Have you ever sat down and just wondered where all of the time went? How did your best friend in the whole wide world, from first through sixth grade, end up being somewhat of an acquaintance by the time Junior High had ended? What about the Junior High best friend? Were they still your best friend in high school? And what about now?
Normally, as we grow older that real friend list (not on Facebook, we're talking real life here) shrinks down and most childhood "best friends" become a "hey how have you been". The good thing is that there are normally those select few who have always been by your side. Those are the ones that you know for a fact will never EVER just be a "hey how are you doing". They will always be the people who you keep in touch with no matter where you end up in the real world.
Now, even though it is easier to keep in touch with people (or maybe just "creep" on them) via social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, blogs, we still do not have that same close knit friendship with most people as we used to. I can proudly say that I, surprisingly, still have a total of 4 best friends who I have known since Elementary School. The crazy part is that these 4 people (who I have known forever) make up pretty much 3/4 of my close knit friends. I am not going to go too much into detail with my own personal statistics on this since they really are not very important. The only thing that I would like to add is that even though I complain about my parents moving me to the middle of no where when I was younger, I am very thankful that I have met these very important people who will forever be a part of my life
I plan on expanding on this topic at a later date. In the meantime, feel free to comment about your own experience with this (if anyone actually reads this that is).
Friday, May 4, 2012
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Reality Check. Eating Disorders. Be aware.
The following is a very personal story.
This is not something that I would normally post for the world to see, but I think it is about time to get serious and talk about it. I am currently doing research and Powerpoint slides for a presentation in my Communication Age class on the topic of eating disorders. While reading an article on this website (http://www.lsu.edu/faculty/jwither/Essays/Health/Anonymous1_Essay.html) by anonymous, I believe that I just had a really scary reality check. I will be the first to tell you that I have THEE WORST body image and self esteem in the world. I am not LARGE by any means, but of course I do not look like the airbrushed/Photoshopped actresses and models that I wish that I could look like. I am never happy with myself and I am so self conscious of my stomach that it is unreal, yet I clearly do nothing about it but eat chocolate, so I have no room to complain.
This article says this, "The same research showed the symptoms of anorexia nervosa as being: refusal to maintain normal body weight, intense fear of gaining weight even when underweight, distorted body image, and three consecutive missed menstrual periods without pregnancy." I read it and immediately thought of myself in high school. Let me show you two photos of me in high school before I go on with this.
I have never really told anyone this (so now I will tell the whole zero people who read my blog), but after 9th grade dance, a few people and myself had went to a place called Valley Dairy to get milkshakes. While we were there, one of the people that I was with had, as a joke, drawn a little round person on a napkin (what immature people that I used to hang out with huh?) and made an arrow pointing to this round person that said 'Arielle' above it. That sounds really really stupid now that I am saying it out loud, but I definitely took it to heart at the time. I took that as a hint that they thought that I was fat. Just a side note to anyone and everyone, do not tell a girl that she is fat, unless she 110% knows that you are kidding (even then it shouldn't be said). Even if she clearly is not "fat" (because I know for a fact that I wasn't) she may not feel this way.
Until just a few moments ago I did not think that I have ever had an "eating disorder" because I had always thought that those were only A: starving yourself, or B: throwing up after eating. And I have never in my life done either of those things.
The bad news is that by the time I got to tenth grade, I looked like I do in these two photos posted above. I was 5'3 and barely pushing 100lbs. I remember working out multiple times a day. The more that I would eat, the more that I would workout. I was in drumline, marching and carrying a heavy drum frequently at practices, football games, and parades, in track, and working out on my own. I remember eating a TON, like bowls and bowls, of breakfast cereal for breakfast, then only taking a baggy full of almonds and an apple for lunch, then I would go home and eat leftovers for dinner after school and then immediately walk on the treadmill for an hour, watching Oprah, to burn it off, instead of eating dinner with my family. Another thing that I did was not eat ANY junk food for an entire year (and if you know me you know that i love my junk food). After that, I would try not to eat much before I went to bed. I had to go to the doctor and get put on "The Pill" when I was fifteen years old because my period stopped after I had lost a decent amount of weight. To add to this, once I started taking the pill I began to suffer from anxiety and panic attacks which is a whole different ball game that we will not get into right now. I now sadly have no womanly chest, most likely because I messed with my growing body during my adolescent/ teen puberty years. Instead, I can actually still fit into little kid bras from the kid section (not cool may I add).
The saddest thing is that during this entire time of being so skinny (and shall I say, gross looking), I thought that I was fat. I do not remember a time in my entire life where I have looked in the mirror and thought to myself, wow, I am skinny".
