Most of us are spending the majority, if not all of our time at home. I've been thinking.. what could I do to make better use of this time? We could either waste our days away being a potato.. Or we could use this time to invest in ourselves, support others, learn new things, strengthen ourselves and grow in our faith.
Just because covid is still spreading and we're trapped in our homes doesn't mean we should stop living. This is a time to deeply reflect on our goals, hobbies, relationships and purposes. This is the time to truly look within ourselves and reflect on the life that we want to live and who we want to be.
Here's my condensed list of resolves I've been focusing on for the past months. They are not just goals for 2021. It's what I want to stay consistent with for life. I made a dumb acronym to help me remember. GREATNESS
1) G od First
2) R ead more books
3) E xercise
4) A ctive
5) T hink Positive Affirmations
6) N utrition
7) E njoy the Moment
8) S ave Money
9) S pend time with Fam/ Friends
We don't need to wait for New Years to make resolutions. For the past several years, every Dec- Jan I make a resolution goal blog. Yeah it's to encourage and inspire others, but it's also largely meant to help me verbalize what I want for myself.
I think it's important to always have a goal mindset all year round. But New Years around the corner always does feel like a fresh new reset. It's better to have goals and to try and fail than to not have any at all. Sometimes simple and obtainable goals are more practical.
For 2021, i'm gonna be using the same word I had for 2020. Consistency. I know it's not fun and new, but it really does embody what I'm after and need to continue to focus on. Almost all change and creating habits and routines takes a lot of consistency.
How do you get better at anything in life? It comes down to repetition. The hundred of hours put in will equal new strengths, qualities and skills obtained. Houses aren't built in a day, it's brick by brick.
Anything worth achieving does not come easy. It takes time and hard work. Sticking to something for a week won't have lasting effects. Whatever your goal may be, stay consistent. apply yourself and stick to the grind.
One of the best ways to develop consistency is increasing in self-discipline and self-confidence. It's putting the required energy into your goals, knowing that you can and will achieve them if you put your mind to it. Sure you can have someone help you stay accountable, but at the end of the day it's all on you.
Long-term consistency also involves hyping yourself up with excitement to want to put in the required work. It shouldn't feel mundane. They're your goals for a reason so be passionate about them!
If you focus on the big picture of why it's important to stay disciplined and committed to your daily goals, you'll find purpose and meaning in the activity. Understand the reason behind why you're doing what you're doing.
It all starts with a vision and self-belief. The more you practice the healthy habits, you'll actually find that they're not a chore or something to just check off for the day.. you'll find that you begin to enjoy the process, and that's where you find the enrichment, satisfaction and purpose.
Hobbies for example should not be something you feel like you have to force yourself to do. Find what makes you happy, and do the things you love to do.
What do you want in life? How will you get that?
Who do you want to be? How will you become that?
What will it take? How bad do you want it?
Vision. Purpose. Belief > Manifestation
Drive. Strategic Plan. Intention. Action.
Enthusiasm, Excitement. Passion. Motivation. Discipline. Determination.
Consistent healthy daily habits. Rituals. Routines. Training.
Investing the time and work required consistently.
Change of character and growth in virtues.
Reassessments, reminders, accountability.
We are not subjected to our thoughts and feelings. No. Choose how you want to think and feel. Regulate, redirect and change your automatic thoughts. With the right mindset and perspective, you can pretty much accomplish anything.
"There is no such thing as time management, only management of the self."
Honestly, I think more than ever, this is the time we need to buckle down and focus on the areas of life we find most important. People used to use the, "I don't have enough time.." line as an excuse. Well now you do have time to grow in spiritual disciplines, to clean the house, talk to friends, to cook, to exercise, to read, grow in knowledge, work on projects and develop new hobbies.Take action towards them. Invest in yourself. If you fail for a day, don't get discouraged. Reset the day and get it right the next time. You really can't make much progress if you don't know what you really want. You also won't get what you want unless you go after it with determination.
What's going to help you stay resilient? What's going to help you not only start, but stick to your goals? 90 days from now what's gonna keep you persevering? How will you stay organized? How often will you revisit and keep track of your successes? How will you reward yourself? What's your motivation for the change?
What are the barriers that hinder me from achieving my goals? What prevents me from my healthiest, optimal self? I am in charge of taking care of me. I control myself and my life. In order to treat myself with the best care I must begin to change my mind and self-talk. Self-defeating thoughts do no good. In order to get somewhere, u must first decide where you want to go and the vehicle needed to get there. What activities are going to stimulate the growth in the long run? 5 years from now where do I want to be, who do I want to be?
disappointment is inevitable but discouragement is a choice.
