Friday already? You thought you were going to miss out on a TGIF? Noooo way, kiddos! Today we hit the road to come back home, but there are some goodies I wanted to share and since I live for these posts, this post was much in order!

5 posts I’ve bookmarked

I might be busy, but I’m not too busy!

5. “We all have crap, the trick is learning to love it.” I loved this one. It came up via a Facebook friend and I was so glad I clicked on it. This is a post about realizing that you can change your perception of yourself from one that kind of beats yourself up and holds yourself back to one that realizes that you deserve to be awesome. Sounds like a familiar epiphany to many I’ve had — we deserve all the good in the world, we’re all extraordinary, and all that good stuff! Take the time to read this one.

4. Dr. Kreso’s “But you can’t do that” post from earlier this week. He often talks about people who think they’re “special snowflakes” with a special set of rules that don’t apply to them. He tells it to us straight in this one…

“Unfortunately, too many people are attempting to rewrite reality. They think the world is wrong and they are right.”

3. “Why cut processed food” over on 100 days of real food. A fav, and a good way to end the list:

“It just makes plain old sense to fully understand what you are eating, be able to pronounce everything on the list of ingredients (if there is a list), and know exactly where that food comes from…don’t you think?”

2. “Taking the long view” on gokaleo.com. I love love love this blog, her Facebook updates, her tweets. And her approach to health. It took a long time for her to be so awesome, apparently, but the evolution is cool to read about!

1. “Fueling the fire” on health-bent.com. I likes this. I know better than to use mistakes as a reason to slip into a miserable state, but using our shortcomings as fuel to make us better is like learning from them. And not accepting less than our best is a good thing and a healthy thing, so this post got an “Amen to that” from me!

4 things I’m looking forward to at home

4. hugh jass salads

Oh lordy I’ve missed these. I’m in full on crave mode! Get this girl some kale, STAT.

3. my friends and family

I’m with great people, but I miss all the OTHER great people I know!

2. yoga

A girl needs her zen. Or at least this one does!

1. bootcamp

I miss bossing people around. And playing on monkey bars. I can’t wait to get back to this!

3 epiphanies this trip left room for

3. To be a healthy living advocate, you have to be living. I love it when I see a blog that is fully dedicated to food or just to work outs. I know that those people are doing their thing and I shouldn’t rag on them, but I’m going to rag a little. It’s wonderful if you have a six pack or can finish an ironman or do crossfit like a boss, but if you aren’t living, what’s all that health for? I know one thing–I couldn’t get healthy until I started living. I couldn’t be healthy until I was happy. I think we get it backwards a lot and think we’ll be happy when we lose weight or when we finish a marathon or when we do whatever, but it’s the other way around, I think. Be happy now, let healthy follow. It’s easier to be healthy when you’re happy. Health is important, but what’s the point in being healthy if you’re so caught up in living a healthy lifestyle that you aren’t really doing anything fun or exciting or my favourite word, “epic”? Will people care if you could run a 10km race in 45 minutes when you die? 10 years from now? A year from now? A week from now? Sure, pursue your goals with all your passion, but if your biggest priorities are around stats, numbers (weight, etc.), or being perfect, you’re missing the point. We’re not here to live as healthily as possible, we are here to live as much as possible and being healthy just lets us do that!

“There’s lots of people in this world who spend so much time watching their health that they haven’t the time to enjoy it.” ~Josh Billings

2. At the end of it all, we only have our experiences. So if you get the chance to do something cool, do it. If you think you can’t afford a trip because it costs too much, think about the things you waste money on (magazines, coffee, clothes I don’t need, froyo, etc. are big ones for me) and remember that at the end of your life, you can’t take ‘em with you. I remember I was going to ask for a bike instead of my next biking trip. So that would have left me with a fancy road bike but uber boring rides all summer. I think the money was better spent on an experience, don’t you? The rides I did this week are just a precursor to my Rocky Mountain Cycle adventure next month. And having a carbon bike might make me look more legit, but riding my ass up and down mountains and hills actually makes me legit!

1. A lot of people want to make excuses for themselves. They want to justify why they’re lazy and don’t exercise or why they eat like crap or why they hate their bodies. I used to be one of these people and god help me stay a “used to be” instead of reverting back to this. Even with my recovery, I liked to use my ED as an excuse. That’s fine. But if you really want to be the best you can be — fully recovered, at your optimal health, as fit as possible, a superhero, whatever–you have to give up the excuses. You don’t need them. When you learn and figure out your truth and then fully and wholeheartedly commit to being the best you can be, you realize something: there are only reasons, not excuses. There are mistakes, yes–but they’re lessons! So this week I made some mistakes–overdoing it on riding foods on days we weren’t riding, picking at foods that are awesome for quick fuel on my bike but not so ideal for when I’m lounging by a pool, etc., letting some old habits slip in…but those aren’t failures. Those are ways in which I realized what DOESN’T work for me. If I hadn’t done them and felt crappy after, I wuldn’t know. What’s hard to do is to leave it at that–lessons. Not reasons to fall off the healthy wagon. Not a reason to slip all the way back into self-defeating behaviours. I am not one of those people. I can make excuses or I can make reasons. My reasons are these: I want to be the most awesome, epic, wonderful version of me that I can. That comes from trusting my process and loving myself along the way. Reminders included: it’s okay to mess up, asking myself what was really wrong, and reminding myself that even if I came back 10lbs heavier I’d still deserve all the good in the world so long as I was on the right mental wavelength. This one got long, but back to the point: at the end of the day, you’re either trying your hardest and succeeding, trying your hardest and failing and learning from that failure, or you’re selling yourself short. Which one do you want to go to bed with?

2 events I’m looking forward to this weekend

2. Bluewater Triathlon – it’s on my bucket list. I’m not gonna be racing, but I’m going to be swim bike run ing! This was my first tri ever last year so I might as well make a tradition of it!

1. Yoga Shack gives back on Sunday. This is going to be fun — it’s a whole TON of people doing yoga at the arena in London. Come–it’s for charity and it’s so cool! Again, a tradition I might as well make!

1 dose of cheese, reel style

A hefty one — these are my latest additions to the inspiration reel. I’ve not been slacking just ‘cuz I’m on vacay! Enjoy