Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to the Stacey M show where today I'm diving into something a little bit different to what I've done before. And there is a word that's going to change my entire year. And I've really had a think about this. And that word is health. So being the start of twenty twenty five, I'm sure a lot of us have gone into going, yep, this is my New Year's resolution. And, you know, I'm going to stick to it this year. It's going to be different to any other year. And the majority of resolutions have probably already failed. And that's not cool. And I guess for me, I was no different. So I'd always try and set those New Year's resolutions. They'd be the same ones from the prior year because I wouldn't have done them like that year. And they're probably like resolutions that were like three years old, really. And I never stuck to it. And for the past couple of years, I guess I haven't done that yet. The only thing I have done differently this year was that I did jump on the twelve grapes thing at midnight. It sounded super easy. Well, first of all, staying up to midnight was probably the hardest thing. I'm lucky if I see the nine o'clock fireworks. But I did stay up to midnight and I did attempt the twelve grapes and I got to ten. So it's actually quite more difficult than what it looks like. There might be a strategy that I have to look at next year. So I did do the whole twelve grapes thing. Really, if that's a placebo effect, then awesome. My kids actually did it with me under the table as well. We have a very small table. It was very cramped. But they enjoyed it as well. So when I was doing the twelve grapes, I kind of went through everything I'd like to accomplish. this year whether that's business personal health travel whatever um so if you tried the twelve grapes and you ate the twelve grapes I would love to know what your tips are because as I said I got to ten so I'm hoping that doesn't mean I'm gonna have ten awesome months and two not good months the fact that my years really are not you know something to complain about I'm hoping that you know maybe my year this year were better than last year because I had the ten grapes um but the word I picked this year was health and health for me encompasses so many different other things that it probably really summarizes my resolutions that I used to make used to you know exercise eat healthy um reduce stress and all that stuff and really today that all comes down to health so um I'm going to cover how I intend to approach that this year. And I'd love to know your tips if you have any as well, especially if it's trying to cram a twelve grapes down your throat in a minute without choking. or if you have tried something different this year from a resolution perspective that you would like to share so as I said for me health isn't just about you know eating and exercise and sure that's a great component of it um but I feel it goes deeper it goes into the mental side it goes into the emotional how much energy we have to give things everything And for me, I think my health has been out of control for a while. It's better than what it was, but I feel it needs to be better. And if my health is better, then I feel everything else is going to flow from that. So what I plan on focusing within my health word is enforcing boundaries, saving energy and creating new routines. And again, that falls into eating well, exercising. You know, it's all the same thing. I have just reworded it, I suppose. So it's, you know, it's not like, so we still have Christmas food leftover and I had like those mini pre-made meringues. Last night I was like, oh, yep, I ate one of them. Oh, I've got to start again next year. It wasn't that. I'm like, okay, I'm mindfully eating this. I'm going to enjoy it. And I know that my routine tomorrow is kind of going to make me feel better for eating that meringue, you know, last night, for example. So it's not necessarily about restricting myself. It's just being more mindful as to what I'm eating and what I'm doing and drinking, I suppose. um so the first thing I want to talk about is boundaries so I have gotten better with this where I think I went crazy was when I first went out in business and I started my first legal practice I wanted to be available to everybody at any time and I didn't want anybody not using me like they had to love me like I was just everybody's lawyer and As the years went on, it's like, you know what? Not everybody is my client. And, you know, I want to be not available over that Christmas break or, you know, when my out of office notification is on, it really means SFA because people know they're going to still reach me and I'm still going to respond. I have set that expectation. I fully acknowledge that. And last year I tried to not do that and then clients actually got cranky at me because I wasn't responding. I was like, hey, like actually meant I'm out of office, like was on this time, like I wasn't checking things. So I have set those boundaries and now I need to undo some of those from a work perspective. But saying no to things that I really don't want to, to expel energy on because I don't want to do it I don't want to go it doesn't align with anything that I want to align with so you know I'll get asked to go on it to like workshops and stuff and it's like you know what I don't want to go to that like thank you but but no so things like that it could be you know going out and catching up with somebody or something like that. So it's whatever. If someone asks you to do something, can you go straight away and say no? For me it's like I'm not saying no for a reason. So more conscious as to I suppose to flip that to something more positive, I'm being more conscious as to what I say yes to. And if there is a no, you know, it's just like I'm not coming. It's