🍂”Fall”ing for change🍁

September was a much anticipated month of transition for my family. A lot of changes were coming our way and I was worried about what the shifts were going to look like for me, and for all of us!

In the 2nd half of the Covid 19 Pandemic my mental health was not good. I was having more “lows” than “highs” in my moods and was really struggling. I couldn’t seem to get out of the “funk” that enveloped me for quite some time. Thankfully I have a fantastic support network of family and good friends so I received the support I needed, and was determined to feel better.

To skip ahead from a very challenging, sad, 1st 6 months of this year, through numerous changes I was able to get myself “leveled” off with respect to my moods. Phew! It was a long, tough haul but it could have been worse I know.

First of all I was going to be returning to my job that I had sadly been not able to do because of the Pandemic. Now, first off, I LOVE my job! I work in a dance studio and I love the people I work with, the kids there, and their families! I wasn’t so much “worried” about going back, but change, and getting back into a routine that I been away from for a while is just challenging for me. I was looking forward to it, but things were going to be very different for me again.

So, as the summer was winding down I started to wonder how I was going to cope with the coming months of major change!

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  1st daughter moving to University

Now that was one of my worries, the next was that my youngest daughter was moving away to go to University! I had never been away from her for more than a full week her entire life! She was excited to go, and I was thrilled that she wanted to; so proud that we had raised a daughter that wanted to learn to be independent, and learn to live on her own!❤️

That being said, I couldn’t imagine the house without her lol! She and I have always been really close and I was worried about how things would be without her around. I mostly worried that she would cope ok with her academics (a perfectionist) and make friends as she was very worried about those aspects the most! I just wanted to know she would be ok.

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2nd daughter moving away.

Alright, now to add another layer, my oldest daughter was ALSO leaving again after being home for 4 months to go back to her University!!!

So, within 1 week my darling husband and I went from being a family of 4 who spent tons of time together, to me going back to work, and both girls moving away!!😲🤪

I need to say one thing here of utmost importance…….my husband Shawn is my absolute best friend and the best dad and loving husband I could have ever dreamed of!❤️ I’m not kidding❤️ I am thankful for having him every single day!

The good thing about Shawn and I is that we have a lot of common interests and hobbies that we do together; we run, bike, walk, visit craft breweries, hike, watch movies to name a few. I have realized over the years how valuable these common interests can be when you are facing living with just each other for the rest of your lives, potentially….I am not oblivious to the fact that kids move back lol🤣.

So, with that what has happened since September began?????

I am feeling FANTASTIC and am loving life!❤️

Our youngest daughter has adjusted very well to living away and has found “her people” ( her words lol!) She has made some really good friends who are proving to be excellent companions and she is very happy. I couldn’t be more relieved!

My older daughter moved into her new townhouse with 5 other girls and is super happy! She has always done well on her own so I was not so much worried for her as I was going to truly miss her!❤️!❤️

Shawn and I have really adjusted well to living alone. We spend less on groceries (but more on schooling lol etc), do less laundry, and have more time with just the 2 of us….oh and my bro who is a big part of our family❤️

Fear of the unknown can be so scary, but being in a good place mentally before I took on the biggest challenges was a huge win for me!

I will be forever thankful to my excellent support system, my self intuition, and my incredible doctor!

That’s is for now! Comments and questions are always welcome!

Happy fall y’all!!🍂🍁😋

Your Simply Susan blog of the day💛🌞

Wanna know something? IF you do read on…..😉

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I just felt the need to write a new blog post today as my life has changed so very much in the past year and a half, and I wanted to share my journey. Basically, the big change in my life started very simply, but it is something that has had a HUGE impact on my life in EVERY aspect!

In January of last 2020 I started Intermittent Fasting, also know as time restricted eating. A very simple explanation of this is that I only changed WHEN I eat, not WHAT I eat; I am already someone who eats 90% of my diet as whole foods, with little fast food or processed meals. I start my eating each day after 12pm and eat what I like between 12 and 7 p.m., but drinking all the water, black coffee/tea, or unflavoured sparkling water I like.

By doing this I am giving my body a chance to digest, heal, and use up what has been stored as fat to fuel my body throughout the day.

Let me be very clear about wording here; Intermittent fasting is a way of life, NOT a diet.

At first, not eating first thing was a little difficult as I felt a bit weak and had headaches, but once my body adjusted to it, which took about 3 weeks, I realized that I don’t NEED to eat first thing as long as I get my nutrients, vitamins, and minerals in my “window”. I am in no way starving myself as many people believe! Starving is a state you have no control over, Fasting is a state you have complete control of.

