We are well into Fall. School, and many work schedules are back to in-person. These shifts in pandemic routines are jarring. 2020 and 2021 have not been the most straightforward years to live on planet earth. (understatement) You cannot operate at your best unless you take care of yourself. It may work for a while, but it isn’t sustainable. Here are five ways to create a wellness routine for yourself when your day is full of things for other people.
START A SMALL ROUTINE
It can be tempting to add workouts every day of the week and completely overhaul your nutrition. Guess what? That is most likely not going to stick. Start by adding 1-2 workouts per week to whatever you are doing. Change one thing about your nutrition that you know you can keep this month. For example, eat the same breakfast for the month. Small things add up. Would you rather have 12 solid routines by the end of the year? Or start 75 well-intentioned habits that fail because it becomes overwhelming?
Pick Something You Will Want to Do (most of the time)
Consistency is vital in routines. Is your friend doing yoga every morning, and you feel like you need to do it too? Did your co-worker’s trainer tell her that she needs to go no-carb, so you clean out your pantry? Do you even like yoga? And don’t you love to eat carbs? Yes, sometimes we do things we don’t always feel like doing for the greater goal. However, there are so many different options when it comes to wellness. Pick something you will do regularly. You could join a gym to take classes because you are social. Or maybe a virtual/home workout is more your speed because the gym makes you anxious. There are many answers; find yours.
Book It
Once you have figured out what you want to do, put it in your work schedule and your family’s and pet’s schedules. You get the point. You need to schedule time for yourself. Suppose you are going to add two 30-min Pilates workouts a week. Please sit down, look at your schedule and book the day and time. Give it the same importance as a dentist appointment or your hair appointment. Then make sure you don’t let anyone schedule over it.
Accountability
Accountability is key to keeping a habit and routine. You either need to hold yourself accountable or recruit someone else to hold you responsible. At least 50% of my value as a one-on-one trainer is that my clients know that I am waiting online or in-person to start their sessions. It is human nature; when motivation lags (and it surely will), this is another way to hold yourself accountable.
Hire Out
Hire out, delegate, or ask for help — Sign up for a class every week versus relying on yourself to come up with your workout. Invest in your health and hire a one-on-one trainer to create your routine. Delegate a task to free up 1-2 time slots a week for a workout. Get your groceries delivered instead of spending that time at the store. Ask for help where you can.
Begin
Use these five steps to build a consistent routine, one brick at a time. However, the most critical step of all is to BEGIN.
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