Stacy

These next 10 challenges will be about your health & wellness.

This first one I struggle with because my mind wanders where I start thinking of stuff I need to do, feeling bored, or thinking this is not burning calories.

Yoga is about connecting your mind and body. It’s taking the time to stretch the muscles that work hard for you everyday. Give yourself that time to just relax and be still. You don’t need to start out crazy with hour long sessions. Start out with just 5 minutes of breathing.
Which gets us to our challenges.

Easy: Set a timer for 5 minutes. Stand or sit in a quiet spot. Relax your body and inhale for 4 counts drawing your belly in. Exhale for 4 counts expanding your belly. Breathe like this until your timer goes off. Clear your head and just concentrate on the counting & breathing.

Medium: Try 5 beginner yoga poses and hold them for 30 seconds to 1 minute each. Here is a website with 30 beginner poses to choose from: https://www.verywellfit.com/essential-yoga-poses-for…

Hard: Do 4 yoga classes this month. Target 1 each week. There are a ton of utube videos free to try or check out your local gym.

Remember progress over perfection. You will fall but remember to pick yourself back up and try it again.

How many times this month have you done something you really didn’t want to do, but felt like you had to or you should do? I’m not talking about doing a workout or showing up to work on time. This is where you do something that goes against your personality because you want to fit in or feel like you should because the world says so.

We put ourselves in these situations because otherwise we feel guilty or even sometimes ashamed that we don’t fit into the mold that someone wants us to be. We tell ourselves it’s good to get out of our comfort zone which is good for you every once in awhile BUT not all the time.

For me, I used to feel ashamed that I didn’t have a ton of friends like other ladies. They would talk about all the things they did that weekend and honestly felt a little jealous. But if I’m truly honest with myself I would absolutely HATE having to do that every weekend. I absolutely love hanging out at my house with Joe and the kids just chilling. I LOVE sitting on the recliner with a blanket and good book. I like to call myself an introverted extrovert. I’ll go out and do the things and have fun doing them, but then just feel completely wiped out.

Let’s get to the challenges:
Easy: Make a list of what you don’t like without trying to convince yourself to like them and without thinking about other people judging you for your list.

Medium: Stop doing the thing you secretly hate. Go through your upcoming calendar. What’s 1 thing that you are really doing to try to fit a mold someone else has for you? Then respectively decline the invitation.

Hard: Accept who you and who you are not without feeling ashamed about it. What someone else loves to do doesn’t mean you have to too!

Living who we are by our values & priorities is where we live a happy life true to ourselves.

This week is about doing something that isn’t on our to do list. We get so focused on all the stuff we need to do that we forget that life is supposed to be fun. This week I am going to challenge you to throw away the list for a couple hours.

Easy: Do something that makes you laugh and smile a lot. Some activity where you just let go of all the to do list thoughts and enjoy. Some examples could be dancing around the house with some good music, sitting outside with a good beverage, watching your favorite movie, baking cookies, riding a bike,….

Medium: Give yourself permission to not be productive. When it comes to non-productive activities we have this guilty feeling after. A feeling like we should have spent our time more wisely because that list isn’t getting any shorter. Give yourself permission to take that time for you. If you are constantly pouring yourself out, eventually you will run out. Nobody wants to burn out so make sure you are regularly filling yourself back up with activities that have you enjoying life.

Hard: Start or restart a hobby you do purely for enjoyment. Our fun hobbies usually get put last on our schedule which means we never do it. If you don’t have a hobby, think about what you could do if you had all the time in the world. Pick one and try it out.

When was the last time you left home without your phone or didn’t immediately turn on the tv when you got home or sat on the couch? It is incredible how much times have changed in 20 years. Sometimes I long for that simplicity again. This week’s challenge is about getting just a hint of that simplicity back in your life.

Easy Level: Take a break from one type of screen for part of your day. Put your phone out of reach when you are working or away from your bed so you can’t reach it from bed. Don’t immediately turn on the tv or computer after dinner or when you get home.

Medium Level: Unplug for an ENTIRE day! Yep, you read that right. Leave your phone/computer on the charger and hide the remote. Spend the day enjoying someone’s company, going outside, reading a book, working on that project you keep telling yourself you don’t have time for.

