Mariska Richters Digital Dogmom Life

Today, I am doing my best version of “Social Distancing,” due to COVID-19.

Getting my Sunday therapy session in the woods. Sunshine. Fresh air. Peace and quiet. Beasties. It’s all I need to get me through another week for my 14 days of self isolation.

It feels like all the relaxing and rejuvenating I did in Bali for 4 weeks has already unraveled and melted away this past week, with the craziness that’s going on around the world, and in my local community.

I sure am glad to be home, considering the current state of air travel and borders closing and the insane costs of changing flights, etc.

The mass stockpiling of supplies is not something I expected to see when I got home, especially after spending a month in a country where most people are barely getting by, earning the equivalent of just $300cad/month.

I had a bit of culture shock coming home to people lining up before stores even open to literally run and almost trample each other to buy up toilet paper, hand sanitizer and food like it’s some kind of apocalyptic event. (I still don’t understand the toilet paper part…)

I mean, I get it, to a certain extent, but at the same time, not EVERYONE is being quarantined. If you’re not sick, you don’t need a 2-4 week food supply. The stores will remain open, and the supply chain will continue to operate. You can still have stuff delivered right to your door.

Everything that’s going on around us, for the most part, is precautionary to work toward flattening the curve and avoiding a potential outbreak. We are not at a point where we are all going to inevitably get sick to the point of requiring critical care if we run out of toilet paper. Just sayin.

PLEASE be conscious of others when you are loading your shopping carts. Buy only what you need just like you would for a regular shopping day. Everyone out there needs their weekly food supply.

Think of your parents or grandparents or elderly friends who may be on a fixed income and are only able to grocery shop a few times per month and are only able to purchase what they need. Imagine them going to the store to find empty shelves when their cupboards at home are bare as well because they don’t have the means buy in bulk.

Social distancing is suddenly a thing, but being socially conscious and caring about others, and taking care of others is ALWAYS a thing.

Think of this whole mess as a test of our humanity and social conscience. Selfishly stock piling is not the answer. Taking care of each other and making sure we all have what we need is.

#livealifeyoulove

It has been quite a while since I have had a toxic human in my life that upset me in a way that rocked me to my core.

I’m learning that despite hopes and wishes and long periods of time, some things simply never change. As humans, we just simply clash with some other humans in life.

We may care for them. We may wish things were different. We may have hopes that things will change one day… but in the end, it’s better for our own mental wellbeing to move on, let them go, and walk away.

How to Identify a Toxic Human in Your Life

How do you identify someone who is toxic to your wellbeing? It’s all connected to how you feel when you are in their presence.

Column A:

• Do they speak to you with love and respect?
• Do they treat you with kindness?
• Do they make you feel good about who you are?
• Do they encourage and support you in your goals and dreams?
• Do they make you feel loved and appreciated?

Column B:

• Do they compare you to others and make you feel less than?
• Do they make you feel anxious and make your stomach tie in knots?
• Do they make you feel like you can’t do anything right or like you are always doing things “wrong”?
• Do they criticize and judge the things you do or say, or the choices you make for your own life?
• Do they just generally make you feel shitty? Even with a simple text message?

If you answered mostly “no” to column A, and mostly “yes” to column B, then you are more than likely in a toxic environment that you would be better off walking away from.

It may be difficult.
It may be painful.
It may even be the hardest thing you have ever done.

However, for your own sanity, wellbeing and personal growth, you must distance yourself. Even if it’s someone you have known for a long time, or it may even be a family member you have known your whole life – distance yourself.

Walking away is the only way you are able to grow into the person you are meant to be without being held back by the toxic energy from this person.

You will thank yourself for it in time, I promise you this.

My Experience with Toxic Humans

I have personally had several toxic people show up throughout my life. I will be honest, at first I was blind to it. I had no idea why I always felt drained, grumpy, and lacking confidence and belief in myself while in their presence. Why did I always feel like I had to walk on eggshells, or behave a certain way to make them accept me? It wasn’t until I forced myself to walk away, and the “smoke” cleared, that I realized the connection around why I was feeling that way.

