Making (anytime) the best of times
I love the phrase “The most wonderful time of the year.” It’s most mostly associated with Christmas, of course. Regrettably, we’re often reminded that experiencing the best times depends on variables outside of our control. Sometimes, it’s not the best or even very good. What then? Well, I have a few ideas…
We have all definitely felt some shortages and pain (and hopefully the worst is behind us) this year. But that’s not the topic I want to write about today. Instead, let’s unpack how to adjust our dials to lean into the positive to make this time (or any time) of year the best.
This skill of having a positive outlook is supposedly, according to my Strength Finder’s test, one of my talents. But, I will argue that I’m not innately that positive. Instead, I’ve learned what can help me turn my outlook around.
I’ve written about this before but it’s worth repeating, in my opinion.
Let’s take the common example that can be the start of a bad attitude-type-of-day: cloudy, gloomy weather combined with a long to-do list with several things we dread, waking up later than planned, feeling unrested, missing a workout (and hunger used to bug me, but no more!). These circumstances used to be a recipe for big-time-grumpy for me. Recently, this day actually happened but since I’ve been working on how my habits can affect how I feel, I was able to do several things that helped.
These are things that I like and feel energy by being around. Are they magic? No. Is this a stupid (weak, pollyannaish, lucky, old-person) idea? No. Can you do it, too? Of course. But, you have to accept the reality that when we choose to simply react negatively to our environment that isn’t perfect or even just less than what we want, we are in fact, being lazy and immature. Let’s grow in our understanding and action and be better!
Here’s how I turned around my bad recipe and managed a better attitude:
I started with some quiet time (shorter than I like, but I didn’t skip it), reading scripture, praying and COFFEE.
I rearranged my schedule to be more efficient with my workout that I had slept through (sleep is priority #1 in my life right now.)
I turned on all the lights where I was working so it wasn’t as dim and dreary. (fireplaces always help me, too).
I played some quiet but uplifting music.
I scented the room with a new method instead of candles (because I’m all out of candles and keep reading more about toxicity and scents). This day I simmered in a pot of water 1 bag of cranberries, 3 cinnamon sticks, 2T of mulling spices and 2 oranges.
I set the alarm on my phone every hour and did some activity for 5 minutes. This included walking up and down my stairs, putting away laundry, sweeping the floor and emptying the dishwasher, besides playing with my dogs and walking while talking on the phone (bonus that I also got some chores done!)
I made a tasty warm beverage (again) to drink while I worked (coffee with this bulletproof creamer).
These are things I know speak to me, they improve my attitude by being around them. Instead of feeling and acting like a victim of my own laziness, I pivoted. I turned around a potentially negative day and flipped the switch on myself. I knew I was going to need a little more than accomplishment to get going that day, so I intentionally made my surroundings support my goal. (This is NOT a picture of a bad day, but it was in fact, cloudy and cold!)
Is it easy to stay positive? After a while, it gets easier. But, practice makes a huge difference. Earlier in this week that I’m describing, I had a particularly stressful event come up, and I didn’t pivot very well. I was distracted and supremely unproductive. So, even though I’ve practiced for a long time, I still get knocked down at times. But then, I get back to it. I try very hard not to stay down.
One of the reasons that I am hyperaware of negativity is because I used to live with someone who struggled mightily with this. It was excruciating to watch and live with. It seemed as though nothing would ever change or help, no matter how many scented candles I lit or happy music I played. It was a severe situation. But, it taught me some great lessons that still influence me today, even though that time is long in the past. Very negative experiences have the potential to teach us very positive lessons.
Here’s the great thing about choosing positivity: we don’t have to practically understand or experience every option in order to choose the good one. We don’t have to know pain to know peace. We don’t have to be sick to appreciate health. We don’t have to live through tragedy to appreciate great comfort. We get to choose in each and every situation how to respond; it may not be our initial reaction, but we can learn to adjust and choose the best path. Thus, freedom from circumstantial happiness and into true grace.
From this posture of grace, we can then emphatically support an environment where we can be our best. Would I have been as productive without my homemade infusion of scents? Likely, but it improved my attitude and surroundings to the degree that I could more easily focus.
The idea that small, easy-to-do and easy-to-skip behaviors can have any noticeable impact in our life is factually supported. The most prevalent and frequent confirmation of this practice is functional medicine.
These clinicians prescribe behaviors to improve disease markers, reduce or eliminate symptoms and heal root causes. And, often, these prescriptions work (as well as or) better than manufactured medicine because the side effects are all positive!
In a recent conversation I was having with a nurse practitioner, she shared with me how commonly, patients who are at a health risk because of obesity want a prescription drug to help them lose weight. But, many aren’t doing what they can on their own to improve their health. They don’t exercise. They eat processed, junk and fast food. They don’t sleep enough. They’re over-scheduled and full of stress. She shared that they feel great overwhelm when even thinking about changing habits because there is so much that needs to change.
Maybe you can relate to feeling so behind in your health that doing little things like moving frequently throughout your day, cooking meals at home, going to bed early, getting up early, reading, putting away electronics, drinking water (+electrolytes), eating meat, eggs, veggies, fruit and starches just seems like a bunch of nothing. It can seem irrelevant when faced with disease. But we know chronic disease starts small and builds over time, sometimes years before we actually feel the effects. If we can trace back over our habits and identify those that don’t line up with our goal of living a healthy life, we could change them.
To me, this idea is so exciting. It’s simple. It’s doable. All we have to do is practice good habits and most of our health will fix itself (unless you’re already in a disease state, but even then, good habits WILL CHANGE YOU). We can be responsible and do things that help prevent the expansive diseases than plague our world.
To this end, I created Formula3. The foundations of this program are doable by ANYONE! My program is built for women, but the core habits are not exclusive to us; every person will improve in all the significant health markers if you practice them.
I’ve been sharing these foundational habits and features of Formula3 on my social media, but will give them to you here, and you’ll be ahead of schedule! The 12 Days of Fasting coincide with how we change behaviors around food and fitness and in turn, feel our best. Please share these with the people you love and if you’d like some support in changing your habits, behaviors, attitudes, days, and years, into a life worth living, making this the very best of times, please reach me at kristen@klivfit.com.❤️ Merry Christmas everyone!
