Transitioning to a Plant-Based Diet: 3 Month Update

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It has been about 3 months of eating a solid plant-based diet, so I figured it’s time for an update. I don’t have a specific start date because I slowly started adding plant-based meals to my diet, but I’m glad I changed my diet so casually. I feel like if I had a date where I “started to be vegan” it would be more stressful to stay vegan. Here is a quick update about how it’s going.

It turns out it is very easy to do, but I’m convinced that it is because I can’t really socialize in a pandemic. I would say the hardest part is the social aspect, and the dreaded question, “why are you vegan?” I don’t have a clear answer to that yet that is quick and to the point and won’t start an argument. I want to say, “it’s just how I am eating that’s all”. However, this usually sparks the follow-up question, “HOW do you do it I could never stop eating meat and dairy!” Well, I hate to say it but I felt the same before I did some research and tried it out for a few months.

I will first give an update about how I’m feeling after eating plant-based for roughly 3 months, then explain why I’m eating this way and how I’m doing it successfully.

Overall, I feel pretty darn good! I still need to work on eating enough calories as it’s hard to get used to replacing all the calories that meat and dairy can give you. I definitely feel less sluggish and my meals don’t weigh me down for the rest of the day. I am also VERY regular it’s truly amazing. Every 12 hours I’m cleaned right out (TMI, sorry). I also feel good in general that I haven’t harmed any animals, and I’m finding the more I’m avoiding meat, the more I’m grossed out by it. Not like an insane amount, I still love the smell and could easily eat it, but the other night I had a dream that someone shoved a raw chicken breast in my mouth and it made me sick to my stomach (probably because it was raw and you should never eat it raw…) but it’s weird that there’s no food in the plant world that I would feel the same disgust. I just found that kind of interesting.

Moving on to why I am still eating plant-based. At this point, it is kind of a challenge I want to show the world. My plan is to find a way to make it easy to cook flavourful food, easy to eat this way around friends and family, and easy to be strong and healthy. I think that if I am not an anorexic twig like most people view vegans as, then it would change people’s perspective on it. If it is truly a sustainable and easy way of eating, and provides enough nutrients, then I think it would be pretty cool to show people we actually don’t need animals at all, they can just be adorable frolicking creatures in nature.

And finally, how I am still eating plant-based. Meal prep is key. At least for some meals throughout the day to make your life a bit easier. For me, I have basically the same breakfast every day (overnight oats/oatmeal with a variety of seeds, nuts, berries) and the same rotation of snacks (nuts, dried fruit, fresh fruits and veggies). Then, I keep a stock pile of beans, lentils and tofu for easy protein, and always have rice and/or quinoa on hand. Garlic and onions are key for flavour, and yams and potatoes are great starchy vegetables. From there, I go to town on all other vegetables, both fresh and frozen, and make all sorts of dishes. I have a wide variety of spices and sauces to make everything taste delicious. Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s not easy to only eat whole foods, and to cook all the time – we are human after all. So I allow myself to get a few fun snacks and drinks, order in, and for special occasions I’ll try some “fake” meat and cheese.

I think the only annoying part, especially once the pandemic is over, is to constantly ask if there’s meat or dairy in the food I’m eating. Right now I’m making 90% of the food I’m eating so I know what’s going in it. It’s uncomfortable to ask at restaurants, but even more so when you’re asking friends and family who might’ve cooked for you – especially since this was such a sudden change for me. In the summer I was eating BBQ ribs and chicken thighs, and now I’m not.

It’s going really well so far, and I’m curious to see what the future holds. Once we are allowed to go to events, see our friends and travel, I wonder if I will have a hard time eating plant-based. Things are looking up though, as I found out that DAIRY Queen has a NON-DAIRY dilly bar. Can you believe that?! It’s blasphemy. Perhaps it will continue to gain popularity so it won’t be so difficult to eat however you want wherever you are. If you are thinking about going plant-based, I highly recommend starting out slow and finding some recipes that you love. Once you have enough variety and easy go-to meals, it’ll be much easier to cut out meat and dairy!

Overcoming Procrastination

Today, I have come to realize how much of a procrastinator I have become. I thought I would take a minute to understand why I am procrastinating at everything so that I can improve my work ethic. Everything I have started was something I was really excited about at one time, and now it has lost its path. This is not the first time I have tried something then slowly stopped doing it after a while. However, everything I am working on I want to see through and keep working on it. Here is a list of what I am working on, why I’ve been procrastinating, and how I’ll change. Hopefully this will help you out too.

