Starting the journey of personal development, there is one common thing which is about the awareness of your habits and the power of change them and stick to them in order to reach your dreams!
What?!!! If I have a dream, I should be myself and I should stick to who I am! Right?
The answer is YES!! BUT… to be yourself, happy and fulfilled…what are the habits that will take me to where I want to be…
Great question, right?
Then within my coaching session, she asked:
What is your biggest fear?
I said… get sick and not be able to see and help my children grow! I have a baby who needs me! A boy who is 12 years old. They need me so much!
Then there was the question in return…what are you doing about your well being which will improve your health?
And here it was when I freaked out… because if I think in my list of well being habits, I need to admit I am not doing good… I am not having the proper breakfast, lunch is a sandwich in my desk in front of a laptop, I am not drinking much water, or at least the quantity I have been drinking, sometimes I skip dinner time, or eat something that I even don’t remember when my husband is not at home… even my basic Portuguese habits that could be present by the culture in my country are fading…there is no fish available, there is no lunch time set at work, the vegetables are so expensive, that even the cheapest and quickest meal I could have, like a vegetable soup is not available in the canteen or restaurants. Also I am not working out consistently…Also I am always stressed out as I don’t have time for nothing…Also sometimes I multitask in the car while I am driving!!
Ah!! A positive…I do my physical every year, and until last year my results were ok… so no alarms… I consider myself healthy, but am I taking care of me enough?
Well…here starts the challenge…I feel maybe not!
So I have a list that I created in order to be healthier and beat my biggest fear… As a normal human I don’t react in fear at least conscientiously for long time otherwise it would become a frustration. But creating an habit that feels good, brings pleasure, fun, the brain will recognize it as a need, and feels bad if you don’t do it! Like brushing the teeth everyday! Of course!!
Then it is considered a new habit if you do it for 30 days in a row without cheating… otherwise you need to start all over again. Some books say 30 days others say 21 days… I believe that depends of the habit, and the impact of the change in the daily routine.
Here it goes the 3 things that I am trying to accomplish in the bucket of well being:
- Morning routine – still working in progress, beyond shower, kids and leave the house with a cup of coffee, what else I need to create an habit to be less stressed… my mornings are sometimes a bit hectic!! I am in a do/test mode, but I am working on one thing which I believe that fits and help me for the day, have a green smoothie or similar.
- Work out 4 times a week, I had set this goal one month ago, and until now it is not an habit as I am reaching only 3 times per week, so I consider work in progress.
- Eat healthier. This one I am relying on my husband and be a partner in his journey of Plant Paradox, which we are doing 50% of it. We believe it is already a big improvement from where we were. I consider work in progress, and there is a lot of change from introducing new ingredients to the way of cooking.
I believe I am aware now that is not only about setting the goal but it is also about how to accomplish the goal in a way that feels good. And then start the 30 day in a row without cheating :). I feel when you say from now I am doing something new everyday, you need first to test it and adapt it for yourself to be sustainable after the 30 days.
Like working out, I started to have this goal for a while, so I applied to a local gym, which I went during 3 months and then I am paying without going… you can understand that being a working mom, there are a lot of commitments with the family. So I decided to do at home, my husband set up the basement nicely with a TV, which I can pick up some work out routines from Youtube. Then it came the question, which routines should I pick up, that aren’t boring and keep me engaged. Finally I found a channel, Popsugar Fitness, which is about 30 min workout, fun, light and has a variety of group exercises type. This works me. Then it was about the timing, when am I going to work out? I cant do in the morning (yet) so I need to do it after work 2 days a week plus the weekend. With this set up I believe I can build the habit…plus I need to put on my sneakers, as first I was going barefoot, as it was at home…but no!!…the sneakers must be on! Also sometimes there is a baby buddy…but it is ok! 🙂
Reminding the trigger in me… the need to work on these habits, and not in a way, I am gonna do it from now on, but in a conscientious way with my pace… I need to be more organized, less stressed, eat better and exercise…all of this in theory will make me live better and able to raise my kids and be a healthy grandmother in the future! Wow!!…it is a pretty hard perspective, right?
Interesting, that along the coaching sessions I had level up these habit’s triggers from the basic feeling of fear to the level up of willpower and ambition to rise for dreams, as I can only be an influencer, writer and speaker if I work on it and have time within my time to make it happen! So I need to be more organized, less stressed, eat better and exercise to manage my energy, feel better and do it all. 🙂
Thank you
AnnaJo
