Did you miss me? Some of you may have noticed that I was MIA for the last 2 1/2 weeks and I have to admit it was glorious!

My husband and I took a trip to surprise my nephews at Disney. It was wonderful to see the magic through their eyes, feel the tropical heat and take a huge social media/work vacation. It was so wonderful to be in the moment and not worry about staying up to speed for a couple of weeks.

Social media and working online is a magnificent gift but it can also be greatly overwhelming if you don’t take the time to ground yourself.

For any of you that are feeling overwhelmed with the hyper-connectedness of today’s world I highly recommend taking a week or two off. It is a gift you can only give yourself and you will feel so renewed afterwards.

Another crazy thing happened while away – Any of you who have followed me regularly for the last few years know that there have been some ups and downs and emotional times in my journey.

A couple years ago I was heartbroken, angry and completely frustrated when I found out that a hugely successful app was using some of my recipes without my permission. This app had the backing of what seemed to be major companies and I felt pushed up against a wall and unable to fight back.

I was devastated and felt bullied into silence.

One factor of my inner turmoil was the felt guilt I felt because the creator had cancer. I knew that her stealing my content was wrong and that she was making money from my work but I felt that fighting back to protect my content was also wrong because she already had such a huge battle going on in her own life.

This week news broke that the owner of this app had lied about her cancer. She never had cancer and she used the storyline as a tactic to sell her app (that was made up of other people’s hard work).

It was a really strange lesson for me.

This situation really affirmed and validated my intuition. Sometimes we become afraid of listening to our inner voice so we end up staying silent. I think especially being a woman society has told me not to speak out of line, to try to be agreeable and to shy away from defending myself.

In business I have been told basically to be quiet and not fight for my copyright/intellectual property rights. I have found that because the majority of society is jaded by those who copy online, create fake accounts or pretend to be something that they aren’t there is a lack of respect and understanding for those of us who are sharing our truth and working online.

It seems that the world understands that if you are asked to write a paper in school you can’t open up a published book and plagiarize the content. Somehow right now there are certain people who think it is okay to copy other’s work to get traffic whether it be on Instagram, an app or a blog. It’s not okay. Online or offline respect of other’s work and creative content should be equal.

What I have realized is that it is completely okay to stand up for myself and my hard work. From now on I will listen to my inner voice and no longer let it be silenced by the buzz of those who really have no idea what they are talking about.

I apologize if this is a little personal and for anyone who isn’t interested you can always just skip through it and enjoy the delicious recipe below.

These Mini Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bars are ridiculously easy and equally delicious, raw, vegan, gluten free, grain free, dairy free, no bake and will have you wanting more.
 

 
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Amy Layne is the Co-Owner of DAMY Health Online and Coach Specializing in Holistic Nutrition, Fitness, Self-Love, Inspiration and Living Your Best Life. She is the creator of the world famous DAMY Method and Bikini Body Programs. To see Amy’s Before and After Photos and DAMY Member Success Stories Click Here. For Amy’s complete story go here!

Connect with Amy on Twitter @damyhealth and on Facebook.