Supplement Suggestions

Before we dive in, let me be clear, lest my employers think they pay me too much:

Do I love and recommend all of these supplements? Yes.

Do I buy them all regularly? Absolutely not.

But here are the supplements that I've really enjoyed over the course of my amateur fitness journey, in case you're looking to try something new.

Bowmar Nutrition
Protein powders in this order: Blueberry Cheesecake, Birthday Cake, Frosted Cookie. (Those are the only three flavors I've tried.)
Price: 1lb tub is $35; 5lb tub is $70 (If anyone ever wants to go halfsies on one of these, lemme know.)

Collagen: Good for joints, hair, skin, and nails, and it's a little extra protein for you.
Price: $35 per tub

Pros: The Bowmars are SERIOUS about their quality. (I follow them on social media.) They will not put out anything they're not completely satisfied with, and they have incredibly high standards. The products aren't cheap, but they are not overpriced. They also have really creative-but-still-appealing flavors, including Key Lime Pie, Caramel Apple, Dulce De Leche.

Cons: The products are very expensive, and Sarah Bowmar's personality is really abrasive and hard to take. I think maybe she's one of those people who are shy so they come off really nasty and sarcastic to avoid getting hurt? Or maybe she's just a Yankee (sorry, Yankees)? She swears that she's actually nice, and also a Christian, but I gotta say, she would not win me over for Jesus.

Random Recipe: 3-Ingredient Protein Pancakes:
- 1/2 tsp. of baking powder
- 1 egg
- 1 scoop of protein powder

Scivation
Blue Raspberry BCAAs: To be fair, these are the only BCAAs (branched-chain amino acids, which help with muscle recovery) I've ever tried.
Price: $20, on Amazon.

Pros: Insanely delicious. Makes working out more enjoyable because you get to drink this between sets.

Cons: Honestly, I don't know if these help me with muscle recovery or not, but I also don't take the "recommended dose" (one scoop's worth drunk during your workout, one scoop's worth drunk after your workout) because I'm too cheap to go through the tub that quickly.

1st Phorm
Opti-Greens 50: Opti-Greens has 11 servings of vegetables per serving. Gabe and I only do half a serving each because we're poor, and honestly 11 servings a day seems like overkill.

Price: $60 a tub

Pros:
1) Tastes pretty good for powdered grass. I'd say it tastes like unsweet green tea with a hint of berry.
2) This is also THE ONLY SUPPLEMENT GABE WILL TAKE. He says all protein powders "taste like protein" (what does that even mean?) and even declared the BCAAs above were "too sweet." Are you kidding me?
3) Works beautiful voodoo on bloating and digestion.

Cons: Extremely expensive.

Let me know if you try any and like them, or have other suggestions to share!

~Stephanie

Getting/Wearing Glasses

I've had 20/15 vision most of my life.

I've never not been able to see or read something. It was very convenient, and something I was a little proud of. As a bookworm and person who feels strongly about seeing the truth—both philosophically and literally—losing perfect eyesight sounded like an actual nightmare.

Then, last fall, I got the news.

I now qualify for the world's tiniest prescription XD

First, I was indignant (and still am, a little). Nothing is blurry; nothing ever has been, so...?

The eye doctor explained that while my vision was still pretty much perfect, my eyes were working REALLY hard to give that to me. He asked questions like,

"Do you sometimes get headaches, especially toward the end of the day? Is driving at night a little harder?"

And I was like:

How dare he make accurate predictions that contradict my delusions of visual goddess-ery?

But, I do pretty much read for a living—and on a computer, at that—so I decided to go ahead and get the small prescription with a blue light blocker. Best to take great care of my eyes while I'm young, right?

Then came the fun part of picking out glasses, and listening to the sales guy flatter me into believing the nerdy frames I wanted were a "bold, fun choice."

Then came the week or so wait for them to come in. By this point I was actually a little excited. Glasses for when my eyes were tired or I felt like looking nerdy; no glasses for when I didn't feel like wearing them, because my eyesight was still actually fine. Best of both worlds.

