Changes You've Made In Your Life Since Going Raw

[PansyLo]

Thought it would be nice to discuss what other changes going raw has led people to.

I'm only 40 days raw and haven't been 100% the whole time but since starting I've found myself making a lot of life changes and challenging myself to improve my life in other ways.

Things I've changed or I'm aiming to change in the next few months:

• Quitting my tv addition.
  
  I've always hated tv and never watched it much except for specific programs I wanted to see. We don't even have one in our flat. With the internet being the way it is though there's a whole world of tv programs and movies old and new out there. I literally watch something every day. If I'm feeling really crappy I might just sit and watch internet tv ALL DAY. It's really, really bad. As soon as we have internet problems my life totally changes, I start reading, start doing work, start getting out the house and doing things...
  So for April I'm quitting all tv and movies completely for the month.
  
  
• Dedicating myself to treating my BPD.
  
  Before starting raw I was more or less getting pushed into a treatment program but didn't have too much intention of really doing much more than attending. Now I'm really willing to use all the help I can get as well as doing whole projects of my own to help myself.
  
  
• Moving my body.
  
  Since going raw I've felt this urge to use my body in a more challenging way. I'm going to start an intense yoga class and return to ballet classes. Also going to take up jogging. None of this will really start until I move in June as there's not much point signing up for classes somewhere when I'm just about to move away.
  
  
• Drastically cutting down to even quitting cigarettes and alcohol.
  
  
• Catching up with old friends who were good for me, meeting new people and getting out there to move my career forward.
  I'm not sure if I wrote on here that I'm interning for a designer in the city I live in. There's plans of staying on to help long term and of me, her and a few other people involved in fashion to start meeting up for creative brain storming and fun.
  
  
• Putting more effort into work towards a career in general.
  I've got an unconditional for a place in college, I've been attending photography classes, I've set up a blog to upload my art work to, I'm doing my intern job and making plans to collaborate with other designers and artists, I've been painting and working on my projects more. Hopefully my quitting tv will lead me to produce even more work.

So yeah, lots of things seem to be in motion. I'm constantly giving myself new challenges and it all really started when I stumbled onto this site and decided to give raw food a shot on a whim.



Anyone else got some great success stories and life style changes or some rad plans for the future?

[Raw Angel Mom]

I did quit the soap opera addiction, lol..... i just have no time anymore.

I have always been very spiritual so i started to change many thing more in 2002. I took courses.

Anyway, i find that raw food has enhanced my gifts and i also noticed that i would feel other energy so much more intensively, so much that i would have to hide in a bathroom to cry when something sad would come to my attention. I am more in balance now, thanks goodness.

Enjoy your journey, it is without a doubt a very profound experience!

[laughalways]

I have this problem too. I have always been sensitive to other people's energy. Now that I have been raw for a while, I can control it better. I have also become more spiritual. I think that ridding your body of toxins so it becomes cleaner opens up all one's senses more.

[Mayaya]

If I manage to become raw and when the time that I'll have more energy will come, I'm planning to learn inline skates also do some yoga and dancing. Well, I can still do dancing, no excuses.

I also plan to start my own veggie...garden. I already bought seeds of so many stuff and I can't waiiiiit!

Composting is a thought, but it's a very future thought, I don't know about that.

Some other things I wanted to start for some time now are sleaping and waking up very early, meditating and writing down positive affirmation before going to sleap (I managed a couple of times the latter, but not for long).
The reason I didn't manage so far to make an easy living programme like that, is I'm not the kind of person who sticks to things. But I do stick to internet in general who is really to blame for my lost hours and sleaping late.
So for my wellbeing I figured that I need to eat raw, but to manage I have to be prepared so I can start the day raw. For that I'll need to wake up early and for that to sleap early. And if I am to sleap early I have to limit internet. So limiting internet, and easing down with positive affirmations, I'll get more & quality rest, then I'll start my day raw (and positively I'll continue raw) and then I'll have the energy of programming my menus, excersise and...go to bed early again.

I just write my thoughts so I can read them -lol- and so remember that I need more energy, I know the way, now I have to stick to it.

[Living Food]

Got rid of the tv.
Dramatically increased exercise.
Spend more time in nature now then anywhere else.
Grow all of my own food.
Meditate daily (fairly new occurrence).

