Trish

Living life as a woman brings about many challenges. Women face a much stronger pressure from those around them to look young and fit. Maintaining your body should never be something you do for others.

Rather, you should work to maintain a young, fit appearance to uphold a strong stance against the shallow expectations of society. Take some time to read through a few tips that will help you feel and look your best, and start paving your own path today.

Eat a balanced diet

Everyone knows that their diet directly affects their physical health, but few people truly understand how to create a healthy diet. If you’re one of the many who don’t really know what it means to eat a balanced diet, it’s time to do some research.

You’ll want to start by adding plenty of greens to your meals. Fruits, veggies, and other natural foods are always a good dietary decision. Avoid refined sugars, saturated fats, and excess sodium. As a general rule, anything in a box or can probably isn’t the best dietary choice.

Refrain from smoking and drinking

Smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol is bad for every part of your body. In terms of aesthetics, the two are notorious for prematurely aging a person’s skin.

You’ll look like your 80 before you know it if you live a fast lifestyle for an extended amount of time. Of course, there are some who escape this fate due to their genetics, but the majority of people express the same diminishing outcome.

Consider cosmetic surgery

If it is of your own choosing, there’s no shame in investing in cosmetic surgery. People all around the world go under the knife every day.

If you have good health and a good mind to choose cosmetic surgery, you could greatly extend the length of your youthful glow. Just be careful not to go overboard, so you don’t end up looking like a piece of plastic.

Take good care of your skin

Avoid overexposure to the sun. Your skin will become damaged over time when you insist on “tanning” often.

Burning your skin does far more damage than you realize, and the full effects of the damage may take years to arise. Wear sunscreen, and don’t spend every day baking in the sun. Your skin will look more youthful for longer.

Avoid yo-yo dieting

Dramatically shifting your weight from large to small and back again will cause your skin to lose its elasticity. Eventually, you’ll be left with unsightly, saggy skin.

If you want to lose weight, commit yourself to a lifestyle change. Dieting is a temporary solution. Changing the way you live will produce lasting results.

 

My dear friend Stacey Tokunaga moved down to Mexico City just over 8 years ago, and I couldn’t wait to get down and visit her. As things worked out, after 3 or 4 trips down to the Mexican capital I also fell in love with the place and followed in Stacey’s footsteps in moving down here. This is a city which really combines modern and traditional culture, and you can enjoy both city life and authentic Mexican experiences during your time here. If you are looking for the authentic Mexican experience then here is what you need to do when you are in Mexico City.

Eat Tacos

To say that tacos are life would be a massive understatement and you will see in just a few days here just how essential tacos really are to the Mexican culture. On almost every street corner of the city you’ll find vendors who sell an array of different types of tacos, not to mention that almost every restaurant will have a taco option. When finding good tacos in the street, aim for a cart with many people around it, this is a great indicator of the quality of their tacos.

Go To Teotihuacan

Mexico has rich history of ancient civilizations who once lived on these lands, principally the Aztecs and the Mayans. The result is that throughout the country there are many archaeological sites which have been well preserved and give an insight into the past of the country. One of the most impressive of these ruins is the ancient city of Teotihuacan which is juts over an hour outside Mexico City. This sprawling city was home to both the Aztecs and the Mayans before them, and it features two key pyramids and many plazas and living quarters which have been perfectly preserved.

Listen to Mariachis

If you go to Plaza Garibaldi in the Zocalo area of Mexico City you will see many Mariachi groups waiting to play to those who want to hear a song. There is nothing more Mexican than Mariachi music and for the authentic Mexican experience you should head to Garibaldi and pay for a group to play you a couple of songs. Great music played by great musicians.

Visit a Cantina

Cantinas were traditionally working class watering holes where the locals could hear great music and enjoy some food and drink. These days these bars are accessible to everyone and they provide you with the real Mexican experience. Generally what happens is that you pay for your drinks and the food is free, naturally this will mean you pay a slightly higher price for your drinks. The best thing to do here is to go in a small group, but a bottle of rum or whisky for the table and then enjoy as many snacks as you can handle. Traditional music is played in these places and they are a real hotbed of activity where you can experience some real Mexican culture.

