Hi All!
I thought I’d switch things up today and answer some questions to help you get to know me a bit better since I’ve now been blogging for a couple months. I tried to include a mix of both health and wellness questions in addition to more personal questions.So without further ado, on with the questions!
- How did you get into health, fitness, and wellness? I suffered a brain injury from a club sport during my last semester of college. It took me about three and a half years to fully recover from that. During my recovery, I suffered from an unrelated illness that ended up sending me to the hospital. After experiencing what it’s like to have your health taken away from you at a young age I became very passionate about trying to live a healthy life.
- What made you start blogging? I was writing a health and wellness newsletter for my job for about a year, but eventually my company decided to discontinue that part of their wellness program. I really enjoyed writing the newsletter, so I decided to start my own blog so I could continue to write about creating a healthy lifestyle whenever I wanted to.
- Do you have any other hobbies unrelated to health, fitness, and blogging? I enjoy photography, music, and reading. Music was actually my passion for most of my life–I thought I was going to be a professional musician until I discovered other interests in college.
- If money were no object, what would you do? I would go back to school. I loved college and always thought I’d go straight through for my PhD. If the job market were not so competitive I’d go back in a heartbeat for multiple degrees.
- What dreams have you given up as being unrealistic? As I said, I thought I was going to be a professional musician, which is something I settled for because I always wanted to be a singer despite not having a good singing voice. So really I had to give up two dreams: on being a singer and on being a professional musician when I realized I didn’t have the drive required to “make it.”
- What’s one thing that you know now that you wish you had known as a kid? No one really knows what they’re doing, we’re all just figuring it out as we go along. Don’t worry about feeling like you can’t do something or you’re not good enough.
- Do you see the glass as half-empty or half-full? Half-full. I try to be optimistic most of the time, despite the fact that at times I can be really hard on myself and be the half-empty type. Ultimately I think I’m a bit of a natural optimist.
- Do you have any nicknames? My name is Olivia, but a lot of people call me Liv or Livvy. I’ve also gotten Libby before. I’m not very sensitive about my name, so I will accept pretty much any nickname (unless you call me something offensive).
- What’s one goal you would like to accomplish this year? We are almost to the end of 2019, but there are two goals I’m working on. The first one is staying sober! I’m in the middle of a sobriety challenge (I’m fortunate to not struggle with addiction, and instead I’m staying sober for health-related reasons) with about a week left to go. The second one is finishing my running challenge. I do a lot of interval training where I alternate between walking and running, but I rarely run continuously. Since I’m a beginner runner I’m working up to running a mile non-stop, which I realize sounds like something I should be able to do already, and I’m sure I probably could if I pushed myself, but I really hate running long distances so taking it in baby steps is something I need to do to stick with it. If I successfully finish this I’d like to work up to running a 5k next, but that will have to be in 2020.
- If you had one year left to live, what would you do? Travel. I’d see as much of the world as I possibly could. I’ve done a decent amount of travel within the U.S. but I’ve only traveled internationally three times (which I realize is more than some people ever get to do) and they were all trips in Western countries. I’d want to at least visit each continent.
- What book are you reading at the moment? Little Women. I’m so excited to see the new adaptation coming out on Christmas!
- What did you last eat? Breakfast. Three eggs scrambled with chives and pepper topped with hot sauce, and a kiwi.
- What are your favorite snacks? Babybel cheese, apples, and clementines.
- What is your favorite food? Sushi–anything with tuna.
- What is your favorite workout? I like working with dumbells, for strength and endurance.
- What are your weaknesses when it comes to fitness? Cardio, particularly running. It’s not my favorite type of workout so I really have to push myself through it.
- What drains your energy? High-sodium foods. Everyone’s body is different, but I’ve found that I feel particularly lethargic after eating foods with a high sodium content. And not having time to myself. I’m an introvert, and despite the fact that I like working with people, I need time alone to bounce-back from that or it takes a toll on my mood overtime.
- Are you close to anyone now you initially disliked? My best friend of 15+ years. I do not remember this at all, but mutual friends have told me we disliked each other when we first met. But she’s like a sister to me now.
- What do you do when you can’t sleep at night? I will sometimes watch TV (which science says will only keep you awake, so maybe don’t try that), read a book until I feel sleepy, listen to a long YouTube video or podcast on low volume with a host that has a soothing voice, snuggle up to my partner, or try using our weighted blanket.
- Do you prefer morning or evening workouts? Morning. I like having my evenings to do other things, so I try to get up around five am to fit in my workout before I go to work.
If you have any questions for me, let me know in the comments!