What people don’t realize is that if we eat every 2 hours to “keep our metabolism going”, “to keep our energy levels up”, “to keep our blood sugar from dipping/crashing” we are actually never giving our bodies a chance to digest and use what is in our bodies already. As long as you have more than 10% body fat as a female (and truly the only females who don’t are highly trained athletes which, let’s be honest, very few of us are) you have enough stored body fat to become a “fat burning machine” every day! If we aren’t using this body fat which is being stored as soon as we eat it, what is the point of it?!?!

My “eating window” as it is referred to by IFers (Intermittent Fasters) started out as 8 hours, but has gone down to 2-4 hours a day usually as I am able to fill my body with enough nutritious food (lots of good healthy fats and proteins, mainly “whole” foods) in a much shorter span of time, and I’m simply not hungry until this time. I no longer revolve my day around meals. I no longer revolve my life around a “grumbling stomach”. Once you start doing this you realize that hunger pains come and go, they don’t just get worse and worse. When your body becomes “fat adapted” which means that it is fueling off of stored fat rather than the quick burning carbs you just put in, you have all the energy you need. I exercise (and those who know me know I am quite intense with my exercise!) in a fasted state 100% of the time and feel incredible; NEVER lack energy. I will never go back to exercising after eatting, but more on this later. When you figure this out and instead realize that drinking water, black tea, or coffee when your stomach makes noises is enough to get you past these “moments” you realize that you have been filling yourself unnecessarily all along.

I am going to leave it at that for my 1st post about this, but I am going to continue this journey with you all for a while now as I have barely scratched the surface of this fantastic new way of life.

I have learned so much and have so many resources to share so leave comments, message me if you want more info now. Otherwise….stay tuned as I am very passionate about this and can’t wait to share more 😁💪🌞

Your Simply Susan tip of the day!

Shine on my friends🌼💛🌞

Spring has Sprung so let’s clear the clutter

I love every new season and what it brings! The change in weather is always exciting; watching those buds start on the trees and in the ground give me immense pleasure!

Another thing I love is putting away the winter gear and clothing and bringing out the spring stuff! SO, this is your perfect opportunity to clear away/donate and organize this stuff!

I like to keep under bed bins for my seasonal clothing, others have a large enough closet to keep everything, and still others have more than one closet where they can store out of season wear.

Starting with your winter clothes, pull them all out and put them on your bed. Now I mean EVERYTHING!

Now, take each piece of clothing and fold it up (or keep it on the hanger if you’re just moving it) and recall the last time you wore it. If you can’t remember put it in a pile for “Questionables”. If you didn’t wear it at all, put it in a “Donate” pile, and if you wore it and love it, put it in a “Keep” pile. Do this one at a time until the pile is gone. After going through all your clothes go back to the “Questionables” and rethink these as a “Keep” or “Donate”. Once this is done, grab a bag, toss in all the “Donate” items and put them in front of your door to go out! This way, the next time you leave the house you will take it with you and actually donate it. Don’t just put it away or store is as this will just lead to clutter somewhere else!

Ok, next I want you to go to your front hallway where all the coats, boots, hats, scarves, mittens etc. are kept. If you don’t already have them, invest in 3 bins to store outdoor winter items: 1 for accessories, 1 for coats, 1 for boots. I want you to do a similar thing here with these items. We accumulate A LOT of winter gear it seems! Not sure why, but we just do (or maybe it’s just my family lol!!) Do we seriously NEED 8 pairs of gloves/mittens, 5 scarves, 15 hats, 4 coats, and 3 pairs of boots??? Maybe a few extras for style and comfort, but we, as a society just like to accumulate “Stuff” so now is a good time to consider doing this differently! Now go through each item separately and put it in the “Donate”, “Keep”, or “Questionables” pile, and then go through the “Questionables” pile as you did above, and put in a bag the donate items, and put this by the front door.

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That’s it! It’s really not as bad as you think it is! Mostly what gets people is the actual ACT of DOING it! Right now, take out your calendar and schedule in a 1 hour time slot (That is all it should take) and DO IT!! Often times when we actual schedule something in we are more likely to ACTUALLY do it!

That was pretty painless if I do say so myself!

Spring has sprung so go for a walk on the next bright day and enjoy the change of season!!!

Your Simply Susan tip of the day 😉🌼🌳

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