Life Tip: Creating Summertime Traditions

I am working on this myself. Especially given the current conditions with COVID where nothing is really “ Normal”. I seem to keep finding myself having conversations with my 13 year old about ways to add fun into our days when so many things feel so strange.

I spent this weekend coming up with some new summer traditions that would be guaranteed “ Wins” regardless as to what is happening in the world and around us. I thought that it would be also fun to choose days of the week for each tradition ( not to mention the added benefit of KNOWING what day of the week it was! We all seem to be in this cloud of now knowing the date or day of the week! lol)

So, a few ideas that I came up with are the following: ( Keep in mind that all of these are simple but would give us things to look forward to and count on )

• Daily family walks with the dogs - Mon-Friday

• Campfire Night ! - Sundays

• Taco Tuesdays - Do I need to say which day? lol

• Outdoor Movie Night - Saturdays

• Flashlight night walks - Mondays

• Movie Night: Saturday ( for rain outs)

• Take Out Night ( letting rotating family members get their pick)- Fridays

• Picnic Night ( home or out ) - Wednesdays

• New Hiking Adventure - Saturdays

I would LOVE to hear if any of you have other ideas!!!!

Now I just need to put these ideas into action. What typically works with my family is to not necessarily announce “ Guess what? Mom has another great idea and list of activities !” They all know that I have a bit of an obsession of making lists and checking things off. So, I will simply start the day by asking if they are up for whatever that activity of the day might be.

My biggest hope again for this, will be that we can really start to embrace the time that we have together with family and friends and enjoy the small things that don’t depend on world circumstances. Whether you have a full house or are even flying solo, coming up with moments to look forward to and to count I feel is so important.

Tanya

”We tend to forget that happiness doesn’t come as a result of getting something we don’t have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have. “

~Frederick Keonig

Life Tip: Taking A Social Media Break

I have to say that now in this super weird of the Corona Crisis, social media has actually become a wonderful source of connection and for many, a lifeline.

However, prior to this very weird time, I have found that social media has also created a lot of divide, disconnect, and even at times, negative energy being dispersed into the crowd.

I just recently found a setting in my phone that will not only tell me how many minutes I was on my phone but how long I spent on each app. If you have never tried this, give it a whirl. It is a REAL eye opener! Do you know that the funny thing is? The smallest percentage for a lot of people is actually using the phone as a phone! I am a HUGE fan of picking up the phone, dialing that thing we call a phone number, and talking to people!

I of course got a bit sidetracked there!

So, our starting point might be for you to get a gauge of how much time you are spending either on your phone or your computer each day. In addition to that, how much time are you on social media ( i.e. Facebook, Pinterest, Snap Chat , or Instagram ) just to name a few. More recently I have heard of Tik Tok which consists of videos as short as 10 seconds…ugh.

Once you find out this number, just sit with it for a bit.

After that, can you choose a day of the week that you might take an all day break from social media? Or even better… all technology? What are some of the things that you might do if you had an entire day with no screen time? Maybe read a book? Take a hike? Sit and really talk to your kids? Board games are a personal favorite of mine. When you were young, what did you do in your down time? I am a firm believer in not thinking we are too old for anything, we are as young as we feel inside.

You may find that it’s a bit of a struggle at first and taking an entire day off may be too daunting. If so, what about a 4 hour time block? You may even need to put your phone on “ Airplane Mode” to avoid the temptation of checking your messages and emails periodically.

I promise you that nothing negative will come of this experiment! Some of us may even remember days where cell phones and even lap tops did not exist! We did just fine didn’t we? If you have a family member or child who may need to reach you in case of emergency I have a plan for that too! Can you let them know to call your spouses or friends phone should they need to reach you just for that time frame? There are a handful of you who might even still have a “ Land Line”. For a long time we had one just for emergencies and family members.

Any of you who know me well also know that part of my outgoing voice mail message says the following “ Any calls received on Sunday will be returned on Monday “ I try as best I can to put my phone away on Sundays. ( With the exception of time sensitive contracts)

I sometimes am amazed by days when I have spent the majority of my time on calls, texts, emails, and social media and suddenly realize … “ What on earth did I do today and how is it possibly 7:00 p.m.??” There will still be days such as this but I think that taking one day or one afternoon to “ Slow down time” is so critical for the heart and human spirit.

