My month without Facebook and Instagram

September was my month to live without Facebook and Instagram. The replacement habit I chose was to surf veterinary websites whenever I had the urge to use social media. This is what happened...

I primarily connect to social media by use of my smart phone; so, I started out the month by deleting the Facebook and Instagram apps on my phone and turning off all notifications on my Ipad. This minimized my desire to stay connected and made my experiment a lot easier than I had expected it to be. By the end of the first week, I realized that I hadn't thought about checking in to see what was new on social media even once. That was already a huge accomplishment for me considering I used to spend about a half hour a day keeping up to date with my friends on the sites. The whole month I felt like I was a much more present person. At home, I used the extra time to brush up on my veterinary knowledge, stretch or do yoga before work and snuggle with Scramble and Pixel (my dog and cat) more. Whenever I was out somewhere and had a little bit of downtime I found myself taking in my environment and exploring my thoughts, rather than mindlessly scanning the Facebook news feed. I also wasn't concerned with immediately uploading pictures of the things that I was doing to Instragram or checking in somewhere that I had been on Facebook.

This really could not have been a better month to take a break from social media. On September 19th, my boyfriend asked me to be his wife and I was so happy to not have a sudden urge to post a ring pic or update my relationship status. We had the best weekend together as a newly engaged couple, free from the distractions of the outside world. Throughout the entire month of September, I signed into my Facebook account once and remained off Instragram completely. The single login was because the scheduling at my job is entirely done through Facebook, so my need to make a time off request meant that I was going to have to log on. Luckily, my fiance (that still sounds so weird!) was home and the easiest way for me to avoid a slip up was to have him sign in to my account and make the request for me.

I thought this month's experiment was a wonderful reminder to not allow social media to consume so much of my life. A half hour a day adds up greatly over time and this is time I will never get back. That doesn't mean that I think social media is pointless, a waste of time or that I will never utilize it again. It really is a great tool that allows you to stay connected with people more frequently than your life would otherwise allow you to. In October however, I will proceed with much greater moderation and take more frequent breaks from social media.

I challenge you to take a month, a week, a weekend or even a day to breathe without social media constantly hanging around. 

Stay tuned for October's post about my month of living without buying new things.

My month of living without dessert

August was my month to live without dessert. The replacement habit I chose was to consume fruit. My goal for this month was to replace all of my cravings for dessert with fruit. This is what happened...

Let me start off by saying, I knew this month would be a complete challenge. My friends and I had a camping trip scheduled August 1st through the 3rd and I made the decision to put aside my experiment for the weekend to allow myself to enjoy a few smores.  Probably not the best start, but so worth it! We took full advantage of our surroundings at the Andrew Molera campsite in Big Sur and it was a very exhausting weekend. When my boyfriend and I got home, one of the first things I suggested (after a shower) was a trip to Yogurtland. My cup in no way consisted of plain non-fat frozen yogurt, so you could definitely consider this a slip up. At the very least, I only added fresh strawberries and almond shavings as toppings. After that venture, I realized I needed to practice a little more self control and get back on track with my experiment. The next day, I headed out to Safeway and picked up some frozen fruit bars to keep me cool on those hot August nights and a variety of fresh fruit including: strawberries, raspberries, peaches, bananas and avocados. I snacked on the peaches after lunch to fulfill my craving for sweets and I added the avocado to my dinnertime meals to make them more satisfying. However, my mad cravings for a real dessert worthy treat did not stop there. At my hospital, there's almost always an ample display of sweets generously provided by a co-worker, client or vendor. This is appreciated because there's usually a certain part of the day when things get a little overwhelming and somewhat hectic and everyone flocks toward the break room for an energizing sugar boost. While trying my best to avoid the tempting sweets this month, I kept hoping that no one would bring in anything too desirable. Unfortunately, there was an assortment of candy and bundt cakes I had to work very hard to resist. It was ultimately the warm chocolate chip cookies and churros that got the best of me. Then, the best part of this month's experiment happened- my lovely friend introduced me to acai bowls. Acai is a superfruit that I was first exposed to in smoothie form while working at Jamba Juice, but the juice they had been using at the time was really nothing to rave about. The homemade bowls are an entirely different story and the best part is you can customize them to suit your own tastes. The bowls make a filling breakfast or lunch on their own or you can make them in smaller portions to follow a complete meal. This will most certainly become a staple for me. The recipe that I currently use is posted below; however, there are a number of recipes that can be found in a Google search and you can play around with your own as well. The frozen puree can be purchased from whole foods or online in bulk here.