I honestly need to be more specific with my goals. I think I need to put more thought into each of my goals. Sometimes being too vague and nonchalant makes it difficult to measure success.
Manifest the healthiest, happiest, best and full version of yourself. Recreate and attract the life you want. Celebrate your victories and accomplishments. Feel proud of yourself even for getting small goals done.
My friend told me about 5 practices that he does every morning. It includes disciplines and techniques of reading, meditation, affirmations, visualization, and... i forget the last one haha.. whoops.
I bought some books. and if you know me, I sometimes have a hard time sitting still and reading. It seriously has to be a good book that stimulates change or motivates transforming thoughts that's practical to me. Basically psychology self-help or Christian books.
My dad started lifting weights, relearning guitar and even spends time practicing juggling lol. My mom tries to get in 5000 steps a day, she plays music, does hula on zoom, cooks and does gardening.
They know that in order to develop health, skills, and really anything good in life, it takes consistency. Not something you try a few times and stop. If you really want to succeed in your goals, it's gonna take dedication to stick to it, and eventually, you'll see results. This applies to all areas of life.
Holistic health encompasses at least 8 main dimensions, the spiritual, emotional, physical, mental, occupational, financial, environmental, and relational spheres of health and wellness.
some might group occupational with financial. You could also throw in behavioral. but yeah u guys get the point.
You don't have to overdo it. You want to make goals attainable and realistic. You also want to enjoy the pursuit and have fun growing in self-care. Always remind yourself of the benefits of why you want to attain your goals. Sometimes I make too many goals and just focusing on 2-3 goals makes it realistic.
Besides health goals, I think it's important to mention that developing stronger character traits and qualities are also worth maturing in. I found one of the best ways to develop this is to look to an example of someone who possesses the quality you like and then try to mimic and see how you can implement and practice it.
I just found a random leaf in my room. And i'm like.. where the heck did this leaf even come from? weird right?
Many people are deteriorating. I've seen the cost of this shutdown. I won't argue against the lockdown, but I'm just saying that it also has its consequences. No one is really talking about all the negative side effects it's causing. Besides the loss of jobs and unstable income, it's affected our mental health. A loss of activity and social norms has really been detrimental on our mental health.
Even with the vaccines, my guess is covid will still be around many years to come. Whether the vaccines are safe is a whole other issue. I don't think anyone anticipated this to last this long. It will always be possible to catch an illness from someone. Does this mean we should wear face masks and social distance for the rest of our lives? I sure hope not.
I watched a video about the effects of covid and how it's really impacting all areas of our normal life. I think i'm just pissed off at covid right now. I guess things could always be much worse. Anyways, there are things out of my control that I should not worry about. The things I do need to focus on are the things within my control.
Life and meaning is often what you make out of it.
No matter what you're going through, God is always there. God is present with us in every moment. Drawing near to God transforms and empowers us. When you hear that God is a jealous God, it means that He wants us to come to Him and not be consumed by worshipping any other idols.
If we're honest with ourselves, we often don't put God first in our lives. We selfishly think of our own desires rather than His desires. There are many ways to connect with God. We need the support of the church body, our Christian brothers and sisters. We need to meditate on His word, will and way. God is always open for communication and encourages us to live for His glory.
Getting stuff done and staying active is crucial for our wellbeing. It feels good doing things. Being too idle usually deteriorates our mind and body. Having no responsibilities generally makes me lazy, unproductive and bored. One day I was frustrated and stressed with work, and a co-worker replied, "No it's not that you have to work, it's that today you get to work." And that put a fresh perspective in my mind.
Sure there are things I really don't enjoy doing, but then I think, hmm work actually does remind me that I'm doing something of purpose and helping others. Some busy days I have so many things to do, so many errands, so much work on my plate and I knock them all out and execute everything without things going wrong. Makes me feel very accomplished.
Especially during lockdown quarantine time, stay active. You can still get lots of exercise in. Attack life, own each day and make meaning out of this time. Don't sit back and let life pass you by. It irks myself to waste time. I don't like doing things that don't have a real purpose. Wasting time = wasting life. Fill your day with activity and good people.
Sometimes it's nice to have someone to debrief and share your day with. Sometimes I feel like my thoughts are all kept to myself.. and it sucks not having someone who cares to ask, "how was your day?" and then i end up having write or blog it out lol. Find people that are interested and want to share in your life.
