We all have days where we feel low energy and are feeling a bit more negative than usual. On days like these, it’s important to first recognize that it’s okay to feel this way and that it won’t last forever. I am also learning that finding quick and easy ways to get a burst of dopamine also isn’t helpful. I’ve noticed that I look at my phone 10x more often when I’m feeling like this, not even realizing that I just keep going through the same apps over and over again.
Thankfully, I’m starting to recognize that I do this and that it’s not helping me at all. After this realization, I started to ponder what will actually get me in a good mood and I wanted to share these ideas with you
1. Get up and move
It doesn’t really matter how or where or what you do, but moving will immediately force your thoughts to keep moving forward. Also, any amount of endorphins will change your mood for the better.
I will do anything from putting in a load of laundry to going on a hike so I don’t stay in a rut. It might take a while to become self-aware and realize what you’re doing is negatively affecting you, but once you are able to recognize it the next step is to physically move out of it.
2. Make yourself laugh
I laugh at myself all the time, whether it’s because I did something stupid or because I think a joke I made was really funny… but sometimes I forget this “talent” when I’m feeling down. A couple of tricks I use (which may not be for everyone) is to dance like an idiot by myself or around my boyfriend. I also will break into character and sing terribly, but it usually makes me laugh.
3. Make someone smile
Nothing feels better than making another person smile or laugh, so sometimes when you can’t do it for yourself, try doing it for someone else! I’m lucky to have quite a few #1 fans of mine (my family) that I find super easy to entertain. It’s also easy to show love towards them which will obviously make them smile.
4. Be spontaneous
Perhaps you’ve just become bored out of your mind and that’s why you want to stay on the couch all day. This is the perfect time to think outside the box to switch up what you’ve gotten used to. For example, one day I made a living room picnic to surprise my boyfriend when he came home. I put down a blanket, put out place mats, poured some beer, and lit a candle. We ate leftover pizza… Nothing fancy at all but it became fun because I switched up our routine.
5. Find reliable mood changers
There are a few things that will immediately get me in a better mood other than the above that I can always rely on. This includes going on a drive with loud music (my boyfriend and I often do this when we are feeling down), meeting up with friends even if I “don’t feel like it”, going out for dinner instead of cooking (restaurants in Kelowna are opening back up now! Yay!), and phone calls with my #1 fans.
I hope these ideas will help you get out of the dopamine rush you are looking for and provide a genuine, positive feeling. I would love to hear how you get yourself back up after feeling down in the comments below!
Life is too unpredictable to focus on an end goal. We tend to focus on what we want to accomplish rather than what we are learning every day. The above picture was taken on an average day where we just needed to get out of the house. It’s just the same trail by our place that we’ve walked on many times before, but this is one of few pictures where we are both genuinely smiling instead of posing. My boyfriend was being an idiot and making me laugh as usual, which is something I make sure to appreciate every day.
We might not always feel like we have what we want or that life isn’t quite “perfect” yet, but I guarantee when I look back at this picture I will remember how good life actually was. Even looking at it while writing this post makes me calm down and realize how awesome it is that I get to be myself around someone who loves me every single day, and how the good days are actually really good! Here is what I have learned that helps me enjoy the journey.
Humans are meant to learn
I hope you don’t think that as soon as you have that job you’ve always wanted, or the big house you’ve been striving for, that you’ll suddenly stop needing to learn and grow. There will always be things to stress you out, or unpredictable situations and you will always be working towards something. If you think about where you are now, can you think of any failures or struggles that you’ve learned from? YES. Of course you can! You’ve learned from it and are now living with more knowledge than you had before and growing from it.
Think about what’s important
Ideally I would say, “look back on your life as if you were 100 years old, what do you remember?” but I’m assuming there’s not a lot of 100 year olds reading this post. So when you think back on your life as it is so far at whatever age you are, what do you remember most? It’s likely that you mostly remember memories that gave you emotions whether it’s positive or negative rather than items you bought or things you had. The positive memories bring you joy, and the negative memories gave you lessons. That’s why you need to remind yourself about what’s actually important in life – the experiences rather than what you have.
