B More Balanced: Fall Goals

(I started this post yesterday but had a minor freak out when I couldn't find my wallet and so I spent the most of the night after lab searching for it instead of blogging. Good news is that I found it in my car wedged in between the passenger seat and the door. Crisis averted)

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Now that we are past Labor Day weekend and I had my first quiz last night (eeeek) and have my first real lab of the semester tonight, it finally feels like Fall is here, even if it's still 90 degrees outside. Children are back in school, the fundraiser catalogs have started to circulate through the office. Football has begun and Starbucks even has Pumpkin Spice Latte flavor back (mi favorita!), although the grocery store shelves don't have canned pumpkin due to the crop shortage last year :( For me, these are the signs that the season is changing.

In a previous post I talked about some of the goals that I was setting for myself for this new season but I have to admit I was sort of anxious to just put 'em all out there for every one to see. However, by sharing them with you now I will feel extra accountable and motivated to achieve each goal.

Goals for the Fall:

1. Plan for the week.

My plan is to sit down on Sunday nights and plan out my week. I want to write/type out my schedule and plan my meals and workouts accordingly. This will be especially beneficial when I am trying to figure out what to pack for lunch or eat for dinner on nights when I have very little time to eat let alone cook before class. This will also help me to figure out time that I'll have for studying and playing ;)

I will also need to plan my meals for Meatless Monday. This past year for my New Year's Resolution I decided to give up meat (except for seafood) for 1 month just to see what it would be like. It actually wasn't as hard a I thought it would be, but I realized that I still like a good steak every now and then and couldn't actually go completely without. Meatless Monday is all about improving personal health and the health of our planet so of course I'm on board.

2. Eat healthy and exercise more.

This one is pretty obvious but it's on the list because it's something that I'm currently working on and improving over time. I don't have any particular weight loss goal but through experience I've learned that healthy diet with exercise essentially leads to weight loss so it will happen along the way. For me this goal is to keep me focused on what makes me happy and feel my best. You are what you eat, and when I eat REAL whole foods I just feel better. When I exercise I not only look good, but I feel good thanks to of the endorphins that are being released. I want to stretch more and get outside and enjoy the weather while it lasts. It's a no brainer for WHY this is a goal but finding time to make healthy meals and get in that physical activity is the real issue for me and I need to make it more of a priority in my life.

3. Make more of an effort to keep in touch with family and friends.

For me this is an issue that I've struggled with for a long time. Coming from divorced parents I now have a HUGE family to keep in touch with. Even though I am truly blessed to have so many amazing and caring people in my life that I can call family or friends, it can be a challenge to keep in touch with everybody and not have somebody feel forgotten or neglected. It's very easy to become wrapped up in your own busy stressful life to the point where you forget that the people that you "don't have enough time for" are the ones whose love will ease you through your struggles, whose ears will listen to you vent, and whose wisdom will provide you with perspective and guidance. My goal is to make more of an effort to keep in touch with the people that mean the most.

4. Take time to meditate and reflect.

It's easy to stress myself out about my responsibilities, commitments, and my overall crazy schedule. I have to worry about school, my job, my love life, family and friends, Rae and anything else that is going on in my life. I find that it is important to take time for myself without any distractions to reflect, regroup, and relax. When life becomes chaotic I feel lost and not myself. When I take time to stop and relax, I am able to get in touch with my true self. It gives me time to make sense of my ideas, feelings, and thoughts. Through meditation I am able to connect mind and body and figure out who I really am. I'm also thinking about taking a yoga class at my gym, but I'm still deciding if group yoga is for me or not.

5. Judge less and smile more.

We are all guilty of judging in one way or another. We are guilty of judging others and we are guilty of judging ourselves. My goal is to not judge others about their eating habits, lack of exercise or motivation, appearance, style, skin color, or choices that they make. What another person chooses to do is their decision to make. Not mine. I can chose whether or not to be witness to those choices but I don't have to agree with them. I am my worst critic. I judge my actions, my appearance, everything! However, I realize that by constantly criticizing and judging myself I am only creating my own anxiety. My goal is to be kind to myself and not worry about what others may think about me. Simply put, only God can judge me.

Smile more. By smiling, even if you are depressed or sad, you can inadvertently change your mood, change how others view you, make you look younger, and make you appear to be more confident and more approachable. Also, smiling is contagious. If you are happy and smiling, those around you will be more likely to be happy in your presence. So spread the happiness and smile

Source

What goals do you set for yourself? Do you find yourself judging others or being overly critical of yourself? How do you deal with those inner judgements and the anxiety that they create?

Meals from Tuesday (not all were pictured):

Natural PB on Multi grain English Muffin and sliced banana