I partnered with my friends at Megan Media and Tropicana on this post. The opinions and ideas expressed here are my own. When Tropicana reached out to see if I wanted to team up to share their #BelieveInYourGut campaign centered around their new probiotic-infused juices, I knew it would be the perfect opportunity to do some reflecting on my time here in Chicago since my move last July!

I thought about waiting to write this post once I hit my one year mark in the city, but ultimately decided to let the inspiration free flow and allow the somewhat cliché milestone to fall by the wayside. There’s no time like the present, right?I’ve always been a big proponent of trusting your gut, whether you’re feeling called to make a major life change or you simply realize it’s time to start paying more attention to what you’re nourishing your body with (which Tropicana Probiotics makes super easy by way of delicious, accessible, nutritious, and convenient juices – YUM).

Your gut doesn’t lie, but that’s not to say that trusting it is always easy!I’ve come a long way from my first weekend living in Chicago. I vividly remember standing in the dairy section of Whole Foods letting the tears free fall. Much to my disappointment, I had let doubt creep in, slowly erasing the thrill I felt when I first saw the city’s skyline come into view. My mind raced with uncertainty and “what ifs” and for a brief moment I thought I might have made the wrong decision. But days turned into weeks, weeks into months, and Chicago wrapped me in her icy arms and reassured me time and time again that I was (and still am) right where I’m supposed to be. There’s no better feeling, truly.I’ve learned more about myself in the past 9 months than I ever could have imagined. I’ve honed in on what it is I want out of this life, what I don’t want, the type of person I want to be, where I want to focus my energy, and the type of people I want to surround myself with. At the end of last year, my girlfriends and I had one last brunch together, drank our weight in champagne on the rooftop of my apartment (only wish we had one of the Strawberry Banana, Pineapple Mango, or Peach Passion Fruit juices to pair it with!), told ridiculous stories that made us laugh so hard we cried, shared confessions (some of which also made us laugh so hard we cried), and then we put our hopes and dreams out into the universe in an effort to manifest those things for ourselves in the new year, and I wouldn’t have had it any other way. We committed to trusting our gut because it isn’t just what leads us in the right direction, it’s the key to our overall health and wellness.

I have good days and bad days, as everyone does. I have days where I wish I could meet my best friend at our favorite spot for a margarita and a bottomless basket of chips and salsa and days where I worry that people think my happiness is all a facade. But the good always outweighs the bad, and that’s how I know it’s right.
At the end of the day, there’s something so freeing about acknowledging your desires, laying it all out there, and then making that shit happen for yourself.

Something tells me this is the just the beginning of something even bigger and I can’t wait to see how Chicago continues to mold and shape me.

Here’s to continuing to trust my gut and pouring my heart into new experiences in my favorite city, preferably with the new Tropicana Probiotics (which is a 100% juice with over 1 billion live cultures and no added sugar or artificial flavors) in hand.

Cheers, friends!

Photos by Sarah Sweeney

I partnered with my friends at Megan Media and Tropicana on this post. The opinions and ideas expressed here are my own.