I went to pick up the glasses. I put them on in front of the salespeople, secretly wondering if maybe my vision was worse than I realized and I was about to be catapulted into a crystal-clear world I'd never experienced before. The frames settled on my nose, and...

The world went blurry.

Cue disappointment and more indignation.

The salespeople were clearly also waiting for me to enter a crystal-clear world I'd never experienced before, and met me with equal—though more professional—disappointment and indignation.

"Sometimes it takes a while for your eyes to adjust," the lady said. "Wear them for 4–6 hours a day for a week or so and see if it gets better."

I left the eye doctor surprisingly bummed for a person who didn't actually want glasses.

After a week of wearing them, things were still blurry, so I went back. They said my eyes weren't making the adjustment, so they were going to cut this "correct" prescription in half and let my eyes get used to that, then work them up to the full thing.

I had mixed feelings about this. I wasn't sure if I even wanted my eyes to get used to glasses. If they did, wouldn't that mean that the world would look better and clearer with them, and therefore worse and blurrier any time I didn't feel like wearing my glasses? I asked the doctors and salespeople this question a lot, and no one seemed to want to give me a straight answer, probably because the answer was "Yes. That is true."

Finally, the doctor answered the question, saying that getting or not getting glasses probably wouldn't affect me drastically. It was probably a matter of adjusting my vision timeline by three to five years. Instead of really needing glasses at age 38, maybe I'd need them at 35.

I could live with that.

I got the halved prescription and allowed my eyes to adjust to them. I'm wearing my adorably nerdy glasses as I type this, and have as I've typed all my posts. I usually wear them when I read, when I'm going to be scrolling through my phone for a while, and when I work on the computer. I can still see fine without my glasses, but I'm more comfortable with them.

I guess I've come to terms with the fact that my body isn't going to be young forever. I know that sounds dramatic coming from a twenty-five-year-old, but you know it's true. I already can't function on five hours of sleep like I used to be able to. One day I won't be able to read without my glasses.

I'll just have to believe that when that day comes, I'll be able to adjust.

Or maybe Jesus will come back before then and spare me XD

~Stephanie

Giving Up Dance (for now!) and Other Scheduling Strategies

The past two years have been too busy.

Between the two of us, Gabe and I have had six jobs in the last two years, and for most of the time, it was four at once. Gabe's also a full-time chemical engineering student and we like to be involved in our church. For the first year of marriage, we had basically zero friends. I was really lonely. I cried a lot. Then, a couple of years ago, we finally found our people, and things got better deep down—where it counts—but worse near the surface. We were busier than ever, stretched so thin we couldn't enjoy most things.

Honestly, I look back over the past twenty-four months and it's proof that God exists. We could not have done all that we did without some kind of supernatural blessing and grace.

This year, we've felt convicted to stop living a life so slammed that we can't enjoy it or pour into others or be spontaneous.

I gave up teaching dance for this year, which was the hardest decision I've ever had to make. I have danced every year since I was three years old—until now. I love dance in a way I don't love anything else except maybe words. I already cannot wait to go back.

But I am also shocked at how much it was the right decision. Teaching dance was only 1–2 nights a week, but the amount of physical and mental energy it took—especially during choreography season in the spring—was apparently unfathomable XD Minus that one weekly commitment, I feel like a new person. It opened my week up wider than a Tuesday night should've been capable of.

Our church has also been sprinkling in the idea of prayerful planning over the past year. Our pastor said something a few weeks ago that has stuck with me: "If you get to the end of the day and you didn't finish your to-do list, then you probably had stuff on that there that God didn't put there."

We're trying a new system this year. We set boundaries about how busy we're allowed to be (e.g., two Saturdays a month, we don't have plans), and started keeping a family calendar. We sit down at the beginning of the month and write down our commitments. We try to leave enough room so that when someone says, "Hey, do you want to have dinner Thursday night?" we can say yes more often. At the risk of sounding holier-than-thou, we're trying to ask God what he wants our month to look like. Is X plan going to glorify God? 

So far, it feels. so. good.

I feel like I can be present rather than spent. Excited, rather than anxious. There are whole evenings where we can read, or watch TV, or talk. We can be happy to see people at church rather than literally already so over it the second we see another human. We can actually look forward to plans rather than dread that we're busy yet again.

