More than the food on your plate (a personal tribute on World Vegan Day)

Today, November 1st, is World Vegan Day!

To mark the occasion I could share with you more vegan recipes or I could share with you ‘top tips for going vegan’, or even the logistics of making your first foray into a vegan lifestyle… but, to be honest there are already countless posts on these topics around the blogosphere…

So instead, I decided on something a bit different. Something a bit more personal.

I’ve been following a plant-based diet since mid 2012 (this blog started in Aug 2011 and I was already well on the way at that point) so I’m sharing a bit of a ‘behind the scenes’ of my ‘why’ behind making that switch and how my life has changed because of it. It’s a bit ranty and passionate in places, ha ha, but my hope is that it simply offers you a shift in perspective regardless of your own ‘vegan’ standpoint.

P.s you may also enjoy these posts on my gateway to veganism and the link between creativity and a plant-based diet

Over the last few years, I found myself naturally gravitating away from marketing myself as a health coach (which is what my training labeled me- although BTW I loved that course) and more towards my curiosity with life and mindset being the focus of my coaching.

This evolution came about in part, in both my work and personal life, from a sense of frustration in the conversation about food. I see and I hear in the language that people use the fact that we are still so blinkered when it comes to food and nutrition. We count calories, we study macros, we cut carbs, we focus on weight loss. We want more energy and vitality… but in looking for answers so often we're focusing purely on what's on our plates. We listen to our heads over our bodies, we prioritise numbers and statistics and dismiss curiosity and intuition.

This is not an issue specific to food of course. It a society-wide issue, driven by our ‘paint by numbers’ lives.

We live in a society where there is an immediacy of 'action equals reward'. We want a quick fix. We're constantly bombarded with things in the media that promise that quick fix, but we don't see this bigger picture.

We loose the holistic view of food being about so much more than what's on our plate.

I experienced this massive shift, this journey, that's influenced my entire life since 2011 when I first moved towards a plant-based diet. The change came from a nutritional point of view initially as I wanted to feel healthier and I was curious as to what my partner at the time was doing and the benefits he was seeing in his life following a vegan diet.

I made these changes simply led by curiosity, without really knowing what to expect and yet I gained so much more than I could ever have imagined.

It's interesting because when I talk to people about a plant-based vegan diet, they often fixate on what they'd be 'missing out on' all the things that they will no longer be able to consume. But to me, that's missing the point because there's so much more to gain beyond the food on your plate.

The changes you feel in your body, in your mind, in your spiritual connection to yourself, in the wider universe beyond yourself, if you're open to thinking that far, is just immeasurable. This idea of not being able to eat certain foods just becomes irrelevant in the bigger scheme of things.

I also want to draw attention to the idea of 'loss'. Often, when we initially cut something out, we crave it, we miss it, we are very aware of what we're no longer having. Yet within days and weeks those thoughts and feelings quickly subside. I don't wake up in the morning and think, “oh no, I can't have meat or cheese again today". It's just a non-issue now. I don't even consider it because my life is about so much more than that.

All the things that have been created through making these nutritional changes, are just immeasurable. I had always struggled to put this into words, these deep feelings inside I struggled to share, but now as I'm pulling together the content for my book, I'm finding I'm able to tap into this space much more deeply. And finally the words are coming through for me around the truth that food is just the tip of the iceberg.

What we choose to put in our mouth is literally the tip of the iceberg is it's one percent of the story if you like. I think it's the tangibility as well. Food is a very 'physical' thing on a basic level. We can 'see' what we're eating. We know that if we eat less calories we'll lose weight and it's so easy to fixate on this 'first base' if you like, this initial action and reward state.

But that misses the whole point in my mind. When we make these changes, we align ourselves with the opportunity to live our very best life because when we change what we eat, when we largely cut out refined foods, when we reduce animal products and focus on 'live' foods, and a wholefood plant-based diet, it shifts our entire relationship within ourselves.

We have more space in our minds. We have this clarity of thought, more energy in our bodies and our perception of life totally shifts. When you question the food on your plate, and by that I mean the way we've been taught to eat over the years and the generations passed down before us, the way that the media portray nutrition and all the messages that are thrown our way every second of every day, when we question those things and we step away from them, we allow ourselves to question the fundamentals of our lives, the things we'd unconsciously assumed were just 'the ways it is'.

When we question everything that we've been taught, that we've been conditioned to believe. Everything that society expects of us, we can make a different choice. We can question those things and ask ourselves:

"Okay, so what else is now possible"?
"What other options have I got that I couldn’t see before?"
"What do I really want from my life?"
"How do I want to show up?"
"What is MY truth?"

