Posts Tagged With: #Goals

New Year, Same Me, Better Goals

Posted on January 4, 2022 by The Healthy Habit Lady
Taking a break, enjoying the lake

2021… I honestly don’t know if I have anything worthy to add to the chit chat about how difficult 2021 was for so many I love. The tragic and unexpected death of my daughter aside, it was challenging and soul crushing for me on oh so many levels. So, let’s just let me leave that acknowledgment as it is, shall we?

What about 2020? Well, I survived a pandemic amidst my middle son’s two surgeries compounded by many other challenges. I even tried to ‘retire’ #TheHealthyHabitLady blog and social media. Yeah well … that didn’t work out … folks wanted their cheerleader back; and I needed to be back. But there is nothing wrong with breaks, nothing at all.

Anyone remember 2019? That was the year I survived a devastating divorce and dissolved a 26 year marriage, lost my home, was financially obliterated and started all over, with my children, in a small town here in Northeast Texas. I traded in suburbia and city life for 13 acres on a lake. Zero regrets. Then menopause hit me. Oh Joy.

Guess what? I’m still here, I have survived, my heart is still beating and my blessings they do abound. Now I think I’d like a year to THRIVE … and not just survive. Anyone else?

Regardless of tragedies and sucker punches, I have had a few wins! Truly, I have… and I intentionally wrote them down in a journal by Mel Robbins … in my very own messy handwriting … to reflect and remind myself that YES, I AM STILL HERE. I’m still breathing and I do actually still have something to offer to those around me. I still have a voice. I still have something to say. I still have children to raise. I am 52 years young. I am far from done.

It is so important to celebrate your wins, and I hope you take a moment to honor anything that you accomplished in 2021, or even in the last few years. No matter how small .. it does matter. Write out your top 5, maybe it’s just barely a top 3 …. but I double dog dare you to do a little dance! Articulate your gifts and greatness into any flimsy words you can manage to string together. Building on that sense of accomplishment helps you with this next step … which is to plan your 2022! Be present in 2022! Engage in 2022!

Now I will whisper in your ear … drown out the distracting noises. If only for a moment, ignore the dog barkin’ and listen with intent. Here’s the question: Have you set any goals for this year? Not resolutions. GOALS?! Do you use a journal or a planner? I’d love to hear about your tools.

Now comes the most important question: Have you mapped out any strategies and action steps needed to accomplish desired goals? My brutal truth is this: YES, I have started ~~but I haven’t finished. My brain is still churning, my gears are still turning. Yes, Ms. Deb is still crafting and prioritizing, but I’m doing it ~ nonetheless.

My emotional bandwidth and mental energy are growing stronger, so let me hear from ya! How can we be here for each other throughout this year? Who can YOU reach out to this week; whether to ask for help or offer encouragement? Who can you check on and remind them that – yes – they matter? Who can you impress, even if it is just yourself? Who can you shock the hell out of this month? Now go on, get busy.

As for me and my mirror, we are good pals. Come tomorrow morning, when I see the rising woman whom I will greet with a ‘good morning‘ … when I see her in that gloriously flawed yet marvelous reflection … that woman will get a High 5! She deserves it, and so do you, my friend, so do you.

As always, make champion choices,
The Healthy Habit Lady

Buying a journal is one thing …
and yet OPENING it is quite another 🙂

My Amazon Associate link if you would like to purchase this journal by Mel Robbins:
https://amzn.to/3qRTXQD

I originally discovered Mel Robbins on LinkedIN, this is her page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melrobbins/

My Amazon Associate link if you would like to purchase the High 5 Audiobook, which I have done, and am presently listening to in my car, on my way to and from work:
https://amzn.to/31ry6H5

The first book I ever read by Mel Robbins was The 5 Second Rule, and I read it on my Kindle, but it is available in other formats. Still a fabulous read or listen, and here is my Amazon Associate link if you’re interested:
https://amzn.to/31pD6vG

Meanwhile, Mel Robbins has a High 5 Crew Group on Facebook, I just joined today:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/high5crew

Categories: Motivational | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

An Old Journal

Posted on May 29, 2019 by The Healthy Habit Lady

Recently, as I was packing up boxes of books for my upcoming move, I found several of my old handwritten journals.  My teenage son was fascinated to see so many books in my handwriting.  So, just for fun, I picked a random page to read … the picture below is where I landed.   At this time of this entry, I was very overweight and working as a Training Director in Richmond, VA.  ~ in the midst of hiring new staff. Meanwhile; I often wrote about wanting to lose weight and changing my habits or how I simply MUST exercise.  I would get motivated, but it was fleeting.  I would start and stop, over and over again.  I often became paralyzed by analysis paralysis in my overly eager desire to plan every detail, to ‘get ready’ to make a change.   Yet change never happened, and if it did, it did not last.  Simply put, I failed dozens of ways before I ever achieved success in weight loss.

