Enjoy the Journey

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.

Getting Past the Discomfort of Exercise

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.

Let Your Ideas Flow

A good friend once told me that the best way to write something was to just write without going back to re-read what you put down. She said that once you stop to go back, you will disrupt your flow and not be able to get back into it. I always need to remind myself to trust the process instead of constantly doubting what I’m doing. I believe this concept applies to more than just writing.

Self-doubt is a killer when it comes to creativity in my opinion. The more your process or flow gets interrupted the less likely your brain can fully finish a concept. That is something that I have been working on for a few years now with any form of creativity. It’s so easy for me to go back and change something immediately or to stop altogether and never go back. This is the main reason that I don’t paint or draw as often as I would like to – which is funny because the more often you paint or draw, the better you will get. I think I depend too much on instructions and doing things the right way sometimes and I don’t leave room for my own thoughts and opinions. I think what stopped me in the past is when my friends in school would comment that my art is “weird and doesn’t make sense,” or that it’s “too abstract.”

This may sound easy to get over, but it’s so nice when people can appreciate the creativity you put into your art work. This is a prime example of why you shouldn’t take things personally, because there are billions of different styles of art work in the world and it’s one thing that absolutely does not have a right or wrong answer. Yes, there are courses on writing, drawing and all sorts of genres of art… but as soon as you finish your own piece of work it doesn’t matter what all the rules are of certain colours that go together, or certain ideas that flow in an article.

There must be a reason why using art therapy is so popular. It’s something that provides an open space for non-judgement, and allows you to understand yourself in a new way in whatever form that may be. I think it would be especially useful for people who don’t think they are creative. You don’t have to be able to paint a self-portrait to be a good artist. It can come in all forms – some people are good at taking pictures, whereas some are good at motivational speaking. The only thing that gets in the way is self-doubt.

So whatever way you want to let your creativity out, I encourage to start and don’t look back and criticize. It’s not so much the end result that you should be focusing on, try to enjoy what you are experiencing in the moment and perhaps every once in a while you’ll have created something you are really truly proud of.