Since then, each time it becomes easier to identify the traits of a toxic human, who I am simply not meant to have in my life, and it has become a little bit easier each time to walk away.

It doesn’t mean I have ill feelings toward anyone. It simply means I am better off to send them love and light, bless and release them and their energy from my life.

If you feel that this post resonates with you at all, or if you have questions, please comment below or reach out to me on Facebook, or by commenting on this post.

You deserve a life you love, surrounded by people who care about you and truly have your best interests and success at heart and speak to you with respect and kindness.

Bless and release. Live a life you love.

This is going to be a bit of a rant. I’m frustrated.

Frustrated with how common courtesy simply doesn’t seem to be a THING anymore.

What happened to asking someone how they are doing or how they’ve been before asking them for something you want from them?

Is common courtesy is fading away with the advancement of technology?

Thanks to technology, people have become instant gratification junkies and have almost forgotten that there’s actually a human being with hopes, dreams, feelings and a life at the other end of their text message. Someone who might be having a shit day, or could really use a friendly message from someone in that moment, only is made to feel insignificant when there is no regard for them as a human being.

It’s no longer a “Hi! How are you? How have you been? What’s new?” society, but more of a “Hey, I need something from you right now!” society. Sometimes the “Hey” is even totally omitted too. 

What has happened to the idea of actually caring about the human being on the other end of the message?

I’m not going to claim to be completely innocent of this, I’ve done it too. 

However, over the past few years I have been making an effort to connect with people on the other end of my messages before I ask them to go out of their way for me, or ask a favor of them. Sometimes – and I know this is totally crazy – but sometimes I just message them to see how they’re doing and don’t actually want anything from them at all!

There are people who sometimes reach out to me after months or even YEARS of no contact and and without so much as a “how have you been?” they ask me for a favour. 

Please. People. Be humans. Be kind. Connect. Interact.

Make the person on the other end of your text message feel appreciated, cared about and important. Not just a means to an end (yours).  

Kindness costs nothing. Asking someone how they are, costs nothing.  Asking how life is treating them, or how their vacation was, or how their work is going, costs nothing! Making someone feel good and appreciated, costs nothing. 

My Courtesy Challenge to You

I challenge you to catch yourself, and not just go straight in for the end game of getting something from the person you are contacting. Start by asking how they’re doing and connect to something in their life first, wait for a reply, and only then decide if it’s appropriate to ask them for whatever you need from them.

You just might help someone have a better day. You just might have an unexpected impact. You just might still get what you’re after, and this time that person just might be happy to help you out, rather than feel used and unappreciated.

And after you get what you want, PLEASE express your heartfelt thanks. Yes, HEARTFELT thanks, it’s a thing. Drop a comment below, if you accept the challenge!

Common courtesy. Let’s bring it back. Let’s make it a thing in 2020. 

Life a Life You Love

end rant —/

Sometimes I feel like this life is a dream. We live in such a beautiful place! I could completely imagine living in some other beautiful places, but I know I will always come back to this island – because it’s HOME!

With spring in full swing, I find myself appreciating this place more and more each day.

And I find myself more grateful everyday that I get to spend my days setting my own schedule and taking full advantage of everything my surroundings have to offer.

Life is good. Life is REALLY good!!

Life Wasn’t Always This Way

Life used to be hard.

It was hard for a long long time. Like 8 years of hard before the storm broke and the sun started shining more regularly again.

Before moving back to my Island, life handed me what felt like one bag of shit after another for a long time.

It all started with a nasty breakup after a 5 year relationship with a man I thought, at the time, I would spend the rest of my life with. He had two little girls who I adored with my whole heart, and it completely shattered me to be blindsided by the breakdown of that relationship and to lose them from my life. My heart was broken into what felt like a billion pieces.

It changed me in so many ways that I didn’t even recognize myself anymore. I saw an empty shell when I looked in the mirror, and it took all I had to get out of bed in the morning and face the world.