So what changed?  My mindset.  My focus.  Instead of trying to change my whole life on the proverbial ‘Monday’ that never comes, I focused on just changing one bad habit, just one thing.  Once I replaced a bad habit with a better habit, I moved on to the next challenge.  The very first thing I did was give up Mt. Dew because I was drinking it like water and I knew it was terrible for my body.   I didn’t worry about my nutrition or my exercise routine, counting calories or any of that, I just focused on giving up Mt. Dew and drinking water.

I often tell people I lost 175 pounds 5 pounds at a time.  Seriously, I only focused on five pound goals.  Now I am in maintenance mode and have been for over five years.  Are my habits perfect?  Of course not.  Do I have room for improvement?  Always.  Do I have saggy skin and stretch marks in places?  I’d be lying if I said I didn’t.   To God be the glory for this marvelous mess of a temple that I enjoy.

Now while I’ve been a bit stressed and in transition, preparing for the move and selling my home, shifting my career, etc. ~ I think it is important to recognize when the good Lord sends us love notes of light.  Even when those notes are in your very own handwriting.

As always, make champion choices,
The Healthy Habit Lady

OldHandwrittenJournal

 

Categories: Books, Christianity, Fitness | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Core Values

Posted on January 31, 2017 by The Healthy Habit Lady

What are your core values? Do you even know? Pick FIVE things that are super duper important to you. It doesn’t matter what they are – there is no right or wrong answer. Some people list things like God, Family, Financial Security, Education, Civil Rights, The Environment, Animal Welfare, Holistic Living, Status, Politics, Power … those are just examples … it can be anything that is intrinsically important to your every day life here on Earth. Be brutally honest about this. If you do not know what your top 5 core values are, pick at least 3 … but five is the goal.  Think about it, pray about it if you’re inclined to do so, but don’t take too long.  Usually the first things that pops into the brilliant head of yours are pretty close to the answers you seek.

NOW … once you figure out what these ever elusive core values actually are … align your daily activities with them. Align your finances with them.  Align your attention and your effort to line up with those established core values. If you are not spending your time, energy and money on the things that are important to you at your core, then you are spinning your wheels and wasting your time. I’m not asking that you necessarily share these with me, unless you just want to for accountability.  However, I do highly encourage you to share them with SOMEONE, especially your spouse or life partner, if you have one. Heck, maybe they need to do this too.

Being in balance is an awesome thing, beautiful in fact.  Yet knowledge is key.  You cannot balance your to-do list and core values if you have no clue what they even are in the first place.

plumbing

As always, make champion choices,
The Healthy Habit Lady

 

 

Categories: Fitness, Motivational | Tags: , , , , | 2 Comments

I Didn’t Puke and I Wasn’t Last

Posted on August 29, 2014 by The Healthy Habit Lady

Everyone has a different marker of success.  I had to run a mile and a half today, for a class I’m taking in college, and I am not a runner, not in the least.  Your marker of success might have been to run the thing in 10 minutes.  Someone else’s might have been to simply finish.  My two goals were to avoid puking and not be last.  So in that respect, I succeeded. 

The class I’m taking is part of my personal trainer certification track and it is called ‘Group Fitness Instruction’. We just started this week so we are establishing baselines!  We are doing things like taking measurements, tracking weight, establishing body fat percentages and testing fitness ability in different areas. Today we ran a mile and a half while wearing heart monitors so that we could calculate VO2 MAX.  

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, Google it, it’s interesting 🙂  Basically, our muscles, get more efficient at using oxygen when we do regular aerobic exercise. This is because of an increase in the activity and number of enzymes that move oxygen into the muscle. A way to measure this is known as “VO2 Max.” During exercise, VO2 Max is the point at which the body can no longer increase the amount of oxygen it uses despite the intensity of the exercise increasing. The more you exercise, the higher your VO2 Max point becomes, making your muscles that much more efficient.  So between the distance we ran, and the heart rate recorded on the monitors, we are able to calculate this vital piece of information.

