I joke about training for the uprising to “smash the patriarchy” but here’s a little secret: I’m actually not joking. I’M. NOT. JOKING. 

High-intensity training is all the rage. From CrossFit to HIIT to Insanity, people all over the world are being left in gasping sweaty piles at the end of their workouts. For what? Is the hype worth it? Do high-intensity workouts really produce high-quality results?

I know whatever I write here won’t represent all my thoughts and emotions; this is part of what makes me feel powerless. I feel powerless in knowing my audience, although comprised of people I know and love dearly, is limited. But I also know that if I say nothing I am stripping myself of any power I have at all. Any power to impact the world. Any power to effect change. Any power to give to others.

We are taught in school that the digestive system is comprised of the mouth, esophagus, stomach, small and large intestines, and the anus. If you took advanced studies you might even know that the liver, gallbladder, and pancreas are also an integral part of the system. But what most of us did not learn is that there is one other vital component of digestion: the brain.

It’s an understatement to say that it’s complicated. You can’t “fix” the problem until you “fix” the systems and you can’t “fix” the systems unless you “fix” the people but you can’t “fix” the people until you “fix” the systems… It’s a vicious cycle; it’s a catch-22; it’s a cluster-fuck; it’s whatever you want to call it.

And all of this assumes we actually know what the “problem” is.

One of the most powerful things I learned from my time as an administrator working in the public schools was to “presume positive intentions.” This was one of a list of seven norms we were asked to practice when we met in groups and discussed observations we conducted of teachers in their classrooms. No teacher shows up at work and decides, “I am aiming for mediocrity today; I want to give these children the minimum amount of effort that I have.”

How can you begin to embody confidence in your daily actions until you just embody confidence in your being? Here are a few ideas about confidence I have learned over the years:

If you want to dive into a more natural (and budget friendly!) approach to homecare, laundry detergent is one of the easiest place to start, in my opinion. It’s a bonus that I also think it’s one of the most important since our clothes rub on our skin all day long and the residual chemicals have to go somewhere! This post will outline how to fearlessly make your own detergent.

Take a moment to picture your day: What are all of the modern conveniences you utilize as part of your daily rituals to make things easier? What decisions have you made lately that really take you out of your comfort zone?

Over the past century-ish, human nutrition has undergone a dramatic change (#understatement). Advanced techniques in food preparation, processing, storage and distribution allowed people to shift away from traditional “local farmer/hunter-gatherer” eating habits to the modern western diet. At the onset, this looked great because it provided us with freedom of choice in food selections, but there are unintended consequences.

The truth is that change only happens when you are truly ready to make changes; change only happens when you truly want to do the things necessary to be the person you want to be. If you try to change before you are willing (want) to fully commit, you will end up defeated and less likely to make the change later on. Here are a few examples based on some of the previously mentioned common desires I hear: