Simple Green Smoothie

*I am accident prone, in the best sense of the word. I am the woman who walks on a completely flat surface and finds the one tiny crack or pebble that is just enough to send my body flailing through space as I try to regain my balance. Knowing this about myself has been helpful as I have learned what is needed to keep me from experiencing unnecessary shame on a consistent basis.

One morning recently, I created a green smoothie for breakfast. I have been getting bored with my breakfast choices and knew that I was not getting enough greens in my diet so I ventured into the land of reputable recipes and pulled up my Pinterest app to search for green smoothies.Wow! With an unbelievable amount of choices and variations, I began to feel a little overwhelmed until I stumbled across some options that looked a little more user friendly. On this particular morning, I tried one of these recipes. I was excited as I poured myself a full to the brim cup of coffee in my mug, filled my tumbler three fourths of the way with a green smoothie and prepared to leave for work, only to discover that there were no clean lids for my travel mug and Tervis tumbler. Knowing my propensity for falling, this was not a good setup. But I was happy with my breakfast creation and super hungry, so there was no way I was about to let a minor setback, such as not having a lid, keep me from my green smoothie.

I threw my purse over my shoulder, grabbed my lunch and stuffed it under my armpit and then loaded up the same arm with my water bottle, coffee, and smoothie. I had the other hand available for opening and closing the doors and holding my keys. As I carefully took steps towards the door into the garage, I remember thinking to myself that I had done a great job getting out of the house and locking up when I loosened my grip on the smoothie for just a second and, “BAM!”, green smoothie splattered and spilled all over the step into the house, the wall, and the garage floor. At that point, there was no use in holding onto the cup that had ultimately betrayed me and I threw it down to join the ugly mess that it once contained. Suddenly, that beautiful green hue of the smoothie became a baby-poop green as it painted multiple surfaces in my garage.

I made my way to the car, assessing my clothes and shoes to see if a change was necessary. Fortunately, I had managed to miss myself (so I thought). As I drove down the driveway, I called my husband to give him a heads up on what had happened and to be sure and let him know that I was furious and not in a good place. The more I reflected on what had happened, the angrier I became until I stopped for just a minute and asked myself a question, “if you weren’t angry right now, what would you be feeling?” That’s when the dam broke and the next 5 minutes I drove to work through tear laden eyes, allowing myself to feel all that I was feeling beyond the obvious disappointment of a spilled smoothie and all the mess.

Sometimes, 5 minutes might be all I have, but I am starting to realize that allowing myself to feel what I really feel is much kinder than stuffing it down only for it to ooze out in other places in my life.

Whether you have 5 minutes or 5 hours, will you allow yourself to feel all that you feel in the midst of your day? Maybe you’ll want to make a green smoothie, or maybe a cup of coffee as you take time to sit with your thoughts and feel what you feel. If you’re anything like me, maybe a glass of water would be the best option unless you are wanting to change the wall color in your room. After all, my husband believes that my smoothies could double for paint any day especially as we are continuing to find remnants of that greenish brown hue throughout the garage.

Simple Green Smoothie

1 cup almond milk (vanilla, unsweetened)
½ cup greek yogurt
1 banana
1 tablespoon peanut butter
2 cups spinach or kale
ice

(I often throw in some blueberries too which changes the color, making it more tolerable for some family members!)

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Bethany Cabell is a Texas transplant, residing in Michigan with her husband and their two young boys.  A lover of beauty, she lives life chasing after wide-open spaces: sharing her heart with others, in relationship with Jesus, and through music and photography. She tells her story here.
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