I moved house nearly every year after that, to a different part of town each time, trying to find somewhere that truly felt like home. I went from owning a home to never really feeling like I had a home to go back to, except when I came back to my Island to visit my parents in my childhood home.

I had a hard time finding work that inspired me beyond a 6-month period.

My love life and dating were a joke. I had one terrible online dating experience after another. The scenarios were so bad that one of my girlfriends actually suggested I start a blog about it! Thankfully, I can laugh about it all now, but at the time, I cried. A lot.

Then yay! I finally met someone great, or so I thought… And then that imploded too. Twice.

There were some good times mixed into these years too, of course. It wasn’t all bad all of the time. I had great friends, I had a new nephew to love and adore, I did some fun things, I traveled to a new place every year… but life was not consistently good for very long periods of time. Something always seemed to happen to mess things up before too long.

The only thing that saved me and kept me sane and gave me a purpose was my Roxidoo, who showed up in my life about 4 months into this whole situation. Roxie has helped me through so much. She was my one constant. My rock. My beastie. My best friend. My love. Roxie is my Soul Dog.

Time For a Change

Then, one day in September 2013, I decided that I had had enough. I felt like Vancouver had chewed me up and was ready to spit me out. I decided to move back to my Island. My home. I needed a fresh start. A clean slate. In a place where I didn’t really know anyone. I grew up there, but I didn’t know very many people anymore outside of my family and a few close friends.

So I just decided one day. Just like that. And 2 days later, before I could talk myself out of it, I gave notice to my Vancouver landlord, sold almost all of my stuff (except some of my clothes, my bed and my car), and a month later I upped and left Vancouver without a second thought.

It Wasn’t Easy

It was hard at first. It was wayyy outside my comfort zone to make such a drastic change without some kind of plan. But something had to happen if I was going to snap out of the cycle of bullshit that life seemed to be consistently throwing my way. I needed a complete change of scenery.

It was like the universe was trying to tell me something. That I didn’t belong where I was. And it would keep throwing more shit at me until I listened.

So I finally did. I listened. I made a decision. I sold my stuff. And I picked up and moved to Vancouver Island.

I found a job and a place to live, and soon Roxie and I met a man and his dog, who would one day become my husband and blended fur family.

Of course much happened in between, but those are stories for another day.

What I’m trying to tell you here is this:

YOU ARE JUST ONE DECISION AWAY FROM A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT LIFE!!

If life keeps throwing you shit, it might be the universe telling you that it’s time to make a change. Its pushing you in a new direction, all you have to do is be open and listen. If you don’t, chances are the shit will just keep raining down on you, like it did for me.

One single, quick decision completely changed my life. It’s up to YOU to make YOUR decision to completely change YOUR life.

What are you waiting for? It’s your time to shine, my friend.

Happy New Year, Friends! 

With a new year, a new DECADE, and so many new visitors to my page, I thought it a good time to re-introduce myself. I’m Mariska Richters, and this page is where I share my life adventures, travel addiction, my loveable fur babies, Roxidoo and Cash, health/wellness and positivity tips & all the delicious food my husband, Adam, cooks for me. 🙂

I’m a Dutch/Canadian, a Leo, a wife, a daughter, a sister, and a beastie mama of two. I love to travel, love food and wine (especially pink wine with bubbles) and am passionate about location independent business.

Why a Freedom Lifestyle?

One of the reasons I’m so passionate about creating a freedom lifestyle is because I have an allergy to bosses, daily commutes, and being told when I am allowed to eat, nap and pee. 

I have always had an entrepreneurial spirit. I grew up in an entrepreneurial family, and it has always been my dream to earn my living from anywhere – like a beach!

About 3.5 years ago I stumbled into an online business opportunity that opened my eyes to a whole new way of earning income. I dove in and I haven’t looked back… I never imagined that sharing my story and passions on social media would allow me to help so many people while allowing me to live life on my own terms. It has been an absolute game changer, and now I can’t imagine living life any other way.

