Fall Into a New Season
As the seasons change, it’s not uncommon to fall to the wayside with your health and wellness goals. This becomes especially true when the change in season implies that the weather is becoming less desirable rather than more so.
Less-than-desirable climates and frigid temperatures come with it a myriad of bad decisions and poor habits that can have a drastic impact on not only the progress we’ve made to date but on our overall health and well-being at large.
With a new season soon upon us, it’s important to remain vigilant with our decisions and habits, ensuring that we stay on track as best we can, not only for our own health and well-being but for those around us as well.
In this article, my aim is to simply provide you with quick but effective tips for falling into the new season so that you can continue to be the best version of yourself, whatever that may look like for you!
Tips for Staying on Track This Season
Whether your intentions are to remain active, avoid becoming sedentary, or simply continue eating healthy, sticking to your habits and achieving your goals throughout the change in season doesn’t have to be difficult. In fact, it should be fun, enjoyable, and above all else, attainable.
Too often, however, we as humans tend to venture toward lofty goals only to become overwhelmed with the task at hand. That, or we allow the occasion to impact us so heavily that we fail to take any sort of action, instead finding ourselves in a rut that we can’t dig ourselves out of.
Well, I’m here to tell you that whichever the case may be, it’s okay and it is possible to become or remain the best version of ourselves, no matter the challenges in front of us…
Be Specific With Your Goals & Habits
Have you ever heard of SMART goals? Simply, it’s an acronym that stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound.
By defining your goals and objectives with specificity and avoiding generalized statements, you provide yourself with a roadmap toward achievement. Through measurable action steps and accountability, healthy habits can remain and unhealthy habits can be averted!
Set ONE Goal or Habit at a Time
As discussed earlier, we’ve all experienced moments of inspiration where we create a laundry list of lofty goals only to fail in a short period of time.
To avoid such a common mistake when entering into a new season, aim to set and stick to only one large goal or habit and use the SMART goal-setting tactic to ensure its success.
Rather than creating more overwhelm than what’s already present in your day-to-day life, give yourself permission to focus not on everything but on one overarching habit of importance. Then and only then should you implement the next…
Seek Out a Support System
Have you ever heard the saying “it takes a village”?
A reliable and loving support system can often be the missing piece you’ve needed to stay on track and continue along your journey of self-care and improvement.
If you’ve set a goal of any meaning or value, you’re likely going to experience times of overwhelm and difficulty along the way. A solid support system aids in filling the gap when times get tough, encouraging you in times of wanting to give up and celebrating you in times of accomplishment.
Learn to Enjoy the Journey
Nothing is worth pursuing if not for the enjoyment of the journey itself.
Too often, however, we get caught up in the task or habit itself, ultimately failing to see the journey for what it is, instead focusing on the destination. This is the wrong way to go about entering into a new season…
Instead, learn to enjoy the journey, for it's truly all that matters. Not only will it make the goal or habit worth pursuing, but it will make the achievement that much sweeter.
The journey is long-lasting; the destination is simply fleeting.
Welcome to The Unquiet Mind
The day we are born we enter this world with our eyes tightly shut or presumably wide open. Either opened or closed each of us is born with an invisible sense of uncertainty. The tears and newborn gaze will tell you exactly how a baby is feeling. At least that’s what I believe. With a piercing gaze and tears to follow our first recognition besides mom or dad is, what is this?
That’s exactly how I felt when my Neurologist told me, “you have MS.” All of a sudden, my confidence, & assuredness in the direction of my life disappeared. I was certain that moving to Washington, DC, landing a “good job with benefits, (isn’t that what most parents say) enrolling in graduate school & eventually entering into a doctoral program would set me sailing. Oh, not to mention finding the right partner living happily ever after with him. Little did I know May 23rd, 2000, my life would never follow the path I laid so perfectly. It’s comical when I think back because life now looks does not look anything close to an ever after or PhD!
You see Multiple Sclerosis will do that. It will deliver uncertainty on a silver platter in a matter of seconds; depending on how fast your doctor says this maniacal three words {you have MS..ahhh}.
Let me explain medically what MS is all about, taken from the Mayo Clinic’s website:
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a potentially disabling disease of the brain and spinal cord (central nervous system).
In MS, the immune system attacks the protective sheath (myelin) that covers nerve fibers and causes communication problems between your brain and the rest of your body. Eventually, the disease can cause permanent damage or deterioration of the nerves.
Signs and symptoms of MS vary widely and depend on the amount of nerve damage and which nerves are affected. Some people with severe MS may lose the ability to walk independently or at all, while others may experience long periods of remission without any new symptoms.
Cue newborn baby gaze & what is that look!! I believe I may have looked at my doctor as if she were speaking in tongues because none of that made sense to my 25-year-old brain, where my prefrontal cortex had just fully reached maturation.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3621648/#__sec19title
Initially I could only relate neurological disease to Parkinson’s. I remember saying, you mean I’ll be like Janet Reno?
https://www.justice.gov/ag/bio/reno-janet
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janet_Reno
Needless to say, I had a LOT or reading ahead of about MS and what was to come.
For many years I sat with uncertainties; will I be in a wheelchair, will someone want to marry me knowing I have this disease, how long will I be independent, what does life look like, who AM I?
Most of my fears and insecurities have passed but truthfully that little MS helper likes to tap me on my shoulder from time to time. Yes, MS sends its troops out, would you like to know some of their names? Burden, depression, anxiety, mood swings, anger, uncertainty…there are many but for now I will keep the list short :).
I have much more to say but for now sit back and enjoy the new website! I’m really excited to be launching a NEW podcast and bringing fantastic content to your eyes & ears. (I promise uncertainty is NOT invited to this fiesta!)
Love & light to all!
Dawn