It's May!

It's May. As in the fifth month of the year. Oh my God where did the time go? As with the beginning of each month, I sat down to put together my goals for the month. But this time I started getting depressed. It's the 5th month of the year and I haven't accomplished what I wanted to by now. I started looking at all my monthly and weekly and quarterly goals. Yes, I like lists, and goals and I love the sense of accomplishment from achieving those goals. Of working each day towards a better tomorrow and an awesome future. But as I sat there and saw all the lack of check marks next to my many goals, I started to bum hard. But then, something hit me. Yeah, so I haven't checked off many goals this year, but why not look at all the positive things I have done so far this year. If you look at my yearly goal list, there are some things already checked off. But I've done more then just those things.

As I teach my clients, so I started to do. I started looking at all the positive things I have been doing. All the good. And I started to feel better. So what if I haven't accomplished the big things. I have gotten closer to all of them. I have made a bunch of positive changes one step at a time. Changes I haven't been thinking about because they've become habits. Like eating healthy breakfasts. 5 out of 7 days a week I manage to eat a healthy breakfast. This is a HUGE accomplishment for me. Since in the past I couldn't even say 5 days out of the month I ate any breakfast, let alone a healthy one. But this isn't something I think of much now. It's just something I do. I wake up, take the totally awesome thyroid pill, put together my breakfast smoothie to blend and drink in a few hours and move on with my day. And I change things about my smoothie depending on how I'm feeling that day. Or I even change what I eat. I no longer eat instant oatmeal as the only breakfast I remember to eat later. Why? Because I actually paid attention to my body and realized that every time I eat that stuff it totally drains me. Slows me down, gives me brain fog, takes away all my energy and ability to focus on ANYTHING. I'm more aware of what I eat and when I eat it. I'm making much better choices with my food. I eat better things and I eat in better portion sizes. Eating better makes me feel better. And my life is ruled by feelings. So eating better = feel better = better day = better life.

But the good choices are going beyond just food. I'm spending more time outdoors. Even when the weather isn't awesome (which it totally has been lately) I notice the desire to walk my dogs and spend the evening outside, so I do it.  I'm happier, healthier and I've found the inner peace that I've been searching for. I'm not saying the peace is always there or that its always easy to find, cause there are times when I'm taking deep breaths and counting. Telling myself not to strangle someone who is being astronomically stupid.

I've reached out of my comfort zone and embraced some of the things I used to do years ago. Things I stopped doing as my self confidence dropped. Like talking to people in the grocery line and well, anywhere I happen to be at. I'm not an extroverted person. I like small intimate gatherings and I like spending a lot of time by myself or with my dogs in the middle of no where. But ask any of my friends and you'll find that most of them were people I felt a need to randomly strike up a conversation with. This is something that has happened very few times in the last 5 years. But over the last few months its happening more and more. And when I run into someone and start talking about things, I don't feel the urge to run away as soon as I can get the conversation stopped. I take the time to talk to them, to learn about them, to connect to people. Over the last few months I have met some amazing people and made great connections that will help me, my family, my friends, and my business in the future. I've also embraced that some times it really is not what you know but WHO you know. And I'm getting to know people. Stopping for a smile and a short chat. Brightening their day and in turn they are brightening mine. I'm once again learning to trust my intuition, my inner voice.

I challenge you to take a few minutes, just 10 or 15, and think about the positive things and changes that you've made in your life. Nothing is to small. It's so easy for us to focus on the bad but it takes effort to focus on the good. So put a little effort into thinking about the good things in life. You'll appreciate it in the short and long run.