5 Good Things – October 2019

So happy you stopped by to check out this little project of 5 good things for the month of October!

What is 5 good things all about? It’s about setting intentions to focus on the 5 GOOD things that will help move the needle the most in your life to get you closer to your goals, reduce the stress, and support a healthy lifestyle. 

I decided to give this little personal project a try after feeling myself stepping into a busy season of life, and realizing that there’s no way to burn the candle at both ends and not *eventually* get burned out. When life is more stressful / busy it seems extra important to focus on the simple ways you can keep stress at a minimum and give our body and mind a break.

How should you choose 5 good things to focus on? While this is my first time trying out this little experiment, I feel like it’s wise to choose a variety of actions that will fit together well and be easy enough to execute all at the same time. 

For example: try to choose mostly things that don’t necessarily take a lot of time to complete, but instead focus more on using will power for something that is easy to complete with only a simple daily reminder. Maybe choose one thing that requires a more substantial time commitment, and keep the rest focused on smaller shifts that can be more easily completed.

Let me give you my list of 5 GOOD THINGS that I’m planning to focus on during the month of October to give you some examples. 

1. Drinking at least 100 ounces of water each day – I know that when I get busy, drinking water is one of the first things that I forget to do during the day. But drinking water is one of the easiest ways to support your body, and therefore including plenty of it in your daily routine will help reduce stress on your body to keep you more energetic and alert for the things that really matter. 
2. Cutting out alcohol during the week days – Even though it can be relaxing to enjoy a glass of wine with dinner after a day at work, I find that when I have some work to put in “after hours” – ie. after coming home from work – I can focus and stay more attentive when I’m not drinking any alcohol. Limiting alcohol consumption is actually one of my favorite ways to increase my productivity and focus during busy periods of life. 
3. Meditating at least 10 minutes every day – I have been on and off with a meditation practice for the past few years. But I’ve noticed that when I take the time to consistently include in my day I notice lower stress levels, a clearer perspective, better sleep, and an ability to focus more easily. 
4. Making 1 fruit & veggie loaded smoothie each day – Because I work a full time job in addition to my side projects, a lot of the work I do for the blog, etc. is done during the margins of my day. This (unfortunately) means I don’t always have the time to prepare as many meals from scratch. I think that the effort of including 1 fruit and veggie (!!) loaded smoothie each day will be an easy way to make sure there’s more nutrient dense food in my diet even when there’s limited extra time in a day. 
5. Exercising at least 5 times a week – If you’ve been following me on social media for awhile you might have seen that I ran my first ever 5k this summer. Training for that race was an awesome experience. Empowering and fulfilling. Next I want to train for a 10k race towards the end of November. Exercise is an amazing way to just let everything go and get back inside your body and out of your head for a little while. I also sleep like a BABY on days where I do physical activity, which is always a good thing. This is the 1 out of 5 of my “good things” that will require the most time and effort, but even just 30 minutes a day can have such a powerful impact. 

Here are other more ideas if you want some more inspiration: 

Going to bed at a consistent time every night
Taking one day a week off of social media
Scheduling in 1 restorative yoga class each week 
Doing 1 photo shoot a week that is just for fun
Anytime stress or fatigue starts to take over, take a mini dance break with your favorite song
End each day with a practice of naming 5 things your grateful for
Give up sugar 
Pick one food group to eliminate from your diet that you know doesn’t serve you well 
No caffeine after noon
Stretch every night before bed
Read 10 pages of a book each day 

If you want to join me grab the printable PDF “5 Good Things” guide HERE and print it out to use for your month of October

If you’re joining me I would love to hear what your 5 Good Things are going to be this month! Shoot me message and let me know how you’re going to use this project to support cultivating a healthy lifestyle that best suits YOU! ✌🏼