Hello everyone! Happy October. Back when I launched my blog, I mentioned that I originally wanted to do YouTube. Over the years, I bought a vlogging camera and filmed at least 40 videos, editing about 10. The video in today’s post is one of the {read more}
This is a new one and I am excited to share it with you! In a recent HBR (Harvard Business Review) article, titled, “Have you taken the difficult person test?“, a ‘darker’ personality test for the taking. The article indicates that taking any personality quiz {read more}
Welcome everyone! As we are about to end the month of September 2021, it comes with the realization that this year has flow by. I’m wondering what has been your experience?
Has this been a celebration type year? I know a few people who were able to have their weddings after a delay because of the pandemic! Or, perhaps you’ve made some major changes? Similar to those who created history during the ‘great resignation’? And, on the other hand, I’m sure there are those of us who experienced loss this year. Either in our communities, or perhaps in our own families.
One of the ways I’ve learned over the years to cope, with memories or with anxiety over the future is to plan. Having always been a driven person, wanting to experience more, achieve more and learn more; planning has been an important part of my life as far back as I can remember. For me, it has allowed me to be more mindful in each moment. Prepared going into a situation, and able to compartmentalize any past I’d like to forget.
Through mindfulness during planning, I also try and sit with any emotions that pop-up. You know, those pesky anxieties or blah feelings when you put something you DON’T want to do on the calendar?! I find it to be important to recognize those emotions and tamper them down, or put them in check. This helps when I finally get to the task or appointment I’m not looking forward to, to just remember it will be over soon. Or to reprioritize and put something better in its place.
Lastly, in relationship building, I find planning to be extremely important. To be able to look ahead, sometimes farther than others and be intentional about the time spent with friends makes a huge difference. It helps to know your schedule and a birds-eye view of the calendar to know when and how much energy you might have to pour into fellowship.
After all, life is about more than just achievement. It’s really about building connections. With all that in mind, let’s plan October together!
Starting with the literal calendar, I take a look at the month, which dates land on weekends and any special occasions (such as Halloween). I pencil in all appointments I know about and take note of any which need still be put on the calendar. Of course, if you are the planner for your family unit, be sure to include all of their appointments and moments in there too!
Once you have this completed, you’ll have a high-level view of the month!
After putting any major milestones, appointments or special occasions on the calendar, it is time to mark down any travel. If you are like me, and have a job where travel isn’t always planned in advance OR you are having to wait for additional restrictions to be lifted; instead be sure to mark down any place you think you might need to go.
Also, at this time, mark down any personal travel. The reason I do this, is because it typically requires more focus and attention. Generally, more thought when you are going out of town – either to be sure you pack appropriately for different weather, or to prepare for a specific meeting. The energy need required to travel is higher in my opinion than simply going out to dinner.
At this point, I take a step back and determine how full things look, as well as if timing could be improved. For example, sometimes I’ll have two appointments in the same day, and perhaps the first one is going to be draining. I’ll go ahead and try and move the second one just so I can be sure my focus is in the right area. Remember my favorite post about our pilot lights?
Over the years, I’ve met people who are uncomfortable doing this, however I have found it to be key to making things smoother and feeling better about the use of my time! Always keep in mind, that this is literally your life. The time you spend doing things, and the areas which you give your attention to, are all up to you!
At this point, I am sure to do weekly goal setting and make up my habit tracker for the month. Sometimes, these are simple like “walk 1 mile a day”. Or “less screen time.” Other times, it is more serious especially when it comes to health, nutrition and mindfulness. I find having a habit tracker helps me immensely, even if I take a day off, it motivates me to get back on track!
If you’ve been reading this blog from the beginning, you already know my passion for intention setting and being purposeful. At this point in your planning process, you should have your month mostly organized! Therefore, it is time to name intentions for each week and add the purpose behind each day. This helps so much whenever I get side-tracked or lose my focus. I can go back to my calendar and clearly see what I intended for in the week, and what the main purpose of the day’s activities were.
