Hey guys welcome back to a new post. With the new year approaching I wanted to recap on 2018 with a cool digital collage. 2018 was a good year for me and I really discovered my love for nature and inspiring others through my blog. I also had some great memories with great people in my life. This collage will be split by months so each month of the year will have it's own collage if that makes sense.
I hope you guys liked the collages. I put a lot of time into them and I hope to post more on my blog soon. I wish you guys all a wonderful new year and I hope next year is just as good as 2018 was. I hope to do some more blog posts soon so stay tuned and until next time have fun!!
Hey guys long time no see. I haven't written a blog post in what seems like forever but today I want to talk about my grounding/barefoot journey. I don't know if any of you guys have heard of grounding before but it is very beneficial for you and makes you feel really in touch with the environment. I found out about grounding over summer break and I have been walking barefoot a lot ever since. Some of my friends think that I'm it's weird that I'm walking barefoot and they are like, "put on your shoes". My response to that is, "you know I wear shoes when I have to wear shoes but any other time I'm going barefoot". It's kind of funny to see their reactions because they think I'm crazy. I will say through now that it's cold outside I haven't been walking barefoot as much. That's the only downside of grounding is that it's kind of a seasonal thing because otherwise you would freeze your feet off. Now if you are wondering what the benefits are of walking barefoot, well there is actually more than you think. Here are some of them...
-Better control of your foot position when it strikes the ground
-Improvements in balance and body awareness, which can help with pain relief
-Better foot mechanics, which can lead to improved mechanics of the hips, knees, and core -Better control of your foot position when it strikes the ground -Improvements in balance and body awareness, which can help with pain relief -Better foot mechanics, which can lead to improved mechanics of the hips, knees, and core -Maintaining appropriate range of motion in your foot and ankle joints as well as adequate strength and stability within your muscles and ligaments -Relief from improperly fitting shoes, which may cause bunions, hammertoes, or other foot deformities -Stronger leg muscles, which support the lower back region So walking barefoot really does have benefits and it would be a great way to connect with your surroundings and be more aware of the environment around you. It would increase your awareness because while walking barefoot in nature you will need to look down to see where you're going and what you may be stepping on. I like that element of it because in the moment I'm thinking of where I am going and what I may run into along the way. For starters through I would just try walking around the neighborhood barefoot or any other soft paved surfaces. Just start out small and slowly increase your distance as you keep on grounding and after a while it will just become your second nature to walk barefoot for two miles on a hike or something. So that is my best advice for starters. Just take it slow and easy and over time you will get the hang of it. If you are dealing with foot problems too I would highly recommend grounding to let your feet loose and gain some support on the ground's surface.
So get out there and take those shoes off! Thanks for reading and I hope to put out more blog posts soon and get back into it again. Until next time... Happy holidays!
Hey guys long time no see but I am back with another post. Today I want to talk about hammocking and everything you need to know when you get started with hammocking. So I've been hammocking for a couple of months now and I love it. It's a good way to relax your mind by being in nature, plus it's comfy.
So all you need to start hammocking is straps, and the hammock itself. For straps I recommend the eno atlas suspension system. I have been using the suspension system since I've started hammocking and I don't have any problems with the straps. They are very durable and you can also hang other things on the straps because the straps have slits in them. The suspension system has held the weight of me and one other person as well as other stuff in the hammock at the same time, so the straps can hold a lot of weight. The straps are around thirty dollars but it is worth the investment because you can trust that you won't fall down unsuspectingly in the middle of hammocking. Now for the hammock itself you can really buy any kind of hammock and it would work. You don't necessarily need to buy an eno right off the bat, I actually use an equip double nested blue hammock and that works perfectly fine as well. I also have another singular hammock that is called hammock in a bag and it's from Bliss hammocks. I use that when I hammock by myself. It's a Brazilian Eco-friendly beachy hammock and it's made out of cotton and polyester and that hammock works perfectly fine for me too. What I recommend is that you think of where you want to use your hammock and for what purpose. So if you camp a lot I would recommend a more durable hammock like an eno. Or if you just want to lay in your backyard for example I would recommend the beachy Brazilian hammock. So just think of what kind of hammock would best suit your purpose and buy a hammock based off that.