Blog

Yes, I am still blogging, but it’s not as often as when I began. I already knew I had unrealistic expectations when I was writing every day, but at that point I had a lot of ideas to write about. I was also very consistent… I started writing at 10:00am every day, then I started writing 3-5 times per week at the same time. Then I lost track of days and times so I started writing when I remembered at whatever time during the week, and this is where I started to really procrastinate.

When I started blogging, I wanted to share my self-improvement experience since it’s something I’ve always been interested in. It’s satisfying to potentially help someone else who is struggling with something, and create a supportive environment. However, I’ve always thought in the back of my mind how cool it would be to make some side cash from a hobby I am passionate about.

Of course, after doing research about how to monetize a blog, it started to feel a bit daunting. A huge factor in becoming a successful blogger is having a niche to be able to easily find sponsors, but I didn’t feel like I had a specific niche. There are people who write about recipes, nutrition, fitness, gardening, starting an online business – all very specific categories. Some people even begin selling consultations or online courses for their expertise. The more I looked into it, the more fearful I became about my blog not being successful.

I forgot why I started blogging in the first place. It slows down my thoughts to make sense of them, it allows me to be creative, and I can give my ideas to the world as well as read other blogs to learn something new. I have realized I fear that I am doing it wrong. I am learning along the way, but not knowing if I’m doing it correctly in order to monetize it sooner rather than later is driving me crazy. I never knew how much there still is to learn about the internet. It’s not as simple as I thought it was.

The reason I am procrastinating at writing blogs is because I am fearing failure and the reward seems very far away if it will be rewarded at all. I will have to change my mindset about it to stop procrastinating. Here are a few solutions: I will aim to learn something new about blogging every time I write; I will make a new goal to only write 3-4 times per week; and I will make sure I read and follow other blogs that will inspire me.

YouTube

One day, I asked my boyfriend to do a beer review with me and make a video. I’ve always wanted to learn how to make videos, and it was a different way to be creative. After I began, I needed to make it my own channel rather than rely on my boyfriend for help. I figured I couldn’t just make my channel about reviewing beer by myself, so I channeled my inner actress and wanted to make people laugh by doing skits.

I came up with a long list of video ideas, and I was creating a video once a week. It would be finished a few days before it went public on YouTube, so it was a stress-free hobby. Now, I am procrastinating and creating the video the same day that it needs to be posted, which isn’t a very relaxing feeling. I somehow have still posted every Tuesday at 5pm, but I can tell my creative juices are lacking.

I think there are a few factors here that are causing me to procrastinate. I have posted several videos of my comedy skits, but now the opinions of others are starting to flow. Not only the number of views and likes, but just what other people find funny or not. Some people will tell me their favourite videos, or favourite part of a video, so then I find myself over-analyzing everything. I have truly come to appreciate big YouTubers who have managed to work towards a huge following and come out with videos every single week.

Of course, the thought of this hobby also being monetized has crossed my mind, because who wouldn’t want to be paid for doing what they love? At least YouTube gives you a goal to reach in order to be able to monetize (1000 subscribers and 4000 watched hours), so I just need to keep improving my videos and learning about how to make them entertaining the entire time (people have short attention spans these days). I am even starting to second-guess my genre of videos (skits) so that causes procrastination as well. Maybe I should be making videos on ice coffee? Or hair? Or horoscopes??? I am just trying to stick to what my authentic self enjoys doing, and leave it at that.

To change my mindset for this, I first need to take other people’s opinions and number of views lightly. Art will always be subjective, and it can be surprising sometimes what does well and what doesn’t. I am also learning more about the power of social media, as I have been ignoring it for so long. I never enjoyed being super involved in social media, but it turns out it’s a huge factor in being successful at doing work online.

Rather than second guessing my video ideas, I’m just going to film and edit it without waiting an entire week of doubting myself.

Podcast

I started my podcast in order to have a platform to speak with other people and learn from them. I enjoy learning from other people and talking things through. Unfortunately, the pandemic has made it a bit difficult to get it started since I have to record podcasts through low quality sound through zoom. Also, I have found out a lot of people are scared to be recorded and to talk about themselves.

This is another area where I am unsure of the niche I want to have. I wanted to talk about the journey of breaking free from societal norms because it’s something I struggle with, but it’s hard to find people who feel the same why I do. This hobby might not be as consistent, but it’s something I am still interested in pursuing eventually.

Further Solutions to Overcome Procrastination

It’s important to recognize the reason why you enjoy whatever it is that you are procrastinating on, and to stop yourself from overthinking everything. Sticking to a routine is definitely a huge part of being productive, so planning out your days will help overcome procrastination. Also, remembering that all of these hobbies are more productive than other hobbies such as playing video games or watching TV.

