This is my second installment of Fab Friday Feature and I’m giving you a double Feature today. I met Christie via Instagram. Christie is the Editor in Chief of Living Simplistically. I stalked frequently visit her Instagram page. Christie’s instagram page consist of photos that are enlightening, encouraging, and inspiring. Being a woman of many hats such as mother, lifestyle blogger, runner, yoga lover, and a Public Health Grad student.
Christie has become quite the instagram friend. She is very inspiring, always have words of encouragement and her sense of style is impeccable. Now that you know a little history between on how Christie and I met. I am excited for you to get to know her as I did.
How and why has blogging been your creative outlet? Dancing allowed me to express myself creativity through movement. Now that I have gracefully retired from dance blogging provides a similar outlet though different. I have been able to think creatively with what I would like to share with the audience and prepare my posts accordingly. I can write about anything from fashion, hair, inspiration, health and use my love for photography to express whatever I decide to write about.
How did your self image issues start and end? I honestly don’t believe it ever ended. I think my issues with self-image started early. My father was a professional photography so models were frequently in his studio. Growing up my father was very health conscious so being thin (yet healthy) was important to him, which trickled down to us.
When you take pictures how did you begin to say to yourself, I am okay with how I look? I believe we are our worst or BEST critiques. Naturally I am humble hearted but photos I see I pretty can either live with, or appreciate. Often times when I take full body shots I think “It could always be worse. Just keep working hard.”
How did your divorce effect you emotionally/mentally? My divorce though extremely hard was one of the best things in life. I liken a divorce to a death. We all mourn death so there is definitely a period where you are mourning the loss. Mentally, I would say my divorce strengthened me. I never understood the meaning of If it doesn’t kill you, it will only make you stronger. It made me stronger which surprised me and others. I think people expected me to shrivel up and come out in public disheveled but I actually looked better.
This is Christie and her wonderful (current) husband. How cute are they?
How did you begin running after your divorce? During my divorce I took to coping mechanisms to just deal. I drank bottles of wine and smoked cigars. (Yes, I love cigars) I knew this was not good more my mind or spirit, so I started running to relieve stress and work on my body. Little did I know running actually kept me sane, focused and was able to build my self-esteem. If I can run a 5k or a 10k surely I’m not that weak of a person (as my ex-husband made me to believe).
How did running help you after your divorce? Running helped me after my divorce by giving me something positive to focus on. It can be easy to get caught up in the feelings we have as humans that lead us to start feeling inadequate or sorry for ourselves. It helped that I began running during the process of my divorce so once everything was said and done, it brought a great deal of comfort knowing I had running to turn to when my marriage was no longer in tact. When I would step on the running path with jumbled thoughts and feelings, each time my foot hit the pavement, it seemed to just sort everything out.
When you run how do you feel? Free? Liberated? When I run, I am in pure bliss. There are truly no real words to describe the feelings I have. You get that runner’s high, you feel like you are floating, or you feel like you can conquer the world. Liberation is a great term to use. Don’t get me wrong there are times when I struggle during a run as well. I however use my time to run as my commune with God. It is my “me” time. My time to be just with me. My time to get to know myself a little more. My time to pray and meditate. My time to see how strong I really am, and it is still my time to sort out my thoughts and ideas. Everything seems to line up after a run. As much as I love to run, over time it wears on the body so these days I am been focusing on my yoga practice which is lower impact. I think the marriage of the two are great compliments to my fitness goals.
Thank you Christie for allowing me to feature you! Do you want to learn more about Christie? You can follow Christie her on:
Website: www.livingsimplistically.com
Facebook: Living Simplistically Facebook
Twitter: Living Simplistically Twitter
Instagram: Living Simplistically Instagram