Hard Level: Track and reduce your screen time. Use the screen time app on your phone to know what area you are on most. Track how much time you spend watching tv or on computer (non-work related). The average American spends 4-5 hours A DAY on screens. If you don’t think you have time for things you want to do, this will be the place to start.

Good luck and remember to continue to give yourself grace and strive to be 1% better everyday

If you are not learning, you are not growing.

There are several buckets we put ourselves in when it comes to reading. We either hate it, love it, or love it but don’t have enough time. No matter what bucket you put yourself in this challenge is for you. Even if you hate reading you will find that over time you see the benefit of it and grow to like it.

Your 3 levels of challenge this week:
Easy: Carve out 10 minutes each day to pick up a book & read. I recommend setting a number of pages goal especially if you are not a reader. That way instead of glancing at the timer every 30 seconds you focus on the number of pages left to read and what you can learn out of those pages. Find a time that you can be consistent like right before bed to wind down or in the morning before the rest of the house is up.

Medium: Switch out another activity for reading. Think about how much time you spend watching tv, scrolling through social media, or waiting for kids during their practice. Switch that activity for reading. Find a time that you could read for longer duration to grow your mind instead of numb your mind.

Hard: Set a goal for each month to achieve. Maybe it’s reading 1-2 books a month or a daily goal of reading so many pages. The idea is to be consistent to make it a good habit.

Finally, remember to give yourself grace. We will never be perfect and life happens. Show up each day as your best self. You choose your attitude and actions.

You are not doing anyone any favors by crowning yourself a “yes” martyr.
We use our busyness as a badge of honor. It’s something we talk (or complain) about. It is also something we have complete control of if you are honest with yourself. You will have “busy seasons” in life, but they shouldn’t be more than a few months. It’s not a season if there is no end.
My favorite line I used to tell myself, ”Once this happens then things will settle down.” I will tell you now that does NOT work. You have to be intentional about setting limits and doing some form of self care.

On to the challenges this week:

Easy: Write down each moment this week that you said yes or previously committed yes and now feel regretful. Be specific and honest about why you said yes. For example- Did I want them to view me as fun going out for drinks or did I truly want to see them and reconnect. No one is judging you. No one is going to see your answers. This is for you to know what you should say yes to.

Medium: Don’t check your phone for a day. Do you remember when we didn’t have these leashes (I mean phones) on us constantly. We could hang out with friends all day without that constant nagging beep or vibration of someone wanting our attention. We could focus on what we intended for that day without distraction.

Hard: Give yourself me time. I know mom guilt is real! But this is where your spouse, partner, friends come in. Or put the kiddos in bed early one night to give yourself some me time. Take a long bubble bath, go for a hike, get a massage, read a book – anything that makes you feel relaxed and happy.

You can’t pour out to others if you are on empty. Fill yourself up so you can be that wife, mom, daughter, friend, coworker you want to be!!

It is so easy these days with just a couple clicks on your phone to have something delivered to your house (thank you Amazon prime) when things get broken or stop working. This weeks challenge is think back to the mentality of your parents, grandparents, great grandparents. They didn’t just throw things away. They repaired them if they could. Nowadays it is even easier with YouTube videos available to show you how to do practically everything. BUT I repeat BUT if something is beyond repair, you don’t want to/not going to repair it GET IT OUT of your house.

Easy Challenge: Walk around your house and identify 1 item that needs repaired or thrown out/donated that would take less than 5 minutes to do. Then do it. Repair it (for example: replace the batteries), put it in the trash (for example: cracked plastic bowl), or put it in your car to donate the next time you go out (for example: clothes that don’t fit that you have just in case).

Medium Challenge: Make a list of all the things in your house that fall in this category. Then write down what you need to do with that item and when you will do it. Treat it like a bandaid and your goal is to have it all done in a month.

Hard Challenge: This is for the stacks of boxes around their house/garage and keeping it just in case even though it’s broken and will never use it. If you will not use it or repair it in the next 3 month GET RID OF IT! I know this is hard from personal experience helping others, but you will feel so much more in control of your life without being surrounded by clutter.

““Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭6‬:‭19‬-‭21‬ ‭NLT

If you usually have a “case of the Monday’s” this challenge is for you. If you just feel overwhelmed all the time this challenge is for you. If you feel like you are getting no where with your goals this challenge is for you.

