Hey guys!
Remember me?
For those of you who are new here, thanks for joining me today! I’m happy to have you here.
But for my readers who have been with me since the beginning, you’re probably thinkin’ um, what the heck happened? Where’ve you been?
Since we last spoke, I ran a 10k, finished a huge project that had me writing 2 articles a day, started a new project that has me spending 4-6 hours on one article, changed my plant-based diet a bit (I know, again?!), started a Facebook group and an accountability challenge, opened an eBay store, and recently landed myself in the ER.
Safe to say, a lot has changed.
Because of that, I wanted to share everything that’s happened and what I learned from it all.
Let’s start with that 10k I set out to do.
Here’s What My 10k Taught Me (Hint: It’s Not What You Think)
As I told you in this article, I decided to run a 10k out of the blue.
With about 5 weeks to train, I managed to get it done, but let me tell you.
I did not enjoy it.
Not even the slightest.
This confirmed for me that running doesn’t work well for me.
It makes me hungry, tired, and it wipes me out.
I haven’t ran since.
Here’s the lesson I learned: Do the sh!t that you told yourself you could never do. But don’t be afraid to cross it off your bucket list and never do it again.
Let me explain.
I always hated running.
But after doing some research, I figured out I needed to make a few small tweaks and maybe I’d enjoy it more.
I also picked up trail running and loved every second of that which helped keep me motivated.
I never missed a training session and, I’ll admit, some days I looked forward to it.
Fast forward to race day, and there was just something about it that wasn’t the same for me.
Yes, the energy was awesome and motivating.
And crossing that finish line felt incredible.
But the whole idea of racing just wasn’t for me.
It really took the fun out of it.
But I would have never known that had I never attempted it.
I told myself I couldn’t run so my job was to rewrite the script to see if it was something I’d even want to do.
I tried it. Enjoyed some of it. And now I’m done.
But I’m glad I gave it my all to see if it was something worth doing.
I Went All or Nothing At Work
Over the last four months, my sister and I have pumped out close to 200 articles.
Most days, I was writing two articles per day just to keep up and working weekends.
While it was great to capture the extra revenue, it left me wiped out and exhausted.
Here’s the lesson I learned: It’s important to manage your energy levels in situations like these.
If you’re not giving yourself enough downtime to recharge, you’re going to overwork yourself, send your hormones out of whack, and you’ll head straight for getting sick.
Stretching, yoga, journaling, and consistently working out are all other essentials during this time too.
If you’re not squeezing these things in, your overworked lifestyle is going to catch up with you.
Something has to give.
Unfortunately, for me, that meant writing for Be Happy.
This influx of work left little room for me to keep writing.
And each week that passed where I didn’t get an article out, I felt awful.
But yet more of you signed up for my email list. (Thank you! You guys are awesome)
This made my self-doubt grow.
And I retreated like a turtle into my shell and blamed a busy work schedule on why I couldn’t keep up with writing.
The truth was…
Do The Sh!t That Scares You
I’m cringing writing that heading but it’s really true.
I started paying attention to the things that I made excuses for and the things that I put on the I’ll do tomorrow list.
And the reality was, a good portion of it was stuff I didn’t want to do.
But they were also the exact things I needed to do.
I needed to make time for writing to you guys.
My goal has always been to help 1 person a day and if I don’t write, I can’t do that.
I have to admit though, the bigger my email list grew and the more you guys reached out, the more pressure I felt to be “perfect”. And that whole imposter syndrome crept up.
Here’s the lesson I learned: So I decided to take my own advice and I’m doing something that makes me super uncomfy.
Here it goes…
I’m inviting you to join my private Facebook group.
I want to be able to open up the dialogue and really offer my help to you. So I’m making myself available in that space so you can ask questions, I’ll share some tips and new articles, and we’ll really get to know each other.
If that sounds fun to you, join my private Facebook group.
But that’s not all I’m up to.
I’m also creating a free accountability challenge.
From experience, accountability is one of the hardest things to tackle any time you set a goal.
It’s so easy for us to bail on commitments to ourselves yet when it comes to others, most of us tend to put their needs first and always hold true to commitments.
Well, I want to help you reach your goal by holding you accountable.
Whether you’re trying to start a consistent workout habit or you just need a reminder to meditate, I got you covered.
If this sounds good to you, email me at devan@behappynothangy.com with “I’m in” and let me know what’s holding you back right now. (P.S. If you don’t know, that’s cool. We can figure it out).