Appreciate where you are now
The best way to remember to enjoy the journey is to truly appreciate where you are right now, because you are currently living the journey. What are your current struggles? What are you learning from it? What are you working on right now to achieve your goals? What are you grateful for? Are you acknowledging every small accomplishment? I think that answering these questions helps keep you grounded and to remember that the amazing life you want depends on what you’re doing today, and not what you might have in the future.
Don’t wait to live a great life, make the life you’re living great by taking a step back and enjoying the process. We are meant to struggle, learn and grow over and over again until the day we die.
We’ve all had a show on Netflix that has sucked us in without knowing it. Maybe you found a show that’s “only 20 minutes long” … 3 hours later you realize the power of the binging vortex. Well if you’re like me, I feel extra lazy after doing something like that and a wee bit of guilt. Not only is it a bad feeling that you’ve wasted time, but it’s likely that you aren’t going to eat well afterwards either, and thus, feel worse. Here’s what you can try to do to avoid binge watching Netflix.
1. Delete Netflix
What?! How could I?! Well I figured I would start out with the most obvious answer that you probably don’t want to hear. Now, let’s move on…
2. Choose Wisely
Try to find a show that has less binge-worthy potential. For example, maybe watch a movie one night or a short Netflix Original rather than something that has 12 seasons and 25 episodes per season. Also, maybe choose something positive and funny or educational rather than something that will add more negativity to your life like learning about a serial killer. You already feel bad about watching a ton of TV, no need to also feel bad about humanity afterwards too. Of course, this is subjective, I personally like watching happier shows.
3. Limit When You Watch
Perhaps choose a day of the week that you will watch your show to leave room for excitement. Just like the good ol’ days, when we didn’t have access to everything all at once. You could set a timer to limit how much you watch too.
Also, an option that always works well for me is to have someone that is watching the show with you. My boyfriend is wonderful at only wanting to watch TV occasionally as he usually finds better things to do. With my out-of-this-world loyalty, I would never watch the next episode of our show without him.
4. Find Something Better to Do
There must be a reason why you’d like to stop binge watching Netflix… otherwise you wouldn’t have read this post. Whatever it is that you wish you would do instead of get sucked into the couch, go ahead and do those things. Easier said than done I know… So maybe you need something that gives you what TV gives you. Relaxation, entertainment, whatever it is… find something else that will give you the satisfaction.
We spend so much time on screens that I think we all know it would be best for us to find hobbies that don’t involve a screen. Some examples are: cooking, exercising, colouring (seriously, pick up an adult colouring book asap), painting, journalling, talking to a friend, talking to your family, playing with your pet if you have one, gardening… the list goes on.
5. Decide When to Binge
Now this sounds easier right?! Make the choice that you are going to binge and commit to a number of shows or hours… All of a sudden you will feel liberated from all of the guilt! The problem is that we usually don’t plan to binge, it just happens. We accidentally let the “Next Episode” countdown go without stopping it. So instead of suffering about the bad choices you are making, just make one huge bad choice and let it happen! Yay!
Conclusion
All jokes aside, there will be times that you fall into a rut where you keep wasting your time binge watching Netflix. If you have any sort of will power, I believe trying a few of the tips above will help you get out of that rut.
However, if you truly cannot stop and you really want to, you might need to go cold turkey and delete it all together. There’s so much more to life than sitting on a couch and watching TV, and it can be hard to see that when that is all we are doing.
I don’t know about you, but I like when tourists tell me what they think of my country when they visit for the first time. Sometimes I forget why Canada is so awesome. I’ve lived here my whole life so everything seems fairly normal. I want to write about my first impression of Europe for anyone who is curious about what a Canadian thinks of another continent.
My first trip to Europe was a 2 week tour of France with my Grade 12 French class. I was beyond excited. Europe had always seemed like some mystical far away land that I learned about growing up. I have also always loved old looking roads and buildings, probably because of the Lord of the Rings, but also it’s neat to think that a long time ago someone spent forever creating them.
