Love discomfort

Comfort. Comfort is nice, it rhymes with rice, it is pleasant, it can be cozy, a warm fuzzy feeling. We like comfort, no matter if it’s in the form of “ultra comfort soft toilet paper” or in the form of a a caressing hug from a loved one. Comfort zone is a space which sounds pretty damn awesome, but when applied to life, it can be a war zone for your personal development.

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“Life starts on the other side of your comfort zone”, “Face your fears”, “Place your bed in the snow to grow” – okay, not a real quote so please don’t do that! It can cause some serious problems, but you’ll definitely be way out of your comfort zone. If you do survive the night you’ll have built up a big dose of discipline.

All quotes aside, we know that we need to push ourselves and do scary things to become a better version of ourselves and to learn. But how do we actually do it!? It’s one thing to know what you need to do, but a totally different ball game to actually get down and do it. It’s even harder when it happens to be something that is completely foreign to you, even harder if it scares the poop out of you!

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Biology – Comfort zone is straight up biology. As anything that has to do with us humans we can study it and trace it down to our biology. Why do we like comfort? Well obviously because it’s nice and comfy, but back in the survival days the comfort zone was a safe place to be where you were able to relax with no chance of getting killed.

Optimal anxiety –  Optimal anxiety is like melted butter on toast for ourselves. It’s the stress level just beyond our comfort zone. In this zone, we go ham! We perform our best and are able to whip up greatness. Everything optimal can always be pushed a bit further, and this is when we reach complete anxiety and stress. This is not a place we want to be in! When we experience this kind of stress we turn right around to cuddle up in the comfort of our comfort zones.

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Our zones are not the same size – Every person is different, and so is your level of comfort. You might be able to do things that somebody else have sweaty nightmares about, and the opposite. It’s important to always listen and stay true to yourself when embarking upon a new challenge. If you take on a too big of a challenge too fast, you’ll end up in the blown out anxiety zone and scare yourself to ever challenge yourself again.

Change up your daily routine – Baby steps are still steps. Small changes goes a long way! Change the route you take to work, order something else from your favorite restaurant, go to a new cafe or shop at a different grocery store, do your morning routine in a different order. Small adjustments like these makes you think differently, see new things, explore new things, and make you realize that there’s so many options outside of your little box.

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Say YES – Say yes to more things. Don’t overthink a decision if it’s not a major one and simply go with it. You’ll either figure out that you hate it or you’ll, most likely realize that you love this new experience and get a new zest for life. The most spontaneous things in life are usually the ones we remember and value for a very longtime. Doing more spontaneous and trying out new things will also make your life feel more meaningful, and put a slight pause on the clock. When we get older, sucked into those routines, we all wish that time could slow down a bit. Am I right, or am I right?

Why should you challenge yourself to push your limits?

Reaching your optimal anxiety once in a while will give you confidence, increase you growth and knowledge, enhance productivity, increase your quality of life, and always make sure you are becoming a better version of yourself.

Leaving the comfort of our nests can be scary, but the gains will be as solid as a shiny, oiled up six-pack of abs! Learn to enjoy the unfamiliar, and remember that your comfort zone will always be there waiting for you with open arms.

 

Linnéa KindstromLeave a comment

How to love vegetables

Vegetables. We know how good they are for us, yet we struggle to eat them. Nobody can deny that after eating a tons of veggies you feel superiorly better than after eating a big greasy big mac meal from McDonalds. Still, we tend to go for the greasy maccie. Why? I want to blame biology, because why do we ever want to put the blame on our own poor self control?

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Biology and our evolution has made us prone to prefer sugary, fatty, and high calorie foods. Back in the days when we were living as hunters and gatherers, food everyday wasn’t always a guarantee. To survive we had to store up on high calorie foods to make sure we had some kind of energy source when food was scarce. As we’ve evolved our bodies are still working on this same theory – to crave more calorie, fatty, and sugary foods. The difference – today we don’t need to walk a thousand miles or go starving for three days before we might get another meal.

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We can take a walk down the street and pick up food, or let’s take it to another level, we can sit on our sweet asses and order in take out. Not a single step required. Obviously this has a bad impact on our health, and that’s why we see a rise of obesity and sickness around the world. Not to mention, that the fast food options we have today are far more unhealthy than the fatty food options our ancestors had to choose from. A good source of fat and energy could come form nuts and fruits while we today can chug down an extra large, extra cheese pizza from Pizza Hut and finish off with a pint of Ben and Jerry’s cookie dough ice cream.

So, are we fucked? Is there nothing we can do to learn to love our veggies?! Obviously we can! To our luck, our taste buds are capable to change taste preferences, and our body has the capability to change how certain foods make us feel and crave. It’s just a little learning process.

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Give it time – You know how you have to start making something a routine before it sticks with you forever? Well, the same things goes for loving your veggies. The more we try something, the more we will want it. It takes around 7 tries for us to start liking the taste of certain foods. So man, give veggies 7 chances! For the sake of your health.

Try new things – If you haven’t been a veggie lover you have a whole foreign world to explore. That’s pretty exciting! Try something new every week, and incorporate it within a new recipe. There’s endless possibilities when you try new things! The same goes for your food.