We have a long way to go, and who knows if we will stick to this method, but right now it feels like a really good change.

If you feel like you're too busy with good things, consider cutting something out—when you can. (It drove me so crazy when people would tell me, "You're just doing too much. You need to quit something" and I'd be like, "Okay sure, so which of the three contractually-bound employment obligations should I violate?" XD Consider cutting something out when you can: legally, emotionally, and physically.)

~Stephanie

Qutting the Pill: Update

WARNING: This post contains detail about girl bodies and cycles. If you're a guy, the post may be irrelevant, unhelpful, and/or uncomfortable, but you're welcome to soldier on.

Saturday, September 7

"Should've" taken the pill and didn't.

Sunday, September 8

Experienced near-migraine-level headaches for a few minutes at a time sporadically throughout the day.

Monday, September 9

Woke up at 2:30am in the fetal position, holding my splitting head. Tried to wait it out, but needed to get to sleep because I was directing Challenge B the next day. Took naproxen sodium.

Exactly eight hours later, when the medicine wore off, the headache came back a little, but I was able to resist taking more pain medicine.

Tuesday, September 10

More sporadic, painful headaches.

My mind feels slightly thinner, like something thick and clunky has been discarded. I feel good, more "myself." Not sure if it was just a good mood or something legitimately hormonal.

Wednesday, September 11–current (Wednesday, October 2)

No headaches! They have not returned since this. I'll never know if it was the birth control "withdrawal" or not, but I think it probably was.

Tuesday, September 17–Friday, September 27

Starting to experience some breast and nipple soreness. Doing jumpy exercises is uncomfortable.

Tuesday, September 17

Had some weird discharge. "Weird" because I forgot I used to get that before the pill. Definitely did not miss that these past three years.

Feeling more in touch with my sexuality. Hadn't been in a particularly sexy place for a while, but...feeling it.

Wednesday, September 18

Discharge continues.

Skin isn't looking great. A few small pimples pop up in places that I usually have trouble. Liberally apply The Body Shop's good ol' tea tree target gel.

Continuing to feel, as Rachel Green would say, "erotically charged."

Thursday, September 19

Still charged.

Do some research about discharge, find out 1) I'm probably ovulating for the first time in three years (yay, the pill didn't break me!), and 2) women typically feel more "in the mood" while they're ovulating, so that explains that as well.

Friday, September 20–Saturday, September 21

Nothing to report.

Sunday, September 22

Feel really bloated. Jeans I bought a few weeks ago don't fit the way they did when I bought them?

Monday, September 23

Still bloated.

Mellow Mushroom pizza tastes horrible one bite, delicious the next. Start to be paranoid about being pregnant.

Tuesday, September 24–Wednesday, September 25

Skin is looking mostly normal. Pimples may not have had anything to do with coming off the pill.

Still bloated.

Thursday, September 26

Still bloated. Entertaining the possibility that my summer diet is just catching up with me.

Take a pregnancy test to put my mind at ease about the bloating and breast soreness and changing food preferences.

Not pregnant.

Friday, September 27
Consider washing my hair a day early because it's greasier than usual. Realize that it would actually be TWO days earlier. Wonder if going off the pill is causing that?

Saturday, September 28
Some cramping.

End up not starting my period.

Sunday, September 29–Tuesday, October 1
Text Gabe from the bathroom: "'I'm not pregnant!' *said from the fetal position*"

Looks like the pill didn't break me and I could bounce back right away if I needed/wanted to, so that's good to know should we decide that period suck more than we're willing to put up with until we're ready to start trying, because...

Forgot how much real periods SUCK. Won't go into detail here, but girls who aren't on the pill know what I'm talking about. Alllllllll the wonderful stuff I'm talking about.

Wednesday, October 2
Period ends. Not sure if all of them will be this short—they were five or six days before taking the pill—but certainly wouldn't mind if they are.

Summary So Far:

Quitting the pill has affected me very little. While I think the headaches, breast tenderness, and ovulation are related to stopping, the other things may very well be normal and I'm just paying extra close attention to everything.