To end this story, I will say that I cannot believe that it has taken me five years to realize this about myself, but I am happy to say that I no longer have these habits and that I am now a healthy weight for my height and age. It scares me that I am still so worried about being fat to this day. I guess and hope that it will just take time to get over that.
My hope in sharing this story is that at least one girl or boy out there somewhere will read what I have said and done and change their mind about hurting their body. The people on the magazine covers are Photoshopped, the movie stars have personal trainers, and You- you are beautiful just the way you are. Remember, you are alive and healthy so be thankful for that and do not risk harming yourself and taking up unhealthy habits just to be super skinny.
-Arielle
This is not something that I would normally post for the world to see, but I think it is about time to get serious and talk about it. I am currently doing research and Powerpoint slides for a presentation in my Communication Age class on the topic of eating disorders. While reading an article on this website (http://www.lsu.edu/faculty/jwither/Essays/Health/Anonymous1_Essay.html) by anonymous, I believe that I just had a really scary reality check. I will be the first to tell you that I have THEE WORST body image and self esteem in the world. I am not LARGE by any means, but of course I do not look like the airbrushed/Photoshopped actresses and models that I wish that I could look like. I am never happy with myself and I am so self conscious of my stomach that it is unreal, yet I clearly do nothing about it but eat chocolate, so I have no room to complain.
This article says this, "The same research showed the symptoms of anorexia nervosa as being: refusal to maintain normal body weight, intense fear of gaining weight even when underweight, distorted body image, and three consecutive missed menstrual periods without pregnancy." I read it and immediately thought of myself in high school. Let me show you two photos of me in high school before I go on with this.
I have never really told anyone this (so now I will tell the whole zero people who read my blog), but after 9th grade dance, a few people and myself had went to a place called Valley Dairy to get milkshakes. While we were there, one of the people that I was with had, as a joke, drawn a little round person on a napkin (what immature people that I used to hang out with huh?) and made an arrow pointing to this round person that said 'Arielle' above it. That sounds really really stupid now that I am saying it out loud, but I definitely took it to heart at the time. I took that as a hint that they thought that I was fat. Just a side note to anyone and everyone, do not tell a girl that she is fat, unless she 110% knows that you are kidding (even then it shouldn't be said). Even if she clearly is not "fat" (because I know for a fact that I wasn't) she may not feel this way.
Until just a few moments ago I did not think that I have ever had an "eating disorder" because I had always thought that those were only A: starving yourself, or B: throwing up after eating. And I have never in my life done either of those things.
The bad news is that by the time I got to tenth grade, I looked like I do in these two photos posted above. I was 5'3 and barely pushing 100lbs. I remember working out multiple times a day. The more that I would eat, the more that I would workout. I was in drumline, marching and carrying a heavy drum frequently at practices, football games, and parades, in track, and working out on my own. I remember eating a TON, like bowls and bowls, of breakfast cereal for breakfast, then only taking a baggy full of almonds and an apple for lunch, then I would go home and eat leftovers for dinner after school and then immediately walk on the treadmill for an hour, watching Oprah, to burn it off, instead of eating dinner with my family. Another thing that I did was not eat ANY junk food for an entire year (and if you know me you know that i love my junk food). After that, I would try not to eat much before I went to bed. I had to go to the doctor and get put on "The Pill" when I was fifteen years old because my period stopped after I had lost a decent amount of weight. To add to this, once I started taking the pill I began to suffer from anxiety and panic attacks which is a whole different ball game that we will not get into right now. I now sadly have no womanly chest, most likely because I messed with my growing body during my adolescent/ teen puberty years. Instead, I can actually still fit into little kid bras from the kid section (not cool may I add).
The saddest thing is that during this entire time of being so skinny (and shall I say, gross looking), I thought that I was fat. I do not remember a time in my entire life where I have looked in the mirror and thought to myself, wow, I am skinny".
To end this story, I will say that I cannot believe that it has taken me five years to realize this about myself, but I am happy to say that I no longer have these habits and that I am now a healthy weight for my height and age. It scares me that I am still so worried about being fat to this day. I guess and hope that it will just take time to get over that.
My hope in sharing this story is that at least one girl or boy out there somewhere will read what I have said and done and change their mind about hurting their body. The people on the magazine covers are Photoshopped, the movie stars have personal trainers, and You- you are beautiful just the way you are. Remember, you are alive and healthy so be thankful for that and do not risk harming yourself and taking up unhealthy habits just to be super skinny.
-Arielle
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Need Motivation? So did I.
