No Floundering in August - How to Up Your Vibe

small bites of Movement, Nutrition, Environment, Mindfulness, Community & Relationships, Creativity, & Sleep to have a great month

Aug 05, 2026

The “Re’s” Have It

Howdy Readers,

I know this question’s probably not top of mind for you but,

What do you do when your hubby, who’s been gluten free for 20 years, decides that he can in fact eat gluten full foods with little to no gastrointestinal effects and the first thing to reappear in the pantry is bread? (I mean real bread, not what is passed off as bread in the gluten free aisle of your local grocery store)

The answer?

Indulge the man and rediscover an old skill and start baking bread again. But not just any bread, no, no, no.

I have finally caught up on everyone’s favourite pandemic pastime and come as absolutely the last possible guest to the baking-sourdough-bread-from-scratch-at-home party. (never let it be said I am a groundbreaking trailblazer, I am a lemming all the way)

I’ve arrived at this party apron firmly tied, kitchen bench scraper in hand, and with a starter named Julie Andrews slowly burbling to double her size in the fridge. (dough/do, re, mi - get it?)

Yes, I’ve been rediscovering baking bread which was something I did many years ago when it seemed as though I had uninterrupted hours to knead my little heart out. Obviously this was B.C. (before children) and B.S.P. (before smart phones).

I have however never made sourdough until now.

Well except for of course that day-long course with my friend Peta which had an instructor as lively as the brick you put at the bottom of your toilet tank to save water and had so many steps and additions and timings and rules that my brain formally shut down almost immediately so now I have no memory of that day except for when Peta sees one of our sad co-participants out and about and she surreptitiously snaps her photo and sends me the “sighting” for comic relief and to remind us of the day we both lost a wee bit of our souls as well as our desire to ever make sourdough again.

Yeah, except for that I’m a sourdough newbie.

Luckily Julie Andrews and I have found a relatively step free process that involves the bread rising overnight and the two loaves I’ve managed to bring to life so far have been deemed “quite edible” by the hubby.

So how exactly does this story connect to our Vibrancy Bites for the month?

7 Pillars of Health

Besides the fact that learning something new is good for our brains, I’d say the process of nurturing your starter and coaxing it to become some yummy bread falls under the MINDFULNESS banner.

Sourdough bread is a fermented food. Your starter will contain probiotics which unfortunately cark it in the baking process however, the finished loaf is a good source of prebiotics which sets it up as food for your good gut bacteria. That puts sourdough bread firmly and literally as a NUTRITION bite.

round loaf of baked sourdough bread on circular pan — attempt #1

My COMMUNITY & RELATIONSHIPS bite came from a day of art gazing with a couple of friends. It turned into a lovely relaxing morning full of good conversations with the artists and I also wandered a new part of town that I’d never been to before. Can I just say there are so many creative people out there who are so full of knowledge and passion that they give me hope for our world. I was in awe.

My MOVEMENT bite counterintuitively involved me doing less movement. A few things forced this reducing:

Mainly it was that I had really upped the number of classes I was doing at the gym so I could reach my 1000 class milestone by my birthday. (I actually attended class #1000 on my birthday morn - yay me, goal achieved!) But, in my effort to reach my goal not only had my sleep suffered (I had get up way too early way too often) but my body was letting me know it was on the verge of rebellion so once the thousandth was ticked off I immediately backed off.

Breaking News: It turns out your body really does need recovery time AND it’s really important to get good sleep!

While it felt a bit indulgent at first to forgo the gym and sleep in (I really did feel like a slacker) my body felt better for doing less, my SLEEP improved and I felt rejuvenated and replenished.

Since I suddenly had a bit more free time, a nagging question popped up: what exactly was it I was trying to prove with this goal that nobody cared about except me? I’ll let you know when I’ve reassessed it more fully but it seems to be mainly a “I refuse to acknowledge that I’m getting older and things don’t work like they used to so I’m just going to push on through even though I know better” kind of a thing.

Another point for reducing movement came from my first visit to a podiatrist in almost 30 years. Turns out I need to spend less time barefoot and more time supporting my over flexy, ex dancer feet that have compensatory patterns in all three planes of motion. And, get this! Turns out most of the cute shoes I own are not that fab for my feet, can you imagine? Looks like there are some vastly overpriced trainers out there with my name on them that will offer my old tired dogs a modicum of support.

So what’s up on my CREATIVITY radar? Does buying a new dining table and chairs count? I mean the hubster and I did have to sit in a lot of chairs and also pair those chairs in multiple combinations with the table we’d chosen. We also had to imagine how the new set would look in our house before we purchased, but does that count as creativity? I’m saying a resounding YES, we’re talking Vibrancy Bites here after all. Our goal is to do and notice those small things that build up to a deliciously healthy meal of living and, I lurve our new furniture!

I feel like the new dining room set has not only refreshed my interior ENVIRONMENT but has made me look at the objects we own with new eyes.

You know when you get the urge to rearrange the furniture? When I was a kid my little sister and I shared a bedroom and did it all the time. Currently my living/dining/kitchen - which is not a super big space to begin with - houses: a front door, two sets of sliding glass doors (one with full sized panels either side), and five banks of windows. Ummm, there is verrrrry limited wall space so some of my furniture literally will only fit in one single spot. While this does stymy my rearranging urge, I reposition and rotate my art and knick knacks instead. Not only does it refresh my environment but it also forces me to dust which is deffo a win when you live with the windows open 99% of the time.

Other than that I’m feeling a bit of reinvention in my work life. I’m tweaking my Pilates teaching, condensing it and not taking any new clients. This way the biz can organically wind down as my and my current client’s lives change.

That’s what’s happening in my world & I hope that you are happy in yours.

This month choose a few simple Vibrancy Bites to feel resoundingly revitalised and let me know what they are: