A Check-In:

Yesterday I recorded a podcast with my co-host Raj and our guest Rob Cressy of Bacon Sports Media discussing Brand Awareness.

As some of you know, my background is primarily engineering so my marketing/brand building knowledge is pretty much limited to one year on the job at PepsiCo and what I’ve figured out myself over the past year of developing this blog.

It got some wheels turning and while I left the conversation excited and enthused about the future, it reminded me that there is not only so much work to do but there is so much I need to constantly keep in mind.

That said, in figuring out all of the wonderful things I hope to accomplish with my blog, both personally and professionally, I realized I need to take a minute to retouch on my mission.

When I started this blog, my goal was for it to be part journey part guide on living a more mindful/action oriented life. And by that I don’t mean meditating daily (though kudos if you do) or doing adventurous active things like skydiving (also cool). What I meant by mindful and action-oriented is that I wanted to figure out how to play a more engaged role in my own daily actions. Post 2016 election I felt overwhelmed by the need to do something big and profound. But what I realized was that, for me and for most of you, that isn’t feasible. What is feasible though, is becoming more aware of the small actions in life, namely the brands you support, the products you buy, and how you build a lifestyle around being more aware of your effect on the world.

I’m not always overt in calling this out but I wanted to remind you guys of a few things I have done over the last year that have helped me gain more peace of mind. These are actionable steps that YOU TOO can take to be a more engaged member of society, just with simple daily tasks.

A Few Steps I Have Taken In Building This Lifestyle:

Supporting local farmers and shopping for food more consciously. The biggest thing here for me has been partnering with Imperfect Produce. The box I get every week (of produce that would have otherwise thrown out for being mishapen or ugly or unwanted) accounts for about 80% of all of my produce, sometimes I buy more at Farmers Markets during the summer season or other places that I trust to supplement.
Supporting yoga gear & clothing brands with a mission. This one is tough, I support lots of brands, I shop at tons of different stores and sometimes I am more mindful than other times, so I want to be candid about that. I don’t always have a ton of research before buying stuff but I try to do my best. For me, partnering with YogaClub Box has been an easy way to get yoga clothes that I know come from a company that puts goodness into the world. For every box subscription that YogaClub sells, they donate a yoga class to a kid in an underserved community. Additionally, they do a lot of research before sourcing clothes that are made by companies with similar do-gooder missions.
Meal planning as a way to reduce my carbon footprint & food waste. This one doesn’t have to do with a brand or company, this has to do with planning. Not only did I remove red meat and a lot of dairy from the menu at home due to their impact on the environment (my recipes on the blog) but I have become SO GOOD at re-using tidbits of leftovers or unused vegetables to create new meals. I’ve also become obsessed with my freezer. Where I used to toss out leftovers now I freeze them and am really mindful to go through the freezer every month or so and figure out what I should be using up to make space for new items.
Taking public transportation & walking. I will definitely never pretend to live a lifestyle void of certain indulgences and luxuries that aren’t environmentally friendly (I do use AC and turn on my lights when it’s dark!) however, I try to be mindful about the usage of those things. And I’ve been way more committed to walking and using public transit instead of driving everywhere. Again this may seem small but if we all took these small steps we might get somewhere.
I’ve become a LikeToKnow.It affiliate. Ok so this one is a little out of the theme of above but I want to be transparent about why I am using LikeToKnow.It. As I have chosen for blogging and teaching yoga to be my full-time gig (adios corporate life) I have also said goodbye to the stability of a cushy bi-weekly paycheck, and a girl has gotta earn her keep if ya know what I mean. LikeToKnow.It is a platform that allows bloggers to share the products they love with their community, giving you guys easy access to quickly make purchases based on our recommendations. We, in turn, get a commission. So for me, I really love that this can be a way for me to monetize what I love doing and hopefully over time ensures that I can keep providing you guys with recipes and brand suggestions for also living this lifestyle because I can support myself in doing so. It’s a great way for me to easily point you in the direction of products I have found useful and rely on in my mindful lifestyle so that you can try them out too.

So What Does This Mean Going Forward:

It doesn't mean that anything is changing, all that it means is that I want to work hard to be clear on my intention in everything I share with you guys. Again this is part journey, part guide. As I stumble down my own path and figure things out I hope to share my learnings with you and from you. As far as the type of content I plan to share, that too will largely stay the same although there are some areas that I would love to dive deeper into exploring, keeping this mindful/engaged perspective in mind. Motherhood, for instance, will be a big one with the baby arriving in September. Travel is another area I'd like to explore more, mainly because I believe a big part of being a mindful citizen is being a knowledgeable citizen. Traveling and discovering new places, new cultures, new foods is an amazing way to gain knowledge on other points of view and other ways of life that can, in turn, generate a whole new awareness and perspective for your own lifestyle.

I am grateful and excited to be on this journey with you guys and hope you'll continue to follow along!

A few photos below for more context on the above if you're a visual kinda person :-)