Well I’m not going to beat around the bush. Looks like we are all kind of going a bit backward with the whole lock down situation. Which is not what I expected and I bet you feel the same. I hope that it hasn’t gotten you too down and that you are all doing ok in spite of all the uncertainty.
If you are struggling and most people I have talked to are, then just know that you are not alone. We each are struggling in our own way. I have struggled lately because things are so up in the air of when we will go back to normal. I’m ok when I know the time frame but the idea of not knowing is tough and I’m sure a lot of you feel the same. I love to be out and about and traveling and having dinner with friends and I also love for the people around me to be happy and that’s kind of hard right now for a lot of people. so I have been really having to work on my mindset and not let myself get too down. I have been staying off social media and the news as much as possible because I know I talk about it a lot but it can drain you! The reason it drains you is because you are allowing other people to control your emotions. The news gets paid to create drama. Social media is designed to create anxiety because how can you possibly keep up with the perfect lives that you see displayed? If you could see the back story on most posts you would be surprised. So Always be aware of how much time you spend letting others control your mindset.
Honestly I have found that focusing on what I do control and not only what I can do to make myself better but also how I can add value to others too has been a way of keeping my sanity. I can’t control what everyone else is doing and I certainly can’t control what the government decides is open or not open but one thing I know now is we don’t know how long things are going to be weird so we can use it as an excuse anymore. We can’t say ‘‘oh well because Covid I’m just going to eat whatever or not exercise, or watch 15 straight hours of Netflix’’. We can’t do that anymore if we want to be the best version of our self. Right now is when you see what you are made of. Right now is when you show others what is possible! Right now is when you make a plan for what the rest of your week is going to look like regardless of what is going on externally. Prove to yourself you can do it.
Eventually this will all pass, we know that. Once it does pass, will you be playing catch up or are you going to be on top of your game? If it annoys you that I am even asking that question, well then you probably know which one the answer is. And you know what? That’s ok! Don’t be mad at yourself, don’t be down on yourself. Just decide right now that you are gonna be better.
I was talking with a friend this morning. I told her she looked great and that she looked like she had lost weight. She told me she had put on 20 lbs during the lock down but had decided to take it off because it was adding stress to an already stressful situation. Being healthy and fit and happy is the best thing we can do right now to stay sane and keep our families sane. We have to be an example of what is possible!
So what does that look like for me? I have a plan for each day. I make sure that every single day I take care of my health mentally and physically. I journal, I meditate, I exercise and I eat as healthy as possible. For the sake of transparency, I ate 2 peanut butter cookies during a stressful moment yesterday, but that’s over and I refuse to beat myself up for it. I’m just going to go right back to my healthy eating and move past it. Do you know how I know I’ve grown though? Because the old me would have thrown the whole day to the wind and eaten bad the rest of the day because I messed up once. I don’t do that anymore. I have been working on my healthy eating and will continue to work on that until I take my last breath I’m sure. I also read A LOT. I listen to at least one good uplifting podcast a day. Now, make sure you don’t miss my Wednesday episodes because they often come with wonderful suggestions for books and uplifting podcasts!
I don’t know about you but hearing inspiring stories from other people is a sure way to help not only put things into perspective but give me that boost to keep going when I want to quit. Life isn’t a cake walk for most people right now so We have to Use all the tools we have in our wood shed right now. Use them all! Sometimes when I’m running I will put David Goggins on my Spotify channel. You want to get pumped? Listen to David Goggins. He’s a former navy seal, triathlete, motivation speaker and author. How about Jocko Willink, another former Navy seal? He has this video called “GOOD”. In fact I will link to it in the show notes because it’s so amazing and inspiring! He says “You didn’t get promoted?” Good! More time to get better! Unexpected problems? Good…we have the opportunity to find a better solution. And I’m going to end today with this from Jocko because I think we all need to hear it. When things don’t go your way “Get up, dust off, reload, re engage, and Lets get after it”. I love you guys, I’ll talk to you in a few days.
