What a huge few months this has been!
My life has changed substantially in a matter of weeks.
For years I have been working on not only my business but myself, three years ago I completely trashed my career as a real estate agent to benefit my mental health, it was not an easy decision, I took a huge pay cut and I questioned myself multiple times on if I had made the right decision or not, in fact I questioned myself for years.
Which is actually really silly because deep down it was clear I had made the right decision but it did put us under financial stress for a number of years which is probably the only reason I questioned myself. Financial stress is completely shit and really scary but I realise that no amount of money was worth the stress and anxiety I was feeling.
It was only this time last year I was searching for work within the business and looking at ways to build it so I didn't have to keep going out into casual jobs to make money to help pay the weeks bills, but I was so determined for financial freedom so I just keep working at it, coming up with new ideas and testing them out, working at bars and bridal shops, picking up work as a support worker, I was doing what I could to make money whilst working with a psychologist on managing my anxiety.
It was rough and my anxiety wasn't as under control as I would have liked it to be so some days were much harder then others, there were days that I was a power house, I would wake up feeling good, get things done around the house, get in a workout and smash out a bunch of work and then there were days that I couldn't bring myself to get up off the couch and that was ok, I was working on it.
It has been a HUGE couple of months, my cousin and I decided to start on an new adventure, our eBook! Never in a million years did I think I would get to the stage in my life where I would be writing a book! I mean how cool is that.. and on top of that, I am now flat out personal training and instructing group exercise. So in between writing a book and being a personal trainer I also run the books for my husband and I's business and again between crunching numbers and entering data I am also promoting and marketing for not only one social media account but 6, so I am definitely keeping myself busy and I am going to break it down pretty quickly here, within the space on two months I;
Embarked on a journey of writing an eBook
Promoted a huge giveaway
Became a part time personal trainer and group exercise Instructor
Started looking into outsourcing for my business
Started a low fodmap meal plan
Decided on some big career steps
Started writing a blog
Created a YouTube channel (Yet to come!)
Started collaborating with multiple businesses
Within all of those points comes a billion different emotions so to say its been a big few months is an understatement, I LOVE this new path I am on and I am absolutely a different person to who I was a year ago. I am in a much better place mentally, I have realised how strong and resilient I am there is no doubt about it but I got to a point where I was burning out and I knew I was but my motivation and determination was covering the fact that I had almost burnt the candle at both ends.
I was running off Adrenalin but unfortunately that doesn't last forever and last week I reached the end of the Adrenalin bottle. All of a sudden I was tired, emotional, drained, I was binge eating food that regularly don't even interest me, my training wasn't anywhere near where it used to be and I just wasn't feeling myself, infact I was feeling like the old me and that was scary.
I strongly believe that I am a resilient person, I have certainly traveled along the road of improving my own mental state and getting control of the anxiety I had so when I realised what was happening last week I very quickly reached out to a couple of people and this is my biggest piece of advice, if you feel like you may be struggling please reach out to someone.
I spoke to a couple of friends and both of my coaches - Conner my husband/personal trainer and Jana my nutritionist. Both of which jumped straight into action and provided me with the support I needed, it also didn't stop there, I set strategies and plans with both of them and I have been checked on multiple times and let me tell you, already I am feeling much more in control of my life. I want to share with you some of the things I have implicated to help me progress forward.
These are strategies that have worked for me and unfortunately there is not a one size fits all with this sort of stuff but I hope there might be something in there that you might relate to and might be able to implicate into your life.
These aren't in any order and there is no right way of doing any of this, they are simply some tips that you can take and implement or change up, you can take all of them or you can take one, it doesn't matter :)
Reach out, chat to someone. If you aren't feeling yourself sometimes having a sound board can be a great first step. You're not asking anyone to fix the problem, you possibly just need someone to hear you out and just be there to listen.
Set out your goals, long term all the way to short term. An example could be;
Long term - 3-8 years, Purchase a house.
Mid term - 1-3 years, Go on a holiday.
Short term - within 12 months, read two self care books.
Mini goal - this week, read a chapter of your book.
Setting goals is great for so many reasons, I love writing my goals down for one because it gets it out of my head and onto paper, rather then trying to remember everything I would like to do I just write it down, then I can make space for new goals and its ok to have a million goals but just remember to break it down and work on a couple at a time which bring me to my next point.
Whiteboards! I love my whiteboard! I set out my week every Sunday, I list my meals for the week, my workouts, any big events to remember, and any goals I want to achieve this week, then during the week I can add onto it and I can tick off what is done, there is something amazing about a ticking system because how good does it feel to tick something off when its done?!
What are your needs? the non negotiables. You can also write these down on the white board or into a book, what are the things you need in life? It can be anything, for me its multiple things, water, a gym session, good sleep, down time, food to name a few.
What are you wants? This might be a good opportunity to break down and reshuffle your needs a little bit.. Ok so maybe I don't NEED a gym session but I want to have one because I know it makes me feel good, by moving the gym session out of my needs and into my wants list takes a little bit of pressure off me because hey I don't need to do that gym session but I would like to, this gives me the opportunity to choose if I go to the gym because I want too rather then needing to go, sometimes it's all in the way we talk to ourselves.
Self care, are you looking after yourself? You only have one you and you are worth a lot so you should be looking after yourself. If you were to buy a super expensive leather couch, you wouldn't just use and abuse it, you would want to look after it right? keep it clean, maybe condition the leather, not let the animals jump all over it.. well what makes you any different? We need to be caring for ourselves all the time.
My self care
This week I set myself a goal of setting aside one hour a day to do self care. My self care list includes a bath, reading, headphones in focus on breathing, meditate, a walk, coffee or tea with a friend, the list goes on.. Self care can be anything you love doing, anything that makes you feel good. Resting and rejuvenating is one of the most productive things you can do, we all need rest in order to function better so without resting you could really be holding yourself back.
Sometimes all we need to do is stop and realise it might be time to take a step back, bring it back to the roots and practice your self care and self love. Remember you can do anything, but not everything.
I really hope there is something you can take from this and remember life will be continuously changing but you will always remain you, so if you can work on your core and your foundations, your trunk will always remain good and strong and you too will become resilient :)
We got this! Riles xx