like, oh, thank you so much. I've already got something on or that's not quite right. fitting like where I want to take myself this year depends on what it is. So if it's catching up with a friend, it's a little bit different as opposed to somebody asking you to something for work. So that needs to be taken into account as well. But boundaries and when I'm setting myself available for work, for people in general is something I'm going to be really, really more conscious on this year because I need to prioritise my wellbeing so I can be that great mum and that great boss. So if I'm bad, my businesses are probably going to go bad and I can't support my team. So I need to take that time out for me so I can do all the other things. And it's okay to step back from things that drain you. So you might be in a job that drains you and, you know, sometimes people stay in a job because it pays well. It's like, okay, so is that money worthwhile your mental health or your health in general because you know you're going to a job that you don't want to be at? Can you earn that same money and do that with somebody else? Or do you want to expand your knowledge? Is what you're doing now not fulfilling enough? You need to go back to TAFE or uni or extend the skills that you already have, something like that. So for me, I think I've done, like I'm a procrastinator learner. I've called it over the years where I just keep learning, learning, learning. And really last year and probably the year before, I was starting to tap out. I'm like, oh, I'm getting exhausted. I have all these things that I'm doing and I really need to stop doing the extra things so I can really engage in the stuff that I've learned. And if I still feel a need to do extra things, then I'll tap that onto the top. So I was definitely a lot more conscious as to what I had set yes to and no to. And sometimes it's just a delay. It's like, yep, I would love to do that, but maybe in six months time. So it might not be a no forever. So have a think about what boundaries that you might be able to enforce and where that energy is going towards those boundaries. Just because you say no to something or maybe in six months time, that doesn't mean that you don't care. It just means that you're being really conscious as to where you're spending your time and whether that's putting you in the direction where you want to go. So have a think about boundaries. They can be really hard to enforce. So maybe start super slow. So it might be that you're not available between nine and ten, for example, or four and five. Start off something really, really small and you can build up to something where you would ideally like to go. Energy is another one which is, really big and I have been conscious of my energy and how things are making me feel so I don't have an abundance of energy I'm not a energizer bunny like I do phase out and it was hard to acknowledge that because I'm like I can do all the things I can own these businesses I can be a mom I can do all of this and I won't listen to my body and I will fall on my ass and I will be sick so so so sick and it would take me so long like to get over something so I am not perfect I think I went okay I had a couple of burnouts last year burnouts probably the wrong word but it was like yep I probably went a bit too hard and some of them I probably expected to get sick because I was consciously doing it other times I wasn't so conscious but But energy for me is definitely something that is important. If something is really dragging your energy down, so if that happens at the start of your day, the energy for the rest of that day is probably going to be down. And I don't want to be starting with my energy down here every day. I want my energy to be like up here every day because that's going to set everything how my day goes. And I'll let you know how I do that in the next topic that I'm going to bring up. But work out what's draining. So it could be social media. It might be a commitment that you have. You might be going to something and you really don't want to go to it. You know, it might be just prioritizing rest and recovery. Like we need that. We're not being selfish for doing that. We we need that downtime, you know, and if you need that permission, it's like, I give you permission to have that downtime. If you want to Have that time with your family. If you want to go and do something, if you want to go and read a book, whatever it might be, I give you permission to do that. If you feel that you need permission, here is a permission to say, hey, you go do what you need to do to fill up your tank. Because I know that was something for me when I broke kind of the new routine that I had the other day. And I'll go into that in a moment. felt really really bad like my day was just like and wasn't like it was a bad day but because I'd been so good with what I was doing and I gave myself one day off and it was crap it took me so long to get moving I think I was in my pajamas until one which you know isn't a bad thing but I just really didn't achieve anything so I'm like you know what I give myself permission today to have this really lazy day and I'm going to start again tomorrow and that was exactly what I did so that made me feel better um and our practicing mindfulness so I've spoken about that a little bit before there are some really easy simple techniques that I do like for example with the cream that I've done before I'll probably do that one the most um usually because I've got that sitting on my desk so it's a reminder of what to do and I guess they've also incorporated mindfulness in the new routine that I have as well which I'll um talk about in a moment Um, digital detox. So I know that I'll try to not have anything digital for myself and the girls on a Sunday hasn't necessarily worked. um yet um I am being more conscious