I cannot believe this weather! Usually we get a bit of a lead-in to the upcoming season but so far we’ve just gone full-steam ahead into fall! I’m perfectly content with this as fall, like with many people out there, is my very favourite season!
To celebrate, last night Alan and I went for a nice walk down to the Danforth for a hot drink and treat at Starbucks. I rolled with a non-fat Toffee Mocha while Alan went with the Pumpkin Spice Latte. Turns out the barista didn’t hear properly and made me a non-fat plain mocha instead. When I explained the situation she made me the proper one and then said I could keep the other for free if I wanted as they were just going to throw it out anyway. I hate wasting food so I took it. I figured that although I don’t like cool coffee I could at least try it over ice in the morning!
That means this morning I had a double treat!
OIAJ With Iced Mocha
I was sad to see my jar of Dark Chocolate Dreams come to an end but excited to have my first hot oatmeal in a while! Sadly, I it was a failed experiment. I thought I’d try half a scoop of protein powder and completely RUINED it. It just tasted all mealy and powdery. 
That being said. My iced mocha turned out awesome! Funny, I can’t stand coffee that’s gone cool but you throw ice cubes in it and call it “iced” and I’m all over it!
Tomorrow Alan and I are heading to Toronto’s Harbourfront for The Toronto Vegetarian Food Fair! This is one of my favourite festivals as I get to try all different types of vegetarian and vegan food and stock up on food you can normally only get at restaurants (like my favourite, the veggie drumstick!!!). There are also lots of samples, talks and cooking demos! I hear there’ll be a whole bunch of us bloggers there tomorrow so come and say hi!
Feel The Fear Friday
Last week I talked about how to be rational when you’re faced with a fear. That your fear is just you over-reacting to something that most likely will never actually happen.
This week I want to talk a bit about understanding your fear.
Simply put, if you want to overcome your fear, you have to understand and confront it. Both of these will help to lessen the fear because knowledge is power. To do this, you need to dig deep and ask yourself the tough questions. Ask yourself why you’re afraid and don’t accept your first answer as the answer. Many times the first answer is a cover answer for something deeper. What I do is to ask myself “why” five times.
When I first moved to Toronto it was because I asked myself why I was afraid to leave my hometown.
Answer #1: I hate the city. It smells and I’ll get murdered.
Answer #2: It’s unfamiliar. I’m a small town girl and I just prefer the small town life.
Answer #3: I don’t know anybody in the city. My family is here. At least I have them.
Answer #4: What if I can’t find a job or make any friends? I don’t want to be alone.
Answer #5: What if I move and I fail? I’ll be embarrassed and I’ll have to move back home just like I did before.
BINGO! I didn’t think I was worth much back then and thought of myself as a failure. But I wasn’t a failure. My problem was that I didn’t try! I thought of myself as so unworthy of success that I never attempted to try anything! I never fought for anything! By asking myself the tough questions and not accepting any answer as the correct one until I knew that I was finally telling myself the truth, I found what the real issue was.
At that point, however, you have to decide what to do with the answer when you get it.
It’s like Lawrence Fishbourne in The Matrix. Do you take the red pill or the blue pill? Do you allow yourself, armed with this new knowledge, to continue down the path you were on or do you decide to go in a different direction? You know exactly what will happen if you continue down the old path because it’s how you currently feel. Sure the new path is unknown but what if going down it leads you to happiness? What if it leads you to everything you ever wanted? How can you ever go back to the life you were leading when you’re faced with the possibility that everything you want is down that other path?
There is not a day that goes by in the last three years that I regret moving and starting my life over again. I know where I’d be if I didn’t and the person I am today is happy, confident and brimming with possibility.
It just starts with asking that one little question: why?
What fear did you bust through this week? What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail?
