I cannot believe a week and then some has gone by…

Ok, so first of all, I apologize for not sharing the pictures from Thanksgiving dinner!   There are a few posted on my flickr page you can check out.  After Thanksgiving, life kind of got a little crazy and all of my best laid plans were sidelined.  My 21 month old got sick…then I got sick…then my husband got sick…then my daughter decided to start having sleep problems…

My lovely somewhat structured days became complete mayhem! I was canceling classes, clients, and meetings…no blog posts got done.  I even strayed from my normal healthy eating — but only just a little.

Even in the mayhem, I stopped to think about how this fairly normal thing like sickness got me off track — in many areas of my daily life.

I realized that I've been living the high life lately.  I've been moving along nice and evenly…almost on auto-pilot. No crazy changes to my schedule. Mila's behavior was steady and I was able to prioritize each day — including my workouts, my food, buying food, preparing food.  But then, BAM! Mila got sick, then  me…then my husband.

Today I was complaining about all of this — whining really, then it hit me.  I need to follow my own advice.  I realize that I've been giving so many people ideas/tips on creating their own healthy lifestyle that I completely forgot about doing what I need to do to keep my own life in order and moving forward.

So, last night I made some plans and took some action to turn things around:

1.  Did a challenging but not super strenuous new Red Carpet Ready workout Valerie Waters released to her membership club.  It focused on posture, but also on some different exercises to isolate the butt & hips.  As a side note to this, I re-watched her current season of Red Carpet Ready TV which is a must see if you want some quick motivation and excellent tips on staying fit & healthy.

2.  Sat down and created a food plan for the week. I did a lot of copy/paste because I probably won't be creative this week, I just want to stick to it.  I did manage to eat clean throughout my few days of being sick (I ended up eating way less due to my sensitive tummy).  Today, I ate 100% clean. Re-affirming the 25 days of Clean Eating for holidays challenge set in motion by my friend Mary Bess (check out her blog post here!).

3.  I also decided to join my new friend Sheila of Live Well 360's 25 Days of Self-Appreciation.  For me this is going to be really challenging.  I don't spend nearly enough time thinking about the things I'm happy about myself.  I'm not sure why that is, but I know that when I do take a moment to reflect on my strengths, my spirit is definitely rejuvinated and I get pumped to get moving again.
Even though it's after the 1st…this will now take me into the new year!  Join in for a little self-appreciation and see how it can affect your life!

Check out what happened on my Day 1 of the challenge…What gift did I give myself on the first day of Christmas?

4.  As if 2 of these 25 Day Challenges wasn't enough, I'm also doing a 25 Days of Pilates for Me Challenge.  I am challenging myself to do a pilates workout or focus on challenging pilates exercise for myself each and every day for the next 25 days…and do what my body asks me to!  This is really a way for me to re-ignite my passion for pilates.  Just like everyone else, teaching the same ‘ole exercises, the same ‘ole way gets boring…the best way to amp that up is to do new workouts, breakdown the moves in the workout and then share with others.

5. And guess what I'm going to do this week (in fact I'm starting probably as you read this!) – PLAN & TAKE a little downtime.  I was not taking enough time for myself to just veg out and do nothing! No more email reading late at night or even tweeting. Sorry guys!  I am going to watch Dexter, play World of Warcraft, or maybe just sit and watch the steam rise off a hot cup of tea.

You can see that when I get an itch to plan and create a strategy for my success, I don't stop at one area of my life.  I like to make sure that multiple parts are covered.  I've been kind of surviving on auto pilot for about a month now — not really taking my own advice, reviewing my goals, re-newing my intentions or even taking time to think about what I want out of life.  So, after this past week, this type of “holiday house cleaning” was in order!

I hope you all take the time to do the same — I already feel a little more calm knowing I've paid myself some needed attention. If you realize that your workouts, your eating, or maybe even just your own downtime has suffered, take action immediately to get back on track.

Now I'm off to do my pilates for the day.

**One final word…I just realized something cool!  My Challenges fit really well with my whole theme for living these days Mindset, Movement and Clean Eating – well, in broad strokes of course.

See you soon with updates on my 3 December Challenges.