So I’m sitting here drinking my typical grape kombucha after a hectic day of coordinating video shoots and content with Abra. We’re overwhelmed, but sitting here and writing this post has been something I’ve wanted to do for a while so it’s putting me in a wonderful mood.

Lately when I’ve gone onto social media — Instagram in particular — I’ve found myself consumed with this obsession with being healthy, living healthy and eating all things healthy. What do I mean? Well, from the bowls of avocados, and pasture raised eggs to the beautiful and inspirational yoga poses; I find myself wanting to emulate this picture perfect vision of health, not just for all of you but for myself as well. It’s easy to feel like you aren’t doing a good enough job when it comes to your health. Am I right?

And in 2017, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. There’s endless information, ways to access it, people who tell you what to eat or how to eat, when to eat and how to live your best life.

First of all, let’s take a step back and recognize that health is different for everyone and anyone. Being healthy to some means eating paleo, for gym junkies it all begins and ends in the gym, and for others emotional and mental health brings all the clarity one needs. Rarely will you find someone who has all three down to a perfect science.

It’s difficult not to feel worthy enough when you see your favorite blogger exercising and you haven’t drank your morning cup of joe. Or when you see someone post the most beautiful buddha bowl you’ve ever seen full of six different veggies, and then realize you’ve only had brown food all day. And while often all of these pictures and posts can be inspiring to eat better or to get to the gym, I want you to know that you have permission to live your own life, to be inspired but not overwhelmed — because I fear that the overwhelming feeling with not ‘being healthy enough’ leads to eating disorders and dysfunctional relationship with your beautiful soul and body.

Sometimes I feel like others hold me to a high standard when it comes to eating and exercising, but the truth is I’m just living my life (like you!), seeking an everyday balance that makes me feel good on both the inside and out. Trying my best to fit in veggies (admittedly I love them, but don’t eat quite enough), enjoying peanut butter by the spoonful, eating pizza and burgers every so often (cause they’re so good). What I’ve learned through blogging, finding my own unique perspective in the blogging world is that I’m not like anyone else, nor do I strive to be.

And when it comes to your own personal health and wellness, I want you to know that social media is not the idealist or the expectation. What does this mean? It means that social media cannot define what your health looks like or feels like to you personally. Take all the healthy tips and inspiration when you want them, but understand that you create your own personal wellness. Everyone needs something different.

How to find what kind of healthy is right for you:

FEEL INSPIRED. What makes you feel inspired? I’m taking let your soul on fire kind of inspired. Ask yourself this. Write a list of things you LOVE and that makes you feel like a genuinely better human being. Talk a walk. Listen to music and jam out. FEEL GOOD.

CREATE YOUR OWN DEFINITION OF A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE. Take my little wellness exercise below. Find something that feels good for you on your own terms. Commit to exercising, eating healthy and taking care of your mind, but do it on your own terms. Find an exercise that you don’t dread doing, meals that taste delicious and are nourishing for your lifestyle, and always strive to keep your mind active and engaged.

KNOW YOUR FEELINGS. The better you understand how you feel and which emotions you are experiencing, the more we can treat ourselves better. More people have trouble with this than you think.

IDENTIFY YOUR PASSIONS. Do you want to start a blog? Do you want to be a nutritionist? Do you want to help other people in medicine? Do you like talking to people and giving advice? Then what’s stopping you? There’s always going to be an excuse for you to stop living your best life. If you can’t identify what you want, ask people what three qualities they think of when they hear your name. How can you build off those qualities? Take a new class? Try out a new hobby?

ALWAYS BE YOURSELF. THIS IS EVERYTHING. Be yourself! No one is like you in the entire world so just be who you are and strive to be better than you were yesterday (that’s how you grow!).

Now, here’s a little wellness exercise for you:

1.) Sit quietly and connect with yourself. Write down all the things in  your weekly routine that genuinely make you feel like a better person and/or in general, happy. It can be anything: taking a bath, reading a book, going to a workout class, meeting up with friends, etc.

2.) Look at what you’ve written and identify the two or three things that you enjoyed doing the most. Write down how you felt before and after doing those three things. Were you relaxed? Energized? Relieved? Try to be specific.

What you’ve written is usually a good at indicator of the wellness you need in your life. So for example, if you wrote down that you enjoyed going out with your girlfriends for dinner and meeting up with your mom for a walk, you can identify that being social and spending time with others is what your soul is craving (and in general what makes you happy!).

It’s a simple task, but one that I find really effective in identifying what I’m needing for my own personal wellness (outside of social media influences). It varies each week, so try and do this 1x per week to see what you need.

Last week taking a coconut oil and salt bath and doing yoga was something that felt completely nourishing to me (as if I missed it so much). To me, this meant that I really needed some time to myself, for myself, by myself.

The week before that, I really really loved roasting veggies and meal prepping. It felt like such an accomplishment. Meaning that I knew I needed a little bit of nourishing food in my life (and that I needed to make a point to meal prep more often!).

Hopefully you find this exercise interesting and something different. If you have any other ways you identify what kind of wellness you’re needing in your life, let me know!

I hope you loved this little dose of inspiration — as always, I’d love to hear from you. Tell me everything you’re feeling below and any questions you’re dying to ask. I’m here!

Wishing you health & happiness, always. xo!