Healthy Happy Chaos

My body has been sending me signals this past year: low energy, tight shoulders, restless sleep. Despite my best efforts to “decompress’, I have come to the conclusion it’s time to listen to my body. But how do I reset— obtain a clean start for eating, moving, and de-stressing habits?

Eat better. Not perfect—better. More whole foods, less processed stuff. Seems so simple yet we always find ourselves grabbing the convenient items from the pantry when it comes to snacks and meals. But how did those things get into the pantry to begin with??? Oh yeah, you have kids and a spouse who grab things as you are grocery shopping because it looked good at the time or it was on sale or it’s for a cheat snack/meal when we earn one or it’s conveniently packaged and just makes sense for easy meal prep or lunch packing. Oh the insanity!!!! There is always a reason to go for the bad stuff, but in the end I know I always regret having these things in the house because I find myself grabbing these things when I am feeling snackish or when I ‘need’ a quick dinner option. I make a conscience effort to plan out meals and put together a grocery list every single week. I have all the best intentions, but in the end there is always some reason why not and I feel guilty. I know these moments of something ‘small’ or just one time add up, but its a vicious cycle when you are two working parents with kids involved in all the activities.

Well this all needs to stop or else nothing will ever change. I have recently found that using OneNote to plan out all our meals for the week is SUPER beneficial because I can also access on my phone!!! ***mind blown*** I have a whole ‘notebook’ dedicated to meal planning with a tab for each meal where I jot down ideas or copy and paste healthy recipes that I find via chatGPT or Pinterest. So now when I am chilling on the couch with the family Friday night after a long week I open up my laptop and plug in selections for each meal for the next week. As I do this I have my Amazon Alexa app open on my phone plugging in all the items needed from grocery store. Just like that I am done meal planning in about 10-20 minutes while watching a movie with the family and Saturday morning we can grab our reusable bags and knock out grocery shopping. I can’t believe I haven’t been doing it this way all along.

But what about the miscellaneous grabbing of things while at the store that are not on my list??? This has been a hard thing to fix, but I feel like each week it is a little better, but we still need some work. My family loves snacks and goodies. And to be honest I don’t blame them. We are currently living in Europe and there are sooooo many goodies around all the time and it can be hard to resist. Balance is key. I don’t think it is necessary to cut it all out. We should be able to enjoy the occasional goodie and not feel bad about it. However, I do have 2 growing boys so the amount of snacks and goodies seems to increase each week because they are ‘hungry’ and of course that apple just isn’t going to cut it for them, lol. But we have been discussing this a lot lately and have agreed to find a better balance between the healthy options and unhealthy options. I will say it again, Balance is Key!

Move more. It doesn’t matter if it’s yoga, walking, or lifting—just find what keeps you coming back. I like to have variety in my workout plan. Now this can be quite challenging because in my line of work we have to do an annual fitness test solely focused on 3 areas. This means that my workouts have to be tailored so that I ensure I do well on these components. However, I always find a way to still do the things that I want to do because working out is also my stress relief. But remember I said we are a dual working couple with 2 kids actively involved in extra curriculars? This means it can be more challenging to find the time in our busy lives to actually get workouts in. But what I have recently decided is that if this is really that important to me then I will find the time to make it happen. We all have choices and we have to prioritize what is important in our lives. This will change throughout our lives, but that is solely up to us. We like to blame things like work and family, but in the end we are the ones making the choice. So, I made a choice for me that works.

I hit the gym most days during my lunch period at work. It is time blocked off on my work calendar so that people know not to schedule things during that time period. Does this mean I am taking away from my job some? Yep, but I make up for that at night after my kids go to bed. That way I am not neglecting my family or work and still make time for myself. Yes there are some days I can’t workout at lunch due to lunch meetings, but that’s okay as long as it’s not every day and most of the people I work with know this about me. It makes me a better person because I am being intentional with my time. I have tried going to gym at end of day, but it never seems to fail that something comes up and more times than not I don’t get my time in. That affects me more than working a little each night before I go to bed. I don’t get my mental reset and it really affects my mind and I am just not a good person to others. I have even recently started getting up a littler earlier on the days I know I won’t be able to get to gym during lunch and workout in the mornings before work. But I know myself well enough to know that doing that every day is not sustainable. I have to be realistic about what I can and cannot do.

