What to do when well-being gets overwhelming
When it comes to wellness, the things I’ve listed above are just a few of the many habits that health-care advocates are promoting. Change is hard and sometimes we make it harder on ourselves by trying take on too much at once. Here are a few suggestions to help you make well-being less overwhelming.
Get at least 8 hours of sleep a night.
Drink 8 glasses of water a day.
Practice mindfulness
Mange your stress.
Eat fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Eat at home!
Exercise 30 minutes a day.
Commit some time each week to self-care.
AHHHHHHH!!!
Did you get stressed out just reading this list? (Let’s take a few deep breaths before we move on.)
When it comes to wellness, the things I’ve listed above are just a few of the many habits that health-care advocates are promoting. Change is hard and sometimes we make it harder on ourselves by trying take on too much at once. Here are a few suggestions to help you make well-being less overwhelming.
Take inventory of what is going well- You may not be giving yourself credit for your habits. Before you start overwhelming yourself with a long “wellness” to-do list, take some time to think about some of things that you may already have some consistency with. For example, maybe you walk to work and you walk with your partner or your companion animal every evening. So physical activity is looking pretty good and you can direct your energy and attention to something else. It’s encouraging to start with what’s working well for you!
Let go of the black and white/all or nothing thinking- Some people get caught up in the “if I can’t do it all, why bother doing anything?” mindset. I’m here to tell you that something is always better than nothing. We all have different levels of responsibility and commitments in our lives. There may be periods of time where you have limited time and energy to devote to change. In these instances, give yourself some grace and the permission to address what you are able to, when you are able to.
Identify one (maybe two) habits that would make the most difference in your life right now- In step one, you may have already discovered a few healthy habits that you have some consistency with which probably cut down your wellness “to-do” list. Now you can review the things that need your attention and decide for yourself which 1-2 habits would be the most important for you to address immediately.
Using the SMART goal technique, set a realistic goal for yourself to get started- For those of you who aren’t familiar with the acronym, SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely. This is the difference between saying “I am going to work out more!” and “I am going to go for a 30 minute walk 4 times a week.” In the second example, you have created a specific goal that you can measure your progress against. If you are currently not eating any vegetables, creating a goal of having 2 servings of veggies with every meal every day is probably not realistic. Instead, choose you might choose one meal to add vegetables to every day to build your consistency and confidence.
Journal your experiences- Keeping a journal (it can be as simple as a small lined notebook) will help you in organizing your experiences, emotions, and progress. A journal will give you the opportunity to look back and reflect on what went well, your challenges, and how far you’ve come.
I invite you to take another deep breath. Think about where you are on your wellness journey. Allow yourself to be free to do what you can, with what you have, where you are.
How to Map Out Your 2018 Goals
Happy New Year!
I am so excited for the 365...no, 363 brand new days that lay before us. I have a feeling that 2018 is going to be the start of an amazing journey. This could be due to the fact that this is the first time I have mapped out my goals and created an action plan for success.
In the past I've made a lot of vague goals/resolutions/intentions but never supported them with a specific plan of action. This year, I set aside time and energy to put pen to paper and really get clear on what I wanted to accomplish. My word for 2018 is CREATE and I know it's going to take planning and preparation to execute on all of the fun things I have brewing in my brain.
Here are the steps I took to map out my 2018 goals. It's my hope that this will be helpful if you are still in the planning stages and/or aren't sure where to begin.
Create Your Ultimate Goals List
Before organizing anything, I simply started with a blank notebook page to write down all my goals. The idea is to get everything out of your head and on to a sheet of paper (or a digital document if you aren't a fan of analog). Try to be as specific as possible here. I like to use the S.M.A.R.T acronym- goals should be
Specific,
Measurable,
Achievable,
Realistic and,
Timely.
Organize Your List
Once I had all of my goals written out, I sorted them into categories. I ended up with 4 - personal, professional, physical, and financial. (I really wish this had been 4 P's. Does anyone use the word pecuniary anymore?)
Here are my actual 2018 goals, organized into each category.
Create a Mind Map of Each Category
In this step you will reverse engineer your goals. The bonus? You get to imagine yourself as already having achieved them!
First, you'll create a large circle with the category in the middle.
Then you will create branches with each of your main goals.
For each level after the main goal, ask yourself the question "What will I need to do to be successful with this?" The answers will become the next branches.
Continue creating branches (or action steps) until you feel like you can't go any further.
Here is one of my Physical goals mapped out, as an example-
Plan Your Action Steps Into Your Daily Schedule
One you have a mind map for each category, you should end up with a detailed plan on how to accomplish each of your goals. At this point, it is important to make room for them in your daily routine.
The branches of your goal will become the action steps- in other words, these will be the things you need to do daily/weekly/monthly to be successful. In the Fencing example I gave above, I would need to plan when exactly my lessons will be and choose the open fencing sessions I will attend so that I can build them into my schedule.
This whole process will take some time, so allow yourself a quiet afternoon with a nice cup of coffee or tea to get started.
What are you looking forward to in 2018?
P.S.- Check out last year's blog on
Setting Intentions for the New Year
2017 is almost upon us and, after losing several talented artists over the last year, I'm sure most people are with me when I say "I AM READY." For me, the new year brings a sense of hope, opportunity, a sense of adventure, and the chance to make a fresh start. I always get a feeling of renewed energy and this year is no different.
When you start to set your intentions for the year I invite you to ask yourself how you would like to FEEL, THINK, and BE.
Here are a few self-reflective inquiries to ask yourself as you set your intentions for the new year.
1. What do I want to be different?
2. What are my strengths and how can I use them to help me make a positive change?
3. What do I want to be doing more of?
4. What do I want to be doing less of?
5. What feelings do I need to embrace/let go of to help me move forward?
The final step in setting intentions is visualizing your success. When you can picture yourself achieving something, it is much easier to see the path that will take you there.
Find a quiet spot where you will 5-10 minutes of uninterrupted time. Seat yourself comfortably and focus on taking deep breaths. Think about the intentions you created for the new year. Imagine having already achieved your goals. How does it make you feel?