There is nothing wrong with you. Nothing. You are doing the absolute best you can everyday just by feeding yourself, and maybe some furballs and tiny people too, going to work and paying bills.
You don’t need the latest fad diet or to just drink juice for meals or join an expensive gym to get the look you want for the Summer.
It really doesn’t matter how old you are, it’s time to make those New Years Resolutions stay all year, all life, by making a change in your mindset so that your morning routine consists of positive, healthy, conscious choices.
It seems like everyday is a battle with ourselves over something, right? We all have things that we are on the fence about whether we should start today or tomorrow. Today is the day folks. The longer we put off doing things, the harder they will be to ever start.
When I decided to change my mindset, I stopped:
- Having circling thoughts that prevented me from sleeping and being productive.
- Getting done way more in one day than I ever thought possible.
- Feeling healthier without working out.
- Being happier.
I am innately a list maker and this is the list that I made of things that I wanted to get done in a day, but could literally never accomplish. (And I mean that I am the ultimate Has Good Intentions But Just Can’t Do It person).
- Drink 64 oz of water a day.
- Sleep 7-8 hours a night.
- Get exercise.
- Eat healthy.
- Write.
- Stop mindlessly scrolling on social media.
But, what I would do instead of all of these things:
- Let my circling thoughts take over my mornings starting from when I first woke up, while I waited for my coffee to finish brewing.
- Chastise myself for starting my day off with stress and not do the things that I had on my list.
- Drink caffeine most of the day thinking that it was comforting but really it was adding to my anxiety.
- Tell myself I’m too stressed to write today, nothing good will come out.
- Act surprised with my IPhone when the internet use message would tell me that I was scrolling for something like 6 hours that day.
- Eat nothing but carbs that turn into sugar and only provide fake, short term energy that comes with a crash, which makes me want more caffeine.
What I did to change this:
- I tucked my kid into bed one night after having a really great day where I wasn’t on top of him for putting away all his stuff and just played with him. I looked at him, passed out after only 2 books, and thought that parenting him had been so much easier and enjoyable when I wasn’t thinking that it was too much or too hard. Just changing my mindset on being with him made us both happier.
- I took this thought into my bedtime routine by putting my phone far away from me so that I would have to get up to get it and I took my book to bed instead.
- I woke up more refreshed then ever and pretended I was a weightlifter pushing those circling thoughts out of my mind for long enough to get my laptop out and start writing. Incredibly, the words came out easily once those obnoxious thoughts about what I am doing wrong with my life and endless regrets about the past were silenced. That worthless chatter of self-reproach actually felt very silly.
- I stopped looking at the clock. Throughout the day I would constantly look at the clock and literally watch it move while reproachfully thinking to myself that I have done nothing. But I have. I fed my kid and got him to school, which is sometimes good enough. Since the clock was such a symbol of unproductivity, I stopped looking at it and just set alarms on my phone for things I needed to do like pick my son up from school or begin work (I work from home so this might mean when to get ready for work for a traditional job). This gave me so much more peace and made me feel like I had time in the morning and that I used that time well.
- I cut my caffeine. I start the day with my favorite eco-friendly compostable k-cup of French roast and after that I have a cup of mushroom coffee by Ryze. I don’t know that I can attest to the stomach aspect of the brand that I’ve seen promoted personally, but I do enjoy the taste as someone who never liked mushrooms before and use it as a lower caffeine coffee source daily. I also make sure to have a hot herbal tea with me when I go out, which means even short distances when I’m running errands or picking my son up from school. This helps my water intake goals and cuts down on extra cups of coffee. Then I finish the day (before 3pm) with a Kolkata Chai Tea and extra creamy oat milk.
- I fit in a walk, yoga stretches, a Pamela Reif workout video or a visit to the Y Monday-Friday. Some days are easy, some days are hard, but fitting in some form of exercise is essential to our health and I had put it on the agenda for every day.
- I use melatonin as part of my nightly routine every other day since we don’t yet have science on whether using melatonin every single day is good or bad. It certainly gives me a more restful sleep and I feel wonderful the next day, so it has been a positive change for me.
- I got help when I needed it. I started seeing a therapist virtually and I do weekly to bi-weekly appointments just to check in and have someone to talk to about the changes that I am making and still want to make in my life. When I started this I decided that I wasn’t going to talk about my past as much as how TO GET to the future I want. I could talk about the regrets of my past all day everyday but then they would just continue on to be new regrets in years to come. Instead, I decided I was just done with them. We discuss positive changes that I am making now and how I feel and this has made all the difference.
These are just some of the positive changes that I have made based on changing my mindset and you can do it too! You don’t have to follow these exactly, but you are welcome to write a list like mine and then tell yourself that you CAN DO IT without buying anything at all. Small changes at first become big lifelong changes.
If you’d like, leave a comment about your experience changing your mindset!
Namaste <3