If you decide to follow this method, or have anything you’d change or add, I’d love to hear from you! Connect in the comments below 🙂
You asked for it! So here it is. Below is a typical ‘day in the life’ of me 🙂 Most days I try and mix things up, but the activities contained in my day are usually the same. The theme of the pandemic and being {read more}
Soon it will be Heart Health Awareness month. You may have seen your local American Heart Association signs go up for the walks occurring around the United States. Today I’m sharing a podcast that especially inspires me to continue taking care of my body. Either {read more}
Today, I was working on an assignment. After getting through about 2/3rds of it, I decided to put it aside and give myself a break. First, I did some social media scrolling. Immediately, a smile came across my face. This year, it seems as though, even though still in a pandemic, families are enjoying time together. Not to mention all of the beautiful sunsets and boat ride pictures!
While looking through the updates, a song came on my Amazon Music. Mostly acoustic guitar, no lyrics, just calming relaxing strums. Perhaps because I know many guitar players, I am able to picture the movement of the strings, and sometimes even the face of the person playing. While listening, Bianca was sound asleep making little sleep noises and twitches. The hum of my air conditioner in the background (we are still in the hot days of summer here in North Carolina).
This feeling came, after a happy couple days, seeing some friends and speaking to others. Making plans for the future and decisions about moving on from the past. It helped that the assignment I’ve been working on took my full attention. In fact, not only did it take my full attention; but it also required my knowledge going back as far as college. Sometimes, these types of activities allow us to remember our accomplishments and let our brains take over. Maybe I’m a romantic… sometimes letting our logical sides take over all that emotional thinking really helps to ground me.
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Today in particular, I can see where balance came into place. For example, the physical side of things was in place: I walked and I did yoga. Whilst the physical aspect is probably what I am best at, I also took the time to read and meditate. Now that I think of it, I took breaks and took a short nap. At one point, I cooked a healthy meal and also followed-up about a customer service thing. Today, I made sure to get Bianca out of the house (during the week days its a bit more difficult). Having had a few conversations I got the social part in, but also used my brain intensely. Lastly, I planned my week and got some productive reading in (aka non-fiction). It just all felt right. A day full of balance and each activity full of purpose.
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The thought, “this makes me happy” passed through my mind. I took a deep breath and soaked it all in. Moments like these are usually unexpected, and unassuming. They come after extreme focus and flow on a task, or maybe a physical challenge. Sometimes, they come before another happy day of connection with others.
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I urge you, if you haven’t felt even a small feeling of contentment and peace in awhile, please do what you can to seek it out. From first hand experience I can tell you years went by for me without this feeling. It just isn’t worth it.
All this to say, do what you can to create the opportunity for happy moments. Maybe that means making some difficult decisions. It may mean making a tough phone call. Or perhaps, it might mean something as simple as turning on your favorite song, or bringing up your favorite playlist. Or it might mean shutting the phone off and opening a real life book. Whatever it means for you, seek out the moment, experience, day or week that it takes to achieve this peace. Let it fill you up and wash over you.
Of course, please let me know your thoughts either through a text or commenting below.
Your interest The Myers Briggs personality test is something I bring up every so often in my blog. The post about the brain character quiz peaked the interest to know my Myers Briggs type. In the spirit of embracing my personality, I am sharing my {read more}
Welcome back fam! I’m going to get straight to the point: for the longest time I forced myself to be someone I wasn’t. Instead of embracing the delicate, soft parts of myself; I showed the world only my thorns. Randomly finding this little quiz on {read more}
Hello everyone!
Total side note: every time I write a new post; I am so temped to write ‘hello world’ in C++. As a throwback to the first days of learning computer programming. Although it has been awhile since I’ve written any programs, that first lesson is ingrained in me!
Anyway! Back to the topic at hand. In the past, I had the thought to start a YouTube channel. A big reason behind it was to motivate me to try new things. And film the experience to share it. While I continue to warm up to the idea of sharing videos; I figured there is no reason why not to share my experiences in written form.
So, after some thinking, I made the decision to start a new series here on my blog. It will be my experiences of doing something for 7 days straight. Most likely these will be every month or so.
Why ‘only’ 7 days you ask? Welp, I realized that although 21 days is known to build a habit; it seemed daunting to me at this point along the journey. Outside of my blog, lots of things are underway in my day job. And in general with still managing to live through the pandemic. With so much uncertainty, I found myself not wanting to commit to things more than a week at a time.
In years past, I would start a 30 day yoga program with no problem. And, it would be a success! I would do every single day, or double up if I knew I was going to miss a day. Right now, committing to more than seven days didn’t feel feasible to me. Not to mention, I want to do 7 days of things that I enjoy. Activities which will bring fun, peace or calm to my life; not that cause stress or worry!