We first landed in Frankfurt, Germany which I was incredibly excited about. My Opa speaks German, but is from Austria, but it still felt like I was in his home land (don’t tell him I compared the two!). I had never seen so many German things in one area so I took pictures of the most random things. Again, we only had a layover in the Frankfurt Airport so I didn’t even leave the building. I have a picture that whenever I see it, I become humbled again knowing how excited I was about the smallest things. We always had sandwiches at my Opa’s house and got our deli meat from a European grocery store, so naturally, I had to take a picture of the first sandwich I saw in Germany.
My excitement about German sandwiches
As I said, I took pictures of the most random things. Quite honestly I’m not sure if this is the same throughout the whole country but I liked seeing different looking restroom people.
Look at her cute dress, so stylish compared the the Canadian triangle dress
Our next stop was in Nice, France, where we stayed a couple of nights. My memory might be brutal here so I will focus on first impressions. It was my first time to the Mediterranean Sea so we immediately dipped our feet in. It was absolutely freezing because it was March, but at least now I can say I’ve been in it. We took a tour bus up to our hotel that was at the top of a hill. This was probably the most sketchy drive I’ve ever been on. This is where I realized how small the roads were. There were hairpin turns all the way up what seemed like a cliff and the bus driver didn’t seem to mind that half the bus was off the road each turn.
I would absolutely love to go to Nice again, it was so lovely. I also got to see the old buildings I was hoping for.
The old buildings in Nice, France
We took a day trip to Monaco, and this is where I found an alley way I had always dreamed of seeing. You would never find this in Canada.
Pretty colours and cool architecture
Finally we climbed the stairs to a lookout to oversee the entire city, and it was definitely worth the climb.
Nice, France
I was looking forward to seeing a typical arena/colliseum building because of learning about it in social studies… and was excited that we were able to enter into one. This is my friend juggling in the middle of the arena:
It probably doesn’t compare to what you’d find in Rome, but I was satisfied.
What’s something that you need to get in France while in France? Baguette.
Long bread… Not sure if it was baguette
The bakery we went to didn’t have the long skinny baguette I was looking for, so I ended up with a long loaf of bread that I called baguette… I still regret how much I ate as a “snack”.
Unfortunately we were not allowed trying the wine on our school trip, but we did go to a cool winery in a cave and had sparkling juice. All of my pictures turned out terribly, but I’m sure you could imagine how cool a winery in a cave in France would be.
I definitely didn’t get enough pictures of the food. There were only a few meals that weren’t a part of the tour that were amazing. I think our tour company skimped out on good food and kept it nice and cheap so that wasn’t so nice. A few things I remember being noteworthy were duck patté on bread with dijon mustard, a ham, swiss and egg crêpe, strawberry nutella crêpe, and CRÈME BRÛLÉE. That was still the best darn thing I’ve ever had!!!!!
I think I need to go back just to try the food on my terms and find what true French cuisine is like.
We stopped in a few towns on our way to our final destination, Paris. I really loved seeing the countryside and all of the non-touristy places. If I went back, I would base my whole trip on this portion instead of whizzing past it all.
Quick picture of the countryside in France
I often wonder if people who are from Europe think castles are cool. To me, even this “small” castle has a story to tell. I like to picture what might’ve been going on when it was in its prime. Also, I wonder about how they made it back when it was built. How did they get such perfect cylinders and cones?!
We went to a lot of touristy areas while we were in Paris. This is where I learned that sometimes you shouldn’t listen to all of the hype. They were still cool, but I felt like I was only going because it’s what everyone does instead of understanding why it’s spectacular. For example, the Mona Lisa was a bit disappointing. It was waaaaaaaaaaaay smaller than I thought it would be and the room was PACKED.
Mona Lisa
Quite honestly, I don’t know why I needed a picture beside it. It was so hard to get to the front that I didn’t even spend enough time looking at the actual art work. I just wanted to show I was there. Perhaps it was because I was 17, but now I don’t think I would do such a thing. The Louvre was truly amazing, but I would need to spend about 3 days walking through the whole building. I think we only stayed for a few hours.
My first impression of L’Arc du Triomphe was different than I had expected. I had no idea it was in the middle of a chaotic round-a-bout. I somehow took a picture with minimal cars, but that was after waiting a good 45 minutes until the area cleared up. Cars and buses and everything in between just drive all over the place all crazy, it seemed impossible to actually go and see the structure.