I’m a woman that just wanted to find my purpose and live a freedom lifestyle where I was not stuck commuting 2+ hours per day to work in a stuffy windowless cubicle for the rest of my working life. I was sick of feeling guilty for leaving my Roxidoo home alone for 10+ hours a day.

So I found a way to create the freedom lifestyle I always wanted through an online health & wellness business, where I teach busy working women (like you) with no experience how to earn extra cash online by leveraging social media. I help them find their purpose, which creates an online marketing machine! I also love helping people achieve their health & wellness goals, allowing them to live their best and most energetic life.

My goal for 2020 is to support women reclaim their freedoms and power, step into their greatness and to help them create a life they love!

Fun Facts About Mariska Richters

• My biggest loves in life are dogs, travel, wine, fitness and sunshine.
• My biggest fears are heights and water splashing in my face.
• I have a rosé and prosecco addiction. 😉
• I have solo traveled through Thailand, Costa Rica, Bali, Europe, and Morocco.

I started my journey in Online Marketing in 2016 just wanting to pay for my health products – today, I have fired my boss and this business is my main income gig.

Please, be curious!! Ask me about online marketing, how to start a business from the ground up with zero experience, health tips, fitness, travel, how to get back on track after a setback and how to step into your courage when you’re scared shitless!

I get PUMPED to share my hacks of what drove me to create the successful business, impact, positive mindset & freedom lifestyle.

One thing I have realized throughout this journey, is that we REALLY do create our own reality through our thoughts and our language. And I truly love helping others come to the same conclusion, help them shift their mindset and as a result: Change Their Life!

I finally found a way to break out of the hamster wheel of the monday-to-friday 9-5 grind, feeling lost and having no real purpose. So it’s now my mission to help other women do the same.

Now it’s your turn:

• Tell me one fun fact about YOU below!
• Share fur babies’ names with me (and your human kids too, haha!!) 

Fasting has been a norm for humans for centuries. Throughout history, people did not eat 3 meals a day at set hours, plus snacks in between. Today, our eating habits are very different. We no longer have a need to hunt for food, it is readily available and we can pretty much eat any time we like. More recently, intermittent fasting has become a popular topic in health and wellness conversations (especially in the keto realm), and has shown to have many benefits.

What Is Intermittent Fasting

Intermittent fasting is where you cycle in and out of periods of eating and not eating.

Although people do experience weight loss with intermittent fasting, it is not so much a diet plan but more of a lifestyle choice to take advantage of some incredible health benefits, some of which are listed in the section below.

Types of Intermittent Fasting

• 5:2 – eat normally five days a week, and then the other two days you are fasting, although you do still eat between 500 and 600 calories per day.
• Eat-stop-eat – You restrict all food for 24 hours, once or twice a week.
• 16/8 (most popular) – You eat all of your daily meals within typically 8 hours, and then you fast for the remaining 16 hours. You can do this every day, or just a few times a week. It can be any 8 hours you choose – a typical schedule could be 11am-7pm, or 12pm-8pm.
• Keto Coffee Intermittent Fasting – resembles the 16/8 method, but with one difference: you drink a cup of keto coffee. (coffee link for Canada)
• in the morning. It’s a clever hack to keep your hunger at bay while still staying in the fasting state.

5 Benefits of Intermittent Fasting

• Helps with Weight Loss and Reduce Belly Fat
  • When you are in the fasting state for an extended period of time, your body goes into a ketogenic fat burning state, where it burns your body’s fat for fuel instead of the food you would otherwise eat.
• Reduces Inflammation
  • Inflammation is at the root of many health conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, heart disease, and Alzheimer’s disease. Fasting for prolonged periods, coupled with drinking lots of water and proper hydration, can help eliminate inflammation in the body.
• Boosts Brain Function
  • What is good for the body is often good for the brain as well. Intermittent fasting improves various metabolic features known to be important for brain health.
    IF may improve mental acuity and concentration. According to Johns Hopkins Health Review, IF can improve connections in the brain’s hippocampus and also protect against amyloid plaques, which are found in patients with Alzheimer’s disease.
• Reduces Insulin Resistance and the Risk of Type 2 Diabetes
  • Case studies have shown that intermittent fasting has helped people with type 2 diabetes to limit their insulin intake, dramatically lower insulin levels and significantly improve insulin sensitivity, as well as significantly lower blood pressure.
• Simplifies Life and Saves Money
  • When you eliminate the number of meals you eat in a day or week, you will find that meal prep becomes much easier, YAY! During eating windows, you can simply eat your regular food and then drink water, tea, coffee, or bone broth while fasting. Easy, right?! This saves you both time and money on food.

