The Proverbial Day One

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

And today is a “DAY ONE” for so many of us.  And that’s great.  Day One is better than “Day I Can’t” or “Day I Won’t” or “Day is Always Tomorrow”.

But Day One of a YEAR or LIFE is scary.

365 days is pretty darn overwhelming to me.

So, taking a cue from the #onedayatatime mantra that guides me in my sober area of life.

Today, I challenge you to just make TODAY great.

• Do a workout or something active (today)
• Eat well and healthy (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 NEXT New Year’s might feel like.

The Proverbial Day One should be a ray of hope.

It simply enforces the amazing TRUTH that we can change in an instant. Which is WONDERFUL.  Don’t get bogged down in the minutiae of how–simply decide, and just do.

“I have no idea how to workout or how to find my motivation,” you might 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 I don’t know how to eat well,” you say.

Well, I am not the nutritionist (nor do I play one on TV), but I have been working very hard on my nutrition for a long while now.  I don’t get it perfect. It’s not been fast. But it’s a thing I work on.

Eating well doesn’t have to be impossible.

Eat “clean” is a buzzword we don’t have to abide by.

But 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 it will fuel me well.

Eat at home.  Cook something simple and easy.  Stay away from junk that is weird colors, packed like a carnival, or from a drive through. Shop along the outer perimeter of the grocery.

These small things are daily changes that will matter long term.

“But I don’t cook!”

Yeah, I don’t really either. I married one.

• I am mostly plant-based now, but this is a fantastic recipe that I posted last year and people continue to ask about to this day, so I’m reposting here.
  You don’t really have to cook this. The Crock Pot does it.Soup!? Amazing crock pot chicken soup  (*if you are a vegetarian, I am thinking you could sub veggie broth, white beans and sweet potatoes for something good)
  
  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)

Start with this one tonight if you are lost on what to make. It’s good.

All of the BUTS we want to say, there are things we can do RIGHT now to counteract them. It’s just about choosing to do that. Choosing to let ourselves win, not our internal mean girl or guy.

Choosing OURSELVES.

So today, we do this:

• Do a workout or go for a walk
• Eat well and colorfully 🙂
• Do something that makes YOU happy

But what in the world does 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 two years, especially the last six months. And it’s been quite the process.

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
  • 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  (not sponsored) 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!

#JustKeepMovingForward #YearOfNoNonsense