Finally, the Eiffel Tower. Whenever I thought about this, I pictured romantic gardens surrounding the area, and a beautiful view from the top. However, I found that it was a little different. There were dozens of people aggressively trying to sell key chains at the bottom, and trying to take your picture and sell it to you. At the top, you had to look through a chain link fence (which I understand was for safety reasons) and could barely see the city because of the smog. I also didn’t think of how windy and cold it would be. It was still cool to actually see the structure and there was some beauty in the surrounding area away from the crowds. I probably wouldn’t need to see it again, but I’m glad I did.
The smog that the media doesn’t tell you about
In conclusion, my first impression of Europe had nothing to do with the touristy places. The most amazing parts were all of the little things. From attempting to order in French at a hole-in-the-wall café, to walking on cobblestone streets, to exploring villages.
I think one of the main reasons why I travel is to find different things from what I am used to. However, if I seek out the touristy places to find what a country is “known for” I’ll miss part of the adventure of travelling.
I believe that as long as you can find the beauty in anything rather than seeking out the most popular areas to get the experience you’re looking for, you will have a very fulfilling journey.
I have 4 different journals that are laying around my house, each of them holds some sort of purpose to organize my thoughts. I will explain each one and why I find it useful, and hopefully it will give you some ideas if you are looking to start journalling, or to find a reason why you should.
1. My “Goals” Journal
This is the journal I would say I go back to the most. It holds my financial goals, health goals, travel goals and overall life goals. It’s important for me to revisit so that I can stay on track, or re-evaluate my previous goals if needed.
I like to throw in some motivational quotes, or just phrases to help me when I’m feeling incredibly unmotivated. It’s also nice to look back at what I accomplished for when I am feeling like I haven’t accomplished anything. Some things that I thought I would never do, I end up doing and some things that I thought would be easy might roll on to the next page of goals so I can make a second attempt.
I also like going over my finances here so I can simplify what’s going on in my bank account and to find ways to minimize costs. It’s easy to just ignore what’s happening with your money online, but sometimes I need a wake up call. For some reason I find it fascinating to have a plan on how to spend my money and when, so I never feel guilty about making big purchases if needed.
I think my health goals are most fun to go through, because I most definitely need a wake up call for that sometimes. Whether it’s healthy eating or physical fitness, I need to go back to remember why I want to continue working towards these.
I also like to write down places I’d like to visit and jot down things I’ve learned about how to travel to each place and how to prepare. This includes thing I would want to buy in order to make it happen, or writing packing lists. This even includes things for camping, or road trips in general.
I like imagining a bright future and sometimes I get overly involved in that to the smallest detail, but I often find it fun rather than stressful. I think it can be quite beneficial to work towards accomplishing goals, whatever they may be.
2. My “Feelings” Journal
This sounds incredibly cheesy, but for someone who overthinks everything and has all sorts of chaotic thoughts floating around, this is a good place to understand what I’m feeling and why. My imagination has a habit of going wild which can be good for creative or optimistic endeavours, but when it starts going full tilt into more negative thoughts, I need to slow the heck down.
This is where this journal comes in handy. Sometimes my brain doesn’t have time to make sense of why the emotions that are coming up have arrived, such as sadness, anxiety, anger, or anything else that is a bit more uncomfortable than usual. As I’m writing, it slows down my thoughts and makes them into things that are just on a page – all of a sudden, they don’t seem so bad!
There have been numerous times where I am SO frustrated and I go grab this journal and begin writing so fast my pen wishes it stayed at home. By the end, happy thoughts arise and I feel much better. Not to mention, if you are someone who accidentally takes it out on a loved one, this is a great way to stop that from happening! I learned that the hard way. My poor boyfriend…
3. My “Creative” Journal
This is where I jot down ideas for YouTube videos, recipes for my cookbook I would like to create one day, and sometimes I just sit and doodle a bit. This journal is a bit sporatic, since I technically have more than one place for these ideas. When I’m out and about I will jot down a note in my phone, when I’m on the computer I’ll write ideas on Google Docs, but it usually will all circle back to my physical journal I keep in my house.
