-
Start Small: A Guide on how to Accomplish Big Goals
Hi Everyone!
Today, I am going to teach you about how to start small when you want to change something in your life. A lot of the time, we get so excited about the change we want to make that we just jump all in. I am guilty of doing this as well. We need to give ourselves time to try out the new thing and then build from there. When we decide we want to be more healthy, we don’t need to go to the gym for hours, start meal prepping and drink a gallon of water per day. If you start your new goals this way, more than likely it won’t become a habit.
So how do we start small and not let our ambition take over? We take a small portion of our goal and try it out. Let’s try this with wanting to be more healthy. You could start by eating out less for the first month but let’s make that more specific.
Let’s say you eat out 3 times a week. Try cutting that down to 2 times per week and going grocery shopping to have more options at home. After the first month, you could continue to cut it down or if you feel like eating out twice per week is fine, then you could move on to another thing like drinking more water. Most of the time when we try to do too many things at once we tend to get overwhelmed and more than likely you will end up going back to your old habits and wasting your time.
Ideas of starting small:
- Goal: I want to read a book a month.
Start with reading 10-15 minutes a day.
- Goal: Drink a gallon of water per day.
Start with having a full water bottle with you and trying to finish that.
- Goal: I want to eat healthier.
Trade out your unhealthy snack for a healthy one.
- Goal: I want to be organized.
Go through one small area of your house each week. (Ex. one cupboard or shelf)
- Goal: I want to retire early.
Meet with a financial planner and set up a second meeting to refresh what you talked about in the first meeting two weeks later after processing.
Sometimes goals seem scary or too big to accomplish at first. If you break them down and stick to your small start, you will be more successful. I have done it both ways and I am much more likely to stick with my habit if I start small. Whenever I make a big change too fast, I get overwhelmed and don’t stick with it.
Simon Sinek said “Dream big, start small, but most of all start.”
I don’t want to discourage any of you from improving yourselves. I just want to help you to be more successful with it. Please let me know what you think in the comments below. Thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to read my blog. I am so grateful for you.
-
Adequate Sleep
Hey Everyone!
Today, I am talking about the importance of getting an adequate amount of sleep each night. So let’s start with what the recommended amount of sleep for the average adult is. It is 7-8 hours per night from ages 18-65 years old. Sleep can affect many different aspects of your life. It can affect your concentration, your mental health, your physical health, and even your relationships.
If you do not get enough sleep, it can really have a negative impact on your brain function. It can lead you to making mistakes you would not otherwise make. According to the NHI, after several nights of losing sleep (even just 1-2 hours) your ability to function can suffer as much as not sleeping for 1-2 DAYS! When people experience sleep deficiency they can make minor to severe mistakes. Some examples of things that have happened due to lack of sleep are: aviation accidents, car accidents, and even a nuclear reactor meltdown.
Did you know that not getting enough sleep can lead you to see more severe symptoms of anxiety and depression? Getting enough sleep is proven to help with your mental health. Not only that but sleep deprivation can even lead to developing these conditions! According to the Gateway to Mental Health Services, sleep deprivation sets the stage for depression, negative thinking, emotional vulnerability, and anxiety.
Lack of sleep can lead to multiple health issues as well. The amount of things that sleep affects in your body really surprised me at first! According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, an ongoing sleep deficiency is linked to an increased risk of heart disease, kidney disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and even stroke! A sleep deficiency can also cause obesity! A decreased amount of sleep can also wear on your immune system. I saw this a lot when I was in college, when I was sleep deprived, I almost always got sick. Unfortunately, I was working graves and trying to attend college during the day, so I was sick a ton!
How to improve your sleep? There are many things that you can do to improve your quality of sleep at night. Routines are great. Try to go to bed and wake up at the same time each day. Try not to vary by more than an hour, even on the weekends. Avoid caffeine and nicotine for eight hours before going to bed. They are stimulants and can keep you up. Be physically active, it has been proven that physical activity can improve your sleep tremendously. If we can choose to fix this simple thing in our life, we can avoid so many issues in our future!
