It’s often just around the New Year’s (or January 1 when you are fighting a slight hangover…) when you start to think about your new goals, how you want the year ahead to look and how YOU want to be/look/feel in the following 12 months. But it’s all a bit of a resolution and life make-over binge isn’t it? Meaning hands up who actually follows through with these plans post March?
How about you get ahead of the game this time around and start putting into play those dreams and goals NOW – why delay the perfect start?
If you are anything like me the perfect start used to mean everything – in the past I would say Monday was the day I would stop eating crap (and then used the rest of the week as an excuse to continue to eat crap until that day came around again), the start of the month was also a biggie (of course more importance was weighted if the start of the month also fell on a Monday). And the king of new beginnings, where it has the power to wipe the slate clean, where anything is possible: January 1.
Let’s be honest, my mindset will never change where I don’t love the fresh start of a week, or a month or the big guns of fresh starts – January 1… but my thought pattern around it certainly has. I am no longer using it as an excuse as ‘I will start then… I will change then…. I will stop/begin then… because I am living every day, every moment as my new start.
Sure this evolvement has comes with age (doesn’t time just flies by too fast these days?!) but I no longer wish my days away. Nor do I feel that I have to wait for the perfect opportunity. I have to create the perfect opportunity myself, just as YOU have to as well.
So what does that look like for you? Get out some paper and start writing it down.
If your nutrition is something you want to work on, let’s do it, map out a plan or maybe try something like the Nourish + Move 4 week challenge to kick start those healthy habits – read more about the ebook here
Fitness? Too easy! Just take it one day at a time.
Want to work on your confidence or turn that negative self talk into some lovin’? You got this. Why not check out www.selfloveandnourishment.com which is a 6-week e-course designed to help foster your sense of self love, self-compassion and self-esteem, while also promoting optimal mental, emotional, spiritual and physical wellness.
Also check out this post here about goals and why writing them down helps achieve them.
Want to know some of my ‘resolutions’ which I made at the start of the year and still continue to do every day? Then read on…
NOURISH
- Don’t eat processed foods (especially processed sugar!)
I eat amazing and nourishing food every day. Yes, every day and every meal. I can honestly say this year has been friken amazing because I have consistently eaten clean. You may think it is a long stretch saying it is healthy food which has contributed to an awesome year but hear me out. If I hadn’t, then I would still be getting debilitating PMS and the blues, I would need to sleep after most meals, I would be stressed and certainly wouldn’t be handling my current work load. It didn’t happen overnight, but now I couldn’t dream of living any other way and I really encourage you to make steps to do the same. Start by decreasing your processed sugar and foods by at least 80%.
I also don’t eat gluten or grains because that is what works for my digestive system (read more paleo eating style here). Gluten is a direct link to my depression and there is research out there now to also support this. No gluten = happy me.
- Decrease coffee
Last year I was drinking coffee like it was going out of fashion. Sure it was in the form of long blacks with honey to sweeten it, but I found that a) I was craving it simply because I was craving the honey and b) it was making me more tired than energized thanks to adrenal fatigue (read here). The breaking point for me was my holiday in London/Paris/New York over Christmas where I was drinking a lot (and I mean a lot) of coffee to help me stay warm. I overdid it and it made me easy to say good bye for coffee for 10 whole months. I actually just started drinking it again but after three weeks of introducing it back into my life I was feeling that same tired and wired feeling so I have said farewell once again and will limit it to once or twice a week only. It works for me.
MOVE
- Move that body everyday
Our bodies weren’t built to be sitting down for 8+ hours a day. Fact. So with this in mind, do you think it is ok to work out just 2-3 times a week? Nope. We need to step it up and move our bodies daily.
Let me repeat that.
We need to move our bodies every single day.
Now that doesn’t mean slugging it out on the cross trainer for an hour daily, but it does mean a couple of good sweat and strength sessions a week sprinkled with other forms of movement (incidental exercise included), this simply could mean walking your pup, some yoga or Pilates, stand up paddle boarding, 15 minute jog – anything. Just move your body in some way, every day. It will thank you for it.
LIVE
How is ‘live’ a resolution or goal? Well I always like to think of myself on my death bed (not as morbid as it sounds I promise) and I ask myself; what will I regret in my dying days? Will it be ‘oh no I should have done overtime to get that report done’?
No, of course not.
I actually hope I don’t regret anything!! I want to take risks; I want to follow my dreams (even if that means hard work and long hours until I get there!) I want to get up a little earlier every morning before my working day begins and do something just for me. I want to eat delicious food, I want to have fun, I want to travel, I want to live outside of my comfort zone, and I want to work on my insecurities to live the best life I can.
Do you want the same?
It’s been a busy year. VERY busy. And I continue to fit things in regardless of people saying it’s too much. Why? Because I love it and it doesn’t feel like work. It took me a while to get to this ‘happy place’, but I only got there once I changed my thought pattern. For example, I needed my day job so I could pay my mortgage, save for holidays and allow me to get to my dream job (even if it was a slow path there). But once I realised this and stopped resisting the path I had to be on at that point, I felt an instant shift.
So that is the first thing on the list to help you LIVE happier.
- Change your mind set
If you keep thinking about something in a negative light, then it will always be negative. Shift your perspective.
- Write it down
Write down your dreams, goals, things that piss you off, what you are grateful for, what exercise you are going to do today, what your meals are – if you write it down and put it ‘out there’, it is more likely to happen.
- Surround yourself with likeminded people
This is a big one. The people you spend the most time with are a reflection of you. If you surround yourself with negative people who bitch and moan and attract drama to their lives, guess what… you will attract the very same thing. I used to have a very different group of friends when I was younger, we partied, we caused problems and sure it was fun at times, but the drama and negativity is the things I remember most. Now, I am fortunate enough to be surrounding by people who I admire, are genuine and are inspirational. And I am a better person for it.
Do you have any winning tips to share? Would love to hear some, just comment below or on www.facebook.com/fitnessinthecity
Lee x