How to Survive Your Fasting Hours

There are a few tips and tricks I can give you to survive your intermittent fasting hours. I have learned these over time, as I went, because my stomach normally wakes up before my brain does and I normally need to eat as soon as I wake up.

These tips will help you ease into intermittent fasting, if you are just getting started:

1. You can drink tea and COFFEE!! Just make sure you are drinking either black coffee or keto/bulletproof coffee. (Are you in Canada? click here.)
2. Drink LOTS of water. This will help you feel full and will help keep your hunger at bay. You can add a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar to it as well.
3. You can drink bone broth. It contains numerous minerals and vitamins and is quite ‘filling’ in terms of reducing hunger pangs. The other benefit is that you can add a good amount of sea salt to it, which will help you stay hydrated.
4. Hunger will often increase into the second day. After that, it gradually decreases – many report a complete loss of hunger by day 3-4.
5. Stay busy to keep your mind off of being hungry and the countdown to your eating window.
6. IMPORTANT: Don’t binge after fasting! This will only counter the benefits and will make the next day more difficult.

I hope this post been helpful to you. If you are interested in joining a super fun informative group filled with challenges, prizes and more, please shoot me a message! 

Today is a monumental day in my business.

First, let me tell you how absolutely amazing our company is that they paid us 3 days early today! Whooop!!!

Second, and this is the monumental part, when I saw my paycheque land in my account a few minutes ago, I got curious and had the idea to look at my old pay stubs from my last full time office job, and here’s what I found —> I have officially EXCEEDED my previous job’s monthly income by $47!!!

So here’s the thing.

When I started with this business, all I wanted was to make $500 per month to help with our household bills while Adam and I built up our coaching business, The Cycling Co. That $500 was going to help relieve some financial stress and allow us to still have a bit of fun and go on date nights, as new business owners.

When I hit my goal of $500 after 3 months, my “Why” changed.

You see, we had gotten married about 9 months earlier, and we never went on a proper honeymoon. So I set my new goal to earn $2000/month with my online business, so that we could save some money to take the trip of our dreams for our honeymoon.

7 months later I hit that goal.

(We are planning our honeymoon later this year!)

The Next Goal

The next goal I set for myself (because why stop now) was to earn enough m

oney with my online business to replace my previous full time employment income.

You see, when I left my last office job, I swore that I would find a way to never have to work in that environment again. I knew that there were other ways to earn an income that did not require me to commute in traffic to and from an office everyday, sit in a stuffy windowless cubicle, in an office where I was the only woman, where although I liked the work, I felt I was not treated as an equal in the workplace.

I would NEVER go back to that environment. (There is more to this story, but I will leave that for another time.)

Because TODAY is a MONUMENTAL DAY!

Today (5 months later) it happened! Today my monthly income from my online business has exceeded the full time monthly income from my last office job!

And THAT is a reason to CELEBRATE!!!!!

#celebrationfriday #livealifeyoulove #whynotyou

I used to dread Mondays… 

I used to start thinking about my work week on Sunday afternoons. My entire Monday evenings would be spent stressing out about how much I REALLY did’t want to go into the office the next morning to spend my whole week in a windowless cubicle, in a completely male environment with far too much chauvinistic testosterone flying around. I would become a grumpy, stressy, mess and I probably was not that pleasant to be around…

All I could dream about was how I wanted to, one day, work from home (or from anywhere for that matter), so I could hang out with my dog, Roxie, all day and wouldn’t have to feel guilty about leaving her home alone for nearly 10 hours a day. (Poor beastie!) 

