Tricks to skip overwhelm and head straight to fabulous
6/6/2023
Things that can feel overwhelming to begin but will make you feel fabulous when you get started:
Ditching plastic
Cleaning the garage
Food prepping
Eating clean
Standing naked in front of the mirror
We've all been there. Trying to be better and feeling completely overwhelmed and under-prepared to take on the challenge. We can feel defeated before we even begin.
Here's the truth of it, take the first step. If you want to stop using single-use plastics, start with one thing. Try laundry detergent sheets instead of big plastic jugs or remove zip locks and use glass containers (mason jars are cheap and work well). Once you get hooked, you'll be excited to find other ways to save room, help the planet and stop filling up our garbage can each week!
For some reason, most of us have unknown boxes and miscellaneous items stuffed into our garages. It expands yearly, moving dangerously close to the walkways and where we park our cars! Messy garages cause low-grade or, in some cases, high-grade) anxiety. For me cleaning the garage is the absolute worst! So instead of spending an entire weekend going through memories, baby clothes, and photos that didn't make the photo albums from back in the day, I do one section at a time or just one box. This gets the job done and keeps me sane. Starting small is better than never starting at all.
We've all heard that food prep is essential to healthy living. However, saying food prep to someone that doesn't cook or enjoy planning sounds like hell on earth. So start small. Pick one easy recipe each week and make two of them. Eat one and freeze the rest in meal-size portions. Pretty soon, you'll have some great options to choose from. Eventually, you can add fresh food to your prep. Like most people, my broccoli might only get eaten if it's washed on a Wednesday night. I try to clean and ready my veggies, make my salads, and if I'm candid, I make a yummy snack for the week too :) It's dark chocolate-covered frozen bananas with a scoop of nut butter!
If you hope to clean up your diet, add one healthy thing daily and remove one unhealthy item. Try adding microgreens to things. I put them on or in everything from tacos to smoothies. Look at your diet and commit to removing extra sugar or something processed from your meals or snacks. After you succeed, you can take the next step by eating more veggies daily and removing processed foods.
Suppose you are working on loving your body. Start by looking into your eyes and saying, "I love you." Do this every time you can while washing your hands, brushing your teeth, etc., then, when you're ready, look at the parts of your body you like the best. Wow, I have nice toes! Oh my gosh, look at my great butt. Build up to walking to the mirror naked and feeling grateful for the body you have. Our bodies are short-term rentals; we might as well enjoy them while we have them!
The point is to commit to doing your best, one small change at a time. You can apply this process to everything, from being more vulnerable to gaining 10 lbs of muscle. Let's be more like Fred; skip okay and head straight to fabulous today, one tiny thing at a time.