Although ‘they’ say seven days of something won’t build a habit. Seven days IS long enough to decide if you enjoy something and want to to continue it! It is also long enough to have some sort of benefit! Just think, if you choose to practice your favorite instrument for 7 days straight; surely you’d improve, even if a small amount!
I’ve decided to start this series off with something I’m familiar with: YOGA.
Yoga is the first topic of our 7 day series! Probably not a huge surprise to those of you who know me personally. Yoga has been a go-to activity for me over the course of many years. After I first moved to North Carolina, my gym had one of the BEST yoga instructors! The instructor would transform the aerobics room into a calming retreat. The room would be cool and dry. (This was before hot yoga was a thing). Candles were lit, gentle music playing and the lights were out.
When that location closed, yoga wasn’t something I would do regularly. Then, one fine day I found a lovely instructor on YouTube. I completed her 30 days of beginners yoga and it immediately improved my life. Leading up to finding the classes online, stress was an issue. After, it seemed to melt away much easier. My mindset was calmer and my body generally felt better. Over the years, I would restart the 30 days, or do random videos at least 4 times a week.
At the end of 2020, this instructor passed away unexpectedly. It was strange to experience grief over the loss of someone who never met me, but helped me so tremendously. For months, I would try to do yoga or stretching using any videos online and grief would wash over me.
Finally I told myself to find a different instructor and start again. Which leads us to today!
For this series, I completed the seven days leading up until Wednesday prior to this being posted. In the future, I may decide to post every single day. I figure that might hold me more accountable if the activity is difficult in nature to me. Either way, today’s post will cover the entire seven days, complete with links to the videos I used.
After a bit of searching I found a channel I’ve come to really enjoy: Sean Vigue Fitness. This instructor is great for me personally, with a mix of silly, serious and complete with a golden retriever. The beginner series I found was an older one and was 7 days. Each class is just about 15 minutes long, sometimes slightly longer (link here to the playlist)! He has since done updated versions which I’m excited to do too!
After finding the 7 day series, I dove right in and started with day 1. Since months had passed since I last did yoga consistently, my body felt tight as I did the poses. This truly is a beginners yoga which I welcomed with open arms. After I did the practice, I thanked myself for doing something positive for my body. Link here.
This one helped me to calm my mind, focus on my breathing and enjoy the short but extremely nice session. Hips and hamstrings are my favorite to stretch. Just by doing two days of yoga and knowing I had committed myself to seven days; I noticed a difference in my thoughts and headspace. Making this time for myself, even if 15 minutes only makes my day feel more complete. It also reinforces self-nurturing. Link here.
In this video, Sean mentions that within a week of yoga you can become ‘fluent’ in yoga. Not in terms of learning san srit, but in learning the breathing and basic poses. During this one, he is outside in the rain. This really helped me feel looser and included moves I’ve never done before. Link here.
Although twisting is great, standing yoga offers so much. I especially loved the balance poses in this one. And in general it made me feel more steady on my feet. Which, as you may know can be a challenge for me haha). By this day, I noticed improvements in my digestion and overall posture. Link here.
The actual video for this day I did not want to do. For yoga, I tend to stay away from pure ab type work, because I’d rather stretch than build my core. Therefore I selected a different video from Sean’s channel (focused on flexibility). It is important to note the importance of honoring your own particular preferences! This is one I will surely come back to for an everyday type routine! Link here.
By this day, I started to truly look forward to the sessions. Sean’s personality brightened my day each day! Prior to this class I hadn’t done tortoise before and enjoyed it! I also felt that the instructions on this one were so extra clear with hips and such. Link here.
On day 7 I did not have as much time as I would have liked. So didn’t do the 35 minute day seven, instead I swapped out for a shorter class on Sean’s channel. The one I selected is only about 10 minutes. At this point, I could tell a difference in my muscles, both in tone and in flexibility. It was the perfect day seven for me! Link here.
Since I ended my 7 days on Wednesday, I figured why not add today’s yoga! This is a morning yoga, more traditional with flows versus the beginners. Although this is about 15 minutes it felt like wonderful bliss and set the tone this morning! This is another one where Sean’s personality is just so joyful. Link here.
If you decide to do any of these, or re-start/start your yoga practice after reading this post: please let me know!
Decision making should be based on a person’s own choice, not the voices and opinions of others. When making decisions that align with our values and dreams, we gain self-respect.