What does it look like when things are DIALED IN?
When things are considered to be “dialed in” your life flows well, you feel good and you are proud of your daily habits. This means work, family, and all of your other personal commitments are made a priority and are well-organised. You may be wondering how this impacts your self-care, in particular, things like consistent healthy eating and exercise?
When things are dialed in, you may find it effortless to get to the gym regularly, do your healthy food shop, do some meal prep, and eat those healthy foods on a consistent basis.
That “DIALED IN” feeling is AWESOME.
If you are feeling DIALED IN right now, make a list of what that looks like for you.
Heading into the end of November with the Christmas holidays around the corner, many people get nervous about added stressors, and worry about the impact this has on their health. If you are feeling DIALED IN at this time, it’s time to explore ways to maintain that level of wellness.
Challenge yourself to take a minute to explore what it looks like when your dial is turned down. Very much the opposite to that DIALED IN feeling, with the added stress of the holidays, there may be times where you isolate yourself, you may find yourself wanting to avoid gatherings, wear baggier clothes, eat unhealthier foods or beverages, and it takes much more effort to participate in healthy activities that once felt effortless.
Challenge yourself to look at some of these DIALED IN vs NOT SO DIALED IN patterns for yourself. What have previous years looked like for you, what worked, and what didn’t work to help you stay engaged in your health and wellness goals?
Here’s an example of a holiday edition of a DIALED IN vs NOT SO DIALED IN list:
|
DIALED IN |
NOT SO DIALED IN |
|
Exercise 30 minutes per day |
Low energy- not feeling up to going to the gym, so stayed on the couch and watched TV |
|
Eating veggies with 2-3 meals per day |
Eating more chips and chocolate |
|
Wearing nice clothes or a pair of jeans |
Baggier clothes and sweat pants every day |
|
Curling your hair |
Pony tails and messy buns |
|
Making healthy side dish for family gathering |
Dreading the family gathering, wanting to stay home |
|
Christmas shopping done by 12/14 |
Procrastination and last minute shopping |
Remember that your brain loves patterns, routine and comfort. It is easy to resort to behaviors that feel comforting and familiar when we get stressed. It’s easy to resort to things on your NOT SO DIALED IN list when stress hits over the holidays. Each time you try a new behavior, you are working on changing your brain.
The challenge lies in recognising our patterns, and then challenging our ability to participate in behaviors that help us become more DIALED IN, choosing things on that DIALED IN list, even when we are lacking motivation to do so. Practicing new behaviors – the opposite action to emotion- helps to create new healthy patterns and routines and can increase our likelihood of having a happier and healthier holiday season.
During the next month, the next time you feel like your dial is starting to turn down and you are resorting to items found on your NOT SO DIALED IN list, pull out your DIALED IN list and challenge yourself to participate in just one of those behaviors. Treat yourself well, even when you don’t feel like it.
There is a great sense of accomplishment when you sit back and realise that you were tough enough to not fall back on old patterns that derail your health and wellness goals. By changing the way you think and react to stress, you may find that you have a less stressful and happier holiday season!