One of the reasons people fall into depression is because they stop taking care of themselves. People forget how important it is to eat clean. It doesn't just affect our weight, it affects our mind and more aspects of health then we realize.
A lot of us eat for comfort. We live to eat, rather than eat to live. Eating right consistently can definitely be a challenge. But if you get into the habit of having the right foods and preparing some sort of rotation or involvement of healthy foods, you'll find that you don't actually crave unhealthy food as much. We generally know what's good and bad for us. fill yourself up on foods that actually provide the nutrition your body and mind needs.
Yeah we can still have our favorite snacks, but if we really pay attention to our nutrition we can better take care of our health. For me, I don't worry too much about portion control, it's more about choosing to eat healthy foods you like.
Another big factor is getting enough sleep. So many people have issues related to sleep. It all plays a part to our holistic health. I have been decent in a regular sleep schedule, otherwise, this would definitely go on my goal list. It's important to get enough rest and have a repetitive sleep schedule.
In regards to money. It's not just about saving. I realized that a lot has to do with investing. You need money to grow money. Stocks, 401k retirement and mutual funds for example. I kinda knew about this when I was younger but didn't really invest much.
Stocks and mutual funds generally go up over time. Yes some are riskier, and some are considered safer and more reliable. I'm thankful that I was able to invest some money 2 years ago. The past two years my investments went up about 27-29%. Which basically gave me an entire year's salary for doing nothing. Because I've seen how much you can make by investing, i'm even more sold that I need to keep investing to let it grow over time. Invest as early as you can.
I'm actually surprised my youtube brings in $30+ a month! If I can get that up to $40-$50 passive income that'd be nuts just for posting random videos. I kind of want to do more videos on self-development, but my fan base is mostly gamers.
In scripture, the guy who digs a hole and saves his talent is actually disciplined for not multiplying and increasing it. He thought it was enough to just save it. I need to continue to learn to be a better steward of money, and no not to just get rich but to use it for right purposes.
If i were more organized i'd probably edit all this and talk about each in an order. but owell.
On really bad days, I tell myself, okay, today this is the one thing I'm going to accomplish. And you'll notice, once you get moving, you can really accomplish a lot. Sometimes it helps to use music. Sometimes you shouldn't give yourself the option not to do something. Make it a rule. and almost an obligation. And then the more times you do it, the easier it becomes routine.
I have a specific time I usually workout. Whenever it's between 5-6pm, i have this innate timer in me that drops whatever I'm doing, and makes sure I get my workout and a walk in before the sun goes down. I don't always "feel" like it, but eventually, by discipline you program yourself to do the work whether you feel like it or not. Schedule in daily time blocks that you work on your specific goals.
Fitness always makes me feel better. Cardio refreshes our biology. Our bodies are meant to move! Find yourself getting caught in deep thought? Then you most likely need a physical hobby.
My gym has been closed which is a huge bummer. My recreational center was my sanctuary and playground. At least I can still swim laps in the pool by appointment. Thank God I have a bench and weights at home to use. It's been a huge lifesaver for me.
My dad's friend gave me some new weights too recently. I worked out at least 45 days straight. But then my body kinda got sore and i overdid it. so I sorta needed to slow down a bit. I think I've been working out on average 5x a week for the past 5 months. I wrote that exercise is primarily for physical health. Yes. but think about it. This really does connect to the mental, emotional and even spiritual spheres of health.
Just a few sets of exercises can really change your day. A short jog can refresh your body, mind and spirit. But the key is staying consistent. Spending 30mins - 45mins really doesn't take long. Instead of seeing it as some chore, enjoy the workout and know how good you'll feel. Sometimes starting with an easy ritual works. I put on socks, brush my teeth. Sit outside for a bit. Those are easy. By then your body just takes over. Don't think about it, just do it.
Exercise is extremely therapeutic and arguably more effective than counseling + antidepressants. Again, it doesn't have to be something super intense and extreme. Start with even 2-3x a week. Instead of jogging, try just taking a 30-minute walk. As my friend would say, "Something is better than nothing."
Enjoy the grind.
Growth develops over time when you stay consistent. If you can focus on strengthening yourself through meditation, eating right and exercising consistently, you will definitely grow in holistic health over time.
If you strengthen your zeal for God, develop empathy for helping others and focus your mind on accomplishing goals, you can come close to being the very best version of yourself. Keep adding onto your life. You are the only person responsible for you.