About two years ago my buddy James Haidak and I decided that we would combine our love for surfing with our love for travel and we embarked on a month long trip around Costa Rica to hit some of their best surf spots. This is something which James had been doing for many years but I on the other hand used to just travel to explore, without really making the most of my favorite hobbies when I was away. This trip with James changed all of that and I have since then 2 more trips which have combined my passion for travel with me other passions in life. This is such a rewarding experience and here is why I’d recommend it.

Learning

Whether surfing in Costa Rica, going on a vineyard tour in France or going fishing in Alaska, when you travel and enjoy your hobby in other locations around the world, you learn so much about your passion. This is much about what travel can bring you as well, getting out there and meeting different people, learning new skills, new methods and new approaches to things, and this is also what you’ll get when you combine your trips with something that you love.

New Places

When you pick your travel destination based on where the best place to practice your hobby is, you’ll find that you visit places which you may not have previously considered. For example I’m not sure I’d ever have gone to Costa Rica were it not for the surfing community that they have down there. Although I may not have seen the appeal in the past, I can honestly say that I really fell in love with this country and I would certainly go back again. The same goes for those who love wine, fishing, kayaking, climbing or art, you will visit places that you may never have considered before.

Like Minded

Meeting people on the road is great, you can get to know people from other nations and cultures and through travel you can often make some great friends. When you travel to do something you love however you’ll greatly increase the number of like-minded people who you will meet, and I personally made many great friends during that Costa Rica trip with James, and others that I have been on since. Your passion gives you something to talk about and a great way to connect with people, this is why it is much easier to make good friends when you travel.

Fun

Ultimately traveling in this way is just so much more fun than any other type of travel and I have completely fallen in love with the idea of traveling to places where I can enjoy my hobbies and passions. Traveling is fun on its own, combine that with something you love and you are guaranteed to have the best time!

Why not give it a try for your next vacation!

 

Recently I was asked by my daughter to go into her school and discuss working in pubic relations and what it means to me. I have to be honest that it wasn’t until I sat down to give it some thought that I realized just how much I really do love this industry. I work for the brilliant Interdependence PR and they are a firm which have allowed me to achieve everything that I wanted to in this industry. I wanted to talk to you a little today about why I love this industry and why I would certainly recommend it to anyone who has an interest in this field.

Creative Juices

No matter what project or client I am working on there is always an opportunity to flex my creative juices and think up some out of the box way of deliver a message or strategizing. What I love in particular about this industry is that you are working as part of a team with other amazing people who are creative and innovative and this really brings out the best in you.

Teamwork

I am not a born leader and I have no ambition to be a leader, which is why I am so content in my position as part of a well oiled team. Public relations isn’t a position which you do alone and if you want to work in a team of great minds then this is a position which can certainly give you that.

People

Ever since I was young I have loved working with a wide range of people, I enjoy communicating with people from different industries and backgrounds and thankfully, that is what I do in my daily job. Whether it is setting up events and communicating with event staff, working with clients or speaking with press officers, if you are a people person like I am then you are going to love this job. Within public relations it is absolutely essential that you are able to build strong relationships with those that you work with which is why being a people person will help you so much in this industry.

Seeing Results

I love the cycle from the moment that we speak to the client and understand what their needs and their goals are, planing a strategy and then watching as the results are delivered. This is an incredibly rewarding part of the job and it is something which I love to see.

Variety

There is no monotony at all in this industry and everyday you will be doing something different than the day before. I love this variety and I know that there are many out there who are also looking for a career which promises them variety like this. One day you are planning an event, the next you are fire fighting and the next you are looking to build on your client list.

This is a great industry to work in and one which I really love.