Thank you so much for taking the time to read my blog today! It really means a lot to me. If you loved it please subscribe below for weekly notifications of new posts and exclusive information.
-
Focus on Positivity
Today I am going to talk about focusing on positivity to help with self-care. I know that some people think that this topic is taboo, but let me tell you. I’ve been on both sides. I’ve been at the lowest low and the highest high and I think that focusing on positivity is a choice. We are all given things to deal with in our life. We all have bad things happen. The only thing we can control is how we react.
“What you choose to focus on becomes your reality”- Unknown
I believe that setbacks are not always a bad thing, it is an opportunity to learn and grow. You can learn from everything. For example, I was in a terrible relationship with a man that I believe truly did not care about me or my well-being. After our relationship, I thought it was the end of the world. I honestly never thought I would escape the debilitating depression I was in. One day, I finally stopped feeling so sorry for myself and discovered how lucky I was that I just went through a bad breakup and not a divorce. I was lucky to not spend even one more second with someone who could not see my value.
I like to think that I used my experience to grow as a person. Now, I am even more grateful for the small things that my husband Shane does for me. I made certain that the person I was going to spend my life with was the right person for me. I gave myself space and time to heal, and now I know how to get through whatever life throws my way.
“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” -Socrates
I’ve learned a lot about this topic from my husband Shane. He never lets anything stop him! Every time something bad happens, he doesn’t even bat an eye. He inspires me to try harder to focus on the positive every single day. I will share a few examples that I have.
One time, we missed our flight to LA. I was freaking out; I didn’t know what to do. Shane very calmly got in line to talk to an airline representative. We paid a little bit of money (maybe $50) and we had new flights to LA. Yes, we were a few hours later, but everything ended up working out just fine.
This past September, Shane and I went to Hawaii. On the flight there, Shane’s tooth started to ache immensely. By the time we actually landed, his face had swollen a ton. We had to make an emergency dentist appointment for the next morning. It was a failed root canal, so Shane actually had to get his tooth pulled. Did he let it ruin our whole vacation? Nope. The day after he had his tooth pulled, he was ready for the next adventure. He did not let it faze him one bit. People are amazed when they hear this story. Before I tell them the ending, people are always saying “I bet that ruined your whole vacation.” Not even close.
So how can you practice focusing on positivity?
When something happens that is not ideal, see what your first thought is. I don’t know about you, but I’ve had thoughts like “here we go again” or “that just ruined my …”. When these thoughts come to your mind, stop them. Try to think things like “what can I learn from this” or “what can I do to prevent this from happening again”.
Accept that whatever happened, happened and move on. You get to control how you react. Do you want to draw more negative things toward you? You can even feel the bad emotions for a few seconds, if it makes you feel better, but then choose to put those aside and move forward.
Try to find the silver lining in the situation. Sometimes I know this is very hard, but most of the time you can find something. I catch myself thinking things like, “well maybe if I had left at that exact moment, something bad would have happened to me”. I know it sounds weird but it really helps me to get over simple problems.
Ask yourself honestly if you are overreacting. I know when something goes wrong this is usually me. I forgot my coat at home, so I guess this ruins my whole day since I don’t get to go snowboarding now. Why couldn’t I just go home and get it?
Am I perfect with practicing this? Absolutely not. I struggle every day with it, but I always try to choose to focus on the positive. Sometimes, I still need help. All you have to do is make an effort to try and it will help you so much.
I hope that you enjoyed today’s post. Please let me know in the comments below what you think about this. If you loved today’s post please subscribe, it would really mean a lot to me.
[email-subscribers-form id=”1″]
-
Majestic Massage
Hey Everyone! Today I am talking about using massage for self-care! I believe that it is very important to incorporate into your life. I will also talk about how you could potentially more easily afford it.