And through making these changes, initiated by the choice of foods we put into our mouths, we are stepping up and saying:

I choose to do things differently.

I choose to do things my way.

I choose to connect with my body and with the world and step away from the norms and expectations.

This is so incredibly empowering. This is massive statement of intent.

So many people I've spoken to who've made these kinds of shifts, talk about how empowering that was for their own sense of self-confidence. That sense of self-connection, their self-expression, that sense of permission to doing things differently. That way of being ripples out into every other aspect of your life. So this is what I mean when I say ''food is the gateway to your optimal self’, because it's the gateway to living life on your own terms and that is what I'm so deeply passionate about.

The physical, the mental, the spiritual, the emotional, all those changes that take place when you shift your diet (and in my research and experience it is dramatically enhanced when you shift towards a more fully plant-based vegan diet) are incredible. It goes way beyond anything you could likely imagine because until you start experiencing those changes for yourself, it's very difficult to conceptualise and put into words, which the struggle I've had over these last few years.

So often have I sat with, ‘How do I share this experience, one that I am so passionate about sharing and supporting people through, using mere words?’

For now, I simply want you to understand that it's about so much more than the food on your plate, and I also encourage your curiosity and intrigue, because when you question one thing, the flood gates open and you question everything else you thought you knew.

Then the game changes.

What becomes possible in your life when you make that shift?

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2018 end of year review

My end of year review is an ‘emotional space creator’, a calling in what has come and gone, what I have created and what I have left behind, what has fired me up and broken me down what has shifted and evolved with me.

I first captured it's essence on a small piece of paper then burned it in the solstice fire to make make way for 2019.

This blog was originally captured as an audio note. If you would like to listen to the full, unfiltered version you can do so below (it’s 20 minutes long). It embodies the energy of the moment, and of the original essence of my reflection. That said, this written post itself contains minimal editing from the original.

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My end of year review comes form an emotional place. Not a place of fact and figures as I have seen in so many other entrepreneurs reviews. This is the place that feels most true for me right now. The facts and figures whilst important and rewire my acknowledgement, don't hold most meaning for me in tis moment.

There were two big driving forces that were most meaningful for me this year, both were in my personal life but that created powerful ripples in all areas of my life and business.

My relationship.

My house move.

First, I met my love in January after seven years of being on my own. Last New Year I put the message that I was open and ready for love out in the universe and later in January itself I met him.

It was an intensely beautiful relationship at first but slowly the cracks began to show. I realised then that I hadn't created strong boundaries and I hadn't called in what was truly important to me deep down. I wasn't living in full alignment with who I needed to be. Whilst there was a still a lot of deep love there on both sides, there were insurmountable cracks that were exacerbated by dramas unfolding in his world and frustrations that I felt were being repressed and not addressed.

I look back and smile now as I understand relationships are always our mirror.

What was I not addressing?

So from some time September though to November we took a careful and steady decision to create some physical space which ultimately have the conversation that would end it all.

It was incredibly painful at times, as I struggled to let go of the desire for him being 'the one'. Yet, it has taught me a lot about what it is I truly need in a relationship, not just what I think I want, and also where I am willing to compromise and where I am not.

Another big driving force this year for me has been my house move.

I have lived in the same house, on and off over the last 28 years (aside from university and short stints with partners) but I had always gravitated back to the family home. It was my rock. On some levels it served me powerfully, but on other levels it really held me back and I knew it. But I felt caught in the spiral. It was a comfort zone that I struggled to break away from.

The decision was made for me. In late September the house was sold. The family home, the place that I had called home for almost 28 years no matter where I was in the world, no longer existed.

That created all kinds of shifts within me energetically. It also coincided with the difficult conversations within my relationship. It was the beginning of the end at that point. A very powerful time.

These things have challenged me in so many ways, they pushed me into discomfort when I have needed to gown but haven't felt ready. In amongst this turbulence, I noticed so much space open up with in me. Space for new ideas to be born. .

So what else has this year brought to light...

It has shown a powerful evolution in my coaching business, it has shown me moving away from nutrition into the realms of vulnerability and authenticity at a level of depth and clarity I hadn't previously explored.

It has seen me 'create' more... more crafts, products, workshops, services. Creation is incredibly important to me, BUT I also notice that sometimes when I create it can be an act of procrastination from not taking action on following through of those creations.

