You might have noticed that I have taken a bit of a hiatus from posting anything on here or on my FB page. I really don’t have anything else to blame this on, but the ‘motivation vortex’ of living on an island. If that thing actually exisits, it definitly does here on Koh Tao. Seems like I live a fairly easy life, right? Wake up to the birds chirping and sun shinning down through the cracks of my roof and fall asleep to the sounds of the frogs and geckos that share the same four walls that I do. You would also think that the extra dosage of Vitamin D I am getting year round and the green juices and smoothies I consume I should be in the highest of spirits and ready to take charge each and everyday. Well, contrary to these amazing benefits of living on an island you also need to dig a little deeper inside yourself to motivate and challenge yourself each and everyday to do a few productive things. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am not a lazy beach bum these days (well maybe some days).
Who wouldn’t be a beach/pool bum with this in your neighborhood??
So, what is it that has recharged me? Well, it was an awesome Writers Retreat held here on Koh Tao. About a month or so ago I noticed some posters hanging around the island advertising this retreat and I thought hmm who would come to KT to write? Don’t people just come here to dive, drink and possibly detox and do yoga? Well, I was apparently wrong. This island attracts people from all over who are passionate about writing, blogging and traveling so what better place to host such a retreat. I was first introduced to Erin who was running the retreat by a new friend Alex who has made it her full time job to travel and blog about it (awesome, right?). Alex just happened to be on the island at the time of this first retreat and Erin was chatting to her about how she was looking for a yoga teacher for the participants of her retreat. Lucky for me Alex practiced with me a few times prior to Erin mentioning this to her so she suggested she get in touch with me. So, there you have it. After a few communications later I was all signed up to teach yoga in the mornings at an awesome new location on the island while also participating in a brand new retreat that would get me out of my funk. Not only was this fate, but it timely as well as the beginning of the retreat fell on my 6 month anniversary of living here on KT and two year anniversary of establishing Healthy and Lean with Janine. Crazy how fast time goes!
Morning Vinyasa flow to get our creative juices flowing!
The retreat started with a meet and greet of the other participants. Some of us were locals, others traveled from Koh Pi Pi and one participant just happened to be wrapping up her travels and extended her stay on KT so she could join us. Our little community of writers came with different writing experiences, passions and languages. We all discussed our own personal writing project/assignments. Mine obviously was to get motivated to begin blogging again and I was also searching for a way to blend all of my passions/jobs into this one single blog. Originally when I started Healthy and Lean with Janine I wanted to use this website as a way to share recipes, yoga and suggestions on healthy eating. However, since moving to Thailand I have been using this website as a way to update my friends and family about my travels/experiences while living here. So, how can I blend these three worlds? I spend everyday juicing and blending veggies and fruits, practicing yoga and living on a remote island…who wants to read about that? Well, I was wrong. When I posed this question to my peers they all agreed that I can totally do this and gave me the exact encouragement that I was looking for to continue with this blog.
Get excited friends and family because I have a laundry list of new blog posts swirling around in my head and featured posts that I think would be of interest to you all. Looking forward to starting fresh again! Please share in the comments below any ideas or stories that you would like to hear about.
