Plans for a Healthier September

Things have gotten a little off track the last few months. Thanks to a hectic schedule, crazy heat waves, poor air quality, random injuries and pinched nerves, I haven’t been doing so well with my health on all fronts – mental and physical. While in the beginning of quarantine, I was working out pretty much every day, meditating regularly, and enforcing healthy habits, the past few months have ultimately been a free for all and I’m starting to notice the effects.

My body aches. I get headaches and stomach aches all the time. My anxiety is back at full force and my emotions are all over the place. My clothes are fitting tight again and my muscle mass is disappearing. I’m just one big mess again. So this month I’ve decided to get back on track and I’m listing my goals here to keep me in check and hold me accountable.

Here are my plans for a healthier September –

• Meditate every day: I’m using the HeadSpace app and so far I have managed to meditate, even if just for 2 minutes, every day this month. I’m hoping to work my way up to longer sessions as the month goes on.
• Start each day with a positive thought: I’ve done this sporadically so far this month, but my goal is that every day before I get out of bed I will give myself some sort of encouragement or positive thought, even if it’s something as simple as “today is a good day.”
• End each day with gratitude: This is also something I have done sporadically this month, but every night before I go to bed I will list, to myself, the things I am thankful for.
• Eat out less: The post is coming, but my husband and I gave up cooking meat at home about a month ago. However, we still allow ourselves to eat meat when we eat out. That combined with crazy emotions, a hectic schedule and heat waves that make us search for any excuse to be in the AC cooled car, we’ve started eating out, and eating fast food nonetheless, more than we should. This month I’m going to figure out vegetarian cooking and cut back on my eating out.
• No phone in bed: I was doing this for a while when quarantine first started, but I got lazy and the habit resurfaced. I was sleeping better when I didn’t fall asleep looking at a screen. Starting tonight, no more cell phones in bed.
• No sleeping in past 7 am: When my emotions and anxiety get out of hand I start sleeping more. Not only do I take more naps, but I start sleeping in later and later, even if I go to bed early. Lately, I’ve been getting up at closer to 8 am, even if I am in bed by 10 pm and that is just crazy. However, I do need to acknowledge that while we are in this crazy heat wave I’m staying up later, mainly because it’s the only time the house cools down enough to get any work done. With that in mind, I am making a promise to myself to get up every day by 7 am, unless I stay up later than 1 am and need the additional time to get at least 6 hours of sleep. Eventually, I want to work my way back up to getting up at 6 am or earlier, but baby steps for now.
• Start working out: This is a hard one, only because the air quality is so bad, thanks to all the fires, and it has been so hot and I have no AC so I can’t shut my windows. Also, I have really bad allergies so any sort of smoke or ash in the air drives me crazy, so you can imagine how miserable I am. With that in mind, as soon as the air clears up or the temperatures drop enough so I can shut my windows, I will get back to my daily workout routine.

Wish me luck and cheers to a healthier September!

Cover Image by Mabel Amber from Pixabay