When you're not feeling motivated...

The dark, cold months of winter are rough for me.

The dry skin, cold temps, shorter evenings, removal of most of my favorite outdoor activities, and Utah inversion really kill me. And among other things, one thing that leaves me during this time of year is my motivation. I just want to stay in bed and eat lots of warm carbs, which really kills the progress towards goals :)

I've found a few things that help me get through this rough time of year and help me overcome my lack of motivation:

--I get everything ready way beforehand. If I want to work out in the morning, I pack all my bags, lay out all my clothes, prep breakfast, and write it in my planner. I want to put enough effort into in that I'll feel dumb if I decide to sleep in, instead.

--I trick myself. When my alarm goes off and I want to ignore it, I tell myself that I don't have to go to the gym as long as I get up and go to the bathroom. Once I'm up and out of bed, I'm no longer tempted to skip :)

--I reward myself. I attach each goal with a reward (or punishment). If I go to that yoga class, I get to stop at the lululemon store. If I do that morning workout, I will postpone doing laundry that day (very adult of me, I know). If I don't do the workout, I make myself clean something or do extra work. It's very motivating haha.

--I try to regulate my biology. I try to get in the sun for at least a few minutes (harder than it should be, this time of year), eat fruits and veggies, go to bed early, drink lots of water, read for a few minutes, do kind things for others, and at least get up and walk or do the stairs throughout the day. By covering these bases, I feel those winter blues a little less intensely.

--I force myself to do fun things and look on the bright side. Winter may suck, but at least there is skiing! And blankets! And boots! And hot chocolate!



Do you have any tips for keeping that motivation going during winter?

Whole30: Days 2-4

Well, 4 days down.

In a lot of ways, it hasn't been as difficult as I expected: the hardest part (for me) of the Whole30 is saying no to things that are right in front of my face. At home, we got rid of most everything that isn't compliant, but in other places, people show up with WHOLE PIES. Jerks. :)



I try to be super-over-prepared, since I know that I make all my bad decisions when I'm hungry. So I cooked up some bone broth, bought and chopped a ton of veggies, cooked up a bunch of chicken in the crock pot and shredded it, and made sure we had tons of stuff we could just grab (like dried fruit, nuts, almond butter, etc. for snacks plus lots of meat, eggs, and produce in the fridge and freezer). I also pre-make salads (with leafy greens on top to prevent sogginess) that are ready to eat whenever. It's been sooooo nice, not having to spend a ton of time cooking each day (because helloooo ms. hangry!!). Hopefully I can stay on top of that each week.

For breakfasts I've been sticking to omelets or just finding stuff around the kitchen (this morning was a hard boiled egg, celery with almond butter, applesauce, and a mug of bone broth).

For lunches, I generally do salads or soups (chicken and vegetables in that broth) with various sides, and dinners I've been cooking at home.

Sunday, we did some superrrr delicious lemon salmon (recipe at the bottom) and had leftovers the next day.

On Monday we did steak (my husband about lost it when he found out his steak seasonings had sugar and he couldn't use them).

And tonight we did tuna salad (recipe at the bottom) inside of mini peppers.

We pretty much always have lots of raw vegetables as sides, plus whatever else we feel like adding. Tonight it was this concoction that looks disgusting but tastes delicious: sliced banana, unsweetened coconut flakes, and almond butter. So so good.

We've honestly enjoyed everything enough so far that we don't really feel like we're missing out. Except that dang pie. Sigh.

:)






Lemon Salmon:
You'll need:
1 salmon filet
olive oil (mine is lemon infused but you don't need it)
juice from 1/2 lemon (or to taste)
salt, pepper, dried parsley, oregano, Italian seasoning

Directions:
rinse the salmon, pat dry
drizzle olive oil in a glass baking pan, put the salmon on top
drizzle more oil on top, squeeze juice over the whole thing, add seasonings
cover with foil and bake at 400 degrees for 35ish mins (depending on size)
you can make this more delicious by baking ultra thin lemon slices on top of the salmon




Tuna Salad Stuffed Mini Bell Peppers:
this is my version of this recipe:
You'll need:
mini bell peppers, seeded and cut in half
1 can of compliant tuna, drained
olive oil
1 hard-boiled egg, roughly chopped
1 tbsp green onions, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
mix everything but peppers and scoop it into the hollowed bells. Eat and be happy.

Life Checklist: Progress?

I came across this article (which I liked much more than most of the "30 things to do by 30" that mostly involve traveling or breaking up with that idiot or having your own credit card.... thanks for tips) that's a mid-twenties checklist for your career and it got me thinking...

What does my checklist look like?

There are many many things I'm sure I'd include, but these are a couple that I think make good measuring sticks (for me):

--Am I happy? Why or why not?

I'm not saying that life should always be rosy or that being happy is the only goal, but figuring out why I feel the way that I feel about my life at the moment is generally a good way to help me figure out if I'm on track.

--Where do I want to be in 1, 5, 10, 30 years? Is what I'm doing now taking me down that path?

While this is common career advice, I also like to apply it to other aspects of my life. What kind of person do I want to be when I "grow up?" Am I doing things to take me there, or am I wasting my life with things that don't actually matter to me in the long run?

--Am I progressing? Do I have goals and am I working towards them?

If I'm enjoying my time, that's great. But when I look back a few months or years, have I made progress since that point? Or am I letting myself get stagnant, forgetting to take steps forward? (This is something that terrifies me. What if I wake up one day, and my life is half over, and I haven't accomplished or experienced any of the things that I wanted to?) It's so easy to just go through the motions of life, and having something to work towards helps keep me moving in the direction that I want.



Those are just a few of mine.... do you have any? :)

I heart learning - another certification (Behavior Change)

So I love learning. If it were free and there was unlimited time in life in which I could accomplish everything I wanted, I would be one of those perpetual students, just taking classes and getting degrees until I died. That would be great.

Instead, I love certifications. A lot. A whole lot. They allow me to continue with the learning process without the commitment of regular school.

So, my latest project - NASM's Behavior Change Specialization. I loved it - lots of good information about motivation and working with people based on how ready they are to change their unhealthy behaviors.

I had the exam today, and I passed! Yay! Celebrate! :)