Believe Manifesto

Happy New Year everyone!

As I started out the New Year I started reflecting on what worked in 2017 and what didn’t and so I thought I would share a few tips with you all in three categories to help you all have a fresh start to the year!

Body

1/ Hands down the easiest improvement to make to how you feel this year is to drink more water. Every year I see lots of people trying to tackle drinking more water and often times they end up frustrated. Many think that a new, shiny, expensive bottle will do the trick. I learned that the only thing that helps me drink more water are those cheap disposable bendy straws. I have them on hand at home at all times and I put them in my water glass and it goes down twice as fast! Another thing you might consider is flavored water. There are a lot of bad ones out there, so be careful. But the best one hands down I have ever tried is called Hint. You can find out more about that here. (And no this is not an ad.)

2/ Choose one change to make this year when it comes to food. Not 20, not 100, not whole30 and vegan and no grain. Just stop already! Start small and find one thing you want to do different this year. Here are some ideas:

• Meal Plan: Find a meal plan resource with grocery lists. I have discovered a new concept behind healthy eating. Instead of planning out your meals and them standing alone–your weeknight meals build off of each other and then you also have enough left over for lunches. I came across this great resource from Epicurious.
• Try a new spice every month. Sometimes flavor is everything when it comes to food. Often times my family gets burned out on foods that they love. But I can switch a sauce out, or add a different spice and voila dinner is saved. Find three recipes to try over the month that feature that spice. Remember that just because you don’t like a spice one way (I’m talking to you cumin apple chips) you may love it another way, like the Roasted Cumin Chicken I had once at the Beechwood.
• Choose ONE food to introduce and eat more of, or a food to cut out and avoid. One of the easiest ways to improve your heath is by educating yourself and cutting out harmful ingredients. I would start by cutting out something like food coloring, corn syrup, or soy. Just focus on that one thing for the whole year and you will feel like a champion of your health! If you want to introduce a new food, try something maybe you didn’t like before and try it in new ways. Some of the ones I have been trying more are avocado, tomato, and Brussel sprouts. I can tell you with 100% certainty that I ate ZERO of these growing up. Hated them. But, I try them anyway and now I can stuff them down if I get creative.

3/ Do low impact exercises at home. I have only worked out in a gym maybe twelve times in the last six years. I know some of you just about spit out your coffee! But it’s true. Most of my exercise comes from daily life and very simple stuff I do at home. Most of my workouts are five minutes or less. Choose one new thing and do it for five minutes, five times a week. This is my 5×5 rule. Maybe for you its planking. You will have to work up to it, but you can do 30 second planks 10x a day at first and work up to 1 min per day. Or you could do a combo which is what I usually do. My combo usually includes arm lifts, crunches, planks, and squats. I set the timer on my phone for 5 minutes and then do a few of each until I am done. This is SIMPLE and easy to stick to.

4/ Find one thing to help simplify your beauty routine. Often times us mamas think we need all the products, all the tools, and that we aren’t good enough without the newest and latest in the beauty world. I decided I really don’t care last year. I got tired of spending so much time getting ready, only to wash it all off. I had one friend tell me she lost her makeup in a move, and she forgot to buy new. Ha! I love it. So last year I threw out most of my hair products and I started using this sea salt spray, that is THE BEST. I spray it on after I have slightly towel dried my hair and then I walk away. This is my routine 90% of the time for my hair. But what I have learned is that I actually like the way my hair looks BETTER this way then I did before. It looks smoother, shiner and healthier. Here is a terrible selfie to prove my point.

All of you know my hair is stick straight. But I did nothing with my hair this day besides what I mentioned above. Doesn’t it look like I curled my hair?! I didn’t. Around 5pm I took 2 bobby pins and pulled the sides back before going to Grayson Home to do some early Christmas shopping. That is it. This sea salt spray made me so happy last year. Can you tell?

Mind

1/ Start with gratefulness. Something that I have done in the past is grab a little notebook and every night before I went to bed, I wrote down one thing I was grateful for. Another thing we have done with the kids is to go around the dinner table and share one thing we are all grateful for that happened that day. Another way to practice gratefulness is through prayer or meditation. Wake up five minutes earlier and take a few minutes of quiet time and list the things that you are grateful for in that day. Gratefulness is a proven way to help increase your happiness and wellbeing.

2/ Let go of something. Often times we are holding on to thoughts, ideas, or perceptions that actually aren’t true. Maybe there is a hard conversation you need to have with someone to move past a difficult conflict. Maybe you need to stop thinking about a bad piece of your past. You can fill your mind with positive words and affirmations so that there is no room in your mind for negativity.

3/ Get on a sleep schedule. This goes right along with body too, but I think for most of us its even more important for our minds. What if instead of fueling up with more coffee we just got more rest?! Sleep is so important to your wellbeing and this can be a game changer for many of us. In our house we have tried to go to bed at the same time and wake up at the same time. Letting your body get into a sleep schedule allows your body to find it’s natural rhythm. My kids are less moody and cranky when they get enough sleep and I have a better outlook on everything.

4/ Read more self help books. (Yes, the Bible is the #1 self help book you can buy.) When we are pouring into ourselves and putting positive things in our minds, we are going to be happier and have a better feeling about life. This has been a complete game changer in my life the past eight years.

Home

1/ Find one area or room to calm. Last Fall I decided that I wanted to calm our bedroom. To make it a quiet sanctuary where Derick and I feel at peace when we walk in. A place where we feel calm and relaxed. With all of the constant piles of laundry it was the opposite. This project is almost done. And I am already happy with the results. It’s taken a while, I didn’t set a deadline. I just told Derick I was going to make it happen. For you this may be the mud room, entry way, or kitchen. Whatever bothers you the most…start there.

2/ Don’t think that new things are going to solve what you don’t like about your home. One of my favorite books is The Nesting Place by Myquillyn Smith. I got this book about five years ago and have since given it away as gifts to many friends. It’s all about understanding that your home doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful. Shopping your own home for things to change up and move around. I love all this mindset and think it is one of the easiest ways to feel better about your home.

3/ Surround yourself with things you love. This one is going to be different for everyone. But I discovered a while back that I love candles and blankets. So now I have about five really great blankets and throws throughout our home that I will snuggle up in. These instantly make me feel better. I also love burning candles. I have found that if there is one thing that instantly puts me in a better mood about my home, it is lighting my favorite water fire candle. Which you can find here.

So since I don’t really believe in resolutions I challenge you to make a New Year’s decision to help improve your Mind, Body & Home. Lastly, here are a couple of blog posts that I have loved this year so far!

http://thenester.com/2018/01/two-tips-to-a-tidy-home.html

http://lalalovelythings.com/2018/01/goal-as-you-go/