Okay, so I know that having motivation for anything anymore seems tough. There are so many things to do online and if you are like me, you sit here for hours and hours browsing social media sites, clothing stores, and of course...Pinterest, and do not even realize how much time was wasted until its midnight and you wonder what happened to your afternoon. You sit here and tell yourself "one more hour and then I will workout". (That never happens.)
By the time you are done, you have either stuffed your face with anything and everything that you can find while looking at all of the delicious looking cupcakes, cookies, and desserts on Pinterest, pinning them all, in hopes of one day eating them yourself, OR you are drained from staring at the computer screen for hours. I don't know about you, but i have to turn the brightness on my screen the whole way down so I do not acquire a migraine.
The point is, no motivation. So in the past week I have suddenly gained this overwhelming push for myself to be happy with myself. My diet is going great (I passed on my absolute favorite chicken- broccoli- cauliflower- cheesy- garlic-oliveoil topped pizza that my mother makes homemade last night , and settled with a bowl of steamed cauliflower, broccoli, chicken with garlic powder. Let me tell you, that pizza smelled AMAZING, like it was calling my name. But guess what, i survived without eating any of it. And in return I am proud of myself). Main point here is that you can go without unhealthy things and in the long run feel better and more energized. If you don't believe me, try it for yourself.
I would like to compare my recent thoughts on a healthy lifestyle now to something rather odd but it seems to make sense in comparison. (Warning: children stop reading.) Ok. So think about this, you have a yummy piece of chocolate cake with fluffy frosting sitting in front of you that you want really bad after dinner (i do not like chocolate cake, i would rather have ten cookies but i feel like most people have a weakness for chocolate cake so i am using it as my example), when you aren't even really hungry anymore, but just seeing the cake makes you hungry. So, of course you aren't thinking about how you will feel tomorrow once you have inhaled that cake in five seconds flat and pretend that you didn't eat it since you scarfed it down so fast. You will regret it, feel groggy, and wonder why on earth you wanted the stupid cake so bad. My comparison is that you are pretty much having a "one night stand" with your junk food. Think about it. It is SO not worth it. You will feel fifty million times better about yourself if you don't eat the cake. (unless you are the type of person who does not feel this way, then I don't know what to tell you).
So to conclude my motivational rant and rave here. Try it, just once, pass on your favorite junk food and see how great and proud of yourself that you feel afterward. You will not regret it! :) Enjoy your Saturday!
By the time you are done, you have either stuffed your face with anything and everything that you can find while looking at all of the delicious looking cupcakes, cookies, and desserts on Pinterest, pinning them all, in hopes of one day eating them yourself, OR you are drained from staring at the computer screen for hours. I don't know about you, but i have to turn the brightness on my screen the whole way down so I do not acquire a migraine.
The point is, no motivation. So in the past week I have suddenly gained this overwhelming push for myself to be happy with myself. My diet is going great (I passed on my absolute favorite chicken- broccoli- cauliflower- cheesy- garlic-oliveoil topped pizza that my mother makes homemade last night , and settled with a bowl of steamed cauliflower, broccoli, chicken with garlic powder. Let me tell you, that pizza smelled AMAZING, like it was calling my name. But guess what, i survived without eating any of it. And in return I am proud of myself). Main point here is that you can go without unhealthy things and in the long run feel better and more energized. If you don't believe me, try it for yourself.
I would like to compare my recent thoughts on a healthy lifestyle now to something rather odd but it seems to make sense in comparison. (Warning: children stop reading.) Ok. So think about this, you have a yummy piece of chocolate cake with fluffy frosting sitting in front of you that you want really bad after dinner (i do not like chocolate cake, i would rather have ten cookies but i feel like most people have a weakness for chocolate cake so i am using it as my example), when you aren't even really hungry anymore, but just seeing the cake makes you hungry. So, of course you aren't thinking about how you will feel tomorrow once you have inhaled that cake in five seconds flat and pretend that you didn't eat it since you scarfed it down so fast. You will regret it, feel groggy, and wonder why on earth you wanted the stupid cake so bad. My comparison is that you are pretty much having a "one night stand" with your junk food. Think about it. It is SO not worth it. You will feel fifty million times better about yourself if you don't eat the cake. (unless you are the type of person who does not feel this way, then I don't know what to tell you).
So to conclude my motivational rant and rave here. Try it, just once, pass on your favorite junk food and see how great and proud of yourself that you feel afterward. You will not regret it! :) Enjoy your Saturday!
