Stay on Track this Summer

School is out for the summer, the kids are home, the routine and structure of the day is probably fine now, but will probably start fading at some point. More sports, more bbq's, more long weekends + dock days, etc.  Staying true to your goals will get challenging eventually if it hasn't already. Might as well be ready with these quick tips on how to keep focused on your progress and stay on track this summer!

TIP #1

Define what Staying on Track means

What does keeping your progress mean to you? Is that clear for yourself? What is it that you’d like to stay on track – your eating patterns + nutrition? Is it your activity and exercise? Is it the amount + quality of work you are producing? It will be hard to stay on track if you don’t define what staying on track is for yourself. So first – define what it is you want to stay on track with

TIP #2

Centre yourself each day

Choose a few key habits or routines, I like the term non-negotiables.. Maybe it’s a slow quiet coffee in the morning, daily movement, or the first glass of water in the day. Take a moment for yourself to ground into the day, and check in with how your feeling. This gives you a moment to feel if you are in need of some extra self care, or if you can push yourself a little bit further. 

TIP #3

Create Time Efficiency

If schedules are busy and time is a struggle, wake up earlier. The mornings hold some great magically moments to get things done. Yes it takes some discipline, but this is a great time efficiency hack.  Another option would be setting the kids up with an activity or arranging a playdate with another Mom to gain some extra time to be able to focus on what you need to do to move yourself forward.

TIP #4

Prep Meals as you Go

Summer is a fun time where schedules get a bit looser and more things happen on the fly, but it doesn’t mean that our nutrition must take a back seat. Decide on a few good meals that are quick + easy + nutritious. Have the ingredients ready to go and stocked and prepare ahead as much as possible. Doesn’t mean you have to be in your kitchen for hours on end. But a little here and there can really go a long way.

For example  - On Monday cut up the veggies for Tuesday’s meal. On Tuesday prepare + bake the chicken for the next nights meal. While you’re making breakfast on Wednesday, spend a few extra moments preparing the vegetables for dinner that night. 

Breaking up these tasks little by little create an easier time for the meal and make it feel like lighter work instead of a big ordeal every time. Once we get into the habit of breaking things into little pieces, the task starts to feel way easier and lighter on our minds too!

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Try some of these tips this summer and let me know how it goes. Is there anything you would add here? Let me know!! Remember to enjoy your time, because life is meant for enjoying and experiencing! My hope for you is that you feel good, organized and on track while enjoying your summer. Cheers!

Jen xoxo 

6 Ways to Keep Moving Forward

Here we go again….

It might feel like we’re going backwards - in my region we’re back in lockdown after 2 weeks in red zone. It might feel like a shot in the back, another blow to our momentum. It’s easy to fall into victim mode, ie: why is this happening to me, I’ll never be able to get through this, etc. 

Let’s not fall into that low level thinking. Let’s rise above. We can’t control these things, but we can control how we react. Let’s look for the positive, look for the silver lining. 

Here are 6 ways to keep us moving forward:

·      Wake up each day with a positive thought, write it down to solidify it. This will help to start our day grounded in positive mindset. 

·      Get outside every day, even if it’s only for a few minutes to take a few intentional deep breaths. Being outside, we can always find something to appreciate and be grateful for

·      Nourish our body with good food that fuel our body and gives us life. Big salad, fruits and vegetables, something to help raise our vibration!! If you want to know more about how to raise vibration, check out this video, my 2nd video I ever recorded back in 2015   

·      Find friends that fill you up and keep them close. Or be the person to inspire and light up someone else

·      Move that gorgeous body of yours every single day, in some way shape or form, maybe 5 mins of stretching, maybe it’s a workout or hike – either way the body craves movement each day, honour it by moving! 

·      If you’re going to be scrolling social media then scroll your following list to delete or mute any accounts that make you feel less than awesome. 

Be patient with yourself. There are so many things we can’t control right now – but what we can control is how we show up for ourselves. We can show up with a positive mindset and being patient with ourselves and loving ourselves in a bigger way. 

And if we need to eat a pint of ice cream and binge watch Netflix for a while - know that its ok and loving ourselves with where we’re at is perfectly perfect. And it’s all part of the process moving forward. 

We will get through this. One step at a time! 

jen xoxo

A lil' story about checkpoints...

We are all running some kind of endurance race right now. It’s not even a race, because there is no end in sight. At least with a race you know there is a finish line. Here we are just running non-stop. It’s exhausting.  

