime, I’m here to answer as many nutrition related questions as I possibly can. If you have a question, I’d love to hear it and possibly answer in a future blog post! 

 

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One Comment

  1. Keep up the great work! I have made a ton of your delicious recipes and your blog is one of my go to’s for weekly recipes!!