There are so many benefits to massage. Massage can help reduce anxiety and depression. It can help to reduce cortisol (up to 50%), which in turn can increase your serotonin levels. This is the chemical that regulates mood. Through doing these things, massage can also help to regulate your sleep!! Massage can improve your immune function. It can help to stimulate the production of more white blood cells, which will help your body to fight off infections. The decreased cortisol (stress) can also help your body to stay strong and fight off diseases. Massage can help to reduce pain, acute or chronic. By improving your bodies circulation, it helps to get your blood flowing to the affected area, therefore aiding in the healing process by increasing the oxygen and nutrients.
Did you know that you can use your health savings account for massage? That means that the money that you used for your massage was tax free! If you are worried that your company will not approve this, explain this to your primary care provider. Mine happily wrote me a “prescription” for massage.
I actually have committed to monthly massages at Massage Envy here in Utah! Through a membership like this, I stay more committed to getting my massage each month. When I walk out of my current appointment, I make my appointment for the next month. Massage Envy has locations all over the US and you can use your membership at any location. Your first hour massage for each month is covered in your membership fee, and each additional service you get is deeply discounted.
I look forward to my next massage each month. I can’t wait to relieve my stress and the tension that my muscles have built up over the month. I do this to maintain where I am at, if you have an injury that needs to be worked you would need to get massages more frequently.
I hope you found value in today’s post, please comment below if you did. If you love the content, please subscribe below. I love to provide you with free health and wellness tips each week.
[email-subscribers-form id=”1″]
-
Commit to Acts of Kindness
Hi Everybody!!
Today’s post is about committing to doing random acts of kindness to help with your self-care. We often times have way too much going on in our lives and are extremely busy. When you do an act of kindness it doesn’t have to be something elaborate. It can be something small like: holding the door for someone, smiling at someone, greeting someone, giving someone a compliment, helping someone with their groceries, picking up something someone else dropped, etc. The possibilities are endless!
By doing something small you can have a huge impact on someone. They may even want to do something kind for someone else. This can cause a ripple effect and may even come back to yourself one day!
Doing kind things for others can have some amazing benefits. It can reduce your stress levels and boost your mood. It can increase your life satisfaction. It also helps to create a positive atmosphere around you. These benefits alone would make doing these things worth it but there are even more benefits!
Doing a kind act can really help the person that you do it for as well. We don’t know what is going on in others peoples lives. Maybe they are having the worst day ever and you just helped them through it. Maybe they were losing hope, but you just gave them one more thing to hold onto. You really never truly know.
“A Random Act of Kindness, no matter how small, an make a tremendous impact on someone else’s life.” – Roy T. Bennett
Commit to doing at least one random act of kindness every day for the next week. See how it makes you feel. Come back and leave a comment on what you did. If you already do this please share your experience below! I would love to here about it. The holiday season is a perfect time to start this!
Let’s make this world a better place to live.
[email-subscribers-form id=”1″]
-
The Importance of Mindfulness
So, what does Mindfulness even mean?? Dictionary.com defines mindfulness as a mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique. What I define mindfulness as is being present in what you are doing, no matter what that is. Maybe you are feeding your baby, enjoying music at a festival, eating dinner with your spouse, listening to your grandmother tell you a story. Regardless of what you are doing, you are present. You aren’t thinking about what you are going to have for dinner later, what you are going to respond with, or recording every song or performance so you can watch it another time. You are simply being there and living in the moment.
I first learned about mindfulness in college in my stress management course. It could not have come at a better time for me. I was trying to do way too many things at the same time! It also helped me to learn how to be present even in times of extreme stress. Being present really helped me to relieve the stress I was feeling and deal with it at appropriate times.
“Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way; on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally” – Jon Kabat Zinn.
Examples of ways we can be mindful in a normal day
- Thinking about your breathing
- Doing one thing at a time
- Listening without Fixing
Why should we be mindful? PositivePsychology.com states that there are actually seven benefits to practicing mindfulness. They are: improved working memory, heightened metacognitive awareness, lower levels of anxiety, reduced emotional reactivity, enhanced visual attention processing, reduced stress, and managing physical pain. There are many incredible benefits to practicing this, as you can see. I have personally had the benefits of less emotional reactivity and less stress.