Lots more, but that will do for now.

I also plan to start my own veggie...garden. I already bought seeds of so many stuff and I can't waiiiiit!

Composting is a thought, but it's a very future thought, I don't know about that.

Composting is easy, it makes you more in tune with the Earth, it dramatically cuts down on the amount of waste you generate ('specially for us raw food eaters), and the quality of produce that you grow is infinitely better in fertile, well conditioned soil. People who have been growing organically for 20-30 years, and building up the quality of the soil with each year (with compost) get wonderful, vibrant plants, much increased yields, virtually no insect or disease problems. And the quality of the food is so high above what you can buy in a supermarket it's absurd.

Go for it!

[Living Food]

And it's free. Growing organically without composting is far more expensive (buying fertilizer, organic pesticides, etc) and the quality of the food is far less.

If you can stomach it, one of the best sources of free nitrogen and other valuable nutrients is...urine. Actually, urine is completely sterile when it exits your body and perfectly sanitary to apply to crops...I've been doing it for 2+ years.

Heck, even the Washington post says it makes a great fertilizer: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...100801028.html

Another positive review: http://www.scientificamerican.com/ar...ive-fertilizer

Ultimately, though, it's up to you to decide if you're willing to utilize a free source of very effective fertilizer or if you'd rather flush it down the toilet and contribute to global pollution. No pressure!

I could go on and on about growing food the right way, in the best quality soil possible, but suffice to say you should definitely compost. Everyone who wants to grow food should, and even those who don't should too, in my opinion (you could sell it to people who are interested in gardening, or at the very least use it to build up the soil rather then throwing it in a landfill).

A very eye-opening book is entitled "The Humanure Handbook"; even if you're not interested in composting your urine (or even - shudder - poop), it's worth a read just so that you actually understand where all that crap (pun intended) is going. Who knows, you might even change your mind afterwards!

It's available for free at http://weblife.org/humanure/

[nrothgarden]

Well, for one, my energy increased a lot, so I started to exercise more. I used to just go jogging/running for a few miles, but now I also sprint on grass and work out at the gym. I do squats and it has really toned my legs. I have some new muscles that I've never seen before!

[Living Food]

Walk barefoot as much as possible.
Rebound every day.
Stopped putting toxins on my skin (soap, shampoo, sunscreen)
Bought a magnetic mattress pad to sleep on.
Bought (and made) devices to neutralize harmful EMR.
Started foraging.
Stopped wearing sunglasses and replaced them with a hat for sunny days.
Get up much earlier every day.
Practice deep breathing and other breathing exercises daily.
Stretch very often throughout the day.
Dry brush massage daily.
Practice Tai Chi and magnetic Qi gong daily.
Do hatha yoga most days.
Stopped using fluorescent lights and air conditioning.
Got an air purifier - makes air cleaner whereas air conditioners load it with toxins.

I have always been very spiritual so i started to change many thing more in 2002. I took courses.

Raw Angel mom, would you mind telling me (us) what courses you took?

[climbing]

I got dreadlocks

I started using only natural raw honey and oils to clean my face (verses the harsh chemical acne cleansers I was using before)

I still love TV though--and always will. :)

[ReneeH]

I got Sister Locks!!!! And, LOVE them!!!! Been totally off of the "Creamy Crack" (hair relaxer) over 3 years!!!
I'm STILL Migrain free!!!
I have a new FULL TIME Raw Career! Doing what I have a passion for! (thanks to Alissa!!!)
My skin has never looked better! Adult Acne gone for good!!!
I've never felt better in my entire life!

...still working on the exercising thang, though!!!! LOL!!!!

[Mayaya]

@Living Food thank you for the information! Yes I am thinking of it a lot lately...

Also, seeing the answers of all of you, I am thinking that this is a place to pick some wonderful new ideas for a better living!

[Conscious Midwife]

~homeschooled a while, think I was doing that first and then found RAW from there
~loc'd my hair too, though this is recent
~composting and recycling
~yoga, though sporadically but I love it
~no poo the hair
~skin brush
~oil pull on occassion
~tried new breathing techniques
~RAWkamasutra...shhhh grown folks only!