Here are your 3 levels:

Easy: Stop using Sunday as another day to rush around getting all the stuff done. Use Sunday as a day to refresh your body and mind. Your body needs a break. For me, I do a yoga workout before church to relax my body and get it ready for the upcoming week. I TRY to avoid stressful situations and just spend time with the family.

Medium: Easy challenge + Take time each Sunday to look at your week ahead. What do you have going on? Who is taking the kids to each activity? Plan out your meals and do some meal prep. Think about what will stress you out this week and what can you do to minimize that stress. Remember you control your emotions and attitude. How can you show up as your best self this week?

Hard: This is for my goal getters out there. I want you to think about that goal and what you can do this month to get closer to that goal. What things do you need to do to meet the timeline you gave yourself? Now break it down into what you need to do each week to reach that goal. Final step is to put it on your calendar as an appointment or meeting. Something that is non-negotiable. You will be amazed at how much easier it is to make progress towards your goals with adding intentional action each week.

Our challenge this week is putting our thoughts on paper. You don’t need some fancy inspiration cover notebook or fancy app to do this. Any notebook or even word document will work. If you are like me, you have probably started this multiple times for a few days and just stop. I challenge you to go for the hard level as you will see trends in what you are writing (if you are being honest with yourself.). It will give you insight into who you are, who you want to become, or what keeps going around and around in your head.

Easy Level: Set a timer for 5 minutes and write everything that pops in your head. Don’t stop writing until the timer goes off. If you don’t know what to write, start writing about why you don’t know what to write down or why you think this is stupid. We all have an internal monologue going on constantly in our heads. This exercise is just writing down what it is.

Medium Level: Do the easy level exercise 3 days this week.

Hard Level: Do the easy level EVERY DAY for an entire month. This will start to create the habit plus you will have more to look back on to understand what’s going through your head.

It’s 5 minutes!! It’s only 2.5 hours out of your entire month that will give you a place to vent, dream, analyze, etc.

Try to find a consistent time of day. Maybe when you sit down with your morning coffee instead of scrolling social media? Or right before you go to bed where you can get all those thoughts out of your head so you can sleep better.

This week is an absolute MUST for me. Do you feel overwhelmed with everything and like you are going in a thousand different directions? Or are you in the procrastinator club? Do you have these small tasks that would take 5 minutes but you put off and take priceless mental energy thinking that you should do it?

Here are your 3 levels of challenge:
Easy: Do the small task that you have been putting off right now. When you see something that needs done that would take less than 5 minutes, do it instead of take more time thinking about than doing it.

Medium: Don’t break the chain. It gets A LOT easier when you don’t start and stop everyday. Each day do the small things to allow your mental energy to focus on the big things. TIP: track it with a calendar. This has been my key to success for not giving up. Give yourself a check mark or even a sticker. Find something that works for you. (See comment section to see my trackers I use.)

Hard: This is my go to each week & month and IT WORKS! You will feel like you are in control of your time instead of time controlling you.
Step 1: Brain Dump. Get out a piece of paper and write down all the tasks that are swirling around your head. Just the act of getting them down on paper takes a little load off you. Then prioritize the list giving things a A,B,C ranking. A- must be done this week. B- needs to be done this month, and C- nice to have/wish list/not urgent.
Step 2: Use a hourly planner or just write the days and time periods that make sense for you. Start with your must haves (or big rocks). These are your appointments, meetings, kids events. See all the gaps left? Now fill in the gaps with your A items(medium rocks). If you don’t have enough time for all your A’s, look at your list again and prioritize it. More than likely you will still have time or gaps left. Fill those in with the B’s (small rocks) and even maybe a C (sand).
(Think of your life like a jar: first you fill it with big rocks, then medium, then small. Finally fill it with sand to fill in all those small cracks.)
Step 3: Treat this plan like a commitment to yourself. Make sure to plan downtime so you don’t stress out. Give yourself a ton a grace. I guarantee that you will not follow it 100%, but I can also guarantee that you will achieve more than if you didn’t. This focuses your mind on what’s important and shows you that you can do get it done!

Would love to hear from you if you tried this & your success or even what you learned through failure. Remember failing forward isn’t failing. Learning from failure = success