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To Love and Be Loved

October 23, 2017 Lydia Buschenfeldt Leave a Comment

I was raised in an inter­faith home.
I don’t men­tion this as an aside.
I men­tion it because it is one of the cor­ner­stones of my childhood.

And that’s say­ing some­thing, as I was lucky enough to have a pret­ty damn amaz­ing childhood.

Not only are my par­ents dif­fer­ent reli­gions, but they are both very involved in their com­mu­ni­ties of faith. My mom serves on the vestry at church and my dad is trea­sur­er of the tem­ple. They social­ize with each other’s respec­tive faith group and com­pare notes after Thurs­day night meet­ings, often laugh­ing at the sim­i­lar­i­ties of the discussions.

Sev­er­al years ago when my mom was in the hos­pi­tal recov­er­ing from surgery, a nurse poked her head in the room and con­fus­ed­ly explained that her rab­bi was there for a visit…confusedly, because my mom’s min­is­ter had left about five min­utes prior.

I had the priv­i­lege of grow­ing up in a home where tol­er­ance and respect for our dif­fer­ences didn’t have to be taught — it was a giv­en. It was the only way I knew.

My broth­er and I were bap­tized and con­firmed in the Epis­co­pal church, where we spent most Sun­day morn­ings, per­formed in the Christ­mas pageants and sang in the choir. We also lit the can­dles at Han­nukah, attend­ed ser­vices at tem­ple on the High Holy Days and par­tic­i­pat­ed in Passover seders long before we were old enough to remem­ber. (In case you were won­der­ing what hap­pens when you give a baby a whole lot of matzah washed down with a whole lot of apple juice — it ain’t good). We showed the same enthu­si­asm for find­ing the afiko­man that we did for find­ing our East­er baskets.

It nev­er occurred to me that this was “weird” or “dif­fer­ent.” It was all I knew. It was the same for many of my friends. And as such, I didn’t val­ue it for what it was at the time — it was just nor­mal. It was my normal.

Then I went to away to col­lege where I got a harsh dose of real­i­ty that quick­ly showed me that my lit­tle inter­faith bub­ble of tol­er­ance and respect was just that — a bubble.

My fresh­man year I wrote about my inter­faith upbring­ing for an Eng­lish class, and a class­mate told me (rather mat­ter-of-fact­ly, I might add), that I was the spawn of the devil.

That’s right.
Because my par­ents are dif­fer­ent religions.
Obviously.

There were many more expe­ri­ences like this one. Both in col­lege, grad school, and beyond. Each one opened my eyes fur­ther and showed me what a rare gift I have. I am beyond grate­ful for my inter­faith upbring­ing and the per­spec­tive on the world that it has allowed.

And I have to tell you. The world makes my heart hurt a bit right now.
I don’t under­stand the seem­ing­ly cease­less string of hate and anger and the result­ing hurt and suf­fer­ing, due in large part to an intol­er­ance of our differences.
Regard­less of our race, reli­gion, sex­u­al ori­en­ta­tion, gen­der, fam­i­ly struc­ture, favorite col­or or what you had for din­ner last night, we are all human. We have far more in com­mon than we have different.

We want to love and be loved.
We want to see those who mat­ter the most to us love and be loved.
We want a dry place to lay our head at night.
We make mistakes.
We grow.
We change.
We learn.
We adjust.
We love.

And through it all, we remain human.
Unfail­ing­ly, imper­fect­ly human.
All of us.

“In writ­ing it down you real­ize, love is not a tragedy or a fail­ure, but a gift…that noth­ing in this world is deserved except for love. That love is how you become a per­son and why.” — John Green Tur­tles All the Way Down

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Based in Fairfax, Virginia, Hatch Health and Happiness offers full-service face-to-face health coaching in Northern Virginia and virtually around the globe!
lydia@hatchhealthhappiness.com
610-220-7036

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Healthy Living — Great Recipes and Ideas!