There were a couple of other cheat days that I have yet to mention, but it was my boyfriend's mom and dad's birthday this month and there was no question on whether or not I was going to celebrate with them. Even if that meant eating cherry filled cupcakes and peach cobbler. In the end, I think I definitely saved some money by not going out for ice cream or dessert several times a week. Although, I don't have any desire to repeat this experiment and I'm so pleased that tomorrow is the 1st of September. The boyfriend and I have a Baskin Robbins mint chocolate chip sundae date in about 16 hours. XOXO.

Danielle's Acai Bowl Recipe

1 packet of frozen acai puree

4 oz. almond milk

1 cup frozen mixed berries

(Can add honey for sweetness or peanut butter for extra protein)

Blend into a thick, sorbet like consistency

Pour into a bowl

Serve with fresh sliced bananas and strawberries

Sprinkle granola on top

Enjoy!

*Please share the recipes that you create*

Stay tuned for September's post about my month of living without Facebook and Instagram.

My month of living without eating fast food and dining at restaurants

*April's experiment was not completed. This month's blog is unfinished and will not be updated. The following was written during the first week of April.

April was my month to live without eating fast food and dining at restaurants. The replacement habit I chose was to cook at home. My goal for this month was to discover new recipes and find a way to make cooking at home more enjoyable. This is what happened...

Most, if not all of the cooking I did involved my boyfriend. Which was great because I was already upping the fun factor by cooking with my best friend. We made simple dishes that were quick for after work days and more time consuming meals when we had company over. We had my boyfriend's sister over for dinner and made firecracker chicken with white rice and steamed veggies. For dessert, I prepared simple pistachio pudding parfaits. Both recipes are highly recommended!

This month I learned that it is very important to allow yourself enough time to complete a recipe, usually more than what is suggested. It is also simple to modify recipes by excluding or including different ingredients. Save yourself some time and refer to Pinterest for your cooking needs. There are many references to be utilized here. Do not hesitate to pour yourself a glass or pop open a bottle while you cook. This will most definitely remove a lot of the stress that comes along with cooking. Always make enough for left overs. Enjoy!

May was supposed to be my month of living without texting, but I have decided to put my experiment on hold for the time being and conjure up a blog post about an unfortunate tragedy that has hit my heart quite hard...

My month of living without alcoholic beverages

March was my month to live without alcoholic beverages. The replacement habit I chose was to instead drink tea. My goal for this month was to fulfill my cravings for a cocktail, wine or hard cider with a hot cup of tea. This is what happened...

At the beginning of the month I headed out for the store and purchased a couple boxes of tea that I had never tried before. I chose Celestial Seasonings Fruit Tea Sampler and Sleepytime Vanilla Herbal Tea. The fruit teas had delicious flavor, but were too watered down to taste like anything other than flavored water. (If anyone has any recommendations for an amazing fruit tea, please post in the comments below). The sleepytime vanilla tea tasted good and gave me a relaxing feeling, encouraging a gentle wind down before bed. I also decided that my month of drinking more tea would be the perfect opportunity to finish a teatox that I had tried for a couple of weeks back in January. I purchased the Tiny Tea Teatox online as a 28 day supply, doing the first 2 weeks in January and finishing up the second 2 weeks this month. The tea is supposed to be consumed 3 times a day, 30 minutes prior to eating and was a little too demanding for me to do 28 days consecutively. It has a strong herbal taste that is gentler on the taste buds with a bit of honey and after a few days is very drinkable on its own. The benefits I was looking to get out of the teatox were the improvement of skin clarity, increasing energy levels, increase in blood quality and less painful periods. If you check out their website you will find a lot of other great health benefits in addition to the previously stated that Tiny Tea also provides. I actually became a ton more energized and felt less hungry, which was very sustaining during a long day at work. OK, so I cheated once this month, but let me tell you the circumstances of my imperfection. I came home from a hectic day at work and found my boyfriend had lit up our living room with candles, had a playlist going with my favorite music and was cooking steak and garlic fries. I was given three tasks. One, was to sit down on the couch while he took off my shoes. Two, was to go into the bedroom and change into something nice and comfortable (naturally, I chose a comfy dress). Three, was to relax on the couch and enjoy a glass of red wine with my dinner. I was a little reluctant for my first sip, but then I remembered that my year of living without things was just an experiment for fun. Instead of worrying about breaking this months goal of living without alcoholic beverages, I embraced how amazing my boyfriend had made me feel.

Stay tuned for April's post about my month of living without eating fast food and dining at restaurants.

My month of living without stress

February was my month to live without stress. The replacement habit I chose was to practice meditating and deep breathing. My goal for this month was to utilize these zen habits whenever I was feeling overwhelmed or stressed. This is what happened...

