Today is Only One Day – And It Matters

Much of the focus on a New Year is making the next entire year great.

And to be honest, 365 days is pretty darn overwhelming to me.  So, taking a cue from the #onedayatatime mantra…

Today, I challenge you all to just make TODAY great.

• Do a workout or something active (today)
• Eat well (today)
• Do something that makes YOU (yes, YOU!) happy (today).
  (No, something that makes everyone else happy does not count).

If each day we approach with these three things in the background (not necessarily the forefront… but always there, always present), imagine what New Year’s Day 2017 could feel like?

I have no idea how to workout or how to find my motivation, you say

Take a walk. That’s all. Start there.  If you are straight off the couch, then walk.

If you are dabbling in triathlon (e.g., you think you might want to start, but have no idea.)… I do have a little book that might get you started. Well, it’s 415 pages. So it’s not little.

….BUT… the first 10 people to message me by 12:00 EST today, I will send you a free copy. [ALL BOOK copies ARE CLAIMED…thanks :)]  I do, also, have a free e-book here for the beginner triathlete.

If you are “unmotivated,” check out this post from last month.  The concept of “Big Picture Discipline” was a game

But I don’t know how to eat well, you say.

Well, I am not the nutritionist…. but I have been practicing the things she’s told me since April of last year. Not perfectly, mind you… but fairly consistently. To the point where I posted a swimsuit picture on Instagram yesterday.  (Talk about scary.)

But truly eating well, doesn’t have to be impossible.  You can start with the simple, long-standing proposition of:  if I can grow it or if it came from an animal; it has been minimally (or not at all) processed, then I can eat it.  Eat at home.  Cook something simple and easy.  Stay away from junk. Shop along the outer perimeter of the grocery.  These small things are daily, small changes that will matter.

But I don’t cook!  (Yeah, I don’t really either. I married one.)

• Applegate Farms makes amazing uncured hot dogs.  If your kids are picky, buy these – they’ll think they are “real” hotdogs (*uh, because they are real). Spinach comes in bags, and organic, too.  Avocado is easy.  Olive oil is easy to pour. Salt and pepper can be found on most counters.  No kidding… on busy working days, this is my lunch.  2-3 uncured beef hotdogs (I skip the buns), a spinach salad with all sorts of veggies on it, avocado and done.
• Applegate also makes a turkey pepperoni (near the lunchmeat) which comes straight out of the fridge, which sliced and diced on top of a salad is good and easy.
• A half of a can of black beans with avocado, salsa, some Greek yogurt (plain – tastes like sour cream) over a salad or some fresh tortillas make vegetarian taco night.
• Soup!? Amazing crock pot chicken soup (not cooking, it’s crockpot)
  
  Recipe:
  4-6 boneless skinless chicken breasts
  1 6 oz. can tomato paste
  1 whole onion diced
  1 13.5 ounce can whole coconut milk
  1 16 oz. can of diced tomatoes
  1.5 32oz containers organic free range chicken broth (more or less, depending on how much liquid you like)
  1-2 diced bell peppers, red or green
  1 cup matchstick carrots
  1 tbsp. cumin
  2-4 garlic cloves, minced
  1-2 tbsp. chili powder (if you like heat)
  Juice of 1/2 lime
  Dash paprika
  Salt and pepper
  
  Crockpot on high for 4 hours. Shred the chicken and finish another 2 or more hours on low.
  Chopped cilantro, avocado and lime garnish (optional)

So those are just some ideas.
Not to be bossy – but to give some of my favorite go-tos that fuel me, and make me feel like I am giving myself something decent to eat without stressing myself out.

So today, we do this:

• Do a workout or something active (check)
• Eat well (check)
• Do something that makes YOU happy

But what in the world do the LAST one mean?

We sometimes really fail at being nice to ourselves

This has been a really long battle for me.

The mean girl voice in my head.  But I have managed to quiet her. A least a little in the past six months. And it’s been quite the process. (And some people don’t apparently like that about me… hilarious. “Swim Bike Mom is happy? Oh Em Gee. She’s not my cup of tea.”)

But this little thing started at a place of doing nice things for myself.

Taking the time to say, “Hey Mere, you are worth a bath today.” (How silly is that? Yes, I bathe. But I mean a nice bath instead of a quick shower where a seven year-old is standing outside and asking me questions or laughing at my “jiggly butt”.  That’s a real confidence booster: “Mom, why is your butt so jiggly.”  Lawd.)

And also, little by little, I started to go to bed earlier. (Because it was nice of me to do that. Nice to me.)

These small changes, have made big differences over time…

Ideas for nice things for you to do for you:

• • Lotion your body (I’m not kidding. If it’s been over a week since you’ve given your entire body a nice lotioning—do it. It’s like a day at the spa. When my kids were babies, I don’t think I ever got lotion past my elbows before someone needed me… it was luxury, this lotion I speak of!)
  • Read a new magazine you like
  • Download a new book (or if you are a book purist like I tend to be, buy the delicious paperback!)
  • Drink coffee or tea out of a fabulous coffee cup (thanks, Mom!)
  • Take a walk with music you love
  • Take a walk without music, and listen to the world
  • Take a nap
  • Lay down and just breathe
  • Do a crossword puzzle, or color. Coloring is apparently a new thing for adults.
  • Or, “Coloring” (Any SATC fans will get this one)… but only if that makes you happy. I mean you can color… but don’t make that your “nice to you” thing for the day if it’s not really the nice to you thing… you know? 😉
  • Watch a little of your favorite TV show
  • Take a hot bath
    

• • Journal (this is a big one for me too. Getting out all the things I want to ‘say’ in one place… big stuff.)
  • Paint your nails – fingers or toes, or both (“But I don’t have TIME for them to dry.” Well, this nail polish dries in about 3 minutes and sticks on about 10 days, and costs $9–way cheaper than a mani-pedi.  And you can paint them, and then get on the bike trainer… not that I have done this. At all…)

Any other ideas? What ideas and actions do you do for you?

So, let’s make today great.

Then we can worry about tomorrow–when tomorrow is today.

HAPPY NEW YEAR, Y’ALL!

Love, Meredith

#JustKeepMovingForward #BestYearEverComingRightUp!