Recently, I got a wake up call. 

I hit my goals hard in 2016, and as a result lost focus on a lot of other daily things. Finding a balance hasn't been easy. Being sick almost constantly on top of it wasn't helpful either. And that's the thing, aside from a handful of times in the past 8 years, I really hadn't been sick. Well, at least not until December of 2015. 

I spent a lot of time visiting my grandpa in the hospital during November 2015 and then the rehabilitation center that December. It seemed as though I started to constantly get sick. First one cold, then another, and a flu, and another cold. By May 2016, when I hit wedding season full force, I had spent the majority of the months before fighting numerous colds and a couple of migraines. Each trip to the doctor resulted in another round of antibiotics, which we all know is not a fun, or healthy thing. (Let's not discuss the time I went to the doctor for a cold and came down with the flu two days later, less than 48 hours before Tonya & Mark's wedding! YIKES!). Along with that, my eating went downhill, and I was existing solely on tacos, pizza, pringles, boxed foods, milk duds and monster energy drinks. Having been the girl who gave up most dairy and all processed foods in 2011 to make her own bread, pizza dough, cake mixes, brownies and pancake mix, this diet wasn't friendly at all. Within a year and a half, I gained 20lbs, and by the end of January I had a migraine that wouldn't cease without heavy doses of pain killers. 

That's when I realized I needed a change. 

If I was going to be top notch and survive wedding season this year, giving my clients the images and experiences they deserved, I needed to change things around! But these changes can't happen overnight. It's impossible for me to wake up one morning and decide, I'm going to do a complete overhaul, without some pretty nasty side effects. I did, however, formulate a plan for my life changes.

I started going back to the chiropractor and allowing myself some major self care without the guilt of taking time or resources from other parts of my life. I set a goal to work out five days a week, even if it's short workouts (which are awesome! Check out Seven for the iPhone. It's a bunch of 7 minute workouts, with the ability to create your own, set a higher number of circuts, etc). Since there are suspected food allergies, I'm ditching gluten, dairy and (eventually) sugar for at least the month of March. This is the hardest part of the whole plan. I'm a carb lover. I love fast food (Seriously, bring me tacos any day, or pizza. I'll eat a whole pizza if given the chance), but the majority of fast food places don't use gluten-free flours or alternative dairy-free cheeses. Bugger. 

I can do this. And by the time wedding season rolls around this year (We start in MAY! Whoop whoop!) I'm going to be feeling a heck of a lot better than I have in the past 12 months! Let's hit it hard!