It’s that time of the year! My personal favorite holiday! Thanksgiving will be here in less than a week! It cannot come soon enough! Thanksgiving, in my opinion, is the best holiday. It’s a time where friends and family come together, enjoy an evening and a meal together, and appreciate one another. And, of course, there’s all of the (amazing!!!!) food. What’s there not to love about this holiday?!

This year, my family has decided that it is my responsibility to cook the turkey. I’m not sure why or how they came to this decision, but it’s been made. I’ve never even cooked a turkey before! So, even though I’m really excited for Thanksgiving, I am also very nervous. I am tasked with cooking the most important dish of the night. I have been doing a ton of research too. I’ll even be cooking a smaller, “”practice turkey”” this weekend so that I know that I can at least do it.

So, yeah, super excited to see everyone and spend the holiday with them, but also very nervous because I want to cook the best turkey possible. To everyone reading this blog post – wish me luck!!!!

Before the pandemic started, I wasn’t really in the best place mentally or physically. I was struggling with where I was at in life (in general) and I had gained a considerable amount of weight over the years, which isn’t great. And then the pandemic started, which made both even worse.

For a long time, I’ve known that I wanted to make a change, and I would try, but I would either half-ass it (clearly not ideal) or I would come up with an excuse on why I would start making changes in my life later. Eventually, enrolling in Oregon State University and working towards a career that I’m interested in did help with my mental health a bit, but there were still issues there and with my weight.

One day at the beginning of this summer, I just woke up and decided it was time. No excuses. Not half-assing it. If I wanted to make a change in my life, it was going to be now. And from that moment, I made drastic changes in my life and I haven’t looked back. I switched to intermittent fasting, I changed my diet to include healthier options, cut out fast food completely, only drink water, and I set a goal for myself – I would run a 5K by the end of September (which I completed!).

I dropped nearly 50 pounds, I run consistently (3x a week), I am much more comfortable in my own body. And those are just the physical benefits – my mental health has dramatically improved as well. I’m just in a way better place now. I haven’t stopped there since then. I’ve set new goals for myself, and I intend to achieve every single one.

Since that day in the summer, my life has changed drastically, for the better. I urge anyone that is reading this who felt even remotely like I did, take care of yourself, treat your mind and your body right, and you will see results. It definitely wasn’t easy but it was so worth it.