Listen to Your Body
This past week for me was a bit of a struggle. Okay saying it was a struggle may be a bit overdramatic. I felt myself not exactly being able to get everything done I wanted to during the past week. Work has become a bit more stressful and I have taken on some extra work so that is a slight contributing factor. Nothing this girl cant handle though! The best thing to come out of this week being a bit more difficult? A perfect topic for this week's blog. When things get rough in your life, I want to encourage you to listen to yourself and trust your instincts.
My first example is going to be with working out. As many of you likely know already I have been going to the gym five days a week now. I recently started going on Saturdays in addition to my Monday-Thursday schedule. My trainer is even sending Saturday workouts on top of the Tuesday and Thursday workouts he already writes (I know, he really goes above and beyond). I have been so proud of myself for not only sticking to the four days a week but also adding the extra day! When Wednesday hit this week I did not feel great. Getting to the gym was quite the struggle all week, and Wednesday felt so much worse. I was tired, unmotivated, and had a headache for most of the day. I took that as a sign. My body was telling me it needed a rest day so I listened to it. That also let me rest so I was extra ready for my training session the next day. If you have an off day like this take some time to evaluate why you're feeling that way. In other words, as long as you are not using it as an excuse to just blow it off, you are completely justified. Listen to your body and take a night off.
With the added weight training during my week now I have also noticed my hunger has upped a bit. Just yesterday I went to the gym around 10am, I got home and made a nice lunch around noon. Once 2pm hit my stomach was growling. I don't like to snack that early especially since I had my lunch a bit later than usual that day. Regardless, I decided to listen to my body. Clearly I was hungry so I made a nice snack of apples sprinkled with cinnamon, raisins, and almond butter. That was plenty filling to hold me over until dinner. I find that mapping out certain times for certain meals or snacks works the best for me. Everyone is different. Whatever system you may be on, If you feel hungry a few hours before a meal then your body is trying to tell you something. Give it something to hold you over. A piece of fruit, a handful of nuts, a rice cake with some peanut butter. Snacks that are small and not too big on calories. Do not use this as an excuse to over eat, but do not deprive yourself either. The longer you ignore those signs of hunger the more likely you are going to be to over eat during your next meal.
My last example is going to be to give yourself a break mentally if you need to. To go back to my post two weeks ago, Dealing With Emotions, I want to encourage you to find something creative for stress. As I mentioned previously work has picked up a bit for me these last few weeks. It helps the days feel faster so that is great, and its also great to know that I am trusted so much. Yes, I know, another shameless plug here about how much I love my job. Regardless as to being okay with the extra work, it still means more on my plate. This week I also started bullet journaling and that has been a huge help. I also have been letting myself get some extra sleep when I can. In a effort to keep stress at bay I am using my time in ways that are going to be much better for my mental health. I am going to repeat myself here and say again that you need to listen to yourself. If you are getting stressed that is a huge signal that you need to make an effort to decompress. Meditation, yoga, going to bed earlier, journaling... I could go on and on. You will thank yourself later if you take some time to try and de-stress yourself!
 |
New to bullet journaling, but I took this weekend to set up
the pages for the coming week! Great creative
way to get organized and de-stress!
|
It is pretty easy. Trust your intuition. Trust your body. Allow yourself to take the signals your body is giving you and do something productive with them. The most important thing to remember is to not feel guilty about it! If you need to take a day off of the gym do it! If you need to have an extra snack because you are hungry throughout the day eat one! If you need to cancel plans after work because you need a night to sit back with a glass of wine and catch up on your shows do it! Try to stick to your schedule and routines as much as possible, but if you need to take some time here and there to rest, do it. There is absolutely nothing wrong with doing any of that. Do what you need to do for yourself to be happy and healthy. Listen to all the signals your body is giving you.
0 comments