I’m just a girl, in her mid-twenties, who is passionate about living a holistically healthy life. I am passionate about eating well, exercising and caring for myself. I am passionate about inspiring women to put their health first. I am passionate about teaching people how simple it can be to live healthy. I am passionate about mental health and breaking down the stigma. I’m passionate about yoga and its effect on the mind, body and soul.
A couple of years ago, I didn’t know what I was passionate about. I felt a little lost, without direction, just living. I wasn’t sure what I was truly living for. Once school was over, I had all this time to devote to something but I didn’t know what.
Finding your passion isn’t easy. It requires trial and error, time, and patience. I started my first public blog during my undergraduate degree, where I showcased my personal style through daily outfits. I loved blogging, but I wasn’t passionate about the content. A few years later, I took a hiatus from blogging. During that time, I took it upon myself to really pay attention to what I cared about. That was when I started trying new things.
I’ve always been interested in learning new recipes, so I dove into the world of food. I started out with the Joyous Health cookbook and my interest took off. I started trying new foods, cooking new dinners, and making new recipes myself. My love for cookbooks grew, and so did my passion for food – how it helps our body, and how it heals us. I started accumulating books about these things too. I haven’t read half of what is sitting on my shelf, but every time I look at it I get excited. I know that when I have the few hours to hunker down and commit to a book, I will be reading some good and interesting material.
I stumbled upon my passion for yoga in a slightly different way. After struggling with anxiety for a few months, I decided I needed an outlet to clear my head. I signed up for some yoga classes and quickly noticed how well my mind reacted to it. I will always be an anxious person, but for the first time in months, the intensity lightened. The nights I did yoga were filled with peace and calm. I fell in love quickly and quietly.
My passion for mental health comes from personal experiences. As I mentioned, I live with anxiety. I’ve only realized it recently, and I’m very lucky that it’s manageable. In general, I find talking about it helps; it not only helps me accept and learn, but it helps others relate. Along with my anxiety, I experienced the importance of mental health with a serious ex-boyfriend who struggled with depression and suicidal thoughts. It taught me so much about how fragile the human mind can be, and how the stigma makes people feel so alone in their suffering. I want to break that down and show people that it’s nothing to be ashamed of. It’s life. Life is hard, and sometimes we need help.
Now that I’ve discovered my passions, I blog about all of them. My blog is my outlet – it’s a place of happiness for me. I get so much satisfaction writing about the things I love, and isn’t that the best feeling in the world? Knowing what makes you tick?
Do you know what you are passionate about? If you don’t, that’s okay. Explore. Live. Experience. Try new things. Without trying yoga, I wouldn’t have known how amazing it could be. Without experiencing someone I love struggling with depression, I wouldn’t have realized how much I cared about mental health advocacy. And without picking up a life-changing recipe book, I wouldn’t have discovered my love for food and clean eating.
It takes time, but it’s worth it. Now go out and explore. Find your passion. And most of all, have fun doing it.