Not having to do something at 9:00 every single night is nice.

Periods suck so much. The pain and inconvenience had really faded in my mind after having super light, 2-day periods for three years. Reality hurts.

~Stephanie

The Enneagram

To be honest, I don't want to say too much on this, for a couple of reasons.

1) While I've done some research and reading, I'm not educated enough to give you the insight I think everyone should have.

2) If I allowed myself, this post could easily become too long.

What is the enneagram?
It's a nine-pointed shape. It's an ancient (think "B.C.") theory that there are nine basic personality types that relate to each other in a specific pattern. It has been used and proven for thousands of years. It has been used and proven in the lives of many people I know, including mine and Gabe's—and Gabe is an avid hater of personality tests and theories (he's a self-diagnosed Four).

"Enneagram." Isn't that Satanic?
1) Lots of strong Christians use this.
2) Possibly lots of strong Satanists use it too; I don't know any personally.
3) While it definitely sounds suspect, the enneagram is just a descriptive tool for understanding yourself and others. It does not claim to have any magical powers or ask you to do anything with its information. I'm sure it can be taken to an extreme or held up as an idol, but I'm not sure how the information itself could be Satanic or dangerous.

It also doesn't have to be in a shape. You can write the information down in list-form if it makes you feel better.

If I come across a little aggressive and passionate here, bear with me. I've learned that I'm probably an Eight.

Could you stop saying numbers and tell me how this works?
There are nine different personality types. You are one of them. Each person might also have a "wing," which is one of the numbers on either side of the person's main number. I've said that I'm Eight, and I think I might have a Seven wing. This means that while I'm mostly Eight, sometimes I have characteristics of a Seven.

Each personality type has a "stress" and a "security" number as well. When Eights are feeling stressed, they tend to take on the negative characteristics of a Two. When Eights are feeling secure, they tend to take on the positive characteristics of a Five.

All this info is more easily grasped in the dreaded, Satanic-looking enneagram shape (different people have different titles for the types):

How do I find out my type?
If you're interested, there are internet quizzes to help you figure out which number you might be. However, my dad (yes, the Baptist pastor) recommended that I read books on the topic so that I can understand the numbers and figure myself out, rather than have an algorithm tell me what I am.

So far I've used The Road Back to You: An Enneagram Journey to Self-Discovery* by Ian Cron and Suzanne Stabile, and The Enneagram: A Christian Perspective by Richard Rohr and Andreas Ebert. I've also listened to the podcast for The Road Back to You.

How does it help?
At the end of each Type's chapter in The Road Back to You, there is a short list of suggestions for how that type can grow. Two of the suggestions for me were "Watch out for and avoid black-and-white thinking. Gray is an actual color" and "You don't have a corner on the truth market. In the heat of battle, stop and ask yourself, What if I'm wrong? Say that a hundred times a day."

Spot. On. Advice XD

After doing some reading himself, Gabe believes he's a Four. Knowing that, I can read about the way Fours think (or, more accurately, "feel") and love him better.

Identifying our types has already affected our marriage positively. Gabe understands better that my knee-jerk reactions sound like anger, even when I'm not actually angry, and that I push just to see who will push back. I understand better that he doesn't "have" feelings, but more is feelings, and when he doesn't explain himself, it isn't just because he won't, but often because he can't.

Who cares?
Maybe not you, and that's okay. In my very-newly-formed opinion, the enneagram is most helpful for understanding yourself: how you've been coming across your whole life, where your weak or blind spots are, and how you can grow to be the you that God created you to be.

I do not think it's a tool for putting people into boxes or giving yourself an honorary degree in psychology. While I enjoyed wondering about the Types of people in my life, I don't think I can tell them what their number is. You can watch someone's eating habits and make an educated guess about their favorite foods, but if someone replies, "Actually, brownies aren't my favorite," you have no right to retort, "Yeah they are. I read a book about food."

Only you can decide and own your number. You'll probably know it when you reach a Type description that makes you wince.

~Stephanie

* This book does lean left, mainly just in some of its anecdotes. I'm a conservative and was able to look past that, but be aware of that going in. Don't let two authors' political opinions turn you off from the enneagram.