Archery has been my biggest therapy this month. It has been said that nothing clears the troubled mind better than shooting a bow. I couldn't agree more. The combination of being outdoors in nature, hiking amongst the redwood trees in the most beautiful form of silence and focusing all of my concentration on hitting my target is the most wonderful form of stress relief I have yet to experience. Unfortunately, archery is not the type of sport that can be done anywhere or anytime you feel like it. This pushed me to find other ways to live more peacefully and maintain my cool in a stressful situation. The rest of the unnecessary stress elimination habits I acquired are super simple things that were easily added to my everyday life. Deep breathing relieved so much tension from my mind and is a valuable habit that can be used anywhere. My job can be physically demanding and very straining, putting a lot of stress on my body. I started doing stress relieving stretches every morning and found this to significantly reduce pain (along with the use of a heating pad), release a lot of the built up tension on my muscles and joints, and boost my energy level leading to an overall better day at work. Rushing to be somewhere usually leads to a stressful start of my day. By waking up and leaving just 5 minutes early I was able to fully eliminate this stressor. Of course, hitting snooze is a challenge I am still trying to overcome. Waking up earlier also allows for more time to sit and enjoy my breakfast instead of scarfing it down while heading for the door. Eating healthier is a concept I just started focusing more attention on. I don't eat terribly, but I have always been a sucker for fried, greasy, sugary, horrible, yet delicious foods. I started drinking a fruit smoothie for breakfast every morning, snacking on more fruits and veggies during the day and packing a healthier lunch and found this to be a great way to prevent burnout and recharge for the rest of the day.  I look forward to my morning smoothie so much and I'm always eager to try a new recipe! (If you have a favorite, please post it in the comments). I also tried guided sleep meditation for a couple of nights before bed. I usually have no trouble falling asleep and adding these videos didn't necessarily change the time it took me to fall asleep or the quality of sleep that I was having. For this reason, I decided meditation was something that I needed to approach much differently; however, I am still figuring out how I want to do that.

This month I learned that the key to eliminating as much stress from my life as possible is to first identify the things (or people) that activate my stress responses. I tried to make as many small feasible changes to my routine as I could handle and I attempted to separate myself from difficult people enough to make them manageable. I realized that there were a lot of great anti-stress habits that I was already utilizing everyday. One of my personal favorites is getting fresh air during work lunch breaks. Lunch breaks provide an opportunity to step out of a hectic work environment, get some sun, and make a phone call to catch up with someone who you know will contribute to the positivity of your day. If you decide to try any of these habits, I would highly recommend this one be it.

Stay tuned for March's post about my month of living without alcoholic beverages.

My month of living without being a homebody

January was my month to live without being a homebody. The replacement habit I chose was to go out on more local adventures. My goal for this month was to go out and do something at least once each day that I had off from work, even if just for an hour or two. This is what happened...

I finally went to downtown San Jose's 1920's inspired speakeasy bar, 'Singlebarrel'. I have been wanting to check this place out since I turned 21 and I'm glad I finally did. It's an awesome place to catch up with some friends (if you like to actually hear each other's conversation) and to grab a fantastic drink made specifically with your tastes in mind. I went bowling for the first time in 5 years and have since been eager to head back for some black light bowling. I went out to watch a couple Shark's games over dinner and drinks. That included my first time at a less than mediocre Applebee's (only because I had a gift card) and my first time at the very delicious High Five Pizza. I took an archery class and discovered just how easy it would be to make my fantasy of owning and shooting my own bow come true. I then purchased my own recurve bow and took a second archery class. I started going hiking again since living in Monterey and I even went on a few solo hikes and checked out a couple of local hiking spots that I had never been to before, including Rancho San Antonio. I caught up with my friend Sara who I lost touch with several years ago and we made plans to be adventure buddies in the future. I also made a lot of future plans and signed up for some pretty cool events in the months ahead. Adventure awaits!

This month I learned that I've allowed myself to get wrapped up so tight in my own life and it became easy for me to convince myself that I didn't have the time or energy for much else. I didn't exactly meet my goal of going out into the world every day that I had off from work, but who doesn't have a day or two when they just want to snuggle with their furrballs on the couch and watch garbage TV all day. Despite my couple of hiccups I am still very happy with the progress I've made, however; at the end of the day I'm OK with the fact that I enjoy being at home. Home will always be where I am most comfortable. It's where I lay my head at night and therefore it should be a sanctuary, but I am choosing to not be a homebody anymore. I had way more fun spending time with my boyfriend and friends doing simple things outside of home and discovering new things that my city has to offer. This experiment also proved how easy it is to make time for friends and activities that are outside of my normal everyday life with just a little bit of motivation.

Stay tuned for February's post about my month of living without stress.

