COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS!
One of the biggest challenges I think we all face on journeys towards better health is not getting caught up in our missteps. We have a natural tendency to give greater focus and weight to the mistakes or bad choices. We overeat at dinner, or get overwhelmed when plans change and we eat off plan. We let that define ourselves at that moment. “I am a failure!” “I can’t do this!” “I screwed up!” “I’m just not cut out for this!” Any or all of those phrases sound familiar? If you can relate, I am here right now to offer two things, perspective and advice.
With perspective in mind I want you to take a look at the numbers. Here’s some math:
7 Days in a Week * (3 Meals + 1 Snack a Day) = 28 Eating Times a Week
1 Off plan meal/snack is approximately 3.5% of your Week
100% - 3.5% of “failure” = 96.5% SUCCESS!
Let that sit for a minute.
The week you were convinced was ruined by one choice was a 96.5% success. That’s pretty fantastic to me. Let’s also add in the times you got active, slept well, drank enough water and just simply took care of your well being and I’d award some epic bonus points. That week with one off plan meal, or one missed workout turns out to be pretty darn great in the end. So the perspective shift I want to encourage is counting the things you did right in a week before you look at the wrongs. I am not saying don’t look at them and learn from, but it’s important to give more focus to the things that you are doing well when you feel overwhelmed by all of the rest.
This can be admittedly difficult. And making it happen can take habit building and practice. Here are my tips for helping you “count the blessings!”
Identify Everything
We often overlook the look the great things we’re doing every day because we treat them like second nature or expected. It can feel awkward to list these things because we get wrapped up in the “but I am supposed to do this” mentality, right? I want to challenge you to build a list of the actions you take every day that move you forward. Get detailed and don’t take anything for granted. This can include eating on plan, exercising, walking, drinking water, getting enough sleep, prepping meals, doing chores, and more. Identify what YOU are actually doing.
Build a Habit of Reflection
This is what you do with that list. In the morning, review it, allow it to give focus to your day. In the evening, go back to it and identify what you did. Use that time to acknowledge the things you did first, before you even consider what you need to make sure you focus on the next day. It’s not about giving yourself a participation trophy but it is about recognizing that action with intent is important, especially when you are working on building new healthy behavior. Practice this every day, heck, add this to your list of daily accomplishments. Habits are born from repetition and consistency after all!
Reward Your Good Behavior (Not Just The Scale!)
I want to not only work on your mindfulness of your great behavior and reflecting on it, but rewarding yourself with it! Think of something that would be a great gift for yourself. It can be something you purchase or something free, something that feels like you’re giving yourself a reward. Obviously I don’t think indulgent food or drink fits with this activity! Examples I can think of include a new journal, a massage or spa visit, scheduled time to work on a hobby you have been wanting to try, a new gym outfit, new pans for your kitchen, etc. Set a metric to hit with your self report card and give yourself the reward. Don’t set yourself up to chase perfection but challenge yourself. If you’re good food choices are at 80% in general, set a reward point when you hit 90%! Challenge yourself a step further and include other actions in your goal. And whatever you do, avoid tying it to the scale. The overall goal here is to build healthy habits and your awareness of them!
If you starting doing these simple things, I promise that you will begin to see how your personal report card is better than you thought. And when you do feel like your missteps are outnumbering your wins, you will have the mindfulness in place to draw motivation for change. I’d love to hear how your wins are stacking up this week, drop me a DM on Instagram and let me know!
