Appreciation: The Dying Art

Appreciation: The Dying Art
Free-Thoughts Thursdays
Olivia of KingdomClothing

This compilation of Thursday thoughts seems to be bursting out of me. We live in a world of both instant and constant gratification. We’re therefore a bit lacking in the appreciation department. It sucks. I see it at work, at school in my little kids, at home, in the attitudes of my friends, in relationships, in myself. We’ve become a thankless society. And you know why? Because we never have to live without. We’re never really without anything we need— or even anything we really want. It’s just there. No need to be thankful for something that’s always around, right? That’s the attitude. That saying, “You don’t know what you have until you’ve lost it” is remarkably true and so relevant today. We’re so lost. So wound up in ourselves. No one is thankful just for breath anymore. I’m guilty too; I’m not exempting myself. We’re lost. It’s that inward curvature of the heart. Sometimes I think everything that’s wrong with us can be rooted back to self-centeredness. Pride. Pride kills a lot of things.
Please remember also that this is too true where I live. You may live in a completely different corner of the earth where appreciation and thankfulness are woven into every moment, and that’s wonderful. But not here. Here, it is a dying art. And I miss it.

RAW FOODS UPDATE

RAW JOURNEY’S FUTURE
Raw Foods Mini Journal
Olivia of WangGuk

Okay so here’s what happened:
Last week was tough but really awesome. Originally, I wanted to go entirely raw for a whole month. But today, I was thinking about it and I actually have really loved eating raw this week and last and would like to incorporate in into my forever diet. No, I don’t want to eat raw foods every day of my life starting now and ending forever (I die a little just thinking about that). But what I wanted to gain from this was perspective, and I have. During my thinking today, as I sat at school, munching on carrots and cucumbers as I taught children with snacks I envied, I realized that this wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. Yeah, it can get a little boring if you’re not creative with it and yes, on some days, I constantly felt like I was hungry. But for the most part, I was fine and I actually feel really good.

 

What I’m thinking of doing is eating raw four days a week and for three days a week either eating vegan, pescatarian or vegetarian (which is my staple diet anyway). I kind of like this 4/3 plan because I eat super clean and clear out my system weekly for four whole days and then I can kind of do whatever I want (within reason) on the weekend, or whenever I’ve chosen to have my weekend (sometimes I have a non-traditional weekend, like Sunday-Tuesday).

I also think I may not be raw for an entire month. And before any judgement happens (ha!), I will say I argued with myself a lot about this one. I have a lot of self-control naturally and I know I could do this for a month. So naturally, my mind wants to “win” and not “give up” early. But, I told myself, this whole thing’s point was to gain new perspective and decide on a diet that helps to truly serve my body well, unlike my current eating-like-a-twelve-year-old-boy diet. And I feel like I have already made that decision. I’m not giving up; I’m actually committing to more than I thought I would be in the long-run. This week, I have done my time: I put in the four days (it’s Thursday), and next week, starting Monday, I will be raw again until Friday. And the cycle will repeat itself.

I like it. I’m happy that I experimented with this. Even if I didn’t complete a month, I feel like what I gained is better. At the start of this week (certainly by the end of Monday, holy crap), I would have LAUGHED my head off at the thought of incorporating this type of eating into my forever life. On Monday night, I can vividly remember thinking to myself, “just 27 more days of this shit, Olivia…then you can have Taco Bell.” And now, after a week, I’m thinking to myself, “actually…I like this”— haha a WOLRD of difference in just four days. And that’s how I always am— at first it’s “HOLY COW I HATE THIS” and an hour later, after giving something a legitimate try it’s “alright…not completely horrific…I GUESS.” That’s just me.

So no, I most likely will not be doing an entirely raw month (my original original plan was to just do a week anyhow), but I think on Wednesdays, instead of my “What-I’m-Wearing” post, I’m going to do a “What-I’m-Eating” post, where I include pictures of a raw meal that I like to make and share what’s going on with it (ingredients and how to prepare it…not that there’s much prepping to raw meals…like, you can’t cook it soooo haha PERFECT for friends like me who SUCK at cooking anything!).

In a way, my food updates will continue, but weekly and only on Wednesdays 🙂
Thank you to all who showed me encouragement and interest. You are aamazing and I appreciate you. ❤
#RAWBODY #RAWSTATE