I think it’s important for all of us to stop and find the reasons why we are procrastinating at something, because I truly think it frees us to be more creative and more productive. It’s never a good feeling to feel like something is weighing you down, so by finding solutions to motivate us again, it will lift the weight right off of our shoulders.

Healthy Eating: The Everyday Decision

We need to eat to survive, but sometimes the choices of food we eat are detrimental to our health. It seems obvious to say we need to make a decision every day for what we eat, but sometimes our own rationale isn’t helpful to us.

This concept of making a choice every single day for what we eat clicked with me when I was making the breakfast above. It’s not an ordinary breakfast that I would make, but I had the time so I went for it. While I was making this, I already was faced with multiple decisions. I could’ve cooked with butter, used white bread, and processed peanut butter. I could’ve sprinkled brown sugar on my apples and cheese on my eggs, but that day, I didn’t do any of that. Each of these choices seem very small and insignificant when you’re talking about one meal, but it can add up if you’re letting it happen for every meal.

Another thing that opened up my eyes was late night eating. This is a choice to make every day, and it’s up to you to decide whether you’re eating out of boredom, if you’re genuinely hungry and if so, which snack you will choose whether it’s healthy or not. It’s incredible how easy our will power can disappear when we try to justify our choices even though deep down inside, we know it’s the wrong choice.

As I started thinking deeply about this, it kind of reminded me of the KonMari method of tidying up. Where Marie Kondo says to keep things in our environment that “spark joy,” why don’t we eat things that spark joy? I know that eating junk food tastes wonderful while you’re eating it, but I’ve started to pay very close attention to how it actually affects me. Most of the time, I very much regret eating junk food. When I look at the picture above, that was something that sparked joy for me. I took the time to cook a meal for myself with several different food groups and even used my home grown fresh herbs. I felt good about all the decisions I made, and strangely enough, this doesn’t happen every meal.

Of course, this is all subjective. Some people could care less about eating healthy and just do what makes them happy in the moment. For myself, I started to imagine what it would feel like if I thought about all the food decisions I made before caving in to eat whatever is convenient. I think this applies to treating myself to junk food sometimes too. For example, if I feel like I’ve been eating really well and it’s a hot summer day, I couldn’t say no to having ice cream with my friends. Perhaps I could choose to get a small cup, or choose to go all in and accept the consequences.

I think this becomes a problem if we justify every junk food choice, because then we go down a slippery slope. “I had an apple this week, so therefore I can order pizza, eat ice cream, drink a bunch of beer and have hot dogs every day.”

With all of the choices we have to make every day in general, making appropriate food choices can seem like the last thing on our list. I can totally see how there are people who suffer from food disorders because there is just so much psychological effort to balancing what you eat, why you are eating it, what your body looks and feels like, and how it can control your emotions.

If we decide to make more choices that make us feel good despite the little devil inside trying to justify why we should choose differently, I think our psychological well-being would be just fine. I find the more I justify “bad” choices, the worse I feel about what I eat. So why don’t I just make healthy choices more often so I feel really good about what’s going in my body?

I’m going to pay more attention to what my thoughts are for the food choices I make and if I truly feel good about choosing them. I’m thinking that this will cause me to make more healthy food choices than if I stay in the habit of not thinking before I eat.

Every time we are hungry, there is a decision to make. If we take a second to think about eating things that truly make us feel good about ourselves, whether it’s healthy or not, I think it will help our psychological well-being in the long run.

The First Run – Training for a 10k

Oh god. My friend asked me to do a 10k run with her at the end of June. They have made it a virtual race, meaning the warm up will be done on Facebook live, the free merchandise will be mailed to us, and they will post the route prior to the day of the race… then I suppose we will just record our time? It’s cool to see how everyone is trying to adapt to COVID-19.

Anyways, I am not a runner. I enjoy strength training and can sprint while I’m playing sports, but long distance running is not my thing. I told my friend I could maybe handle a 5k run, which is an option, but I kind of want to challenge myself because I pretty much don’t have an excuse. I have a running buddy, I have all the time in the world, the weather is beautiful, and I have an end goal.

I immediately got my inhaler prescription renewed (which was expired for two years… what can I say, I hate cardio so therefore I tend to avoid it). I dusted off my old runners and planned the flattest route I could think of around my neighbourhood. My friend is planning a running schedule for us starting on Monday, but I had to test out just how bad my cardio was.

