Start NOW!
Don’t Wait! The moment is now.
It’s December. Every year for as long as I can remember I’ve spent December in a rush trying to get everything done for the holidays. And every year in the process I slowly drop more and more of my own self-care. My eating habits get dismal, and my yoga practice drops off. It gets so bad that by the end of the month when I would like to be enjoying celebrations with my family I’m such a massive ball of stress and fatigue that nobody wants to be around me.
Every year I promise myself that when the new year comes I will pick myself up and restart everything that I know will restore me. (and to my credit I usually do)
I’m glad I pick myself up so well. But, I’d rather not get myself into that place to begin with. So this year I decided not to wait until January to re-start my yoga practice and nourishing self-care. Instead I decided to commit to keeping practice strong. And to support myself, I made the commitment a formal one by telling some friends about it and inviting Ashaya Yoga teachers to join in.
If you’re like me, you’ve probably put your priorities on the back burner more often than you bring them forward. That book that you planned to write last year didn’t get written because the dishes needed to get done every night. Or that time you meant to spend meditating got eaten up by random scrolling on Facebook. The new knitting pattern is sitting on the shelf because you’ve given all your energy to taking care of everybody else. All the things that you know will sustain you- self-care, healthy eating, getting enough sleep- keep getting pushed further into the distance as other concerns take up the time and space.
The problem isn’t that you push your needs and desires aside one time or another. The problem is that those important things end up getting pushed aside ALL the time. Your body and your mental health suffer because you’re not putting your energy into activities that nourish and sustain you. Add to that, if you’re anything like me or many of the women I coach, you get down on yourself for not doing what you know you “should do.” So, not only are you not sustaining yourself, you’re feeling negative about it too. A double does of yuckiness!
Most of us know we are doing it. It’s just so hard to change the habit. But, in every moment you can make a choice to change. You can choose things that will help support and sustain you, or you can choose something else.
Because it feels so hard to change your choices I’ve put together some simple steps you can take to start bringing that thing you want (healthy eating, deeper sleep, your knitting… whatever) back into your life:
Commit - commit to yourself and get very clear about what you are committing to. Are you committing to meditation? great - how often, for how long, and until what date. Write it down
Get Friends on Board - it is SO much more fun to take on a commitment if you have cheerleaders in your corner and friends participating with you. And, when you invite someone else to join you, your commitment benefits your friend too!
Start small and reasonable - if you’re ready to start a home yoga practice but haven’t ever practiced yoga at home don’t give yourself the commitment of 2 hours a day for 60 days. Start in a bite-sized (ridiculously small!) nugget. Say 10 minutes a day. You can always increase it as your confidence builds
Have compassion for yourself if you mess it up - pick yourself up and restart. I hate to say it but screwing it up is part of the process
Give yourself Rewards - Come up with a few treats that you can give yourself along the way. Right after you do whatever you’ve committed to doing - reward yourself with something special. If your commitment is something that is kind of hard this one is especially important
If you’ve read this far, consider this your nudge. Don’t wait! Don’t spend another holiday season ignoring yourself and your needs while you push yourself to the limits of what is humanly possible. It’s time to make a commitment (no matter how small) to yourself to get off the back burner and back up front and center where you belong.
Your body, mind, heart, and LOVED ONES will thank you for it.
Are you ready to commit to something supportive this holiday season? Please leave it in the comments below so that we can cheer you on! And if you find yourself wanting some support, contact me and let’s chat!