The Power of Action

Looking for something inspiring?

Take a little gander at this:

My 2011 Inspiration Board

Thanks to Gina over at The Fitnessista, I busted out my mod podge, craft supplies + old magazines yesterday and got to snippin'.

It turned out to be quite the endeavor, but I'm pretty stoked about the end result.

I've broken it up into corners, see:

The acting corner

The workout corner

The food corner

I'm a bit hesitant to post my complete list of 11 resolutions for all the world wide web to see (believe it or not, I'm a fairly private person), but I'll no doubt be mentioning a few as the year unfolds.

[Hey, maybe I'll be ballsy enough by the end of 2011 to post a progress report with the complete list. We shall see...]

In addition to a grown up frame of mind, I've also deemed this year one of action.

Yesterday between movie watching, arts and crafts + mourning the gloomy weather, I was feeling pret-ty down in the dumps. Not sure what it was exactly, but I had to literally force myself to scour the old magazines in search of inspiring thoughts for my board-in-progress.

Thinking it was just part of the caffeine thing, I pushed on... when I couldn't take it anymore, I turned to Alex and complained of my vapid state of being.

"Go for a run," he suggested. "You've probably just got a ton of energy that needs to be released. "

And so I did.

Despite the cold, wet bite of winter rain, I suited up and got outside.

Granted I ran a block and a half and back (I'll pass on catching a cold, thank you very much), but my goodness did that decision to simply ACT on an impulse make all the difference in the world.

I returned home with a pep in my step, eager and ready to finish the task at hand.

With that idea in mind, I've decided to start ACTING whenever my mood gets down.

I've found that usually moving my body (running, walking, working out) or switching my focus to a different activity can completely turn a slump around.

Which is exactly why I'm so grateful to have found these yesterday:

An old stockpile of Vegetarian Times magazines given to me by a dear friend.

Not only did I get some killer photos for my board, but I also found them packed full of season-appropriate recipes (a possible cure to my winter slump in the kitchen?)

It's time I give some new meals a try. Since I usually find great satisfaction in fueling by way of hearty grain-filled salads, protein smoothies, and cookies breakfast foods of all sorts, I'm having a tough time vegetarian-ing it through the winter months.

Sometimes I just want something hot. And meaty.

I'm particularly glad seitan has come into my life but I'm not the biggest fan of meat substitutes since most of the brands sold in stores tend to be rather processed.

So please take note: I am in search of any sort of vegetarian recipe for a warm, hearty, preferably protein-based winter meal. Any suggestions?

I'm off to Whole Foods before acting class to scour the aisles for more inspiration.

What do you do when you find yourself down in the dumps? Any special tricks you'd like to share?