This morning I woke up, didn’t even look at my phone, warmed up a bit then began walking towards my path. I didn’t bring my phone or music or water or anything because I didn’t want to complicate the process – this will need to be fine-tuned later on. And so, I began a light jog.

I felt like I weighed 500 lbs. I could feel every part of my body dragging me down, confused that it wasn’t sitting on a couch. My muscles didn’t know how to wake up, and my spine just wanted to crumple into a terrible posture. I had lead feet and my knees were weak. How have I let my cardio go so far downhill?!

After a very, very short amount of time, I began to walk. I continued this method of running a little, then walking a lot, the whole way. It was quite painful in all sorts of ways. I was thinking back to when I played soccer and volleyball in high school, and how good my cardio was. However, back then I wasn’t very strong. So now I am somewhat strong but have terrible cardio. Wouldn’t it be amazing if I was both strong AND had good cardio?! Hmm… perhaps that could be a reality.

By the end I was completely out of breath and it had only been about half an hour. I did some long stretches when I got home, feeling good that I gave it a whirl. Not to mention, it was a gorgeous morning so I’m also glad I went outside.

I looked up “best breakfast to have after a run” for further motivation and excitement, even though I already know what my body needs. I chose the oatmeal and peanut butter option, topped with vanilla greek yogurt, cinnamon, and sliced banana. This happens every time I’ve tried to get into running. I get all excited and motivated for a couple of days until I realize it’s super not fun. I even made green tea… which is probably the last thing I would choose to drink in the morning, but I know it’s good for me.

Needless to say, I am looking forward to seeing my proper running schedule that I’ll do with my friend. She will be the person I need to keep me motivated and we can push each other to reach our goal. This just may be my chance to actually run a 10k.

The Early Morning Hike

Top of Black Mountain in British Columbia

There is something about being in nature early in the morning that makes everything seem better. I think the reason that the early morning hike in particular seems so wonderful is because it doesn’t happen often. The effort to get out of bed, find a hike, do the exercise and see the view from the top is quite rewarding, but I do wonder if that feeling would go away if I did it every day.

There are not a lot of things that motivate me to wake up early anymore, yet it is still ingrained in my brain that the early morning is the best time of day. Now I find myself staying up later and later and have the desire to sleep in more and more. This is partially due to the fact I’m laid off, but even while I was working I would hit the snooze button much more often.

I think it’s important to find something that excites you to wake up and start your day every single day. It’s so easy to come up with excuses as to why there’s no point in waking up if you don’t have to. I envy people who go for a jog, bike to work, or walk their dogs in the morning every day. I have always wanted to be “that person” and I have tried many times, but haven’t made a habit out of it.

I have a new goal to go outside every morning, first thing. It might not exactly be in the forest but it’ll be a step closer to nature. I aim to ignore all of the distractions inside my home, and ignore all of the thoughts in my head saying “you don’t REALLY need to go outside” and just go. Even if it’s just to take the recycling out, or to go for a short little walk, I know it will benefit me.

I’ve been thinking about the reason why I love the idea of the early morning hike so that I can implement its benefits every day. Here is what I have come up with:

It’s usually a bit cooler in the morning which wakes up your senses and nervous system.
The smell of the fresh air endorses positive thoughts, and the colours I see remind me of how beautiful nature is.
The movement of going outside will bring in endorphins leading to a better mood.
The sounds of the birds will bring joy (unless they are Magpies, those birds are the worst).
It gives the feeling that something has already been accomplished for the day.

So I think whether you decide to just step outside in the morning, or go on a full on hike, either choice will provide the same benefits. Let me know what you think in the comments below.

Feeling Down? Find What Will Bring You Back Up

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!

Binging Netflix? Here’s How to Stop

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.

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.

Do it Now, Do it Now, Do it Now!

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.

What Makes A Morning Person? Scientists Identify New Genetics ... — Source: https://www.discovermagazine.com/health/what-makes-a-morning-person-scientists-identify-new-genetics-behind-early-risers

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.

How to Wake Up Early to Exercise - Thrillist — Source: https://www.thrillist.com/health/nation/how-to-wake-up-early-exercise

Take Advantage of Quarantine

If you are laid off like me, or at least have reduced hours due to COVID-19, take advantage of this time you have to yourself. Yes, it’s easy to get stuck in the rut of fearing what the future might look like, but it’s likely to get back to normal, or at least a “new” normal. I have been surprised to hear from quite a few friends that they secretly are loving this time. I think right now everyone is feeling obligated to be stressed out and hoping things will get back to normal, but it’s totally okay to actually enjoy the “break” from your normally fast-paced life. If anything, I think what we learn from being in quarantine will actually help us in the long run. Let me tell you why.