especially when they're back at school that it kind of like when we're home apart from having to do homework I kind of pack the work stuff away I don't do that if you're watching tv I'll make sure my phone is in another room so I'm conscious of things and my girls obviously take my lead as well so I will get better that and there probably will be massive digital detoxes just to you know not be so just attached to it I suppose to feel so available to something so you know I'm sure I'm not gonna miss out on something if there's a day that I don't have technology so a digital detox is definitely something that I will be be looking at doing Now the routine. So again, I've had routines, I've broken them, haven't stuck to them, but I've actually stuck to this one. And I guess it's maybe because I've personalized it and I've changed the wording. So instead of I'm going to exercise, I'm going to eat well, I'm going to do this. It's like, it's all these different things that I've summed up into this word health. So that's my thing for twenty twenty five. It's health. I really need to concentrate. my health and it's all those other things that I've said before that's coming down to ultimately what that one word is um so trying to find a little bit more time for myself I've gone back to reading so I haven't read for ages I got a little bit over reading so I'm you know I've got a book laying around the house now that I try and read a little bit each day and actually have it incorporated into my diary. So I still have a paper diary together with an electronic diary. So my paper diary has, that's a lie. I've actually filled up my days with other things and realized I didn't put reading in. So I actually have reading booked in for Monday. Today is Saturday. So going forward, I do have reading in there, but I do have other things in there that have been really mindful. of. So instead of going full tilt, like planning every single day, because every single day is not the same. You might have to go to the office, it might be school holidays, the kids might have something on, somebody's sick, whatever. To me, that was unreasonable. I don't want to plan a day and then wake up the next morning and get the shoots because that day isn't the same as what I planned because of... know any of those events I've just mentioned before so I have started super super simple and I have it on my bedside table so so far for the past few weeks is that I've had that one day off where I kind of regretted it but then gave myself permission to you know have that day off I'll wake up at six thirty I will listen to a meditation for ten to fifteen minutes I'll get out of bed I'll make my bed and where I've started that's a lot and then I go for a walk so depending on what I've got on so usually I've kind of all done that by about seven I'll go for a five K walk that takes me to about eight o'clock then that's all I have on that routine so it's wake up at six thirty meditate for ten to fifteen minutes like listen to a meditation, that's what I've been doing, and different ones that I've picked up on YouTube, make my bed, go for a walk. So that's what I've done and that is what I've stuck to. it's made a big difference. Like I'm really enjoying waking up at six thirty. Like, you know, it's sometimes a little bit, ugh, I haven't quite mastered going to bed early enough yet, but waking up at six thirty and then having all that done and like my walk is done by like eight and I'm like quick, like awesome, I'm done. Now I've got a whole day to do the other things that I'd planned. So for me so far, that is feeling amazing. I did it this morning, today's Saturday. I went and did parkrun. I was the tail walker. So I was last. It was pretty, pretty cruisy. I just, you know, walked, made sure I was the last person. So nobody else was. And then, you know, done. Now I'm here. I've had a shower. You know, I've got some podcasts I'm going to spit out today and a pile of other things to do. So we'll be taking a week off. um in a school holiday to go away but just feeling so much better ticking things off the list and I physically do tick things off the list so just to give you an idea so I still have a paper diary um I don't get anything for it but I use ronnie and co diaries I have used this is like probably the fourth diary I think I've had with her I get the really big one the paper one with things in it and usually I would like put way too many things in there to get done a day and then I'd get disappointed in the sheets because I wouldn't have done it and then I'd get back up and then it was just like a repeat like you just get more and more cranky so I've actually spaced it out a little bit so I'm not jamming so much stuff in there um and you know I'm ticking I'm ticking stuff off so you know it feels good to look at that and go awesome like you know I'm you know, that's what I'm doing. And definitely waking up at six thirty and doing that ten to fifteen minute meditation and making my bed and going for that walk, for me, that has made a massive difference. So have a think about whether there's something small that you can incorporate. So it might be something simple like that. It might be just waking up at a specific time and making your bed. Maybe that's just where you need to start. So I will wake up at six thirty. Like, Every day. I haven't really had a late night yet. Actually, the New Year's Day was the day I didn't wake up at six thirty and I regret it. I was going to stay up to twelve eating the grapes. But yeah, so if a new routine is something that you want to do, start small. So now that I'm nailing that routine, there is probably something else I'll add to my list to do. But then I need to be mindful that not every day is the same. I have kids. They can get sick. They might have something on. They'll go back to school. They have