Now once you get the hammock and straps now it's time to set it up. When you first set up at hammock you tie the straps first. There is no absolute correct way to tie your straps but you want your straps to support the weight of your hammock. What I like to do is tie my straps around the tree and knot it three or four times or I use a clip and wrap the straps around one time and then clip the wrapped around part into the remaining part of the strap. I hope that made sense but that is how I secure my straps to the tree. There is also other ways to tie the straps but those ways involve complex knots and everything else so I haven't tried those methods yet. Now once the straps are set up you clip your hammock onto your straps using the little holes on the straps. If your straps don't have holes then simply tie your hammock to your straps and that holds it up too.
Now the cool thing about hammocking is that you can pretty much hammock anywhere where there are trees. Just to name a few places where I've hammocked, I've hammocked at the lake, in the woods, at a river, and I've hammocked in my backyard. Hammocking is a great way to experience the nature around you without the biggest hike or the effort that other activities take to experience nature. So basically you can sit back, relax, be lazy, and enjoy every second of it. So basically that is hammocking in a nutshell. It's great when you just want to relax in nature and just listen to your surroundings. I love hammocking and I probably do it anywhere from two to four times a week. I usually like hammocking at the river or lake. Those are my two favorite spots to go to hammock because it's pretty and it's peaceful.
That wraps it up for this post. I hope to post more on my blog soon. Lately I've been more into Instagram and I've been posting around three times a week on Instagram. You can check out my insta @sugarcoatedbears. I post nature photos with lots of motivational captions to go along with the photo. So check me out there if you're interested and I'll see you guys soon with another blog post. Bye!
It's the truth that a lot of people in this day and age are connected through technology and mostly social media. We just stare endlessly at our screens most of the day and we never really think to go spend time outdoors. We are too wrapped up in a lot of things to even think of spending time outside. Most of us are out of touch with the planet and there are some simple ways to be more in touch. Here are some of them.
1)Go outside-Going outside is the number one way of feeling more in touch with the planet. When you simply go on a hike or head to the lake you will be more in touch with the planet. When you also go outside your stress and anxiety decreases which is great if you had a stressful day at work or something else is bothering you. By being in nature you are connecting with the outside surroundings in that moment. You can hear the birds chirping, or the rain falling, or the sun setting, you can experience all of those wonders of nature when you are outside. You will be aware of your surroundings and inevitably more connected with nature when you are outside.
2)Going barefoot-This is where I usually lose people and people think I'm nuts about walking barefoot but going barefoot can make you more in touch with the planet. By walking barefoot you are touching the earth with your bare feet and you are actually absorbing the earth's negative electrons. We need those electrons to balance out the energy in our bodies and so by walking barefoot we are getting the electrons we need. Walking barefoot also reduces disease, and pain in your body. It also makes you more aware of your environment. I have recently started walking barefoot a whole lot more and it makes me feel very connected to the planet. You are for sure more aware of your surroundings because you don't want to step on anything sharp or something that would hurt your foot. It has made me more intentional about the way I walk and I really like it. I want to make a whole blog post on it soon because I've been practicing it a lot but this is just a short description on the concept of it.
3)Do yoga-Doing yoga is a practice of movement and a little bit of meditation all in one. It really helps you connect to your spiritual self and also the planet too. I used to do yoga two years ago and then I stopped doing it but I really want to get back into it again. It really relaxed my mind and I felt really zen after I would do yoga. While you are doing yoga you really feel a whole connection to the earth and to really everything. You could feel every movement you would do and it was all very present and in touch with your environment.
4)Go off grid and technology free!-It pays off to spend some time offline and be checked out. When you are disconnected from social media and all the other distractions from your devices you can spend more time outdoors connecting with nature. You will also feel more relaxed because you won't be overwhelmed with all the distractions that come with being connected to your devices. A camping trip is a good example of going off grid and technology free. Maybe try to go camping once or twice a year to disconnect. Or if you don't like camping you can disconnect in another way. Just do what works for you.
5)Prioritize connecting with nature-When you prioritize your connection with nature you will be more connected because you are going out of your way to make sure you have a good connection. A lot of it is about the effort you put into it. So just make it a priority to disconnect and get outside!
I hope this inspired some of you guys! I will see you soon with another post.