It’s quite often that my boyfriend will throw together a dinner with whatever we have, and it ends up being good – despite my constant nagging that “you shouldn’t mix those together it’s weird and will taste gross.” I honestly don’t know how he does it.
Overall, it’s fun to have a place to look back at your own creations and ideas.
4. My “Travel” Journal
This is something I bring with me when I travel, usually somewhere that is out of the country (which unfortunately, isn’t that often). This is something that my parents used to do whenever we went somewhere and it kind of stuck with me. Sometimes I forget a few days while I’m on vacation, but I try to at least write about stories that happened rather than what our schedule was like that day.
Of course, as a Lord of the Rings fan, this journal had to be a leather, old school journal (the one pictured above) so I feel like a true traveller. However, I’m a little too impatient to write the whole thing in calligraphy as Bilbo Baggins did.
This journal is nice to read when I’m feeling a travel bug coming on, but am unable to go anywhere. It’s funny to find things that I couldn’t remember in a million years, but as soon as I read my own memories I instantly am living in the moment. It’s easy to remember moments looking through my pictures, but in my journal there are often details that get overlooked and it’s cool to look back on.
Yes, I know journalling isn’t for everyone, and I might be a little hardcore with all of the journals I have, but I find that it’s a great way to reminisce about memories and achievements, be creative, work through hard times, and have goals to accomplish for the future.
I want to tell this story because I still feel guilty about how my random act of kindness actually turned out.
I was on my way into the Innsbruck, Austria Airport for my journey over to London, England. My cousins dropped me off and I made my way to the check-in line up.
Suddenly, I heard a voice behind me say, “excuse me,” and I turned around to see a woman with her elderly mother who was holding a suitcase. The woman said “my mother is travelling to London, but she can’t speak English, would you be able to help her through the airport and get her on a Taxi once you land in London?”
Without hesitation, I said yes. Her mother and I exchanged smiles and awkwardly made our way through the check-in line. She spoke the language at this point so she ended up helping me out too. We sat together in the waiting area with nothing to talk about, but we did play a bit of charades. She went to the bathroom and waved for me to look after her bag, so I did.
When she got back, she opened up her suitcase and took out a monstrous chocolate bar. It was huge, I have no idea where she got it from. She then handed it over to me and said “danke” which happened to be one of the words I understood. I assumed she was thanking me for helping her, even though I hadn’t yet got her in a taxi in London as requested by her daughter. I took the chocolate bar, with a bit of hesitation, then we continued to sit in silence.
We ended up being on opposite ends of the plane so I didn’t see where she was sitting, but it wasn’t anywhere near my seat. I decided that I would wait for everyone to get off the plane once we landed to be able to find her, assuming that she would also wait since she was an older lady.
We landed in London, and I waited… and waited… for everyone to get off of the plane. I finally stood up, and found absolutely no one left on the plane. I looked up and down the aisles and couldn’t find anyone. I assumed she decided to wait in the hallway for me so she could get out of the way of everyone. I hustled over to the hallway and started walking towards customs. She was nowhere to be found.
I started worrying a little bit, thinking she got lost and was unable to communicate with anyone. I couldn’t find her anywhere. I was going through the customs line up along with everyone else on the flight, and was still looking around frantically like a crazy person.
As I was deep into the middle of the line and contained by the retractable belt barriers, I glanced through the crowd and saw my old lady friend. I could barely see her through hundreds of people, but I saw her standing with her suitcase and talking to one of the security staff. I kept watching to try and read her body language if she was trying to find me. Then I saw another staff member come with a wheelchair and a trolley for her suitcase and they started making their way to the exit.
I wasn’t able to go help her because I was trapped in the line up, and was too far away for her to see me wave. I felt as though I failed my mission, but I was relieved to see that it was staff that was helping her out and not some other stranger. Even though I only spent a short amount of time in silence with her, I still became attached after being responsible for her. I could tell she was a very happy little lady, and I was sad that I couldn’t say goodbye.
A while later as I was on the train to my destination, I realized I still had the giant chocolate bar. I received a reward for something I didn’t actually do. I got her on the plane, in her own country, and then lost her in the English-speaking country where she needed me the most. Oops.