I’ll send you an email from there with instructions on what to do.
Moving on, let’s talk about an update on my diet.
How’s the Plant-Based Life Going?
I told you guys in this article that I was giving the plant based diet another try.
And while I gave it a much better attempt, I struggled on so many levels.
First, I hate tofu.
Second, I don’t tolerate carbs well.
Third, for me to get enough protein, it came with a side of carbs. Way too many carbs for me.
So, just like with running, I quickly realized I needed to adjust my “plan”.
Here’s the lesson I learned: We need to stop relying so hard on our “plans.”
Life rarely goes according to plan and if you don’t plan for that, you’re going to be disappointed. Like all. The. Time.
Life will also become a huge let down for you.
My plan was to be plant based, but I needed to adjust it to fit my needs, which is also another lesson here.
When it comes to your diet, you really need to pay attention to what works for you.
In the end, I had to add some animal protein back in to meet my calorie and macro needs. I hope to one day completely eliminate meat, but, for now, it was too exhausting trying to make it work without it.
So I’d say at this point I’m about 85-90% plant-based and only rely on seafood right now as my animal source. Still no cheese, chicken, poultry, or meat.
I Also Opened an eBay Store
Have you ever looked at something in your house and thought I could probably sell this?
But, if you’re like me, you don’t usually follow through.
Well, this time I did and I’m here to share how it went.
Selling my old stuff on eBay has been really easy.
I’m not rolling in the dough (~$130 for a month and a half) or anything but it has been nice to get rid of stuff and actually make some money on it.
I did have a few mistakes when it came to shipping things out but fortunately, everyone was understanding.
It did cost me two sales though.
Here’s the lesson I learned: If you think you have stuff that can sell, try it. What have you got to lose?
You can do the whole thing while watching TV which means you’re not really sacrificing much.
But if you do try it, you need to give it your all and not a half-assed attempt.
Because if you do that, it will all be a waste of time.
Now let’s dive into the ol’ ER visit.
My Trip to the ER
I woke up not feeling right on Tuesday.
I was nauseous out of nowhere and it was so bad that I needed to take an anti-nausea med, which I not only never do, I loathe doing.
It was that bad though.
But once I took that, things seemed to cool off.
That was until the next day.
I woke up feeling hungover despite not drinking.
My head hurt, I was dehydrated, and I was exhausted.
I tossed and turned all night and barely slept.
I knew I had a light workout at the gym so I still trekked in.
That’s when I knew something wasn’t right.
I was dizzy, more nauseous, and light headed.
Fortunately, that stuff was just starting to creep in so I immediately stopped and left.
When I got home, the pain became unbearable.
I was curled over so bad and running to the bathroom every second feeling like I was going to puke.
I’d get the hot and cold sweats and chills and nothing would happen.
I put on a heating pad and within minutes ended up throwing up.
That was my sign to go to the ER.
After every test in the book, I got the same answer I got over the summer when I had the same experience out of nowhere.
In both cases, the doctors said they could see something wasn’t right yet they couldn’t pinpoint what it was.
And my levels weren’t high enough for them to do anything.
So I was stuck. Again.
They basically said it mimicked the symptoms you experience before getting appendicitis.
But it never actually surfaces.
So I go through the exact pains and then slowly but surely it fades away.
This definitely scares me since I never know when this flare ups are going to happen or how to prevent them.
And I definitely don’t want to end up with a bursted appendix, especially since I’m leaving for Columbia in less than two weeks.
Here’s the lesson I learned: I’m still not convinced I’m in the safe zone so I’m keeping an eye on things.
And I’m paying extra close attention to my body so I can tune in and really figure out when something’s off.
I have a weird feeling I’m experiencing a chronic appendicitis that can be easily misdiagnosed and goes unnoticed often.
So, to be safe, I’m not ruling it out yet.
Okay, so that’s my spiel.
Until We Meet Again
Thanks for making it this far!
Before you go, consider joining my Facebook group so we can continue the conversation and start new ones!
And don’t forget, if you want to join my accountability challenge, be sure to email me with “I’m in” to devan@behappynothangry.com.
Thank you for joining me today! Your presence is always appreciated.
– Sending you love
Devan
P.S. I’m still processing the awful events that happened on Valentine’s Day. My heart aches for all of those involved and affected. No one should have to go through that.