Trail Mix

Bulk Bin Trail Mix

September 4, 2018 Leave a Comment

Sure, it’s tempt­ing­ly easy to grab a bag of pre-made trail mix –col­or­ful, effort­less, and with such fun names to boot! But have you ever stopped to glance at the nutri­tion facts of that bag of seem­ing­ly healthy options? More specif­i­cal­ly, check out the sug­ar con­tent. Some com­mer­cial brands of trail mix have as much sug­ar as a 16 oz bot­tle of soda! The main cul­prit is sweet­ened dried fruit, and some brands add can­dy as well. If that deli­cious mouth­ful of sweet and salty is your taste­buds’ desire, don’t despair. There are plen­ty of ways to make a deli­cious AND nutri­tious trail mix, all with ingre­di­ents from your gro­cery store bulk bin! [Read More…]

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Purely Elizabeth Superfood Oat Cups with Granola Topping — Cranberry Pumpkin Seed

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Meal Planning

Meal Planning

July 31, 2018 Leave a Comment

One of the trick­i­est parts of most people’s healthy rou­tines is the meal plan­ning com­po­nent. Luck­i­ly for you, we have that cov­ered with the lat­est install­ment in our Hatch Video series! More…

Bloat Buster Smoothie

Bloat Buster Smoothie

June 4, 2018 Leave a Comment

Now that we are head­ing into the warmer months of the year, you may find your­self want­i­ng to spend less time in front of the hot stove top or oven. For­tu­nate­ly, smooth­ies are a great way to pack a lot of nutri­tion in one place. Check out the video below for one of my favorite smooth­ies — the bloat buster!

Pan roasted plantains

Pan-Roasted Plantains

May 1, 2018 Leave a Comment

Pan roasted plantains with mashed avocadoDespite the fact that plan­tains close­ly resem­ble a banana, they have a com­plete­ly dif­fer­ent fla­vor and are def­i­nite­ly not to be con­sumed raw (you’ll only make that mis­take once!). Plan­tains are actu­al­ly a veg­etable, chock full of fiber, cal­ci­um and vit­a­min C. Pan-roast­ing the plan­tains allows them to caramelize, keep­ing the out­side a lit­tle bit crispy and the inside nice and soft. Cin­na­mon, gin­ger and turmer­ic add a tri­fec­ta of anti-inflam­ma­to­ry good­ness and a lit­tle sprin­kle of sea salt makes these plan­tains absolute­ly irre­sistible. Enjoy as is, or my favorite way –- with mashed avo­ca­do! More…

Energy bites

Energy Balls

April 2, 2018 Leave a Comment

Gluten, Grain, Dairy, Soy-Free and Vegan

Seeds need ener­gy in order to grow, and cul­ti­vat­ing your own healthy habits can take a lot of ener­gy too! Ener­gy bars and ener­gy balls are every­where we look these days. They are super easy to whip up your­self, but many peo­ple are intim­i­dat­ed by the thought. More…

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About Lydia and Hatch Health

Lydia Buschenfeldt

I was a happy, healthy, newlywed 4th grade teacher when a random virus paralyzed my GI system, along with parts of my … More...

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Client Testimonials

Rainbow

See what Lydia’s clients have to say…

I’d say Lydia Buschen­feldt has changed my life, but that would­n’t be exact­ly true. What she does is even more pow­er­ful. Any­one can tell some­one else what changes they ‘need’ to make to live a health­i­er life. It takes some­one spe­cial to enable and empow­er you to change your own life. Lydia is that some­one spe­cial. Dur­ing every ses­sion, at every twist and turn and bump in the road, Lydia meets me where I am with an incred­i­ble amount of knowl­edge and patience, and helps me iden­ti­fy one or two steps for­ward to accom­plish the goals I have for myself. She knows that each jour­ney is dif­fer­ent, and cus­tomizes our ses­sions so our dis­cus­sions are tai­lored toward what I need in that moment to help me build the health, future and hap­pi­ness that I deserve.
— L.S.
Man­as­sas, VA More…

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quoteOur greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time. --Thomas Edison

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Contact Lydia

Based in Fair­fax, Vir­ginia, Hatch Health and Hap­pi­ness offers full-ser­vice face-to-face health coach­ing in North­ern Vir­ginia and vir­tu­al­ly around the globe!
lydia@hatchhealthhappiness.com
610−220−7036

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