New Job, New House, New Adventure

As some of you already know, A LOT has happened in the past few months, so I thought I'd take some time to update everyone.  For the most part this blog has been about our travels, but we have made some changes will radically affect our travel plans for the next year.  I'll start at the very beginning.

My job at the mines was fairly repetitive, so I listened to a lot of audiobooks and podcasts while I worked (for those of you who don't know, podcasts are free audio programs on iTunes).  My favourite podcast was one called "The Wellness Guys", which was all about health and dispelling the myths that are out there about living a healthy life.  If you have any interest in health at all, I highly recommend it (www.thewellnessguys.com).  The program is run by 3 Australian chiropractors/wellness experts, so after listening to a lot of episodes I decided to go see Dr. Brett Hill in Adelaide for a wellness coaching session.  At that point I had no interest in chiropractic, but I did like his message about health.

In the meantime, I was also taking some of the advice from the podcast and changing my diet.  They highly recommended cutting grains from your diet in all forms (I know, it sounds crazy) so I decided to stop having toast and cereal for breakfast at the mines, and replaced them with other things like fruit, eggs, green salads, and even the dinner food they put out for the night shift people.  Almost immediately I stopped having my usual sugar crashes during the day.  I also lost a few pounds, and l now look and feel better than I have in years.  When I got home from the mines, Ryan listened to one of the interviews about the Paleo diet on the podcast, and we decided to give it a try.  He was doubtful at first, but the main message that hooked him was to pay attention to how you feel after you eat.  Pretty much instantly we noticed that not having grains or dairy made us feel so much better than before, and we were really enjoying the increase in veggies and meat.

So fast-forward a few months.  I had started seeing Brett for chiropractic work because of my sore back from work, and I also learned that chiropractors can help with so much more than back pain (sleep, digestion, headaches, immunity, etc.).  The job at the mines was really getting to me, and I desperately needed a change.  Also, winter at the mines was pretty cold at 5am, so I started getting arthritic hands and large sore bumps on them.  When I asked Brett what he thought would help, he said "well, you could come work for me!"  He was offering about 20 hours a week of front desk/chiropractic assistant work/marketing, but also the opportunity to be mentored by him in the hopes of becoming a wellness coach in his practice,  which of course sounded better than the mines.  Despite that,  I immediately said no because of the major decrease in pay and the long commute from home.  When I told Ryan, he said "so you took it, right?"

Over the next 24 hours Ryan and I hashed out all of the pros and cons of taking the job at Greenhill Family Chiropractic, but eventually decided that I would work one more swing at Prominent Hill, then take the job.  We also decided that we had to move closer to my new work (and away from the beach).  While we were in Tasmania Brett confirmed that I could have the job, and in that moment things changed forever.

I am now typing this from our new house (we just moved in yesterday), I have completed a basic Wellness Coaching Certificate online, I absolutely love working at Greenhill Family Chiropractic, and most importantly Ryan and I are both much healthier now than we have ever been.  That story is to be continued.

Our other exciting update is that tomorrow morning we are leaving for a major vacation!  We will be in Canada for 4 weeks, then Holland for a few days, and finally Thailand for a few days.  In Canada we have two weddings to go to (my brother's and my friend's), family and friends to visit, and a heck of a lot of shopping to do!  We haven't been home in 15 months, so we're really looking forward to the trip.  Because my new job is on weekdays, we won't be doing very many large trips like we have been doing, so this will be an awesome way to start our new chapter.  Consequently, I won't be posting on this blog for probably 2 months.  I will of course post about our trips when I return to Australia.

Until then, instead of reading my blog, listen to the Wellness Guys!  Even if it doesn't change your lives as drastically as it  changed mine, I guarantee that it will change your lives in another positive way.

Thanks for reading!

Love Steph