I was on a call this week for work where one of the Sales team members was being celebrated for a big win they had. As the leader shared the best practices that attributed to this person’s success, they listed two things:
• She has mastered the basics
• She has learned to control the controllables
Man, if that isn’t great advice for building a strong foundation for wellness, I don’t know what is!
Mastering the Basics
The way I see wellness these days is 3 parts: Nutrition, Movement, and Mindset. But for so long, I overcomplicated the basics. I would workout so that I could eat whatever I wanted rather than fuel my body for energy so that I could feel great while working out. I did not take care of my mindset at all. But now that I know better, I see how building the foundation with mastering these basics is the key to continued wellness. And to me, a strong foundation for wellness is rooted in habits. Eating intuitively to fuel my body with the nutrients it needs. Moving my body every day. And taking time to get my mindset right through reading personal development, or a devotional, or some breathwork to reconnect with myself. Each day varies in how these habits look, but the ritual is there to keep my foundation strong. After all, building a house on a cracked foundation is a poor choice. What type of foundation have you built for your “house”?
Controlling the Controllables
These words spoke volumes to me! Possibly because life often feels out of my control these days as unexpected life events and my two beautiful tiny humans seem to control the story line of the day. But even amidst the chaos, there are things within my control. I get to choose what I am fueling my body with. In other words, I have control of my nutrition if I choose to control it. Yes, I have work events and summer picnics galore right now where there’s plenty of free food, but just because it’s free, do I need to eat or drink it? Nope. I have control of the time I dedicate to movement. Yes, I may have to break it up occasionally throughout the day and change my plans, but I can choose to make time to move. And lastly with mindset. I am in control of my thoughts. Occasionally, I find them running rampant down the avenues of “what if” or comparing myself to other people in this world, but I do know that I can choose to hit the pause button on those thoughts, and take control of my mind to get it back on track. My biggest challenge here is emotions. My emotions have always been a hurdle for me in mindset because I feel things deeply. But, I can choose to reign those in too if they get too out of control. I’ve learned to feel them, and move things through my body. There are plenty of things within my control even when life seems out of control.
Chaos Coordinator
I have a backpack with the phrase on it “Chaos Coordinator”. After having kids, I found humor in the chaos that my life seems to be in daily. So it’s true, I am the resident chaos coordinator in my house. But, I still am successful in my wellness journey because I have mastered the basics and recognize that I can control the controllables. Everything that withstands the test of time in this world has a strong foundation. If you are struggling with your wellness journey, go back to the basics and understand what is in your span of control. Take a real look! If you have a strong foundation, congratulations! But if your foundation is cracked, rebuild it. I know you can.