excursions. I have like four or five different businesses that I have to run. as well so that's more of a guide so the night before what I used to do is like cool what do I have on and I would kind of plan the night before I've been getting my clothes out the night before actually as well especially when I'm going for a walk so that has helped because I don't have to think about things I'm like yep grab get changed then I'm out the door um um so there's probably a few extra things that I've done that I'm probably just not mindful that I'm doing it's just I'm doing it automatically but just start start small stretching is something else that I've incorporated into my day which I kind of forgot that I was doing that um especially now that I'm exercising a lot more so like I'll do random stretches throughout the day but just pick something that is really simple now that and then add to it. So, you know, I might have to take the kids to an excursion and be at school at six. So I might have to wake up earlier and then I might not be getting my walk-in at like seven o'clock, but that's okay. Maybe I can schedule that walk-in another time in that day. So with things like that, it's making it flexible, but still making sure that I'm, you know, close to as my routine as it can be on the days that I can't exactly be on my routine because of whatever so um meal prepping is something I used to do I haven't really done that my kids actually like cooking so I try and plan in advance what we're eating and like the girls will cook dinner um I don't really journal either um journaling is something that a lot of people can do um could incorporate in the future at the moment um I'm just not there with journaling my energy isn't there to want to do it um but definitely what I've incorporated so far with that morning routine for me has just made all the difference I feel happier I'll just it starts my day like it really does so just start small um if you have an off day happens pick back up the next day so honestly do not be hard on yourself You can start your new routine any day. It doesn't have to be on the first of January, twenty twenty five or doesn't have to be on a Monday or a Sunday, whatever it is. If you feel like you fell off the wagon today, start tomorrow. If you can restart the day, then go ahead and do that. Still get that walk in or whatever it is that you might have missed. And lastly, there's always trends out there. You have cold therapy, like your ice baths and stuff. I don't think that's for me. I know that there's benefits to it, but I haven't done it. I know people that do, you might want to consider something like that. Breath work, again, is something that I probably haven't really looked into. It's kind of there, but my energy is not enough to go, hey, let's explore this. I think there's other things that I want to do before I incorporate the breath work. The quiet mornings, I know I used to rush a lot. It's like, right, I have to wake up. I have to do this. I have to do that. And everything was just rushing. So I've definitely kind of... been noticeably slower and even when the girls were still at school I was trying to not rush in the morning so just trying to have those quieter mornings sometimes we'll put music on to kind of you know wake us up or whatever um but you know just maybe you can start your days instead of you know grabbing your phone maybe you can just lay there and appreciate the day or you know do some gratitude or if you want to do that journaling or whatever it is so Have a think of that. And, you know, there's minimalist fitness that you can do as well. I used to do CrossFit. Every now and then I think about getting into CrossFit. You know what? I'm happy with my park run on a Saturday morning and I'm happy with my five K walk in the morning. So for where I'm at for the moment, I'm cool doing that. I used to play squash and basketball. I could do that in the future. Tennis. I thought about starting that up again, but my park run, I'm a walk. I'm cool with that. So don't think you need to go overkill and, you know, join a gym and then not use the gym and then waste, you know, because you're signed into a contract for eight, ten months or something like that. If you're going to use that gym membership, then by all means, go for it. But start small. There's definitely nothing wrong with doing that. So I guess to recap, instead of the whole New Year's resolution thing, I'm making twenty twenty five all about health for me, which encompasses all those other things that I've mentioned before. So, you know, maybe try know that theme instead of having that new year's resolution and if you're going if you set a new year's resolution and you're going awesome great keep going like I'm not going to tell you to change something or if you've tried and you feel like you you didn't make it then you know try again don't wait until the end of the year to to to go again so maybe your world isn't health either Maybe it's something different. So there's an overarching word that you can use and encompasses other things like that word health does for me. Maybe that's for you. So it's whatever feels right. It's, you know, not what your friend is doing unless that's what you really want to do. It has to be personalized for you. And you're only probably going to succeed if that is tailored for you and you are doing it for you. You're not doing it for somebody else. um so if you enjoyed this episode um please share it with someone that might need a little inspiration for twenty twenty five if you have hacks on how to shove twelve grapes in your mouth in a minute without choking I'd love to know that as well because I'll probably do that again um new year's war this year um just for a bit of fun but um I'm sure that you will have an amazing year Anyway, and I'll catch you guys next episode.
