Today is the 157th day of the year.
When we got settled in Florida (haha, I’m already laughing… since as you will soon discover, I am NOWHERE near settled)… anyway, as I was trying to say— I had a plan, sort of a semi-committed resolution or more aptly named, a quest, to regain my former fit self prior to the abuse and neglect it took in 2023.
Fitness and activity in many forms has been a lifelong hobby and very important to me since I remember. It must have started with ice skating at 3 years of age!
Anyway, my routines and hobbies have had to morph over the years with various orthopedic injuries, autoimmune challenges and new bionic parts (bionic yes, but require cautious TLC which limits my choice of sports).
I’ve adapted well UNTIL the topsy turvy whirlwind life that ensued in the past year to year and half.
Two joint surgeries, a major move, hormonal hell, my home gym dismembered and trying to find a new routine and rebuild our life and also rebuild my lost muscle mass on the right side of my body… Well, these were a few of things I was fighting against in 2023.
As I tried to find joy in the simple act of walking, I found myself even making excuses for getting out the door.
We have a beautiful tropical paradise in our neighborhood and a fitness center one mile from my house, yet I couldn’t get myself to commit to keeping that much needed time to workout a sacred and protected time.
I even hired and started back up with a previous trainer hoping the financial sting and the trainer would keep me accountable.
It was 50% effective, but I ended up putting it off until the end of the day, distracted by the beautiful relaxing mornings by the pool, coffee dates with Tim discussing the deeper meaning of life, household chores, texts, emails and other "to-do’s”.
With moving to a new home, I became consumed with ALL the things that needed attention, purchasing, fixing, as well as discovering new geography, finding doctors, dentists, to drycleaners.
The ugly oak in the front yard was dying- it needed to be pulled.
We were running to the hardware store, Homegoods, Target, and my brain was going in all the different directions as well.
I love making lists, but that is a double edged sword for this overachiever.
My list of “to do” items never stops with 2-3 three things but an endless compilation that goes from NEED TO, to WANT TO, and probably could truly fill a toilet paper roll.
Part of the problem in prioritizing my list comes down to the fact that I really have NO set structure, a topic in itself.
I have come to the realization, just this week, that ALL my life I have had structure in some form that I have worked around.
Kids have school and activities and family life planned around it.
College years, I had set schedules for classes, and work hours in the summer.
Career years had set days of work and kids filled my other home hours requiring me to keep organized and fit in R&R and somehow with a tight schedule I ALWAYS accomplished so much.
Now that I literally have nothing on my schedule, other than the Wednesday Doctales and this weekly newsletter deadline, my life is a chaotic disaster.
Everything seems important, and I’m like that headless chicken running back and forth, unfocused, and feeling unaccomplished.
Full disclosure: I’m in a coaching program right now to help me figure out how to get my life back and I had a big light bulb moment.
When everything is important, then nothing is.
How do we/I prioritize and take back control, get clarity, and regain sanity?
Well, I’m starting with ONE project at a time.
For 30 days, I’m prioritizing what I hope will make the biggest impact and be the starter domino to tip over my life into positive actionable change.
It took about 2 weeks to get clarity on what matters the most right now.
I’m regaining my mental (and obviously physical) health by committing to 15-minutes of outdoor activity every day.
A walk, a bike ride, my feet in the grass stretching (watching for snakes), grounding in the morning...
And now it seems to have snowballed!
15-minutes of core work at the gym suddenly seems easy to add on!
The 15-minute walk suddenly became 25.
I’m outside taking delight in cleaning up some weeds after my stretch.
This has NOT been easy and sometimes it has been 8:30p at night and I have to kick my ass out the door.
I tell myself 24 hours at a time. No beating myself up when I missed a day.
I’m learning that what gives me meaning and purpose matters, and I need to give myself permission to pursue my passions and stop making excuses.
No matter what changes you are trying to make in your life, keeping focused on one priority at a time will allow you to stay on task, organized. You will accomplish more than you imagined possible.
Taking back my mental AND physical health is my priority this month… everything else will fall into place.
Here’s your wake up call to take care of yourself as well!
Stay focused, don’t over commit, don’t try to multitask yourself into the whirling tasmanian devil… yep, I truly become the devil when I’m spinning out of control, lol…
And remember, when everything is important… nothing is.
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