It is a comfort zone to create, but to follow through is a whole different ball game and that is the part I have often neglected and overlooked. I have all too easily jumped ship to another 'shiny idea'. I have launched ideas into the world but then allowed them to dissolve a fizzle out without continually pulling in energy to lift them off the grown in the way they deserve to be. That is an acknowledgement on my part, an acknowledgement that needs to change next year.

I launched my bevisible.me website, as a hybrid of design work and coaching. This is something I really feel will springboard next year... and I am really enjoying the combination of design and coaching.

Drawing out stories, storytelling is an incredibly powerfully space that I want to explore much more deeply next year. We all have incredible powerful stories within us, stories that can draw our people into our world. If we can find away to express who we really are though our stories, through out life and our words... it is magic.

This is where I feel as though I am going more and more. Using my voice to help people share their voice.

That is the work that is calling me.

I believe that this understanding has needed the space of my relationship coming and going and the turbulence of energy from my house move to really bring this to the forefront of my life.

This year I also created the I AM group. A private facebook group to show up is the fullness of who we are.

I found myself using the phrase I AM to explore my own territory, to explore the expansiveness of who I was, who I was leaving behind and who I was becoming, with a sense of curiosity and without judgement. It is so easy to judge ourselves and hold expectation, but when I can let that fall away and sit with the pure curiosity of 'who I am', life shifts in exciting new ways.

I also created the I AM postcards just before Christmas, as a way to explore intention setting for the coming year, as a way if honouring how we really are.

Back in October I had a wonderful conversation with a fellow coach. I shared my frustrations of where I was holding myself back, where I was struggling to give myself permission to step into the life that was waiting fo me.

He asked me a simple question: "what would life look like for you you if you gave yourself permission?"

My immediate unfiltered answer was; "I would get to experience ALL of me."

Even as I said those words I could feel the power within then. In that moment I realised that to become the best version of ourselves we need to be willing to experience ALL of ourselves, that includes the messy bits and it includes the tough conversation, it includes the bits we want to repress and deny. It's only through being willing to be with these parts of ourselves that we get to experience outsides in all of our truly glory.

So then he reflected back that maybe instead of my signature line "I help people become the best version of themselves", maybe instead I rewrite this to become "I help people experience all of themselves'. It immediately felt aligned. I had been able to connect the dots that that been there all along.

It was the precursor to creating the I AM group. It was the precursor to my realisation that I a story teller, but more than that I create space for other people to tell their stories and truly own them. That's what I want to do more and more of next year.

As I sit here now, I reflect on what else I need to acknowledge this year, what has had less obvious impact on me but is important to acknowledge nonetheless.

One key things is my Wholeplus food business. I joined forces at the very beginning of this with a local gym owner who also has a commercial kitchen. The relationship going forwards with the business has an incredible amount of potential. But progress has been very slow, with nothing really moving forwards and other priorities taking over time and time again.

At times I found this incredibly frustrating, but now I see that maybe that's exactly what needed to be. Maybe the energy there had to slow down and be put on hold so I had the energy to inject into me, my growth, the I AM movement, the evolution of my design work, and also my relationship- because whilst my relationship ultimately broke down it was at first an incredible rich and nourishing part of my life with many lessons to be learned.

Next year is a time for growing into the message that has become clear this year.

Now that my message has become clear, my food business also has some space to grow.

I big realisation this year is the I want to become more transient and not fixed to any single location. I have slowly shifted my work, and ultimately my relationship to allow for that transition.

I tested this idea of 'live-work-travel' at the end of this year in Salobrena, Spain and it was a magical experience.

As I let go of the old and allow things to transform into how they can best serve me, I look ahead to committing to myself. Not just creating but committing those creations into action. I also look to building a community because I know deep down this is not just about me. Our stories and our ownership of our lives is a community effort, coming together to express, to share, to acknowledge, to voice our journeys in the presence of others in a safe intimate space is powerful.

So I am holding space for that community. I am committing to my own journey, I am continuing to weave my web as a storyteller, designer and coach, These are the threads that I am pulling together out of everything that has come over the last 12 months and that I am weaving into the tapestry of 2019.

So this is my end of year review. Much longer than I anticipated when I began my reflection process.

Now, I reflect back to you...

What has the year held for you?

What is the essence of what this year was about?

What are the truths that stirred your soul and create the biggest shifts?

What were the biggest teaching points?

What has 2018 meant for you overall?

Once you have a sense of all of these things, how will you bring all of that together as an intention for 2019? If you were to get super clear on that feeling, what does that look life when articulated into words. What is your intention for the year ahead and how will you honour that transition?

Wishing you a wonderful 2019.

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