Welcome to Lifestyle by Joelle!
Constantly putting everyone else’s needs before your own is tough habit to break. And if you’re a recovering people-pleaser like me, then you likely know how hard it is to tend to your own needs. Prioritizing yourself, your health, and your happiness is a daily choice. And it’s a difficult choice if you’ve spent your life putting everyone else first (like I have). Forgetting to focus on yourself can leave you feeling like you forget who you are, what you like, what’s important to you, and like you’re not in control of your own life.
Years of putting myself, my wants, my needs, and my health on the backburner created what felt like a monster brewing inside of me. A monster of resentment. I was tired, I was angry, and I felt helpless and hopeless. I felt like those around me had more control over my life than I did.
Then, over the course of just a few months, my life quite literally got turned upside down and my old life was a thing of the past. A few significant & difficult losses in my family and my own serious health diagnoses helped me to see that I needed to make a change. A couple of the most important individuals in my life passed away, and I discovered that what I thought was burnout was actually chronic inflammation and autoimmune issues wreaking havoc in my body. I was sad, I was infuriatingly tired, and I was in a lot of physical pain.
Although these changes felt like they brought my life to a halt, to the lowest I’d ever been, they actually ended up being the catalyst for the change I needed the most. I started prioritizing my own health, happiness, and wellbeing so that I’d show up better for myself and for my loved ones. I didn’t want to keep feeling like I wasn’t in control of my own life. I didn’t want to keep earmarking things for the oh-so-uncertain future. And I certainly didn’t want to be so tired after work that I didn’t have the energy to even spend time with those that I love. I wanted to be able to rely on myself. I wanted my family to know they could rely on me. And I so desperately wanted to start building moments of joy for myself and my family that felt like a thing of the past.
So, I pushed myself out of my comfort zone, and I started this blog.
I’ve always enjoyed reading other people’s blogs, and I’ve secretly always wanted to have a blog of my own. In fact, while I was in college, I’d start each day by checking for a new post from my favorite fandom blog before I’d even check my own email! I started this blog as a way to document and process all the thoughts and emotions I was experiencing while grieving the loss of my old life and trying to process and envision the new life ahead of me. While building this blog, I learned what an incredible resource blogs can be for fostering community and empowering & enabling people to take control of their lives & their income.
When thinking about what kind of blog I wanted to start, I knew that food needed to be the foundational element. Afterall, my passion for food and nutrition has been central to my life and education, and the idea of sharing that love with the world makes my heart (and stomach!) sing.
My earliest memory of being completely fascinated by food comes from helping my grandma plant cucumbers, tomatoes, and celery in her garden. I remember helping her harvest those same vegetables and using them in the salad I helped her prepare for our family dinner one summer night. From that moment on, I was sold! The brightness and freshness of the vegetables in the salad paired with her simple yet delicious homemade red wine vinaigrette dressing was incredible. Knowing these were all a product of our own hands gave me a sense of pride and wonderment. But the cherry on top was getting to help her from the garden to the kitchen to the table – a table where we were sharing a meal as a family, enjoying each other’s company and creating memories that will last a lifetime.
Growing up, my passion for food would grow with each new restaurant I went to, with each new farmers market I found, and with each new cooking technique I’d work on in the kitchen. My passion for food runs so deep that I even wrote my graduate school thesis on it! When I learned about my autoimmune and inflammation issues, I once again turned to food to help me manage my symptoms and adapt my lifestyle.
My lifelong love for food and nutrition pushes me to be the best home chef I can possibly be. I’m always learning new cooking techniques, developing new recipes, and trying to improve my plating skills. Cooking calms me down, helps me to feel centered, and allows me to express myself. Preparing meals for and sharing meals with my loved ones are the root some of my favorite, most precious memories. Being connected to the food on your plate has such deep power and meaning, and I hope you’ll learn a little more about how to harness all of that for yourself on this blog.
On this inspirational lifestyle blog, you’ll find plenty of personal journal entries, my favorite recipes & kitchen tips (I’m a sucker for a niche kitchen gadget!), ideas for decorating & entertaining, gift ideas, my learnings from starting & growing this blog, and wellness habits that have been instrumental in my journey on living with inflammation & autoimmune issues, sprinkled with a little bit of travel fun and a love for keeping things clean & organized. I obsess over reviews for products, services, recipes, and new restaurants, and I absolutely love stockpiling all that knowledge to share it with those around me. You’ll likely also see a few guest appearances from my fun-loving and insanely smart dogs!
Starting & growing this blog has been an absolutely amazing experience, and I’ve learned a lot along the way that I’d love to share with you. Everybody’s journey is different, but I hope you can use the information on this blog as an inspiration to focus on yourself and to know that can do whatever you dream of doing. I’m so thankful to share this journey with you. I hope this blog helps to inspire you to live a more empowered, authentic life like it has for me!