Now, here’s the thing. Do you all know that I have never been a runner? I was terrible at running even in high school – hated the track thing. Doctors have told me for years that I should not run due to my jacked up knee. Well guess what. I went to the Dr. yesterday for my monthly check-up. I told him about my classes and goal for PT cert. He is very happy with me, says I’m perfectly healthy, and there is NO reason why I cannot run. Aww man. He gave me a green light to run, and then told me it would actually be very good for me with my genetic mutation to help prevent potential heart disease.  You know what else? He told me that running on a regular basis would ALSO help with my loose skin from all of this weight loss. Wow. I’ve never in my life had a dr. tell me to run. Now I’m scared … aaaack. But alas I have two 5k’s that I have paid for coming up soon, and this class teacher seems dead set and determined to get me running.   I’m always telling people to get out of their comfort zone.  Well I certainly got out of mine today.  

Here are a few musings from this running thing today:

(1) I need a better bra.
(2) I will need to tape my knee or wear some kind of brace, because it does indeed still hurt when running.
(3) I hate hills.
(4) I hate heat. (Even though it was morning – it was hot and the sun was bright)
(5) While I am not really competitive by nature, I was determined not to be last.

Now here are some things I love about these classes and this community college I attend:

(1) The students in these classes are quite diverse.  We have all kinds of folks of different ages, shapes and sizes and abilities. We have retired vets, young hard bodies and even a deaf girl who has an interpreter. 
(2) The professors are amazing, and my first instructor is actually a former student of my second instructor. Her husband also teaches several exercise classes.  
(3) From best I can tell, there is no judging or condescending looks.  Everybody cheers everybody else.
(4) The campus is very beautiful with fabulous landscaping, walking trails, picturesque sitting areas and nice facilities.
(5) The gym has a great locker room, shower and even an awesome water fountain with filtered water specifically to fill up water bottles.  This was especially appreciated as I was walking back inside from the run.

WaterFountainNVC

Best. Water. Fountain. Ever.

As always, make champion choices,
The Healthy Habit Lady 

 

Categories: College, Fitness | Tags: , , , | 2 Comments

The Ending of an Era…

Posted on August 21, 2014 by The Healthy Habit Lady

*Sniff* *Sniff* … today is the last day I will ever be in my early 40’s!  Yes, tomorrow I turn forty and a half.  As in 45 ya know.  I figure once you’re 45 you can no longer say you’re in your early 40’s, you are pretty much in the ding dang middle of this decade now.

I actually do not really care a whole lot about age.  It’s just a number.  I did not have a meltdown when I turned 30.  I did not have a mid-life crisis and buy a hot red convertible when I celebrated 40 {mainly because I had just given birth a bit over a year earlier and needed to haul four kids around}.  

Forty-five definitely has me feeling a little out of sorts though.  Not because I fear growing old or worry about wrinkles.  Rather, for a very different reason.  You see, my mother died when she was only 45 years old.  I was 17 at the time.  Now here I am about to turn that very same number, and I too have a 17 year old daughter (and 3 sons).  It’s just weird to think about for some reason.  I knew my mom died young and that it was WAY too young, indeed.  But, gosh … now that I am here at this same age … good grief, the perception is different.  It IS young, definitely too young to be done.  I cannot even begin to imagine how my father felt, at this age, to lose his mate and have to start over so-to-speak.  Suddenly a single parent.  Of course I always knew it was devastating.  It’s just hitting me odd now.  Why am I wigging out about this, lol.  Yes, that is a rhetorical question.

So guess what, I’m not done.  I’m not even close to being done.  I’m just getting started.  I’m smaller than I was in high school. I’m healthy.  I’m happily married, enjoying this season of motherhood … and even taking on college classes next week.  Why?  Because I can.  Why not?  

Tomorrow is not guaranteed.  So I make a point to live my life with intention, with purpose.  I know you cannot be brilliantly alive within every single detail of every single day.  Sometimes there is adventure, and sometimes there is disgusting laundry from two boys who spent a week at camp.  Sometimes there are road trips and water parks and smelling the flowers … and sometimes there is a stinky trashcan determined to make you feel incompetent.  Yet even in the mundane boring moments, frustrating fits of chaos, sweaty breaths of stress or failed attempts at Eggs Benedict … we can remain true to our character. We can remember our moral compass.  We can keep our attitude in check.  We can awake each day with gratitude and fall asleep counting our blessings.  

DaddyOMomandMe

            Mom, Dad and Me

As always, make champion choices,
The Healthy Habit Lady

Categories: Family | Tags: , , , | 2 Comments

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