Growing up, my parents took us on a trip out of the country about once a year. For this post, I want to compare a trip to Mexico as a child to my most recent trip to Mexico only a few months ago. It wasn’t until this past trip that I started thinking deeply about how different my mind worked as a child, and how annoying it is to be an adult!
When I think back to what I paid attention to as a child, it was so positive and innocent. I remember being so excited to wake up early in the morning to go to the airport, and how cool it was to have a surprise meal on the plane. When I got off the plane, there was a gust of humid, tropical smelling air and that’s when I knew I was officially in Mexico.
It didn’t matter what the resort looked like, as long as there was a beach and a pool to play in. My brother and I would have so much fun in the pool, I don’t even remember what exactly we would be doing – I just remember it being fun. We would play in the waves in the ocean, and help my dad build some sort of sand castle. My mom and I would have fun looking at different souvenirs and jewelry and would try to leave Mexico with something matching.
The food was delicious and I liked saying “Hola!” to every staff member in the resort. I remember being fascinated with the entertainment staff, and loved watching the evening shows. I had no sense of time, didn’t know where I was in the world, and didn’t seem to have negative thoughts about anything.
There are certain things in adulthood that are beneficial to have during travel such as knowledge of the destination and the safety required during the trip, but a lot of things are unnecessary. What I noticed on this past trip is that I was aware of the money I spent and the value of what we were paying for. I struggled to wake up early and immediately felt more nervous than excited for the airport because I was thinking about all of the things that could go wrong. We didn’t get a complimentary meal on the flight and we didn’t want to spend the money to purchase a meal.
The airport in Mexico was chaos and filled with people trying to rip you off, or say that their shuttle was cheaper than the company we were supposed to go with. On the way to the resort I noticed labour workers walking down the highway and wondered how they make a living and what they might be struggling with. I was still excited to see the resort, but immediately started planning and organizing.
I was thinking about when we should eat, finding out when the evening shows were, what excursions to do and when, and was just overall concerned about making the most out of our trip. When we went into town, I noticed people trying to sell drugs and wondered how the economy worked (since every store sells basically the same thing) and I was overwhelmed about what I wanted to buy and where. I was thinking about applying sunscreen enough and making sure we wouldn’t miss the bus back to the resort. At the resort I had a hard time relaxing and wanted to make sure I did everything that I remember being fun as a child. There were still lots of laughs and fun times on this trip, but I just wanted to point out how different it was compared to when I was a child.
Now that I have been stuck at home in quarantine, I’m starting to realize how unimportant most things I worry about are. I can’t believe how uptight I was on my trip to Mexico, perhaps it was because I only had one week and I hadn’t been out of the country in four years… but it’s also because I didn’t take a step back to appreciate where I was and to just enjoy the moment.
I remember learning at a mindfulness seminar that one method to live in the present was to think like a child. In this case once I entered my room in the resort, rather than thinking about what we need to accomplish during the trip, I could have switched over to noticing the cute little shampoos at the sink and the balcony overlooking the palm trees. Of course this is easier said than done, but I think with some practice travelling could be a lot more enjoyable. Notice the things you are stressing about, take a deep breathe, and find your inner child.
No matter what fitness level you are, your mind will always try to resist exercising in one way or another. However, it’s much more difficult when you are getting started after a long period of not exercising. The excuses come flowing in, in all sorts of ways.
For me, it’s difficult to get the same feeling after a home workout as I do after a sports game. Whether I’m playing basketball or soccer, I don’t have time to think about how awful the cardio is feeling. When I go for a run, I am ONLY thinking about how awful the cardio is feeling. This is why I need to make exercise more fun and exciting especially during quarantine, rather than dragging myself into something and half-assing it. Here are some things I have come up with that might also help you distract yourself from the discomfort of exercise:
1. Wear your favourite exercise clothes
This might seem unimportant, but it makes a huge difference at least for home workouts. I’ve noticed that when I try to exercise in the morning wearing my pj’s and in bare feet, I just don’t try as hard because it feels like I should still be lounging around. If you have a hard time making the move to find exercise clothes, try taking them out the night before so you don’t even have to think about what you’re going to wear. Go as far as wearing your favourite socks and sports bra… Whatever will make you feel 10/10.