Long time no see guys! I am still trying to figure out where exactly I want to go with this blog but for the most part I want it to be an outdoors and positivity blog because I'm very passionate about those two things. So today I wanted to talk about happiness and what it means to me.
So to me happiness is the most important thing in life. You can find happiness in little things or you can find it with big things. It doesn't matter where you find your happiness but happiness is a key essential to enjoyment and fulfillment in life. Without happiness life is full of sorrow, doubt, and feeling like you're not enjoying life. Life is too short to be unhappy and truly you will get more out of life when you are happy. Now I know for some people it doesn't come easy so small steps are important if you aren't feeling very happy with your life at the moment. Even if happiness is something you need to work on you CAN be happy if you want to be happy. Happiness is not limited and anyone can achieve it with positive life changes. So never feel like you can't be happy because you can do it!!
Now you may be wondering what are the steps to be happy? There is not one set plan on how to be happy but do what works for you. So let's say if you are stuck in a miserable job and you can't seem to get out of it. Try to think of how you can leave your job and what job you can move on to next. Sometimes it's worth it to do what makes you more passionate and happier even if it makes you less money. So whatever the situation is think of what is in your way and eliminate the thing that is in your way, that way you can be happy or closer to happiness.
Once you eliminate everything in your way of happiness you can truly be happy. True happiness is blissful and it's something that cannot be replaced with anything else because it's simply everything. Chase happiness and when you are happy just embrace it and let it shine from within you. Let it radiate from you when you smile, when you laugh, when you talk. Just let it shine!
Now to talk about my story with happiness, personally I have always been a happy girl but it seems like as time goes on I just keep getting more and more happy. Right now I feel so fulfilled with life and I know that it will only get better from here. I have really found my love for nature and the outdoors so I have been going outside a lot. I have been doing a lot of hiking, hammocking, tubing, swimming, and exploring. I am also really glad I have this blog because I really want to inspire people and make a positive impact in people's lives. I feel like even if I'm only making a small impact it is still worth it in the end because I could add value to someone's life. I feel truly radiantly happy and I'm really glad I have reached this point in my life. I will keep sharing and keep moving forward with my life and I'm so excited for this journey.
Sorry if this post is kind of all over the place I haven't written in a while. I hope this inspired you guys, and I will see you soon with a new post!!
Hey guys I'm back with another post. As you guys may or may not know I went to cross country camp at the end of July and I finally have all the pictures sorted and now I'm sharing them. So I was there for five days and it was such a blast. I didn't even want to go home but I will say I'm glad to be home now. While we were there we stayed at a place called Christ School which is an all boys private school and there was around fifteen or so teams that also went to camp there as well. Basically we would run with people who were at our fitness level and there were different events every day that everyone did. So it was a team kind of camp but I also got to meet new people from other schools which was really cool too. For example I met some girls from Tennessee and we ate dinner with them. Cross country camp was just so much fun and worth the experience for sure.
Day one
We drove up to the mountains on day one and the drive was around 5 hours or so and I was sleeping most of the trip up. We stopped at Wendy's for lunch and kept driving. Then we got there and got our stuff settled into the dorms. After that we were put into our running groups and went for an evening run. Then we hung out and then went to bed.
Day 2
On day two we woke up and got on the bus to go to Hooker Falls to run. Hooker falls I'd say was the most hilly course that we ran on and the run wasn't too bad but the hills had me so beat. After we were done running we dipped in the hooker falls waterfall and the water was freezing but it was well worth it because now I can say that I've swam in a waterfall. After hooker falls we went back to Christ school for lunch and I think we had some down time and then we had a motivational speaker talk to us about how to always have good races. After that we got in our evening run and then we had dinner and then an event but I forgot what it was. I think it was movie night actually, but I'm not sure. Then we hung out and went to bed.
