It’s a Marathon not a Sprint

Happy New Year! 2023 has begun. Deep Breath!

So confession time...Day 3 into the new year and I just spent the whole day crying.

I snapped at my partner in the morning because I was feeling on edge and then just could not stop the tears from coming. 

I've cracked before I have even started! 

Now you may have entered this New Year as gracefully and as smoothly as you planned - kudos, keep it up!  or like me you may have not.

Pick yourself up, dust yourself off and remember:

Take a Deep Breath

Just because a new year has ticked over does not mean you are magically a new human being. 

You started a new day. 

You have come to the end of another week.

It's easy to get caught up in the new year hype and at the same time let it stress you out to the point where week two of 2023 is going to start to look like an ordinary week from last year, and before you know it you'll be celebrating New Year 2024 just like now.

No more. Don't make excuses this year.

That's the easy way out.

What I came to realise (after I had run out of all the tears inside my entire body) is once again it was all my own bottled up worry.

Thinking how daunting my tasks are going to be.

Blaming others for not letting me get my work done.

It was like I had put a mentos into a coke bottle and I was just watching the pressure build up to the point of explosion. 

It was all in my head.

It is so easy to slip into a victim mentality as your own way of protecting yourself from your excuses. 

I can't do this because of x

It can't work because of y

I don't have enough time...

and on and on and on and on and on.

'Victim Mentality is when you believe you have no control over things that happen to you.'

You are a grown ass adult. Figure it out. 

Make the time

Your stressors might be different from mine but I find my worry builds from a place of inaction.

This inaction causes psychic entropy.

[Entropy - lack of order or predictability; gradual decline into disorder.]

As soon as I am not moving towards what I have set out for myself the worry and doubt starts to set in, and the reason I'm not moving forward is because I haven't organised my life better to make the changes I want to.

Therefore the mind starts towards disorder. 

MIND:

Did you try to meditate for 30 mins a day every day this week only to find you stopped after the first time?

• Start with 5 mins If you don't want to meditate - write.

I recommend you start with Sahil Blooms 1-1-1 Method:

1 win from the day

1 point of tension, anxiety, or stress

1 point of gratitude

...it only takes 5 mins

MOVEMENT:

Are you too sore from your first week back in the gym? 

• Don't injure yourself trying to prove something you are not physically prepared for.

• Pull it back a bit. If you're just starting a fitness habit make sure you are getting your steps in and gradually increasing intensity.

MEDIA:

Have you given yourself too many tasks for the allocated time? (this is common)

• Start with less

• Reflect on your working time blocks

Mental Housekeeping

This thought popped up a few days later...

Just like you can't become old friends over night there is no change without persistence and patience.

If there is anything I can try to highlight with all the mindset work I have delved into over the years its this.

Get your mind out of quick fixes.

It's not going to happen

You are in this for the long haul. 

Counterintuitively - the 'quicker' you can open your mind to this the 'quicker' your results will be.

Start to think 2 years minimum!

If you are starting the year with a worry problem use this 3 step formula from Willis H. Carrier

1. Ask yourself ‘What is the worst than can possibly happen?’

2. Prepare to accept it if you have to

3. Then calmly proceed to improve on the worst

I'll leave you with this final thought.

Break it down, and start the cycle of change. 

Do it for you.

Let's make the most of 2023.

Maja

P.S. If you want to have a chat about where you are at or if you are struggling with this beginning of the new year please shoot me a message. Let's chat it through.