Mind + Body +Life Connections
Getting realistic about your goals — and those given to you by professionals. Making life changes one little step at a time.
“I’m concerned about your scoffing at my recommendation to improve your health.” That was an understatement. I didn’t just scoff. I rolled my eyes, laughed, and muttered “naturally” under my breath. You see, my doctor told me I needed to reduce my stress and get more sleep. He means well, but he clearly doesn’t understand the realities of my life.
I have two toddler girls, one of whom doesn’t sleep through the night and climbs into my bed quite often and then needs to be returned to her bed. We have five dogs, two giant breed puppies who at six months are still very much puppies despite their size, two seniors who require special care (a Doberman and a Shih Tzu) and a lab mix who is almost 5 with some behavior issues we’re working on. I also have a husband who I would liek to be able to spend quality time with to maintain our connection. That’s just a portion of my personal life.
I also work full time in Product, architecting and delivering on new functionality is high stress. I love every second of it — but it is not without stress. Some parents want to focus their time and attention on caring for their children — I am not one of those. I need to work for my mental health.
Let’s talk about mental health. I struggle with this. I think most people do to be honest, its just a matter of how much it affects us and how open we are about it. I need exercise, time for my own pursuits (something that fills my cup), sleep, family time, and meditation to stay on an even keel. I can usually only count on 2–3 of these a week so I have to learn to manage.
Why did I just give you a summary of my life? It matters, I swear! Something I’ve had to learn to do is take all advice and make it work for my life — not the other way around. I want to give you some tips to be able to do the same and from a number of sources!
Let’s talk the well meaning advice from medical professionals.
→Get more sleep
→Exercise
→Eat better
→Decrease Stress
→Lose weight
→Limit processed foods
→Drink more water
→Get more calcium, iron (etc) into your diet
→Limit screen time
This is just a little of the advice I’ve gotten from medical professionals over the past couple of years. Want to know what I didn’t get? Advice on how to fit it into my life, practical tips on how to do this, realistic action steps, HELP.
Getting more sleep for me is just not going to happen regularly. I asked my husband for one day a week — usually on the weekend — where I can sleep in and get an extra hour or two. Its nice, helps fill my cup, and makes me a happier human but it doesn’t exactly meet the doctor’s requirements.
Find the pieces that you can fit into your life — just one or two — and try to make it work. Too much and you will be overwhelmed and/or unsuccessful which will make you feel worse. Getting that first step, and sticking to it, is huge!
Can you refill your waterbottle every time you walk past the fridge, even if its not empty? That way you are prompted to at least take a sip or two. Have a dance party with your kiddos to get in some exercise, take the dogs for a walk, find healthy meals your whole family loves and may want to help cook — fit it into your life not the other way around.
I had a dog trainer ask me how much time a day I was going to be able to commit to my dogs. Then he asked when I was going to do it. Then what about weekends — how would it change. I got a little flustered but then I realized he was making sure my commit was realistic. You see, I’d committed to 30 minutes a day training in 10 minute chunks. During the work week I could take that time between meetings then once when my girls went to bed. Over the weekend once with my girls, once during nap time, and then when the girls went to bed.
I’ve taken this approach to SO MUCH and its really helped.
I can commit to 20 minutes for my mental health. 5 minutes 4 times a day is totally doable as its not that long and could be done while my girls are stuck in their highchairs for meals if need be. Sometimes its meditating, sometimes journalling, sometimes just laying on my back being grateful.
I can commit to 30 minutes a day of exercise. Some days that might mean a kickboxing or dance workout on the TV with my girls (hello good examples!), some days its working out with weights and the heavy bag in our garage but I can make that time.
What can you make time for in little chunks to help improve your lifestyle, yourself, and your family?
Let me know!