What are some benefits you have experienced through practicing mindfulness? Please comment below with your answers. If you loved today’s post, please subscribe below!
[email-subscribers-form id=”1″]
-
Stop Overcommitting
Hi Everyone!
Today’s blog is about something I have heard about time and time again but I am finally now just getting used to practicing it in my life daily. Stop overcommitting! When you overcommit yourself, you are not only saying yes to something you probably don’t want to do but you are also saying no to something you do want to do. I have had to learn this the hard way.
Recently, I have been working at a new job full time, my old job part time, and trying to keep up with all of the activities that I want and need to do. I found myself stressing out about how I was going to keep doing all the things I wanted but still be able to keep working around 100 hours every two weeks.
I know when I am trying to do so many things it really is my sleep that suffers first. You know what that does to me? It makes me grumpy, tired, and even can make me physically ill sometimes.
So why do we overcommit to things?
Some of my answers to this question for this instance are: I want to help my coworkers out that I have been working with for years, I don’t want them to hate me, I could use the extra money, etc.
You know what questions don’t normally come to mind? How will this make me feel? What sacrifices will I have to make in order to keep this up? Do I enjoy the time I am spending doing this? If I didn’t do this would I be okay? How does this affect myself mentally and physically? Do I feel bitter toward this thing I have committed to do?
So how do we stop overcommitting? Ask yourself the above questions. Weigh your benefits and costs and determine if you really want to do it. It is okay to say no. I get pretty anxious when I tell people I can’t/don’t want to do something they want me to do. Although you may be anxious at first, it does eventually go away and let me tell you it is so worth it.
3 Steps to stop overcommitting
1. Stop and think before saying yes. Think about the above questions and if you really should do the task.
2. Allow yourself time to rest. You don’t have to be doing something all of the time. In fact, your body needs time to rest. If you are already doing too many things just say no.
3. Breathe. As I have stated above it is okay to say no. It is not the end of the world. Just take a deep breath and do it.
This week I practiced what I am preaching. I finally quit my part time job. Guess what guys? It feels so good! I know that if you learn how to stop overcommitting, you too will feel so much better!
Please let me know if you liked today’s post below in the comments. If you loved it please subscribe, I would love to share more free content with you in the future!
[email-subscribers-form id=”1″]
-
Essential for Life: Water
Today’s topic may seem overly simple but it’s extremely important! I thought it would be a good thing to talk about as summer is the most common time that people get dehydrated. Water is honestly my favorite thing to drink and I always feel so refreshed after drinking it. So, let’s do this.
Water should always be the beverage of choice, with other drinks only being an occasional substitute. The CDC states on their website that, as plain drinking water has zero calories, it can also help with managing body weight and reducing caloric intake when substituted for drinks with calories, like regular soda. In fact, I’ve stopped drinking soda all together because of how terrible it is for you. I have seen an enormous difference in my life from doing this. I’ve also learned to start drinking water when I feel like I am hungry for a snack and that usually is enough for me! Sometimes your body just thinks it’s hungry but it is really just thirsty.
According to the National Health Institute, water represents a critical nutrient whose absence will be lethal within days. Water is literally essential for life! Did you know that your body is about 60% water at any given time? Staying hydrated is critical in order for your body to control its temperature. Water, or its lack (dehydration), can also influence cognition negatively. Drinking water can really help your body to digest food properly! You can lower your risk for many diseases through drinking an adequate amount of water. It is crazy to think of all the things that water does for your body.
It is usually recommended by doctors that you should follow the 8X8 rule. This means that you should be drinking eight, 8-ounce glasses of water a day or in simpler terms 64 ounces. Though this has actually not been proven to be the ideal amount, it is suggested that you should drink water whenever you are thirsty or your urine is a dark yellow color.