Try new cooking styles – A sweet little carrot. You can devour it raw, boiled, roasted, pureed, baked in cake!! The possibilities are endless. Try out all these different styles and find out which technique you like the most.

Sauce it up – A liquid fountain of joy, that’s what sauces are. They can make anything better! Am I right or am I right? Sauces are also a great way to sneak in veggies from left and right. Thinly grate vegetables into your sauces. You won’t even notice that these nutritious bad boys are in there!

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Think texture – We love foods with texture. When a meal has a perfect mix of textures like crunchy, sweet, spicy, soft, chewy we tend to enjoy it more. The awesome thing about vegetables is that they can perform a variety of textures to any meal depending on the way you prepare it. Make a soft element by pureeing a mix of greens such as spinach and avocado, add it on top of bread and finish off with some raw slices of red bell peppers. Fresh an delicious!

Spice it up – Make it fun, man. Just like any food can taste bland and boring, so will your veggies if you don’t give them a nice spice party. If you like heat, bring on the heat! Saute veggies with loads of spices, or bake them with even more. Spices makes everything nice. That’s a fact, and we all know it.

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I was never a huge veggie lover in my younger days. I could wake up and gulp down cake and kit kat bars from breakfast. Yes, healthy, vegan little Linnéa was a huge, like I’m talking huuuuuge junk food lover!! Cakes, chocolate, McDonalds – that was my life. As I hit my teens I started to incorporate more exercise in my life and I cut down on some sugar and tried to incorporate more healthy foods in my life. Tadaaa! Look at me today. I love, honestly yes, I do loooove fruits and vegetables. I love the way they provide a natural source of water, how they make my skin look, and most importantly – how they make me feel. Trust me, one day you will feel this way to. It’s all about baby steps, and when your baby steps have reached adulthood we will go out on a great veg fest together!

 

Linnéa KindstromLeave a comment

Let go, let God

Stressful times hits us all from time to time. Everything is going left and we are all over the place and lost in a clutter sphere where we can’t seem to find the right grip to pull us through.

When this happens to me, I first of all get a major anxiety rush that comes to visit pretty frequently. Then I try to do everything that I need to do at the same time, while I’m trying to figure out other things that I need to, or should add onto that list. It  all becomes a big mess, I end up not doing anything while feeling like shit, and then the pattern repeats.

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“Let Go, Let God” – a phrase we often associate with reckless behavior and a more proper way of saying “YOLO”. In the case of this post, that is not what I want to say. Please don’t go out and go all crazy, partying until dawn and sniffing up all the bad drugs there are out there. No. Please, do not do this! Ever.

By letting go and let God, or faith take the wheel for a while can be a good refreshing boost to clear your mind. For a couple of days, just forget about everything. You need to focus on mind cleansing activities and just be in the present moment of yourself. After doing this for a few days, you will (trust me) find a way to jump back into your chaos and clean it up.

Now you may ask, how can I just let my shit go when there’s so much going on!? You have to allow yourself to do the right things when you’re clearing your mind. Don’t spend this time locked up in your house feeling sorry for yourself. No lil mamas and papas, you need to get all the positive endorphins going in your brain.

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Shake what yo mama gave ya – Exercising and moving our bodies is a remedy for a lot of things. As I have mentioned before, you don’t need to be doing hard core workouts everyday or aspire to be a body builder. Just move. Take a walk around the block, clear you mind. Get a little sweat on. Exercise is an endorphin booster aka the happy hormones, and we need them during stressful times.

Fuel up RIGHT – When we feel stressed out we tend to turn to junk food to find comfort. Do your best to avoid this to all costs!! A stressed and anxious mind will become even more anxious when nourished with the wrong foods.

Give gratitude – When life feel shitty you might not be in the mood to be grateful for anything. You might not even see things to be grateful for. Let me tell you something, there is always something to be grateful for. Are you breathing today? Do you have a functioning body? Are you waking up in a bed? Have you had food today? Do you have people who love you? Did you arrive safe to work? Are you a sexy piece of ass? Yes, you are. Even though life can feel like a bitch sometimes, life is also a blessing that was given to you at random. Think about that.

What can you change and what can you not – What about your situation do you actually have control over and what are the things that are totally out of your control? Write it down if it helps. When you do know the things you can control, focus on them. The other things you should just take and throw in the trash.

Surround yourself with positive people – People who complain and make you feel shitty you should avoid at all costs during these times. Honestly, you should avoid these people all the time. Spend some quality time with people who are positive and happy, who make you feel good!

Clean out clutter – How we feel in our mind can be a reflection of our home. If you have  a cluttered space, clean it out! Right now! The more mess you have around you the more it subconsciously creates a mess within you.

Be present!!! – You need to be present as f**k. When we are stressed we tend to loose the ability of being in tune with our self. This leads to us missing out on signs and opportunities that life and the universe is giving to us all the time. Life is a sneaky little guy like that.

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Focus on yourself for a few days. Do these things I’ve mentioned above, and let the universe guide you. Allow yourself to give the time to clean out your messy mind and return stronger, more confident, and with the feeling of being in full control over your situation. Trust me, you’ve got this! Go out and freaking kill it!!

Linnéa KindstromLeave a comment