1. Spending less money

For us, we are saving a ton of money just by cooking at home. We usually go to a restaurant to eat at least once a week, especially when our sports leagues are up and running. Yes, it’s still possible to order in right now, but our problem was we went just to get a different environment, be around people, and to get out of the house. Now that we can’t do that, we are forced to cook at home. This is something that will teach us that it is easier than we thought to make things homemade and prepare meals ahead of time.

We are also not driving as much since we can’t go and visit friends and family and thus saving money on gas. Obviously we miss being able to do this but the upside is saving the money. Again, on road trips we would usually stop and get food along the way as well.

We are unable to go to the movies, go bowling, or any recreational center so we need to depend on other things for entertainment. I think this will really benefit us in the future for when we are bored and need something else for entertainment. We have tried a bit harder for watching movies at home, making “nests” and homemade snacks instead of going to the theatre. We have also been filming YouTube videos as a source of entertainment which we are having a lot of fun with, and it’s something that we would have never done before. I think in the future we will try harder to work with what we have and think twice about spending our money on food and entertainment.

2. Planning ahead

This mostly has to do with getting groceries. Normally, we would have to go a few times a week because we would be craving something, or forgot things for the meals we want to make, or ran out of something that we didn’t expect to. Now that we are trying to only get groceries once or twice a month, it takes a bit more planning ahead. It turns out that it’s not that time consuming and it’s pretty easy. We look at everything that we have already, and think of meals around that.

We are getting much better at using what we have instead of loading up our pantry and forgetting about half of what is already in there. We are also more cognizant about how long fresh food can last and how we can make the most out of it. I hate to admit it, but an example I have is with spinach, we would use it a lot at first, forget about it for a few days, then it would get all wilted and we would throw it out. Now, if it’s starting to get a bit old, we have just been freezing it so we can use it later for spaghetti sauce or casseroles. I’m sure this sounds like a no-brainer to most people, but we honestly just didn’t pay enough attention to what was in our fridge.

There are also a few things we have figured out how to make last longer, such as growing store-bought green onions in water, or storing asparagus or celery in water will make them last longer too. We have learned how to make your own kombucha and sauerkraut, and have pre-made snacks that can be stored in the freezer.

3. Relaxing

Sometimes without trying, I’m sure that everyone ends up with a busy schedule. With work, recreational activities, meeting up with friends, baby shower invites, birthdays, meetings, phone calls, along with household tasks and trying to squeeze in your own hobbies – it’s easy to forget to slow down.

At first it was a bit shocking to go from 100 to 0 in a matter of a few days, but now that I’m settling in, I have found ways to take “me” time that I never gave myself before. Whether it’s cooking or baking something I never have before, colouring or painting, looking back at my old travel pictures, or doing yoga, I am realizing that I have been neglecting both my mind and body from what it needs. Of course, this is from the perspective of someone with no kids and no pets to worry about – that would be a different story.

Usually on my days off while I’m working, I am constantly thinking of what I should be doing to be productive. I am used to completely exhausting my mind by the end of the day to the point that all it can handle is watching TV. My boyfriend would quite often say, “you’ve done a lot, you don’t need to do everything in one day, just relax for the rest of the day.” This is something that I just couldn’t listen to. You could argue that it’s good to be busy to get ahead in life… but this also leads to spreading yourself too thin to the point of burnout.

I have found enough to keep me busy that I feel productive, but I have also allowed myself the time to breath especially now that I have so much more free time in my day. It actually feels wonderful giving that time to myself, and I feel like a better, happier version of myself instead of a stressed out stress ball that’s anxious all the time. I will definitely be more mindful of how I’m treating myself in the future.

4. Time to reflect on life

This sounds deep, I know. I think it’s important to notice what you take for granted every day, what isn’t working in your life, and what you’d like to work on for the future. Like I said before, I have learned that it is much more fun to not stress about everything and to dive into self-care. I also wrote a blog on being a creator and not a consumer, which I have been taking very seriously now. I didn’t realize how much I was consuming – on my phone particularly – outside of work. In the first couple days of quarantine I didn’t really know what to do with myself so I would just go between watching videos and scrolling through memes. I made the decision to delete some apps and took up some hobbies that I could do instead. I think this made a world of difference on keeping my mind busy in a more positive way.

I hope that despite the circumstances, you are able to take this time for yourself and make minor improvements for your day to day life. Now is the time to reflect on your values, make some positive changes, and exercise your creativity in the process.