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Impact of Social Media on Companies
http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/How_Mattel_botched_the_call_for_Beautiful_and_Bald_11345.aspx
I read this article (see link above) about a week ago and it really made me think. Social media is taking over the world. Companies need to start jumping on the Facebook and Twitter bandwagon fast or they will be left in the dust. The article pretty much said that Mattel overlooked thousands of customers opinions and requests to make a bald Barbie Doll for young girls who suffer from Cancer related illnesses. I feel as though this is a magnificent idea. It is wonderful and thoughtful yet Mattel disregarded it until it was too late. Another ccompany, the company that makes Bratz Dolls, ended up taking over the idea and making it their own. They will be releasing the dolls, and with every doll purchased, a donation will be made to Cancer Research. I am getting all of this information from the link that I have posted above and I, in no way, shape, or form, researched this particular case. All of the credit goes to Deborah Weinstein who wrote the article, I am just reiterating what I have read.
Regardless, the point here is that companies, especially large companies like Mattel, will no doubt fall very quickly if they do not start taking people's opinions, through social media, seriously. The old ways of businesses are changing and now the consumers have a chance to play a role in their favorite companies. The companies would be a little dense not to take these opinions seriously, because who better to have feedback from than the people who buy your product, right? Companies get FREE ideas and FREE advertising from current and potential customers through social media, it saves them money and time of their own if the consumer's ideas are positive. So, in the end, it is a win win situation, the customers feel good about publicly taking initiative to be a part of their favorite companies, and the companies get ideas and recognition in return. So, if your company is still anti-social media, hop on the bandwagon before "your wagon wheels fall off" and you are stuck in a rut.
I read this article (see link above) about a week ago and it really made me think. Social media is taking over the world. Companies need to start jumping on the Facebook and Twitter bandwagon fast or they will be left in the dust. The article pretty much said that Mattel overlooked thousands of customers opinions and requests to make a bald Barbie Doll for young girls who suffer from Cancer related illnesses. I feel as though this is a magnificent idea. It is wonderful and thoughtful yet Mattel disregarded it until it was too late. Another ccompany, the company that makes Bratz Dolls, ended up taking over the idea and making it their own. They will be releasing the dolls, and with every doll purchased, a donation will be made to Cancer Research. I am getting all of this information from the link that I have posted above and I, in no way, shape, or form, researched this particular case. All of the credit goes to Deborah Weinstein who wrote the article, I am just reiterating what I have read.
Regardless, the point here is that companies, especially large companies like Mattel, will no doubt fall very quickly if they do not start taking people's opinions, through social media, seriously. The old ways of businesses are changing and now the consumers have a chance to play a role in their favorite companies. The companies would be a little dense not to take these opinions seriously, because who better to have feedback from than the people who buy your product, right? Companies get FREE ideas and FREE advertising from current and potential customers through social media, it saves them money and time of their own if the consumer's ideas are positive. So, in the end, it is a win win situation, the customers feel good about publicly taking initiative to be a part of their favorite companies, and the companies get ideas and recognition in return. So, if your company is still anti-social media, hop on the bandwagon before "your wagon wheels fall off" and you are stuck in a rut.
The beginning...
This is my very first blog post EVER. (I do not count Tumblr as a legit blog) I have a lot to learn and a lot to say but for today I am going to start off by talking about a few healthy lifestyle changes happening. And here we go. Well, I started my exercise and diet plan on Monday, for the billionth time, but this time is different, I refuse to cheat. I have officially went on my easter candy binge, eating a one pound dark chocolate peanut butter egg, a decent sized bag of Reese's Pieces, and about ten dark chocolate Hershey's minis in three days. Yes, you heard me, it's not a typo, 72 hours after easter was over the candy was M.I.A. Thank goodness I must have inherited my father's metabolism or I would be 700 lbs by now i know. After my candy binge, I didn't workout for a week. I took a week off before I restarted my TurboFire workout. The reason that I am restarting is because I did it once and didn't eat correctly with it and got no results (except for a bomb bicep if I may say so myself...the right one turned out better than the left one). Regardless, summer is near and I want to be happy with myself, for once I want to be able to wear a swimsuit or crop top and not feel the need to put my arms over my stomach area to cover it up. It will happen. I am determined. Operation happy with my body here I come. I have been allowing myself 1,425 calories per day and I have been trying to break those calories down into 6 small HEALTHY meals. Also i am drinking my 8 glasses of water (which is harder than you would think, and I am one of those people who only drink water and tea already!) I have been using my food and fitness journal to keep track of everything. So here we go. Day three and I feel better already, I will make sure to keep updating my blog with my progress,even though I bet that I will have zero followers, but hey, I am doing this for me and my health, not other people... right? :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)