A Year of Something New

Thank you to P&G’s Have You Tried This Yet? program and Kroger for sponsoring my writing about trying new things and breaking out of my everyday routine. Click here to find great savings on high-performing P&G products at a Kroger store near you. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity, as I do.

Something new: going to a
ballroom event with my husband

The last 12 months have been full of trying out new things, whether I wanted to or not. I am a person who can be resistant to change—not because change scares me, but because change usually means I have to adjust my routine to relearn something I thought I already knew. But trying new things goes beyond change; it’s stepping into the unknown and taking a risk for better or worse.

Freelancing
The biggest changed that occurred this year was my employment status. I no longer worked for “the man.” I began working for myself. A few years ago, I discovered that people would pay me to write, an activity I enjoyed and already did for free. Opportunities continued to come my way and my client base gradually grew as I continued to freelance part-time. After experiencing endless frustrations and chaos at my full-time job with benefits, I decided the stress was not worth my well-being and made the leap to working for myself full-time.

So far the experience has proven fruitful, despite the nay sayings of a couple people who (still) do not think I have a “real” job. You can do what you love for a living if you are determined to make it work and allow the doors open.

Going Gluten-Free
After experiencing migraines so painful that no treatments seemed to help (not even the strongest pain medications the ER doctors would give me) for over a decade, I had a revelation. I had always had an intolerance to whole wheat and decided to experiment with cutting wheat and gluten products out of my diet all together. After a few weeks, the migraines went away. Just to make sure it was wheat being a brain-bully, I had one slice of bread from a bread basket at a restaurant. I paid for it, but was elated. After years of taking sickening painkillers that sometimes worked, all I had to do was not eat wheat—easier said than done.

At first, I felt like I was missing out on all the good food: pasta, sandwiches, pizza, desserts, favorite cereals and cookies. Oh, the sadness I experienced walking by a bakery selling an éclair with my name on it, but I knew the pain was not worth the culinary pleasure. To my delight, the market has increased its choices of gluten-free products that taste good. When I first went gluten-free, it seemed like all the breads and mixes tasted like they had sand in them…everything was horribly gritty and tasteless. Now, however, there are brownie and cake mixes that taste like the “real” deal, pancake and bread mixes that lost the grit, sandwich bread that makes me excited to eat a PBJ and so on. The best thing is that I can access all of these foods at a local supermarket. I no longer have to make the 30-minute trip to a specialty food store so I can find something to eat.

Other new things I tried this year include losing 30 lbs. (successfully), a new hobby (origami) and dealing with family illness. A new experience or change, no matter its scope or size, can change your life in unthinkable ways. The good experiences help us grown in the way we positively view ourselves. Experiences we dread or never want can also end up being a positive force if we use what we learned about ourselves to make a positive change in our lives and help others coping with similar trials. Welcome change, the new and unexpected.