ROOT Hero: Self-Care Starts With Living “Bellyful”

At ROOT, we believe that habit change is the pathway to transformation. We also believe that yoga therapy isn’t just what happens on the mat but how you choose to live your life. Living boldly and practicing self-care can come in many forms beyond physical movement. When the goal is awareness of mind, body and soul, everyone has their own path to forge.

This month’s ROOT Hero exemplifies just that.

Meet Connie Sintuvat, a brand manager, wife and mother of two living in Alameda, CA. From the outside, Connie’s life is quite full. Between a full-time job, her energetic and friggin’ adorable little boys, family visits back to LA, and travel, Connie seemingly has it all plus some. Upon closer observation, Connie realized something wasn’t quite right.

 

“I loved life, my boys, my blossoming career, but I began to struggle with my identity. Who am I really outside of work and being a mommy?”

This is an all too common struggle that many parents face but far too many never address. Finding a sense of purpose and nourishment that is purely their own – not for others – is essential to balance the ability to care for anyone else. That’s why flight-attendants always pester you to put your air-mask on before helping others.

Connie needed to focus on her personal happiness and not limit the pursuit of her passions because of her other demanding roles. When every second of the day is about caring for others, she had to set an intention to do something just for her. She needed to get to her root by finding a new routine that put self-care on the menu.

As a lifelong foodie, Connie decided to start feeding herself, literally, and created a food, travel and lifestyle blog – Bellyful Life! A mixture of family stories, mouthwatering recipes, pictures, local finds and adventures, Bellyful Life was the self-care that Connie was seeking.

We caught up with Connie to learn more about why Bellyful has provided her with the shake-up she needed:  “It’s been 4.5 months, and each time I complete a post feels so cathartic for a few reasons:

  • The blog makes me feel like I’m doing something more than just work and being a mom
  • I’m actively pushing myself to seek delicious foods, which strengthens my passion for it
  • I love when my community cheers me on in the form of a restaurant uses one of my photos to regram (like when Blue Bottle Coffee regrammed my waffle picture) or someone comments that they’ve loved my recipes
  • And lastly, I now have a legacy of original and curated recipes to pass along to my boys – self-care for me leads to a true gift for them!”

But as it turns out, eating, traveling, and blog writing aren’t all donuts and dumplings. This new project also comes with bumps like managing her hectic schedule, burning the midnight oil to write, IT nightmares (don’t even get her started), and worrying if she has more pictures of food than her growing boys.

How does she ensure that this is still something that feeds her? Well, like any good yogi and ROOT Hero, she:

  • Checks in with herself periodically to ensure she’s still doing this for the right reasons
  • Sets accountability with a greater community of supporters to keep her on track
  • Keeps going deeper – with each blog post she learns something new about social media or food, which keeps her pushing to the next level (think getting better at your headstand and deeper into your warrior II)

Thank you, Connie for being our ROOT Hero this month and inspiring us all to take on new projects and habits to heal and care for ourselves! You empowered yourself and proved that a full – bellyful – delicious and balanced life is ours for the making.

How would you practice self-care if you had an hour or two extra each week? What would you do that was 100% for you and your own enjoyment? Let us know in the comments below!

To learn more about Connie and her bellyful adventures:

About Connie

Connie is a full-time working mom of 2 young  boys, Parker and Cooper, and wife to her high school sweetheart, Hsiang.  A native Southern Californian, she moved to the Bay Area after completing her MBA at Cornell to pursue a career in Brand Management. Cooking, eating and adventuring to find great food are her passions and main source of inspiration for her blog, bellyfullife.com