Positive Little Changes
DIET
I have been making small changes in my habits that I’m hoping will become natural instincts in my daily routine. I haven’t started a ‘diet’ as such and I am reluctant to do that because I’ve done it all before and even though it works it has to be maintained for life so I really just want to change my habits.
I haven’t lost weight but I’m gradually changing my eating habits and have a healthy breakfast and lunch to start with. This doesn’t meant I eat pizza for dinner though (only occasionally) but I may still have a desert or snack afterwards. I’m incorporating more of the low calorie meals from the Pinch of Nom books and Slimming Eats websites because the whole family enjoy them.
I did go without alcohol for about five weeks and now only have it at the weekend or if we occasionally eat out for lunch.
EXERCISE
I’ve started doing a weekly Zumba workout with a friend which encourages me to do a longer sessions than I would on my own. I also manage to fit in shorter exercise sessions in between, so even if I don’t do a full workout I’m still doing more than I was before and I’m improving each time. I suffer from knee pain which makes a lot of the movements difficult but it seems to be less restrictive each time. I listen to my body and if I’ve been too still for too long I get up and move. I’ll do a short workout, take a walk or even l do some standing crunches from the Figure 8 workouts whilst cleaning my teeth or waiting for the kettle to boil etc. It’s not much yet, but every little helps.
WRITING
It’s a couple of weeks since I updated my blog but I have written a couple of articles. I’m not sure if people get alerted to them being published like they do with the blog but you can find them here:
I still have three more articles to write on the subjects that I said I would go into more detail about in my last post, these are:
- Self Compassion
- Gratitude
- Forgiveness
I will be adding these in the next few weeks and will update this post with the links when they are published.
HOBBIES
I have a few creative hobbies that I enjoy and have a few small projects on the go. I started macramé last year and enjoyed making lots of Christmas decorations and wall hangings. Also a couple of years ago I decided to make Christmas gifts for family in the UK, I made a selection of things like tote bags, jewellery and even some homemade balms and incense etc. I also made dreamcatchers and suncatchers and enjoyed making these so much I started to make a lot more. I’m trying to add this activity to my business so that I can eventually sell them. Also I’ve been practicing making beads with polymer clay, I used to do this years ago and saw some clay for sale recently so thought I might make a bit of jewellery for myself.
Currently I’m finishing off a few embroidery projects too. I love making gifts for people but rarely finish off things I start for myself so I’ve decided I need to do this as part of a self-nurturing process. I started embroidering a Shamanic Medicine Wheel a couple of years ago and as I still attend workshops in this field I am focussing on finishing it before I start anything else. I will publish a photo of it when it’s complete.
MULTI-TASKING & NEW DISCOVERIES
I have lots of online courses, podcasts and videos that I intend to get around to when I have the time and since one of my recent articles was about time management, I realised that I didn’t talk about Multi-Tasking. I often multi-task when doing housework but I decided to do this with recreational things too, like listen to podcasts whilst walking the dog and loading up my YouTube playlists whilst doing some embroidery. The good thing about algorithms is that you discover new material in the areas of interest you have and in my recommendations were videos of ‘Mel Robbin’s 5 Second Rule’.
5 Second Rule
In brief the system explained in the video is simply counting down from five to one to motivate you into action. The video explains how to use it and the book that you can find in the links on the sidebar goes into more detail of how to use for different purposes. At the moment I’m using it to stop negative thoughts, as soon as I recognise my mind drifting into areas that eventually bring me down, e.g. reliving how someone may have upset me in the past, I count down 5,4,3,2,1 and stop thinking about it. Also when I suddenly lose the motivation to do something that I really want to do I count down and do it anyway. It’s quite subtle, you don’t suddenly get an overwhelming impulse to do something but it stops you spiralling and can do it anyway even if you don’t feel like it. The more I’ve been doing it the less I’ve needed to use it. For example, during times of exhaustion and more pain from the fibromyalgia, just getting up out of a chair can be a real struggle and leads me to put off doing things, so I used the 5 second rule and did it anyway. I’ve since noticed that I don’t even need to count and I’m responding naturally to getting up to go and get something or do something without the fear of pain or the voice in my head saying I’m too tired.
Spring is in the air
It seems like winter is never ending, although we are at the end of March we’ve had continuous gale force winds for the last couple of weeks, I really don’t like the wind, I hate the sound of it howling around the house, it chills me to the bone. I don’t mind a gentle breeze in the summer, but the bitter cold blasts we’ve had recently I can do without. However, they seem to be dispersing and I’m hoping to get out into the garden next week to get it ready for the summer. I find gardening very therapeutic, it can be quite meditative and being in nature is very good for the soul so that is more multi-tasking I can look forward to.
You Tube
I’ve mentioned before that I have a YouTube channel, at the moment there are a few meditation videos on there with lovely musical soundtracks. I am in the process of creating my own guided meditations and I’m looking to put together some of my own background music as I’ve heard of a lot of scams where royalty free music is changed once it’s embedded into peoples video and people having to then pay a ridiculous amount for the copyright or lose any monetisation from it. I don’t want to spend ages making a video only to have to take it down and re-do it if it gets popular.
I also have a few other ideas for the channel and that is to do some demonstrations of the therapies I provide and also some instructional videos on self massage and reflexology etc.
I also thought of doing a few personal updates on my progress with health and fitness. This is something I will have to pluck up courage to do though, but eventually I hope to get there. You can see my channel by following one of the links on the side bar and when I do my personal videos I’ll link to them in future posts.
Tortoise and the Hare
As the heading of this post suggests I’m making slow and gradual progress (tortoise), in the past I’ve enthusiastically thrown myself into regimes and do really well to start with (hare) but I get distracted and don’t continue with my efforts. I hope that by taking things slow and steady, gradually introducing new habits, I can make long term changes that will produce the results I want and be able to maintain them.
Thank you for taking the time to read my post. If you like this article please take look at some of my other pages or blog posts where I talk about different therapies and my own wellbeing journey and if you’d like to see future posts then please enter your email address and click on the subscribe button below and you will be notified of future content. I have no plans to use your email address for any other purpose. Feel free to share my page with anyone you feel may be interested and if you have any feedback about what I write or suggestions for further articles then please use the comment box further down the page. Warmest Wishes, Janet x
I am currently affiliated with Body FX. This page may contain other affiliated links and if you purchase any item from following one of these links I may receive a small commission. Images that I haven’t taken myself are from pixabay.cm, unsplash.com or pexels.com.