2. Create an awesome playlist
If you tell me that you don’t have any songs that give you an abundance of energy, I absolutely wouldn’t believe you. Take the extra 5-10 minutes to create a playlist for yourself with songs that you know will get you in a good mood. When you hear a good beat or start to sing along, I guarantee your energy will change instantly.
3. Choose your environment wisely
Doing a home workout can be hard when you are used to relaxing or cleaning the area that you are in. That’s why I think it’s worth taking a minute to set up your exercise space as best as you can. If you own an exercise mat, put it down on the floor even if you might not use it. Put away all distractions and give yourself the space to be able to move around freely. Alternatively, exercising outdoors is a great way to get fresh air and some nice scenery to look at.
4. Start simple
Being fit and healthy doesn’t happen over night, but any small steps you take will contribute to your health. Sometimes, I overwhelm myself with everything I should be doing when really I should just focus on something that will get me moving. Some days I will just put music on and dance… by myself… whether I’m cleaning or just feeling down. Other days I will just choose 3 exercises and only do them one time through. Even going for a walk has benefits – although it might be low-intensity, it still helps lift my mood and clear my head.
5. Pay more attention to how you feel afterwards
It’s easy to finish exercising and immediately go and get something to eat, or start doing tasks you want to accomplish for the day, or sit down to watch TV. I often forget how good I feel after exercising because I am focusing so much on what I should be doing for my workouts, or feeling guilty if I haven’t exercised in a while or my workouts haven’t been as hardcore as I thought they should be. I think it’s important to take a moment after you exercise to notice how your thoughts have changed, how good your joints and muscles feel, what food you want to eat (I am usually more likely to eat healthy after exercising), and how proud you feel about what you just accomplished.
All in all, I believe it’s possible to minimize the initial discomfort of exercising by using these strategies. Once you get past this discomfort and become more fit, the discomfort won’t seem so bad.
This quote from a Lululemon bag has been stuck in my head for years now. It’s very simple and doesn’t seem to hold a lot of meaning when you just read it once. In addition to this quote, a similar thing that stuck with me is a concept that Mel Robbins has been teaching the world, which is the power and the science behind making 5 second decisions. She found that once we have a gut feeling about what we need to do to make something happen, it only takes 5 seconds for our mind to start defending itself and protecting us from any potential dangers.
It can be anything from very small decisions to very big decisions, but either way, I absolutely believe “doing it now” without giving your brain enough time to think of why you shouldn’t is a great way to get things done. For example, if you want the dishes to be done before you go to bed so you can wake up to a clean kitchen, just go do them. If you wait to long your mind might say, “well I could just do them tomorrow morning, I would rather keep watching TV.” How does this make any difference at all? Well in the morning, you will wake up to a pile of dishes which is bound to make you feel lazy and/or put you in a negative mood. You might end up leaving them to do later, keep adding more dishes, and by the time you actually do them it takes an hour to clean and you have just lost time to yourself, not to mention how awful it would be to wash dishes for an entire hour.
Mel Robbins said she started with counting down from 5 in the mornings to help her wake up to her alarm, rather than hitting snooze multiple times. How easy is it to tell yourself the night before that you want to “wake up early and be more productive,” but when the time comes all of a sudden you hear the alarm, then think “oh yeah I wanted to wake up early today” …followed by, “but I feel tired and it’s warm in here and I don’t NEED to wake up?” Most of the time we know what we need to do to make changes, and that being lazy and putting things off never feels good in the end. I think by making these small changes, it can lead to the bigger changes you have been hoping to accomplish.
I decided to write about this today because this morning I didn’t wake up when I said I would, had to do all of the dishes from the day before, couldn’t find anything to wear since the laundry has piled up, was too lazy to workout, didn’t want to write a blog, and just didn’t feel like doing anything in general. Luckily, I remembered this quote and realized I needed to meditate to change my mindset. I meditated for 4 minutes just listening to my breaths.