What would you do with your time and loved ones if you set all of the technology aside for a bit? Maybe it would give you a chance to pick up a hobby or read a book?

Please do me a favor and plan a day to give this a try and check back in with me and let me know how it went.

All the best everyone!

Tanya

The quote below is by far one of my favorites.

“Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

― Ferris Bueller

Life Tip: Tracking Your Fitness on a Wall Calendar

Did you know that they still sell those things called “ Wall Calendars”??? Rather than have EVERYTHING electronically, there are a few things that I firmly believe should be kept on paper.

A wall calendar being one…. my little spiral notebooks being the other. ( Thanks Dad for teaching me so well on the spirals)

Whether you are just starting to workout or you “ Have It Down!”, tracking your workouts on a wall calendar can be the most rewarding and great way to keep yourself accountable to what you’re getting done each week.

Any day that you do something remotely active ( when I say this I mean anything, even a deep house cleaning) , put it on the calendar! On my calendar there are some days that I only wrote “ Walked the dogs- 10 minutes” That counts!!!!! Some days are much more exciting and might say things such as “ Ran 45 minutes….Biceps and Triceps”

My personal goal a few months ago was to have 20 active days a month. That’s it. If you’re just starting, I would recommend shooting for 12 active days a month, that’s 3 days a week.

Here’s the cool part of doing all of this. When you get a few months in, you can look back and see how you’ve been doing all at a few glances. Also, you might be able to peg some trends and ruts that you ran into along the way and figure out how to avoid them next year.

I hope that this post gives you a little motivation for the day. Let me know how you do if you give it a whirl! Also, and FYI you can grab a VERY inexpensive wall calendar at your local Walmart or Big Lots.

Tanya

“Be not afraid of growing slowly, be only afraid of standing still.”

-Chinese Proverb

Life Tip: Your Miracle Morning

I can easily tell you that for years, my mornings consisted of waking up feeling so incredibly tired, behind, and rushing every minute for the first few hours of the day.

That all changed ( with of course times of getting off course here and there) after reading one of my all time favorite books, “ The Miracle Morning” , by Hal Enrod.

See link below for where to find it on Amazon but also remember your public library!

Amazon Link to Miracle Morning Book

I am also posting the online catalog for the local libraries where you can pretty much order any book you can THINK OF and they will ship it right to your local library! If any of you need help learning how to do this please let me know !

Online Library Catalog

The concept is basically in a nutshell, to get up ideally an hour before you typically get up, and have that time just for yourself for what he calls “ SAVERS”

“ SAVERS” is short for the following:

• Silence

• Affirmations

• Visualization

• Exercise

• Reading

• Scribing

The beauty of the whole concept is that if you literally only have ten minutes total and just can’t get in an hour , you can still start the process. We all have different seasons of life. You may find that you can only start with getting up 5 minutes before your normal wake up time and work your way up eventually to getting up an hour earlier.

Even trying each of the “SAVERS” for one or two minutes each will make a HUGE change in your life!

There is also a huge online community on Facebook of Miracle Morning folks. You will find that it is a great place for ideas, motivation, and support of one another.

Please let me know if you give this a try. I promise you it will be sooo worth it!

Tanya

“Either you run the day, or the day runs you “

-Jim Rohn

What's Your Jam?

What if you started every morning with a song that really lit you up?

Add to that, what if you listened to a song that also encompassed your “ word of the year”?

In a previous post, I mentioned picking a word for the year that represented either something that you wanted more of in your life, a trait that you wanted to see in yourself, or even an entirely new you!

Wouldn’t it be great to find “ That Song” that you could play every morning as you’re getting ready to launch your day?

For years, I also had a playlist called “ A.M. Wakeup” Did my boys get INCREDIBLY sick of hearing the same songs for many many months in a row???? YES !!!! Of course they did! Did they also know every single word of each song and sometimes even sing to them as they were walking out the door with me??? YES!

So, whether it’s a one song, 3 minute rock out every morning or a whole playlist that might carry you through your 30 minutes of getting out the door, give it a try!

Even better???? Share your song with us or drop me a message with your playlist.

If you’re just not someone who is inspired by music that’s ok too!

Happy Listening Everyone !

Tanya

“Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything.” –

Plato