I can’t believe I’m doing this. Why am I doing this? Because adulting is hard. Like, really hard.
My name is Ali. I’m 30. I’m single. I love my friends and family. I love food. I love my main squeeze – my cat Bella. I have a demanding corporate job and get to deal with people all day. Sometimes this is the best part of my job. Sometimes this is the hardest. Until very recently I was also attempting tertiary study on top of everything else – but after a death in the family and some much needed time interstate with my family, something had to give.
So here I am, time poor and in a constant state of general exhaustion, endeavoring to invest time in this little project. For those playing at home, this design template is called Coherent. I guess we will see. A few more things you need to know; I like to think I’m efficient, but I’m inherently lazy. I will take the short cut, I will procrastinate in a never ending loop, and I will prioritise sleep above everything else in my life. My love of food does not translate to a love of cooking – I derive absolutely no pleasure from it. But let’s go back a step or two.
About 18 months ago my mother underwent a shoulder reconstruction, and for my parents so began a journey of holistic healing and a major overhaul in their diet and lifestyle. I witnessed this journey and the changes they were making – a switch to organic, whole foods – all natural personal and cleaning products – making all their food from scratch – early morning trips to markets – cooking ‘organic bone broth’ over a 36 hour period. Whilst I could see the improvements to their health and healing – the whole thing was just way too hard – or as Kimberly ‘Sweet Brown’ Simpson would say ‘ain’t nobody got time fo’dat’. So I would nod politely when mum lectured me on the benefits of their eating, and ever so casually call my parents ‘dirty hippies’ when it was all getting a bit too much.
And after a number of uneventful months, some more stuff happened. In August my dad was hospitalised with a mystery illness that later revealed itself to be dengue fever. September came with the high that would be my younger brothers wedding, and the low that would be my best friends cancer diagnosis at age 29. November we would celebrate his 30th birthday, closely followed by his first chemo treatment. An average Sunday in early December would see my youngest cousin – having just graduated highschool – hospitalised after a fall, where they discovered a substantial brain tumor. The following Tuesday my mum would trip in her kitchen (getting the Christmas tree out of storage) and break her wrist in four places. This adventure included an overdose on Ketamine, a stay in the cardiac ward, and returning a week later to have metal plates installed.
Christmas rolled around, and so did I. Months of insomnia, emotional stress, no exercise and bad eating resulted in kilos of extra weight I didn’t even care about. But Christmas was closely followed by New Years, and with all the pomp and cliche it deserves, I made a plan. Not only did I make a plan, but I spent New Years day at the Crystal Castle getting all spiritual about it. It’s actually amazing. You should go there.
Whilst the weight was one thing, I just wanted to get healthy. Why were people I cared about getting sick? What could I do to feel better? I could see what my parents had done, but what changes was I realistically going to sustain? Fast forward five months, and I can tell you.
And that brings us to now. A busy, lazy thirty-something, not unlike a lot of other people, who has found some success in striking a balance and simply wanted to share. I’m not an expert, and I don’t profess to be. I can’t even take credit for a lot of the changes I have implemented. There is so much more I could be doing – but this has worked for me, and maybe there is something that will work for you.
AND hopefully I can simply sustain this blog.
Until next time.
lazygirl 