 

Ever since turning 30 I have really started to view life in a very different way than before, especially with regards to ego. What I am referring to here in particular is that for many years I wouldn’t look upon my friends as inspirations, but rather competition, this is healthy at times but not always and if you have friends who are doing incredible things then you should look to them as inspiration and not with any envy or overwhelming ego. My buddy Marc Leder is a perfect example of this, for me he is just one of life’s winners, one of those guys that you know no matter what happens they will come up smelling of roses.

To be fair to Marc, he is a very smart individual and someone who knows exactly what he wants and is prepared to work hard enough to get it. For many years I envied Marc but in recent years I have come to understand just how important it is to be inspired by friends like this, and here is why.

Healthy

Harboring negative thoughts is just not healthy for you, much less when these negative thoughts come about because of something that a friend is doing. Whether you hold negative thoughts against them or against yourself based on what a friend is doing is irrelevant. Thinking like this can easily do damage to a friendship and for your own personal mental health it is something which you should try to avoid doing.

Opportunity

If you ask most people who inspire them they may talk about political figures, music artists, family or perhaps social crusaders. The is all well and good but in reality we can only ever be slightly influenced by these people because we don’t really know anything about them, other than what they have been able to achieve. This is why if you have a friend who is doing great things then this provides you with an amazing opportunity to be inspired by someone who you see each day, or at least with frequency. Being inspired doesn’t mean that someone is better than you or that you want to be them, it just means that through your respect and love, you can be motivated to think or act in a certain way, and that can only be beneficial.

Better Friendship

Friends should make each other better people and that is something that was lost on me for far too long. Having a friendship is a mutually beneficial relationship based on the things you like, the people you are and each other’s ability to inspire and motivate the other. Friends see the truth in you, they know what you are capable of and because of this they are able to advise and help you whenever you need it. Being inspired by a friend is not something negative at all, it is in fact the epitome of friendship and we all need to learn just how important this can be for all parties.

For experts like Dr. Richard Soper the issues of sleep and high quality sleep is an important one, and the importance of this cannot be understated. Richard has lead many research studies into the consequences of sleep on the body and the brain, and he has also helped to lead campaigns to promote better quality sleep. There is a certain romanticism which people make when they talk about how little they sleep and can still function, but the truth is that not getting enough high quality each night can do your body and your brain a great amount of damage. If you don’t sleep well, these are just some of the problems which you are going to encounter.

Poor Focus and Concentration

When we sleep we caregiving our brain the chance to rest and the chance to process all of the information which it has absorbed during the course of the day. If however we don’t give our brains this chance then we can expect it to operate at a much lower level than it should. There are a number of consequences of this and one is losing the ability to focus and concentrate. When your brain is not rested it can misfire which is why people who don’t sleep well can find it hard to focus on anything for a long period of time.

High Stress Levels

There is stress in everyone’s lives and those who have issues with stressed aren’t usually exposed to more than the next person, but they have a lower ability to cope with the stress which they have in their lives. This is the same in people who haven’t slept well, because the brain function is low, they struggle to deal with situations and can get stressed out very easily. You’ll know yourself how little patience you have when you’ve had a poor night’s sleep, and this is why you will also feel highly stressed.

Appearance

If you have had poor quality sleep for many nights then your appearance is going to change a great deal. Much like the brain rests and recuperates during sleep, so too does your body, repairing damaged cells and allowing the body to perform a reset ahead of the next day. This is why those who don’t sleep well end up with dry skin, bags under their eyes and sometimes even the appearance of hair and nails can change.

Later Life Problems

Dr. Richard and his team also often warn about the dangers which a prolonged period of poor sleep can cause in terms of diseases in later life. Many studies have indicated that there is a higher risk fo neurological diseases like Alzheimer’s and dementia in those people who have constantly gone without the recommended amount of high quality sleep over a long period of time.

The odd night of bad sleep is fine, but if you consistently have issues then you need to address this to avoid problems like those listed here.