When I gave birth to my 2nd child, it was at home and my first non-medicated birth. It was very uncomfortable at times. The most intense part was right before he was born, when I felt I couldn’t do it anymore. I exasperatedly asked my midwife, “how many more pushes?” She said 6 more. I did it in 3. When I saw the end, it empowered me to channel that energy and finish strong. 

When there is no end in sight it feels like it will go on forever and it takes so much more of our energy to keep on. 

Covid/Lockdown/Online school WILL eventually end, and life will return to some state of normalcy again, however this is not in our power right now, it's not something anyone can really control.

To take our power back and do things that ARE in our control, we can give ourselves some checkpoints. 

Checkpoints aka; things to look forward to and get excited about.

I do this when doing hard things like running up a big hill - I say when I get to that post, I’ll walk for 10 seconds. Getting there takes all the work, but having that little bit of rest helps me to keep going immensely. 

Maybe a checkpoint for you is ordering takeout, or having an evening where you can do whatever you want all by yourself no distractions. Or maybe your checkpoint is a guilt-free movie marathon on the weekend. Whatever it is, give yourself some checkpoints and honour what you need. Otherwise you may end up burning out along the way. 

So tell me, what are some of your checkpoints? 

All the love to you, 
Jen xo

ps. My final note is to all the high achievers out there….
Honour yourself for where you’re at. Don’t be too hard on yourself. If you are used to accomplishing a lot and right now and you’re not, then please give yourself some grace. This is tough stuff and we need to be ok with doing less right now. 

The Start of a New Year!

For many of you, myself included this is the week for getting back into routine post holidays. This time it's a little different because we’re in lockdown which can make it feel a bit more complicated. Don’t let that be overwhelming or cause you to give up on moving forward. 
 

 Here are 2 ways to help you feel on top of your week!

1. Set an intention - a word or theme you want to feel during the week. Every so often check in and see where you’re at. Some examples are ease, strong, grateful, etc.

2. Do something that helps you feel grounded or centred. (Workout, meditate, spend time outside, etc). Actually schedule in this time for yourself, make this a priority.

3. Try to avoid doing 10,000 things at once. Keep it simple, and work on one thing at a time. You’ll feel better about what you are doing, and you’ll also be more efficient and get more done.

4. Make use of your time to do empowering things versus things that suck your energy is a way to a better week + feeling more empowered!!

And if you read this and thought I’m just barely holding on right now... then this message is for you:

Even in the darkest moments there is something to be thankful for. Turn your perspective around to appreciate even just the smallest of things. Continue on your path and try to make even the simplest of steps forward whatever that means for you. And know that you are not alone. 

Much love and cheers to an empowering week wherever you are on your path!

Jen xo

Striving for Greatness

Striving for greatness doesn’t have to mean hustling day and night. Living our best life doesn’t have to feel like a constant uphill battle.

Designing and living our best life can be in the little moments – putting away the phone to be extra present, sipping coffee slowly on a Saturday morning, set a walk + talk date with a friend, or even, get this…taking a nap. These are all things that can help us to live our best life – that are not hard work.

Having a good balance of the being and the doing is so important. Our society praises the doers but takes no notice of the “being” side of things. I was so used to (for many years) only the doing part. I would hustle a lot. I would run myself so hard. Every few weeks (like literally every month or so) I would get totally overwhelmed. I realize now it was because I was not factoring in the being part into my life.

Before I get too ahead of myself, here is what I mean by this:

Being - literally just not doing anything, just taking in the moment and allowing stillness. It is defined as the fact of existing.

Doing is defined as action, performance, execution…aka the hustle.

Ok so back to my days of overwhelm, I would go, go, go – be SUPER focussed and motivated and then I would get exhausted, frazzled, burned out. I wouldn’t recognize it and I tried to keep going and force instead of listening to what my body/mind/soul needed.

When this happened, I usually would get so overwhelmed and depressed and want to just stay in bed. I would feel paralyzed, and I wouldn’t be able to make any more decisions or do any sort of action. Sometimes I would start to feel better after a few days, other times it was just a few hours.

Now I look back on it and I’m like right. That happened. It sometimes happens now too, but its different. I know what to do, I know how to handle it better now. And I really pay attention to my intuition that gives me little hints along the way instead of getting full blown out of control.

My message to you is this… Make sure to factor in the being and the rest part of your life, the being. It is so important for your forward momentum and balance while you are creating your best life!

Jen xo