Not alone

So now I have a Labrador I consider myself part of the Secret Labrador Society. We all give each other that special wave and that head nod when we pass on our walks and we share tips on how to stop our pups from eating our shoes. We almost seek each other out and take comfort in having a similar interest.

Much the same can be said for my current sugar free self. I spend my evenings online looking at other blogs and Facebook pages that promote a sugar free lifestyle, desperately reassuring myself that my current headache and lethargy is worth it.

I have a rotten cold which I am convinced is half due to Perth’s arctic conditions and the other half due to the fact I can’t snuggle up in bed with a cheesecake to keep warm. Regardless of what’s causing it I remain determined to see this through. The fact alone that I can feel this way simply from cutting something from my diet is reason enough to prove it was never good for me in the first place.

Aside from the above the main struggle for me so far is a lack of variety and fruit. It’s so easy to whip up a nutritious smoothie or fresh juice or make a huge salad with a dash of lemon juice with pieces of mango in. Homemade raw balls call for dates and I’d do some questionable things for a banana pancake right now. But the last thing I want to do is replace my current sugar addiction with an overkill of fruit so I stand true to my word of no sugar at all for the 6 weeks.

And I believe this will pay off for me in the long run and my taste buds will thank me for it. A whole new appreciation for things such as fruit or raw honey are not too far away and I anticipate the processed stuff is not going to have quite the same ring to it anymore…

But above all I am looking forward to being proud of myself for doing this and excited to show people that anyone can do it. You can rid yourself of sugar’s hold and putting in the hard miles, just for a little bit, is truly worth it.

I read an interesting quote the other day that said “If you’re interested, you’ll do what’s convenient. If you’re committed, you’ll do whatever it takes.”

These words couldn’t be closer to the message I hope to give to people. I don’t want to talk about healthy whole-food dishes only to eat a magnum at the weekend. And I don’t want to discuss the importance of making time for yourself only to be going 100 miles an hour myself. I appreciate I can never be perfect but I can strive to be better.

I want to live and breath what I say to others and be about it, not just talk about it.

There’s a reason you go to a hairdresser for your haircut or a riding school for your horse riding lesson. These people ARE THEIR PASSION and I inspire to be my own and in doing so, perhaps inspire you a little bit too…

I have butterflies!!

Eeeeeeeekkk so here it is! My very first blog post! I guess I’d probably best start off with why am I here, why This Pecan Princess?

For as long as I can remember I’ve felt a little bit inadequate, a little bit anxious and a little bit sensitive… I’ve made decisions based on what I don’t necessarily agree with or want to do but what I thought would eventually make me happy.

Then one day on a complete whim I thought, I’m going to move to Australia. I’m going to leave everything and everyone I’ve known for 25 years behind me and go and live over 8000 miles away. I mean why not right?

So after 8 months of planning and saving and boring everyone around me with monthly, weekly and daily count downs, I left. And life was never the same again. In fact it was the most awful it’s ever been for a time.

Do you know what happens when you have nothing and nobody familiar around you? When you don’t even recognise the street you are on and have no one to call and talk to about your day? You start to look at yourself long and hard and start over thinking things and it becomes very apparent (and very quickly too) if there is something you aren’t happy with. Because you literally have nothing else to do but to search within yourself. You aren’t going about your normal routine, rushing around and blocking out thoughts and feelings. For once you can actually hear the noise in your head and you can’t escape it! It’s a scary thing.

But it was the best thing to ever happen to me. It made me face what I had been hiding from for so long. All of these little niggling doubts about the types of people I should be having in my life or the food I was eating because I had been told it was good for me or the lifestyle I should live because that’s what you do when you’re an adult. I was at a cross roads and it was time to start making decisions based on what was best for me…

I started to be kinder to myself, working out because I enjoyed it and trying new forms of exercise which lead to making new friendships. Eating wholesome foods because they actually made me feel good and not because a new diet said I should eat them. I began to form friendships based on people who brought out the best in me and I them and I said goodbye to the people that brought me down instead of holding on to them for fear of feeling like a bitch.

And then one day it hit me – i’m happy! And it was all down to the simplest of changes, so simple in fact I can break it down into one sentence for you:

Treat your body and soul with kindness and happiness is yours for the taking.

That’s it! Just those 14 little words and yet it had taken me 25 years to figure it out.

So why it had taken me so long to realise where I was going wrong? It’s because the everyday noise and bullshit around me had prevented me from waking up to it sooner.

And so, This Pecan Princess was born!

My site is dedicated to promoting a healthy and balanced lifestyle that is maintainable by anyone and everyone. It doesn’t focus on a size or a shape and there is no right and wrong. I am not a personal trainer or a nutritionist and I don’t have a degree in psychology. What I am an expert in though is me. My thoughts, my feelings, my wellbeing and my happiness and if how I live my life can help or inspire even just one other person out there who is just as lost as I was, well then that makes me feel all giddy inside!

So welcome! This is the first of many posts to come, posts about wholesome foods, exercise, positivity, love, friendship and an overall healthy and happy lifestyle that leads to just one thing – your very best you 🙂