Day 3
On day three we went running at DuPont state forest and then after our run we went to sliding rock. Sliding rock was the highlight of the trip for sure because it was so much fun and it was my first time sliding down a waterfall. The mountain water was freezing but it was very refreshing after our morning run. Then we came back for lunch and we had some down time so I went door bell ditching and window ditching with Isabella in our dorm. Then we had an evening run and after our run we went swimming in the creek with our whole team. What was cool is that we found a shovel and a bike in the creek and we took pics with those but the photos didn't turn out super good so I left them out of the photos on here. After that we ate dinner and then had the talent show. After that we just hung out with everyone and then went to bed.
day 4
On day four we had breakfast and then went running and I actually have a story about this run. The counselors said that the run would be the easiest run of the week and it turned out to be the opposite. So we got to the spot to run and we started running and it turns out we were running down the wrong path and basically we were running up a steep mountain. During the run I fell and my knee and some parts of my left leg were bleeding. I had to run back with a stinging pain for four miles but I made it and it wasn't too bad, it was just painful to run on. So there is the story with that and then we had lunch and we had an afternoon run and we took pictures. After that we had dinner and a dance party later. Then we went to bed after hanging out.
Day 5
Now on to the last day! We just had a campus run in the morning and then the closing ceremony and then it was back home. It was actually me and Isabella's birthday on the last day there and my coach agreed to let us choose the lunch on the way back home. Of course we picked Bojangles and we were really excited about it. The thing that I get the most excited for when it comes to my birthday is the food so it was a good day. And we just got back home and I opened my presents and chilled.
Click on the video if you want to watch my dorm ding dong ditch video too!
I hope you enjoyed this post and I hope y'all liked all the pictures. It was so much fun and I didn't even want to come home because of all the fun I was having. I'm really glad that I got to have this experience and it is something I will remember for the rest of my life for sure.
Hey guys this is something that I've been wanting to talk about for a while but I wasn't sure on how to go about it. So as you guys may or may not know I took a blogging break to think about what I wanted to do with my blog because I haven't really been into fashion blogging that much. I haven't posted anything on my Instagram or blog in two weeks or so and while I was on my break I felt really liberated and it was nice. While on my break I was really thinking about what I wanted to do with this blog and I feel like it's time to re brand my blog. I knew that I wanted to keep my blog but I just haven't really been into fashion blogging lately so I think it's time for some content that I actually feel good about posting. I am kind of tired of continuing to fashion blog when I'm not really into it that much. The truth is that I really enjoy nature and motivation and I would really like to gear my blog towards that. Now I'll explain why I'm doing this...
With fashion blogging it seems like everyone is trying to create this glamorous lifestyle with all this stuff, a big closet, and new clothes everyday and I really don't resonate with that. I feel like when you are a fashion blogger you have to always try to impress all your followers and gain social acceptance and social status and it's so dumb. You are not your status and I feel like as a fashion blogger you base your self worth based on how many likes and followers and comments you have and that is not healthy. I also saw what seemed like every fashion blogger saying shop my outfits, shop this, and shop that but really the truth is that I am minimalistic and I have a hard time with telling people to consume more. I think less is more and you really become so much happier with less weight on your shoulders so saying to buy clothes that you don't need is not my kind of deal. Fashion blogging was just starting to feel like a deep void and I knew I wasn't passionate about it anymore but I would still try to put out posts because I felt like I had to. But you know what I'm going to do me and if you still want to follow my journey then follow along but If not that is totally okay with me. Fashion blogging just isn't my thing anymore and I have accepted that and now I'm ready to blog about what I'm passionate about.
Now to talk about what my new content will be like. So I will be changing my blog name to Courtney Hardy because it's just easier for people to remember me by that. I have been really inspired by nature lately and I've been spending a lot of time outdoors so I want to post more outdoorsy posts on my blog. I am also all about happiness and living your best life so I want to post motivational and inspiration posts on my blog too. I just want to share my thoughts and adventures with you guys basically. Those things are what I'm really passionate about so I want to post about those things for the most part. I also want to also have an occasional running post because I enjoy running too. With this blog re brand I will also not go out of my way to get more comments and likes on my Instagram pictures, I will just post and be done. Before It would take two hours just to post on Instagram because there was a whole process to it but now I won't be doing that. I will also forget the posting schedule and just post whenever I want to post. I just want to be more natural and show how I actually live my life on my blog instead of trying to make myself look and seem perfect when I'm not. If you also noticed I did redo the style of my blog and I really like it. So yeah that will be my new re brand and I hope you guys are looking forward to it because I am.
I hope you guys support this change and I'm telling you I'm all about passion in life and doing what makes you happy so I'm going to do that because life is too short to not enjoy what you do. I am happy to say peace out to fashion blogging and I'm excited for this journey ahead! See you guys soon.