2014: A year of living without

In the past few months I have started reading +Leo Babauta's blog, Zen Habits. For anyone who is looking for a more peaceful way to approach life, I highly recommend his writings. One post in particular has really caught my interest. "A year of living without"  is an experiment where Mr. Babauta gives up one thing every month and replaces it with something else. At the end of the month he decides whether he wants to put the thing he sacrificed back into his life or continue to live without it. Now if you read his list you will find that the things he has chosen to give up have not negatively effected his life, but the things he has chosen to replace them with have the ability to very simply create a positive impact on his life. I imagine it won't be easy giving up things I have been very accustomed to doing for many years; but, I am only committing myself to being without each sacrifice for one month. In the end I am hoping that this little experiment will allow me to experience new things in life and enjoy the things I have been missing out on. At the end of each month I will blog about my experience. Now for my list...

The 12 things I'll live without in 2014:

1. January: Being a homebody. Anyone who knows me probably knows that I am most content when I am in the comfort of my own home. Sometimes, my boyfriend and I will make plans to go out to see a movie or grab a drink. I usually change into my comfy clothes early and end up convincing myself that it will be way more relaxing to stay in and watch movies with a bottle of wine that we already had at home. Don't get me wrong, this can be just as fun as going out, but this month I intend on going on more local adventures. Replacement habit: Going out into the world more often.
2. February: Stress. These days I don't have a lot to be stressed about in my life, but everyone has their little moments. Instead of carrying on the stress by continuing to talk about it or think about it, I am going to try some simple zen habits to get through it.  Replacement habit: Deep breathing, meditating.
3. March: Alcohol. I'm not a very big drinker, but I do like to have a glass of wine or a margarita out at dinner and I was recently introduced to Angry Orchard hard cider (So Delicious!). This month, I will satisfy these cravings with a hot cup of tea.  Replacement habit: Tea.
4. April: Eating out at restaurants or fast food. My boyfriend and I both work full time and my boyfriend is going to school as well. This makes it very easy to say yes to fast food and to go meals from restaurants several times during the week. This month, I will discover new recipes and find a way to make cooking at home more enjoyable after a long day of work.  Replacement habit: Cooking at home.
5. May: Texting. Texting is super convenient and doesn't have to turn into a long back and forth conversation if you are in the middle of something else or don't have the time. Phone calls usually turn into a longer conversation than they were intended to be and my generation has become so accustomed to texting that calling someone on the phone is oftentimes dreaded. This month, I will only return texts by phone call and I will only call people that I want to get a hold of. Replacement habit: Calling people on the phone.
6. June: Staying in bed late. On a day off, or a day when I don't have work until later in the day, it is really nice to be able to stay in bed and browse the web on my Ipad until well into the afternoon. However, I usually end up feeling more sluggish and lazy throughout the day and guilty for not spending more of my time off with my furry family members. Replacement habit: Spending time with my animals.
7. July: Watching TV and movies. There are a handful of shows that I follow religiously and if any of them are on during the month of July, this will be a hard sacrifice for me to swallow. I also enjoy watching a good movie before bed. This month, I am going to catch up on the books collecting dust on my shelves and enjoy the scents of a few lenders from the library.  Replacement habit: Reading.
8. August: Dessert. Can't live without it! This month may be the hardest of all the months for me. I eat dessert at least once every day. It makes me extremely happy, but it probably wouldn't hurt if I scaled back on it a little. Fruit will be my new dessert in August. Replacement habit: Fruit.
9. September: Facebook and other social media. The idea of being able to stay connected to multiple people through various social media websites is pretty cool. However, for me it is a bit too distracting. The majority of the time I'd rather be brushing up on my veterinary studies, but the Facebook and Instagram icons are just so handily placed on my home screen. This month, I am focusing more of my time on topics that develop my career. Replacement habit: Veterinary websites.
10. October: Buying new things. Who doesn't like having new things? But, who really needs new things? This includes buying household items (other than groceries). This month, I will rummage through my dresser, drawers and closets to find a new home for everything that I am unable to justify a use for anymore. Replacement habit: Donating or selling things that I do not need/use.
11. November: Computer devices (excluding work). This is a big source of procrastination and breaking boredom. There are a ton of interesting things to learn from a solid website, but a lot of random crap is out there as well. This month, I will trade in the internet, computer games and computer apps for a refreshing workout. Replacement habit: Exercise
12. December: Cell phone (except to answer a call or text). One thing I truly despise about a cell phone is its ability to divert one's attention away from the present. This month, I will only use my phone to answer calls and text messages. Otherwise, I will fully engross myself in the present moment. Replacement Habit: Being in the present moment

Here goes nothing 2014...