A way that I have found to help to get myself to drink more water and lesser my carbon footprint is buying a Hydro Flask. I fill it up in the morning before I go to work and again while I am at work. It keeps my water cold all day long. My current bottle is 32 ounces, so I get in my 64 ounces easily each day. I have included my exact bottle below if you would like to get one too. I also included some extras for your Hydro Flask that I love at the very bottom as well! You can really use any reusable water bottle to do this though!
Get out there and drink some water!
If you loved today’s post, please comment and subscribe below.
[email-subscribers-form id=”1″]
-
4 Reasons You Should Get Outside Today
Hey Everybody!
Today I am focusing on the importance of getting outside! Since summer is only beginning, I thought that this would be
the perfect time. I am located in Utah and there are so many fun activities to do outside during the summer. Some of themincluding: hiking, biking, swimming, longboarding,wakesurfing , etc. Being outside has proven to be very good for your health and has many benefits. Some of these benefits include: relieves stress, calms the mind, increases happiness, and leads to a healthier lifestyle. These may seem to be farfetched but let’s look into each of these benefits individually.
Relieves Stress
Getting outside can help you to naturally relieve stress. Being inside with constant stimulation is not good for us. Even getting outside for a few minutes can make the world of difference. I like to go outside and take a quick walk when I am starting to feel overwhelmed or stressed out. I take a few deep breaths of fresh air and I can literally feel it calming me down each breath.
Calms the Mind
There have been studies in which children with ADHD play inside and outside. The children who got to play outside showed significantly less symptoms of ADHD than those who played inside, for the exact same amount of time. Being able to focus on something other than you or your current task at hand really helps to calm the mind. I actually suffer from ADHD so I found these studies to be very interesting and I can see the results from doing this in my own life.
Increases Happiness
Light tends to increase mood, according to Harvard Medical School. You will more than likely have a higher exposure to light when you are outside rather than inside. The physical activity you are doing to get outside will also release endorphins which will naturally make you feel happier as well.
Leads to a Healthier Lifestyle
Being outside will raise your Vitamin D levels. This is a vitamin that will help your body to fight off things like heart disease, osteoporosis and even depression! Being outside can also increase your immunity. We need to be exposed to things in order to build an immunity and by being outside we are exposing ourselves to new things everywhere. Being exposed to light can also help you to have a better sleep schedule because we have an internal rhythm and it helps to keep you in sync. The exercise from being outside helps to keep you healthier as well.
There are so many benefits to getting outside and I have barely touched on them. I feel so much better when I get outside. I am sure you will too. Get outside today!!
If you loved today’s post don’t forget to subscribe or leave a comment below. I appreciate all of the support you guys show me.
[email-subscribers-form id=”1″]
-
Using a Gratitude Journal for Self-Care
Hey Everybody!
Today I am writing about gratitude journals. I love these and I can really see a difference when I am consistently using mine. You can use anything for this journal, a notepad, a notebook, and notes on your phone. It really doesn’t need to be extravagant. I really like to physically write mine down because I am thinking about those things for a longer period of time. I have found that when I am having a “bad” day I can go back and read the other days. This instantly boosts my mood for the day. Being able to do this has helped me in my fight against my depression. I really think that it can truly help you too!
The benefits of keeping a gratitude journal may surprise you. They include: sleeping better, fewer symptoms of illness, and more happiness.
“I don’t have to chase extraordinary moments to find happiness, its right in front of me if I’m paying attention and practicing gratitude” – Brene Brown
Tips on starting your gratitude journal:
- Set a regular time for this, so you can be consistent (this can be daily or weekly)
- Write about literally anything (walking, sunset, clothes, home, family)
- Focus on what makes you happy
- Be present when writing, really think about how grateful you are for that thing
“Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance.” – Eckhart Tolle
If you don’t have the time to actually write in a journal, think about it on your daily commute or while you are getting ready for bed. The actual key to this is to get your mindset to focus on what you do have.
I hope you enjoyed today’s post! Let me know in the comments below what you think. If you would like to keep up with the weekly posts subscribe below.
[email-subscribers-form id=”1″]
