Healthy Chicks

Do you strive to be a real life version of Superwoman? I don’t blame you; I mean she is pretty darn badass. Why wouldn’t we all want to be just like her?

Oh, that’s right, she’s a fictional character. She has special, magic superpowers. She isn’t real.

If you find yourself suffering from “Superwoman Syndrome” trying to do it all (all of the time), it may be time to take a deep breath, and a step back.

I know I had to the other day. I found that I was putting far too much pressure on myself with work. Old habits were coming back, where I was telling myself things like “You’re not good enough.” “You must keep working harder if you want to be appreciated,” “Saying no makes you weak.”

I know now that’s all a bunch of hogwash, but at the time it felt real and I felt the need to over-deliver, over-achieve, and in turn over-work. I got a big hard dose of reality when I broke down one night, realizing it had been weeks since I had some solid “me time” nor time with my man (the future hubby).

As this time, I reached to … Read More!

To do-lists are great. I won’t lie: I love them.

Grocery lists.

Getting-ready-for-vacation lists.

Wedding lists.

Office lists.

Life lists.

There’s something about checking something off that list – be it asparagus, buying my veil (yippee!), or hitting that deadline – that feels so rewarding.

But do your to-do lists ever 100%, completely stress you out? OK, I won’t lie (really, this time). What I meant to say is I love them most of the time. Waking up to a to-do list a mile long (with 5 different colored pens screaming at you!) can be a little scary. OK, a lot scary.

In comes the HAPPY to-do list. In the morning as you sip your cup o’ tea (or coffee) or whatever feel-good beverage you so choose, take some time to write down all your “stuff” you need to get done for the day, you know, your typical “to dos.” Then after you get it all out (the good, the bad & the ugly) write down 2 to 3 things you’re going to do for yourself. A-hah, there’s a catch!

Just as rewarding as crossing all the things off your to-do list, is the ever so satisfying feeling in knowing … Read More!

{cuddle sesh feet pic!}

I often discuss the importance of self care and making more time for yourself. But almost just as important is making more time for your family. Try as we might to spend ample time with our loved ones, sometimes life just gets in the way. That doesn’t make us a bad person by any means; it actually makes us human.

The beauty of it is that we can always work on improving, on become a better person not only for ourselves but for the people we love most. As my man said last night, “We have our whole lives to grow & improve as people.”

Seeing as though I’m getting married in less than 6 months (eek!) I’ve been thinking a lot about taking care of myself & being the best fiancé I can be. It couldn’t be more fitting that this month’s dare for UnitedHealthCare’s Source4Women campaign is “We Dare You to Spend More Time with Family.”

And what better way to get you to do something than by a good ol’ fashioned DARE? 

To participate, all you have to do is enter here, sharing a picture of you spending time … Read More!

How do you start your day? Take a moment and think about that for a few minutes. Do you rush straight to the coffee pot? Do you check your email on your phone before you even get out of bed? Do you go for a run? Do you hit “snooze” 10 times on your alarm clock?

While I’ve had a pretty solid morning ritual down in the past, I’m not going to lie I haven’t been keeping up with it of late. If I’m being perfectly honest, these past few weeks, I’ve been starting my day with work. And not inner work like meditation or writing, but work work.

There’s nothing wrong with loving the work you do and wanting to jump right into it first thing in the a.m., but if you don’t take the time for your own work (you know, that inner soul work), you’re setting yourself up for disaster. After all, how you begin your day is most likely how the rest of your day is going to pan out.

So if you start by checking your bajillion unread emails (been there!) or rushing to the coffee pot running on empty (totally been there too!), … Read More!

I’m honored to feature a guest post by my lovely friend + yogi Cara Gilman on the blog today. (You may remember her from my “Healthy Chicks in the Community” post a while back.) Aside from being the most genuine, smiley gal I know, she also gives killer advice on mindfulness and looking within your soul to find the answers. I mean, she is a yogi after all!

Today she shares her thoughts on why it’s what is on the inside that matters most. I’ll let Cara take the floor from here.

Growing up we were constantly told to not judge a book by it’s cover. To let go of physical appearances and to look deep within ourselves and others to find love. Even in our yoga practice it can be challenging to not get caught up in the physical appearance of the practice. That’s why it’s essential to remind ourselves that our practice gives us so much more if we open ourselves up to it and let go of self doubt and negativity.

Growing up, I was not the nicest teenager to myself.  I felt so uncomfortable in my physical body that I did not allow myself to … Read More!

Try as we might to keep it all “together” 24/7, sometimes life just gets a little nutty. Whether you’re busy working a full time job you love, chasing your dreams or putting in the hours at a 9-to-5 job you can’t really stand, every now and again we need a little mental breather.

Unfortunately when we lead action-packed work-hard, play-hard lifestyles, one of the first things that tends to go is our self care. You know, that precious time we have with ourselves to feel a little bit more sane, a little bit more you.

This past year, I’ve had nothing but love + luck come into my life including 2 big life events: an engagement, an offer at my “dream job.” While I’ve been full of passion, joy and everything in between, I can’t lie that my self care has been put on the back burner (well maybe not all the way on the back burner, but at least pretty close). When you love the life you are living, it’s easy to forget about the most important person out there, that is yourself.

Heck, I’ll be the first to admit that it can be exhausting trying … Read More!

One of my favorite quotes (& one that I go back to often) is:

“The reason we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind the scenes with everyone else’s highlight reel.”  – Steve Furtick

Think about that for a second, and I mean really truly deeply think about it.

To me, it’s pretty much saying we’d be a whole lot more happy (and confident) if we simply quit comparing so darn much. Take Facebook for example. You’re having a crap day so you decide to go peruse social media (worst decision ever). Within seconds of logging in, you find that Susie just got the job of her dreams, Mary’s about to start her own business (the same business you wished you started 2 years ago), and Lisa lost 15 pounds with that new diet she’s been trying. Oh, and Jane got engaged. Great, well isn’t that just dandy, you think as you pour yourself another glass of red, tears streaming down your face.

But then again what do you expect when you’re comparing your shittiest of shit days to everyone else’s spotlight moments? You’re setting yourself up for the worst.

You see, happiness comes from the inside, … Read More!

As you may have noticed, I’ve been a bit quiet on the blog lately. No, it’s not because I’ve forgotten about you all nor love you any less; rather it has to do with a little pact I made with myself a few weeks ago to LIVE more.

I’ve been blogging a little less & living a little more lately. promise I’ll be back soon. #unplugged #livinglife #gettinginspired

— Rachel Chemerynski (@Healthy_Chicks) February 8, 2014

Don’t get me wrong – I adore blogging & most definitely feel ALIVE & vibrant when I am writing (more on that in a bit). But there’s a fine line between pleasure writing and the feeling of HAVING to write, and I’ve been working on defining that line and setting some boundaries.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this pact to live MORE, and I think it goes back to my initial 2014 intention of making an impact. In order to truly make my mark, I need to stop trying so hard and start living…more.

Living more means stepping back and allowing life to happen, without focusing so much on the how’s, the what’s and the to dos.

Living more means taking … Read More!