Another year is behind us.
I’m sure most of us are excited to bid farewell to 2020 since it was an unhappy one for so many. Instead, I choose to look ahead and I’m excited about the prospects 2021 holds. I feel like it is a new opportunity for us.
So let’s talk about designing the future. Set yourself up for success with your health by incorporating these 3 healthy habits in your regular routine:
Jump on the Meal-Planning Trolley
We all start the year off with the best of intentions. It’s easy to revert to old habits when life gets hectic and our schedule fills up.
Instead of getting caught in the chaos, start meal planning.
During the downtime in your schedule, take a few moments to look up a few healthy meals options you can prepare ahead. Use the weekends to batch cook. This is one of my favorite ways to make healthier food choices. If fact, having a freezer stocked with healthy options has literally saved me from reaching for a quick-fix take-out meal or fast and simple processed options that I know won’t give my body the nourishment it deserves.
If you’ve never done this before, it’s pretty easy:
- Build a shopping list that makes it easy to craft numerous healthy meals from the same base of ingredients.
- Let your slow cooker, Instant Pot, and other kitchen tools help you get the job done.
- Freezing leftovers properly will ensure you always have healthy and delicious meals ready for you to eat – just thaw and heat.
Bonus: you can put your feet up and read your favorite novel while you wait!
Make Quality Sleep a Priority
Remember those days when you were a kid and fought tooth and nail to avoid your afternoon nap? Turns out napping when you need to is a way to honor your body – and does yourself a world of good. Our cells rejuvenate while we’re sleeping and our body gets a reset.
Many of us don’t get enough sleep or enough good quality sleep. There’s NO need to be burning the candle at both ends.
Here are some tips to help you get better sleep and give your body the rest it needs and deserves:
Create a sleep time routine.
- Set a bedtime
- An hour before that time, stop with the screens – the computer, the smartphone as well as the television
- Enjoy a sleepy-time cup of tea and read a few pages of a good book with dim lights
- Ensure your bedroom is set up for sleeping – comfortable temperature, blankets, and pillows
- Pull up the covers and try some deep breathing, visualization, or meditation.
You’ll start feeling happier and less anxious when you take this time for yourself and start to adjust to your new bedtime routine.
Take Time to Unplug from the Digital World
So much of what we do means we’re digitally-tethered. We’re always on our devices for work, for our social lives, to stay connected with family and friends. When we’re done for the day, we’re never far from our smartphones and the endless barrage of social media notifications demanding our attention.
Remember the days when the internet was an escape from reality? Now we need to make reality an escape from the online world.
- Unplug from your devices each day at a particular time and make time for those in the real world under your roof.
- Make time for yourself too. You’ll be no good to anyone else if you’re neglecting your own self-care.
- Take the time every day to do something that feeds your soul and nourishes your mind
These three, small healthy habit shifts will make a big difference in how you experience your life every day and help you move through 2021 with strength and a positive attitude – an essential key to creating a life full of joy – no matter what’s going on around you.
Now it’s your turn:
Through the month of January in the Energized Healthy Women’s Club (my free private online community) we enjoyed 5 Simple Steps to a Healthier You – a program I offered to my community members to help kick-start their health goals for 2021. If you missed it, it’s not too late to join in – all the materials are there for you to review at your leisure and there are no fees or minimum participation expectations – just sharing, learning and fun with a group of women on a mission to live a healthy, energized life.
Let me know you’d like to be included and I’d be delighted to add you in.