The biggest thing I do for myself is give myself grace as well. If I miss a day here and there it’s ok. Or if I can’t do as long or as hard of a workout because time is limited, it’s ok. I make up for that on other days like the weekends. Maybe Sunday I will get up a littler earlier than my family to put in a bit longer. We also do what we can to make it a family things occasionally. For instance, right now I do a 1 mile walk every day with my youngest son. I am working to show him how movement helps him mentally, emotionally, and physically. He also does a 20 minute HIIT with my husband on the weekends from time to time. Developing good habits in our boys will help them in the end. Every day is about balance in my life and what works overall for me and my family. We all have to find that for ourselves, because the minute we set unsustainable or unrealistic goals we lose focus and become frustrated. We may even find ourselves quitting altogether.

Stress less. Even five minutes of intentional calm can make a difference. Stress reduction isn’t optional. It’s not about eliminating stress—it’s about giving your body recovery windows. Chronic stress raises cortisol → affects sleep, appetite, fat storage, mood. High stress makes it harder to stick to nutrition and workout goals. If only it were as easy as taking a deep breath and calming yourself anytime you feel stress. We all know it requires us to be intentional. But breathing is important in the moment as well. You can do things like Box Breathing where you inhale to the count of 4, hold for count of 4, exhale for count of 4, hold for count of 4, and repeat 4 times. I dare you to try that right now and focus on what your heart rate does. Or maybe try Progressive Muscle Relaxation where you tense a muscle group for 5 seconds, release, and move on to the next muscle group. Seriously try these and just see how you feel. I like to do these at night when I lay down for bed because it helps me fall asleep a bit faster.

Another thing I have been working to do more often is stretching. For some reason I have always taken for granted what the benefits of stretching are. When we are young it feels as if it is isn’t necessary. Our bodies bounced back and we just weren’t as sore. Now that I am hitting my 40’s I realize that I should have been doing it more a lot earlier in life and maybe I wouldn’t have as many problems as I do now. As I said earlier, I started walking daily with my youngest. It helps us both after a long day at work and school. We can be silly and just chat about our days. It’s a great way to destress. Movement is great for the mind and body. Heck, even a random dance party helps. Just turn on some music that you can dance to and just watch the mood of those involved just change for the better. We love to do this sporadically when cooking dinner.

Mentally is somewhere I want to improve so I am working on trying different things to see what I benefit from and what will actually stick for me. This blog is something I keep trying to get going because when I actually spend the time to research and put together these posts I find that I feel better mentally. It’s a way for me to learn more about myself, help others, and really thing about what I am grateful for in life. Hobbies have become a huge part of my personal time lately too. We all need things that we enjoy and brings us peace in some way. Our family loves collections and have so many different ones it can be hard to track it all, lol. We all collect cards of some sort like Pokemon, Disney Lorcana, Magic, Marvel Champions. It’s a fun family time when we travel to find game stores and see what we can find to add to our collections. This also got us started with our board game collection, which in turn gave us a great family activity at night or on the weekends. We have so many board and card games that we never find ourselves bored when we need a more quiet time at home. Puzzles are great too. Over the past year I have been collecting Thomas Kincade Disney themed puzzles. We put them together as a family over a few days and then frame them for my office wall. There is something about focusing on a puzzle that just helps you mentally unwind. My husband and sons all love video gaming after a long day or week. The options are unlimited and I am always looking for new ways to mentally reset. You just have to find what works for you.

Three steps. One reset. Let’s go!