I used to sit in my Vancouver basement suite and dream up ideas on how I would make my income from wherever I wanted, and I even started my own little company at one point, found a few clients, and was slowly working toward being able to leave my cubicle job.

It was HARD!! And eventually I just gave up. 

THEN I saw this girl on Facebook who was doing exactly what I always wanted to do. She had it all! She had the freedom to work from home while raising her baby, and she had the financial freedom to buy her dream home/hobby farm with her earnings! She was doing it!!

So I started to follow her. At first I would silently stalk her posts. Then, as I got to know her online self a bit better, I started to interact with her posts a little bit, and one day I got up the courage to send her a message. 

Let me tell you something: That was the BEST thing I’ve ever done for myself!

This girl inspired me to dream bigger and to believe more in myself and my ability to be, do and have whatever I can dream!

I joined her team and haven’t looked back!

Mondays Look Different Now

I am now living my dream, spending my Mondays and everyday working from home, with my 2 dogs and my husband at my side. I start my days with a workout, make my own hours and can take my work with me wherever I go, so my income isn’t impacted if I want to take a vacation or spend a week at the beach. I no longer need to ask for time off. I no longer work in a windowless cubicle. And I am now surrounded by an incredibly inspiring team of people who motivate me everyday to be a better version of me!

I used to be stuck in a rut of thinking that life had to be about the morning commute and the 9 to 5. I thought that the location independent lifestyle was something only OTHER people could do. I thought I just wasn’t good enough to deserve it for myself.

Boy was I wrong!

All it took was the courage to send one message and it totally changed my life!

What does YOUR Monday look like? And what would you like it to look like? What will it take for you to send that one message that could completely change your life? Are you ready? I’m here for you. 

#thiscouldbeyou #livealifeyoulove 

One of my favorite comfort foods is pasta. And although I have a gluten sensitivity, I still love to get my spaghetti or lasagne on every once in a while, but I use a great trick to avoid the gluten as well as the carbohydrates in pasta, and level up on the healthiness factor of this meal.

I kinda made this recipe up as I went, and it turned out pretty darn good, so I thought it was worth sharing. 🙂

Recipe Details

Prep time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 8 hours on low in your crock pot
Serving size: 1 – 1.5 cups

Shopping List / Ingredients

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 pound ground beef (or ground turkey for a leaner protein)
• 1 onion – chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic – minced
• 1 red pepper
• 1 yellow pepper (I also used a piece of orange pepper that I had left over in the fridge)
• 2 carrots – chopped
• 2 stalks of celery – chopped
• A handful of mushrooms – chopped
• 2 cans tomato paste – try to use one that has the least number of added ingredients.
  • The Italissima brand (in the photo) contains only tomatoes and salt.
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1 tsp dried marjoram
• Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions

1. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a large skillet over medium/high heat. Add ground beef (or turkey). Cook until the meat is browned (4-5 minutes), making sure to crumble the meat as it cooks. Drain excess fat and transfer to slow cooker.* This process helps melt off excess fat and water from the meat, which helps make it healthier before transferring it to the slow cooker.
2. Get rid of the excess fat and add remaining 1 tbsp of olive oil to the skillet. Add vegetables to the skillet and cook until the onions are soft (about 3 minutes). This process helps release the flavours from the veggies before adding them to the slow cooker. Transfer to slow cooker.
3. Add tomato paste, diced tomatoes, and herbs and seasoning to the slow cooker and mix well.
4. Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook for 8 hours on LOW.
5. Stir well and serve with your choice of pasta or zoodles.

Enjoy!

Pasta Sauce on Zoodles (zucchini noodles)

I’m always on the lookout for easy, healthy and delicious meals to add to my rotation and in the winter months that often involves my crockpot!

This was my first try with this cilantro chicken recipe, and it turned out awesome!

Recipe Details:

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Crockpot Cooking Time: 6-8 hours on Low OR 5-6 hours on High
Serving Size: 1 cup
Serves 6-8

Shopping List / Ingredients: