That title seems a little ” in yo’ face” But seriously, what are YOU doing to end this year on a high note? Why may you ask is it important to end the year on a high note? Well because, that puts you in a better position to start off next year! How many times have you crashed and burned from now until Jan 1st. and you just tell yourself, it’s ok I’ll start over and be better in January. I, myself have done that one too many times!
Last year at the tail end of the year I started reading Girl, wash your face by Rachel Hollis. I loved it for many reasons but one of the things I loved about the book was it gave gentle advice on how to start living a better life that you not only deserve but should be pushing yourself for.
One of the things she mentioned was drinking half your body weight in OZ. of water but instead of saying “I’m only drinking water” and “NO MORE SODA” instead just ADD this one habit in to your daily routine. As I was reading that I thought to myself ” When was the last time I drank water?” ( I was a diet dr. pepper and diet coke addict) When I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d had water I knew things had to change. I decided Jan 1st I would start. (What IS IT with that day?!)
So I did. And every day I hit my goal. Sometimes it took me all day other days I got done a little quicker and went over my goal. I never consciously said ” I am quitting soda” but I turned around 3 months later and realized I’d been so busy hitting my goal that I hadn’t had time for soda, and more importantly, I didn’t even miss it. Every once in awhile I’ll have a diet coke but honestly it doesn’t even taste the same anymore.
When I started that challenge I asked myself ” What if you just didn’t break this ONE promise to yourself? ” And I’m happy to say it’s like second nature now. Jumping forward to a few weeks ago I decided I wanted to implement a better morning routine. Most days the kids were up before me , which I didn’t like because they were raiding the pantry like infantry men on foreign soil EVERY MORNING.
I decided when school started that I wanted that to be different. The Start Today Morning show was going to be starting the same day and that started at 7am. So I started getting up at 6:45 just to sit and watch it, wake up slow and get breakfast on. Then I decided to do one better and get up at 5 and do my Gratitude Journal, meditate and get my workout in by 7 so I started the day off right.
Getting up at 5 meant a big change for me. I was a night owl. Staying up till midnight or later was the norm for me. I’ve always been pretty strict about bedtime for the kids but not for me. I started going to bed by 10 or 10:30 and that made it possible to get up at the crack of dawn.
So when the Last 90 days Challenge officially started all I really needed to implement was giving up one food thing that wasn’t good for me. I chose fast food. As someone who goes to Chick fil a or McDonald’s more times than not I figured my waistline and bank account could use the break. I am ALWAYS so busy that it is the easier option to just swing and grab lunch for all of us . Or have Greg grab food on his way home when I’m busy making cake.
Easier option yes, but healthier? No. not really. I probably should have let the people at Chick fil a know what was up.. They probably think we moved or something bad happened. haha
What exactly is the Last 90 day Challenge you say? I’ll break it down..
1. Wake Up an hour earlier ( or find ONE hour in the day for YOU)
2. Drink half your body weight in OZ. of water
3. Write down 5 to 10 things you are grateful for everyday.
4. Move your body at least 30 min. everyday.
5. Give up one food group that is not blessing your body.
Mainly she suggests number 5 for 30 days and it’s to show yourself that you CAN keep a promise to yourself!
I have to say I was really proud of Illa this week. We went to see the Big Boy train right after school on Thursday and it was really cool. We walked all over and Wesley was really interested in all the moving parts and the other trains in the yard that were moving around. About halfway through Illa ( who LIVES for eating out) asked when we were leaving because she was hungry and wanted to go grab food. My first instinct was to say yes, we will when we leave and just eat when I got home. BUT , I decided to be honest with her and see what she had to say. I sat her down and said ” Mommy is doing a challenge , and my challenge is that I’m not gonna eat fast food for 30 days. Would you like to help me with that? If we ALL do the challenge think how much better we will feel !” She thought about it for a second and then said “Ok Mommy, I will help you! Let’s just eat when we get home!”
I think it has helped putting all of these things in place gradually, but I love it. I love the time to myself in the morning, I love focusing on gratitude, I love moving my body and getting my water in. Working on me is a little bit of a foreign concept but I have been working on that this year too.
What would happen if you tried to end the year with good habits? How would you feel ? What would that look like? What would happen if you didn’t break just one promise to yourself? ALL THE GOOD THINGS would happen that’s what. YOU can do it. You really can. If I can do it anyone can. My inner voice tries to talk me out of getting up early EVERYDAY. I’ve thought of at least 17 reasons why before I can turn my alarm off. Your “WHY” Has to be stronger than your excuses. Simple as that. Love yourself and get that booty moving!
What’s YOUR why?
Till next time!
~ Laura
Life, Party of 4 