The Plan

Hello and thanks for coming to read :). My name is Brittany and I've started this blog mostly in order to hold myself accountable for my goals - I am determined that this is going to be my summer (and hopefully longer) of transformation: of beauty, wellness, and magic.  

As I see it, there are five areas of my existence that need to work together to create the beautiful, passionate, amazing life I want for myself: work, exercise, food and wellness, spirituality, art, and (most importantly) love and connection.

My work revolves around the fact that I am a PhD student in English and Folklore and that definitely takes up a lot of my time - you can read more about all that on my more professional website and blog, linked above. I love it and it's absolutely worth it but that doesn't mean that I should let the rest of the areas slide. Exercise and food/wellness have probably been the areas to suffer the most for me and I want to work on getting back to a healthier lifestyle. I want to work on eating better things, on being more mindful of the environment, on incorporating the aspects of herbalism and alternative medicine I've been reading about for years. I know it's possible and I am making it happen, starting this summer.

The last three areas - spirituality, art, and love/connection are areas that I do tend to give at least a little attention to but I want to dedicate more conscious effort into all three of them to make them even better. Last summer I really focused on spirituality and I am so grateful that I did - my life is so much better for it. I want to continue exploring that side of myself. Love and Connection is simply my name for the area involving spending time with loved ones of all sorts. As far as the Art area goes, I would really like to dedicate more time to the things that I love to do in that area. I want to work on my creative writing, pick up that dusty guitar, work on all the crafts I've been thinking about, and make more jewelry for Ashes of Roses Designs. Another aspect I consider part of my artistic expression is my love of fashion and design - my particular, dark faerie aesthetic that I love so much. 

So, as far as this summer of transformation is concerned, this means that the following things need to be balanced:

I. Work
    a. Candidacy Exam Reading

My PhD candidacy exam is in the fall, which means that this absolutely must take priority as this summer is my only opportunity for getting the bulk of this work done. Luckily it can sometimes be a lot of fun, my reading lists are pretty fantastic :). You can check out my academic interests at my professional website if you want but let's just say it involves much magic!  

    b. Journal Submission Revision
    c. Conference Proposals, Etc. (one down already!)
    d. Book Reviews (2)

II. Exercise
    a. Yoga
    b. Walk/Running
    c. Biking
    d. Gym - strength training, machines, track, etc.

III. Food & Wellness
    a. Fit Meals

Yes, I feel like I should admit (to myself even) that this does mean that I hope to lose weight. Not to conform to some ridiculous societal standard of beauty but rather to become more healthy, to get stronger, to be able to DO more. To look in the mirror and see true beauty, true strength. To have more energy, better concentration and mood, and a better sleep schedule as well. I'm not at a healthy weight for me and I know it - grad school will do that to you. However, I know I can be there again. 

    b. Healthy Snacks
    c. Vitamins
    d. Appropriate amounts of sleep

Some of you may know that I've struggled with this in various ways over the past couple years and it's only recently been getting better. I want to continue this trend!

IV. Spirituality
    a. Meditation
    b. Growth - Journaling, Reading, etc.
    c. Practice

IV. Art
    a. Creative Writing
    b. Guitar
    c. Crafts - Jewelry Making, etc.
    d. Fashion & Design

V. Love and Connection
    a. Giving, Quality Time with Family, Friends, Boyfriend
    b. Time with Animals
    c. Time in/with Nature
    d. Being True to Myself and My Own Happiness

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Easier said than done, right? Okay, so here's the plan:

Monday-Friday:

• Wake up at 6AM
• Have a mindful morning and get dressed with intention
• Work (as much like a normal job as possible, leave the house)
• Eat healthy meals and snacks
• Do at least one exercise related thing every day
• Do at least one spirituality AND/OR art thing every day
• Be in bed By 11PM at the latest

And, of course, everyday be kind, be kind, be kind and make the love in my life the best it can be.

[Weekends are "off" but I'm going to try to still be good!]

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That actually sounds... doable, no? I think so. And that's why I'm going to hold myself accountable for it using this blog. I'll post about my progress, my inspirations, my setbacks, my style, the beauty and magic I find in my world, and more. I'll obviously still have my "official" blog for school and writing stuff but I feel like it's probably a good idea to keep a separate space for this :).  

The plan officially starts Monday June 2nd, 2014 - today! I'm hopefully on the right track already - I went for a walk last night and made myself a delicious salad. I wasn't able to get up at 6AM this morning but I made it by around 8AM and figure that that's something I'm going to have to get used to again - I was doing pretty well with it last semester (and it was really great!) but I went home for a while and sadly got out of the habit. I had a delicious, healthy breakfast and morning with my boyfriend, worked on putting the finishing touches on this blog, and am now going to go on a walk and find a new place to get some reading done. Wish me luck! :).