This week a few huge dreams of mine were realized. I received a promotion at work to be the inaugural Education Manager; hired my first (awesome!) Field Educator, who I actually met initially through the blogging community & the Recipe Redux (find her here); received a job offer based on my twitter presence to be a consulting nutritionist on the new asknaturalhealth.ca website launching this fall; and I had a preliminary meeting about content for a book or nutrition manual. It was a week of high’s for sure.

Cathedral Grove, Playtime. July 1st Longweeked, 2012

I feel so grateful in my life lately for the amazing opportunities I am surrounded with & people I have come to know and love. My life has changed so dramatically over the past 9 months, from career progression, to my relationship, to my fitness & what house I call home. Despite the massive changes, I feel motivated every day to explore what’s in store, I feel challenged to grow and develop as a leader, and get to create learning opportunities daily, which inspire others to lead a healthy life. I am definitely enjoying this ride!

Emma, Laura, Heidi & Koreann of Team Vega get psyched up for the Tough Mudder Race in Whistler, June 2012

I did however, also receive some feedback which has inspired me to make some constructive changes. I recently applied to be a FitFluential Ambassador, and at this point in time, wasn’t accepted. They were however, extremely helpful in their reply, and made a number of personalized recommendations for improving my online presence. A big reason why I really respect the reputation & community they have built. They also let me know I genuinely had potential, and have encouraged me to re-apply in another couple of months, after implementing some changes. It was advice I really needed to hear, because I’ve been putting off, and putting off evaluating the direction of this blog, and how it fits within all the other content and resources I create on & offline.

It’s time to invest a little TLC into The Hearty Heart, as I work to build the credibility of this site, and my presence online. Over the next few months here’s a teaser of what you will start to see:

• New content, more frequently: FitFluential’s advice was to post more often (3-5X/week), and given how tight my free time already is, I recognize I will need to keep my messages conscience and specific, as I incorporate posts more often. I still favour quality over quantity, but given a few new inclusions to The Hearty Heart’s topics and themes, I hope to supply you with a diversity of inspiration through these posts.
• Integration of more social media channels: Such as Facebook (coming soon!), YouTube content (video posts), Pinterest, Instagram etc…
• More interactivity: Another key indicator of a blog’s reach to the FitFluential team, is the commentary generated following each post. I’ll start us off with questions or challenges through out the week, and let me know if you ever have questions or if something inspired you!
• New post topics: Clean eats & clean treats (recipes); low sugar recipes, naturally occurring & no sugar added options; more innovative vegetable & plant based recipes; salads, smoothies & super foods; nutrition research; & athletic/performance nutrition.
• Updates on my education events, published work, recipe development & races: With all the travel I’ve been getting to do, talks and & content development I am a part of across North America, I wanted to start sharing more about these occasions with you. You’ll now find new pages across the title banner (Recipes, Events & Published Work), and I’ll also be posting updates on the blog itself when something new is ready to share.

I hope you enjoy the upcoming changes to The Hearty Heart, ultimately my goal is to reach as many people as possible, and inspire us all towards longevity. I am grateful for your participation in this goal, and the opportunities to grow along the way!

Emma

Back home for some country/mountain air! SW of Calgary, June 2012