Healthy Mind | Healthy Stacey – Paleo Recipes by Stacey Clarke

Calling All 28-Year-Olds! Do You Feel Different?

November 13, 2013

You know when you were younger how every time you celebrated a birthday adults would ask, “do you feel older?” And you didn’t. But if you were a nice kid, you’d entertain them with a yes.

Well, as I just celebrated my 28th birthday a couple of weeks ago, I am ready to honestly answer YES to that question.

As freaky as it sounds, I literally felt changes in my body and my mind in the last few weeks. Such as:

Appetite Changes
Concentration Increase
Energy increase
Patience decrease
Motivation increase

I have heard before that the body goes through changes every 7 years, and low and behold, when I looked it up, 28 marks a new cycle – the 28-35 level.

It’s pretty incredible what has been found on this topic. Here is one article that I found informative.

I’ll let you look into it if you want to explore further, but here is the quick breakdown 28-35.

Creative process becomes more active
Association centers of the brain reach their peak of efficiency (at 35)
Feelings of inspiration hit all time highs
Begin to piece together your emotional influences
Determine my favorite ongoing quandary – Who am I?

So now comes the question – Am I crazy or is there merit to my changes? The few articles I have looked at on the 7-year-change do not address my appetite changes. Has anybody else (particularly 21-year-olds, 28-year-olds and 35-year-olds (the ages of level change) out there felt any physical or mental changes as they’ve reached these peak ages? Love to hear from you!

Healthy Mind

Alcohol Detox: Accomplished

October 31, 2013

Okay, so if you are tired of hearing about the detox by now, you’ll be happy to hear that this is my wrap-up post. As of last weekend, the detox officially ended. I’ve already told you about a lot of the process in last week's detox recap: Using My Brain. But I thought it necessary to give a few last thoughts for a little closure on this adventure.

Doing an alcohol detox was tough for me, but worth every minute if only to reset my body and mind, and to learn how to survive without it
I don’t want to allow alcohol to become the source of a good time in any situation; rather, it should serve as a supplement to it (as in, taking an art class with a glass of wine vs. spending a Saturday bar-hopping)
There’s no doubt that there is an inverse relationship between alcohol and productivity; as alcohol goes down, productivity increases
With my determined/obsessive mindset, that could make for a lot of accomplishment
Unfortunately, that same mindset is why I need to sit back and RELAX every once in a while (Frankie says RELAX)
Detoxing called for a lot of restriction and holding back, which I think can be unhealthy in its own way
Now that I am “back off the wagon” (kidding), it feels good to have my freedom back – and so far I’ve used it pretty responsibly
I don’t need alcohol in my life and I can get by without it
However, life is more fun when I don’t restrict myself. I am hard enough on Stacey as it is (yeah, I know I just talked in the third person). I’ve learned what I need to learn; now it’s time to let go and see where the lessons take me.

Already I can report that last Saturday, when it was finally time to party, I cut all my drinks with lots of club soda and made sure to hydrate (with water, genius!) in between drinks. I remembered every bit of my night, and woke up the next morning feeling tired, but alive. I even ventured out that day to try a new yoga class, meet a friend for brunch and take a walk around the city.

I believe that this detox was my own quirky way of hurling myself into this new stage of adulthood (fitting considering I’m turning 28 in two days). Gone are the days of binge drinking and massive hangovers. I just don’t want them in my life anymore. I would definitely like to throw in an alcohol-free weekend every month or so to see what I can accomplish with it. Wine and I are still good friends, though. And I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I am very glad to have it back.

Healthy Mind

Using My Brain

October 21, 2013

Okay, I think I’m starting to get it. Closing up on Detox Weekend #2 and I feel pretty awesome. You know why? Because I did things that used my brain. And that was more exhilarating than 3,000 bottles of wine. Over a span of two days I can proudly say that I painted my first work of art on canvas, made up an incredible spiced nut creation without a recipe, carved one adorable jack o’ lantern, listened to entrepreneur podcasts so I can figure out how to make this blog better, wrote a business plan, and took my first kickboxing class at the UFC gym.

pumpkincarving

Bears Painting

spicednuts

My Physical State:

Deep, uninterrupted sleep (Saturday mornings are even better with 10:30 bedtimes on Friday night)
Energized but achy (from a helluva kickboxing workout)
Better posture (possibly from being less tired)
Hungry (in that feeling good and alive type-of-way)
Lighter (I can’t prove that I’ve lost weight because I don’t keep track of my weight (it causes unnecessary stress), but I do feel lighter and tighter)

My Mental State:

Incredibly focused (on expanding my blog and creating a business)
Goofy (finding myself in spontaneous, goofy moods)
Appreciative (a clear state of mind made me that much more aware how much I enjoy the presence of the important people in my life)
Childlike (being in social situations without alcohol reminds me of being a kid again – I never needed a stiff drink to have an awesome time at a sleepover)

This epiphany is making me question a few things: Does alcohol give us an easy out? Because I’m finding, without it, I have to push myself a lot harder. You know, use my brain to come up with the activity, and my creativity to elevate the moment. Something to think about for the future…

Healthy Mind

Detox Weekend Recap

October 18, 2013

The Weekend + Living in Downtown Chicago – Alcohol = ? I am stumped on this equation. I want so badly to crack its code. But with one alcohol-free weekend down, I still don’t feel the answer is clear.

I had big, healthy dreams of checking accomplishments off my to-do list, setting new goals, having great conversations with a crystal-clear head and sweating out to hard-core workouts.

I’m sorry to report that none of this happened. However, I did notice a change in attitude as the weekend progressed.

Friday, with its end-of-the-week excitement, was by far the most difficult. What’s a Friday night without a little wine to take the edge off the week? Sunday, however, was a breath of fresh air. How awesome it felt to wake up early Sunday morning with a hangover-free head, motivated to tackle the week.

With that said, here’s what Detox Weekend #1 taught me:

The perfect pictures in my head never quite play out the way I expect them to (BIG surprise). Just because I don’t drink, doesn’t mean I am going to be superwoman. I’m sure a clearer head helps, but it’s not the sole reason for procrastination.
I can’t expect the transition from weekend drinker to Sober Stacey to be a walk in the clouds (at least right away). Being around people drinking is hard when you’re used to joining them. When your glass of wine is removed from your Saturday night, it feels a little bit like your teddy bear has been taken away. It’s a hard change. And that’s okay.
If I want the rest of this detox to be successful, I have to know what I consider to be a successful detox. What do I want to achieve from doing this?

That last lesson is key. For all the time I spent obsessing about the idea of the detox, I never really determined my goals.

Now that the next weekend is upon me, I am prepared. I started this detox to find out if I could do more without alcohol. Hypothetically speaking, could all of us do more? What could we accomplish, what could we discover and how could we feel if we removed alcohol from the equation? Expect a full report on Monday. But feel free to comment here if you think you already have the answer.

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