Doesn’t the new year feel like it brings a clean slate and a reset to all that has happened in the past? You’ve seen the tag lines… New Year, New YOU, right? Most people that I’ve talked to feel like the clock striking midnight on Jan 1st does feel like a reset of sorts. And depending on how the previous year went, sometimes it’s good riddance and other times you don’t want the goodness to end. Well it’s 2021, and in this case putting the most uncertain, upside down, unprecedented and bizarre year behind us was the general consensus – goodbye 2020 and don’t ever show your face again. A new year is synonymous with the new year’s resolution – something that I feel is way too much hype and pressure.
Eat healthier. Exercise more. Lose weight. Save more money and pay off debt. Watch less TV. Read more. Quit smoking. Drink less booze and even do a dry January.
Exhale… So much pressure.
We can thank the ancient Babylonians for starting this ritual over 4000 years ago with promises to the gods to pay their debts and return items borrowed to stay on their good side. Fast forward to the 21st century, around 80% of resolutions made fall flat on their face by the first week of February. So why bother? Well, I don’t. I stopped making resolutions years ago and instead, focus on my intentions for the year that include more than just me, myself and I. I look at changing habits that can help me reach my goals of how I want to be and how I want to feel, and look at the habits that I need to have in place to get me there. For most, the long game is goals in life; what you want to learn, what you want for yourself and your family, what kind of job or career you want to have. I believe that all comes down to our daily habits, the choices we make that include our awareness of thoughts running through our heads like the ticker tape in New York’s Time Square.
So today on EAT THIS with Lianne, this is the no resolution zone. Instead, let’s look at ways we all can create daily habits that stick.
We all have patterns, habits and ways we do things. You wake up, check your phone, head to the kitchen to make coffee, turn on the TV, listen to the news or see people like me giving you new ideas of how you can eat healthier and all that. Those are our daily habits and the start to each day. It’s not until we take a step back, like imagine you’re a drone hovering over your day, videoing what unfolds as you do what you do, can you see what steps, actions and habits lead you to where you are at. Now, if you’re perfectly happy with yourself – you’re exercising, you have consistent energy, you eat really well with half your plate full of plants at each meal… You know, all the things that I go on about on this podcast – then great. I have yet to meet someone who doesn’t have some sort of improvement in their sights.
So, what am I focusing on this year? My words are SURRENDER and CREATE CALM. This is my focus for now, and while there’s my long game, my goals in life, where I want to travel to and what I want to learn, there’s also knowing to dial it back with habits that I focus on day to day. I set out intentions of where I want to take my life, but also what I’m going to do each day to stay grounded in those intentions and where to put my energy from sun up to sun down.
I thought I’d share my habits of late as I’ve had a pretty significant change in my life: I started work in a whole other role and have a job outside of my nutrition work, as of just before Christmas. I go to the office a few days a week rather than work from home 100% of the time. Not only is my groove off, and I’m learning a million new things, but I’m also aware of not falling into traps that I’ve tried to correct in my clients.
Here are my habits
These are meant to inspire you if there’s something that makes you think, “Yeah, that’s a good idea!”:
- I wake at 6am. Before the holidays, I would naturally wake then, no alarm needed. Now, it’s more that my eyelids creak open when my alarm goes off. I sit up in bed, cross my legs in the OM meditation position, ask Siri to set my timer for 15 minutes and I meditate. Months ago, I’d reach for my phone and turn on a meditation app or have someone talk me through breath and a guided visualization, but I’ve been coached on sitting in quiet peace, focusing on my breath. And how’s that going? Let’s just say that there’s a reason why they call it a practice…
- Then I drink my glass of water and lemon that I put by my bed the night before, and get up to land on my already unrolled yoga mat. I’m doing a 30-Day Breath Challenge for January. Yoga with Adrienne is who talks me through about 30 minutes of movement that I have not missed… yet. Fridays are tricky and while I haven’t hit my yoga mat yet today, I will before my head hits the pillow.
- Next up, I hit the showers. My shower is like most people’s coffee. I do the usual shower things, wash up, brush my teeth and then before I get out of my lovely hot and steamy cocoon, I flip the temp dial down to FREEZING, and do some pretty fast breathing for at least 30 breaths or seconds, longer if I can stand it. It’s a purposeful blast of freezing, right at my throat and my thyroid. It helps my immunity, metabolism, and shocks my system, like going from a sauna to rolling in the snow. Hydrotherapy is now my best friend. I walk out of the shower wide awake and invigorated. In the beginning, you could hear screams from my bathroom and I only lasted 5 seconds. Like yoga and meditating, it’s a practice, so I’ve taken time to increase the duration by pushing myself 5 seconds at a time.
- Whether I’m home or going to the office, I prep my vitamins (KID BOOST, Alka C and B Complex) in a cup ready to go, but I don’t eat until after 10am. I follow the IF (intermittent fasting) philosophy and eat for 8 hours of the day and fast for 16… about 90% of the time.
- I’m packing a lunch now, filling up two water bottles and making a half caf coffee for after lunch and keep my mind alert as I learn my new job role. It’s working.
Little things at the office are: I have water with me wherever I go; I make sure that I eat in the lunchroom, not at my desk; I open the shades as soon as I get in to soak up as much sun as the sky allows for; and soon, I’m going to go out for a walk with colleagues. It’s all part of being in the office and not at home. - Once I’m home, I change, intentionally taking the day off and making dinner. Soup has been my best friend since going back, and batch cooking this weekend will keep me going all week. I have also sat up in bed before going to sleep and meditated once again to calm the storm of my mind with all that’s going on. Something has to give and while I usually fall asleep fast with my 300mg of magnesium and three sprays of melatonin, my mind is on hyperdrive right now, so the more I can calm the better.
- While my daughters are with me, they take our dog out in the morning, and next week when they are with their dad, I’m going to have to change up my morning routine to include a dog walk, so I’m not sure what that will look like. I’m not sure I can get up at 5:30am just yet. We shall see.
Was there anything in there that inspires you to try? If not, don’t worry. I thought I’d share a few things though that might help. Also you need to know about my 5-Day Challenge to Ditch the Holiday Eating Habits. Head to sproutright.com/newyear and join me. It starts on January 11th.
So what are your intentions for this year, no matter what is going on around the world? What calm can you create, or is that an area for you to focus on? I’d love to hear in the comments. I do answer!
I truly wish you, and us, a year of calm. Maybe a year of finding ourselves more and finding ways to enjoy more moments than we did last year. Of course, health is at the forefront of my mind and that’s all a part of living our best lives.
Thanks for being here, thanks for listening and as always, share this with anyone you know would benefit… And, eat this, one mouthful at a time.