For the past few days, I’ve said I want to wake up early with my boyfriend who is still going to work, to meditate in the mornings to start my day with a positive mindset, and to exercise to keep up with my physical health. After I meditated, my negative thoughts changed and I realized I have been doing a lot of “thinking” and not a lot of “doing.” I don’t think it’s possible to always remember this rule every second of the day, however, it is something to keep in the back of your mind for when you are feeling unmotivated. I’m glad I had the morning I did, otherwise I would have been stuck in a lazy and unmotivated routine for more than just a couple of days. When I had the thought again that I should write a blog today, I just stood up, went to the computer, and started writing. It’s as easy as that! Don’t give your brain time to talk yourself out of doing something productive.
If you are reading this, I challenge you to stick to your decisions and act on them before the 5 second window approaches especially during quarantine where you can lose motivation in a split second. Start small, and perhaps this will help you with bigger, more uncomfortable decisions in your life.
Growing up I had always wanted a golden retriever. They are big lovable beautiful dogs, but I had never known that one day a golden retriever would be my best friend – it sounded a bit cliché.
We got Simon when I was in high school and he was the sweetest most adorable fluffy puppy. Despite all of the mischief he got himself into, it was really hard to get mad at him. I had so much fun training him and looked forward to spending our time together each training session. He was smart and picked things up quickly. Not to mention, he loved attention and you could scratch his head for hours on end and he wouldn’t leave.
Baby Simon coming to his new home
Simon loved food of all varieties and sometimes it got him into trouble. I remember one day I slaved away making homemade pear and asiago ravioli. I even made the pasta from scratch – little squares cut to perfection. They needed to be carefully laid out onto cookie sheets, with a dollop of mix to fill the middle section of the pasta. Then, I had dabbed water around the outside edge to stick the pasta squares together. One by one. Once I was finished I needed to sit down since I had just spent 7 hours on my feet in the kitchen. It had only made enough to fill two cookie sheets after all that effort. All of a sudden, I heard a loud bang coming from the kitchen – it startled me as I had no idea what it could be. Ten seconds later, my mom and I ran over to check what had happened. Simon had somehow eaten a whole cookie sheet of uncooked hand crafted pear and asiago ravioli in TEN SECONDS. I don’t even think he took a breath in the time it took him to demolish about 30 raviolis. At the time, I was sooooooooo mad, but now, it’s kind of funny.
Simon being adorable
Simon turned out to be a bit stubborn, especially when he didn’t want to go back into the car after a walk. He would just lay on the pavement when we tried to guide him in with the leash. Also, for everyone except my mom, he would only come if he felt like it. Most of the time he just continued to enjoy the outdoors until he was ready to obey. He also somehow got full control over when he wanted to get pet. You would be enjoying a nice beverage with friends and family until all of a sudden a big wet nose would sneak under your arm, begin to push its way all the way under as you spill your drink, until you give in to head scratches.
Simon coming in for a selfie
Simon gave a nice balance of stubbornness and sweetness. As soon as you were annoyed with his attitude he would walk over and sit right beside you, or put his head in your lap. Anger was never a result of his presence. It always ended in love, and all he wanted was to love his humans. You could tell that despite his strong head, he was very happy with the people around him. Whenever you walked by him laying on his side on the floor, you would just hear the “thump, thump, thump” of his waging tail. He would give a bit of a side glance expecting you to give in and pet his soft, glorious fur.
Simon being all photogenic and such
Unfortunately, Simon had to stay behind with my parents while I went to university. I would always look forward to seeing him on holidays… oh and my parents of course… because he would give the biggest most enthusiastic welcome. His entire body would wiggle when he saw me – he would do this to anyone he hadn’t seen for a while, even to my parents after they got home from work. But not seeing him for months at a time gave him an even bigger more extreme body wiggle. No matter how stressed out I was about school or anything at all, just having him sit with me would calm me down. In return, I had a certain position I could put him in to relax him when he was feeling agitated. Please see below.
Simon’s “fully relaxed” pose
Simon’s beauty, glistening in the sun
Simon gave a large dose of joy to whoever he met and I’m happy that he became my best friend during the time he was on this earth. He also filled in as my parents’ child while they had to experience the “empty nest” syndrome. Although I don’t think another dog could compare to Simon, I think we all need a fluffy goofball in our lives. I look forward to finding myself another best friend that I can share a whole new set of memories with.
Ashley's Adventures 