We're probably getting a little too much rest and relaxation during this time. And it's okay to just simply chill and veg out. Ask yourself, is what you're finding rest in actually fuel you with more energy? At the end of the day, what's really gonna pour into your holistic health? One of the easiest things to do is to listen to music. I think we forget the wonders it does to boost our mood.
Part of my purpose is to help people, and counseling + ministry is probably the best way I can do that. Doing things of significance and meaning really pours into our soul care and well being. A lot of times people don't need advice. They just need someone to be there to care and listen. Helping others helps us too. Speak into other's lives. Make a difference. Be there for someone.
"Be 100% you. Because then you will attract 100% the right people."
I think if we learned anything this year, it's how valuable the people in our life really are. Good people breathe life into us. I don't think we'll be isolated in our homes forever. Eventually, we will gain back a sense of normalcy, and we'll able to explore outside our bunkers.
My church was having their annual Christmas party, and despite covid, I knew I needed to go. I'm glad I did. It was so refreshing just to socialize with some church friends, meet new people and develop stronger bonds. We're wired to interact and communicate with each other in community. After church me and some bros just talked outside in the parking lot. Feels good to not have to talk to people through a screen.
We played a lot of fun games. I ended up winning this battle royal game. We had pool noodles and we had to knock party hats off each other. It was so ridiculous and silly. We also played a Bible jeopardy game that was super hard. I'm like.. I went to school for this.. makes you realize how much you don't know lol.
There's this idea of "fellowship" that we often hear. Which usually means eat and hangout. But when you really do talk story and share what's really on your heart, grow in Christian friendship and talk about life, you really do deepen in fellowship. And this promotes inner health, life and encouragement. I had a buddy recommend some new books which is kind of exciting lol. Most of the people I honestly haven't talked to in like 6 months. So again, it was very refreshing to reconnect with them.
I know many people who do not have great friendships. It takes mindfulness to foster strong healthy friendships that last. Some don't even have one person they can turn to. This is probably the time in life where friendships have even more importance and value. If you consider someone a worthy friend, make it a point to call/ text them. If they're busy, call them again later. Ask them how they're doing. Tell them how much you appreciate them. Tell them you're glad to have them in your life.
Without a sense of connection, we will lack a sense of meaning and happiness. We all have an innate need for social interaction. Invest in positive n healthy friendships. Whether you notice it or not, friends add and breathe health, wellness and life into us. Do your best to keep friends close, and the good ones will want to stay.
Social distancing has definitely laid a toll on our social lives. If you can do it safely, make it a point to spend time with family and friends.
I'm lucky I do have a solid handful of good friends. Sure most of the time we laugh, joke, play games, or goof around. But when one of us needs real talk, it's great that we can tell things straight and offer real support. Find your people.
Some of my friends are too married, have kids or too busy with work, and we only talk like once every 2-3 months. While other friends it might be a few times a week. Sometimes when it becomes 6 months plus, you begin to really lose touch. Sometimes I miss grade school and high school because I was always surrounded with friends.
As we get older, it's obvious friendship often takes more intention to keep communication lines preserved. I absolutely hate losing friends. Makes me feel a bit helpless. but i'm realizing it's a hard reality of life we just need to accept at times. Making life long friends, especially during these times is very challenging. Appreciate the friends you do have.
One of the best advances in our day and age is the use of technology. Sure zoom meetings, Bible studies and online church services are very different from what we're used to, but I think we ought to take advantage of these resources. Every single one of us need social interaction or you're basically not living.
Whether it's friendships, meditating, eating right or getting in that exercise, (KISS) Keep it simple stupid! It doesn't have to be some complex program. Have fun with your goals and you'll reap all the positive health benefits from it. Life does not have to be complicated. Be true to yourself. Be kind to others. And keep it simple.
Someone said, "Happy New Year." But I misheard and thought they said, "Happy New You." For some reason, this phrase that I misheard has stuck with me.
This past year I had times where I felt like I lost myself and who I was. I felt empty and alone at times. And that's ok. Because it allowed me to rediscover myself. It gave me an opportunity to find my identity in Christ again, and to be filled with the fullness and abundance of God's spirit. Sometimes we get broken down so we can rebuild ourselves stronger.
This coming year, choose to find a happy new you.
We will all experience moments and even seasons of weakness. We will go through pain and loss for a variety of reasons. But in those times, God becomes our strength. If life was perfect and super good all the time, I don't think we'd cry desperately to encounter God's presence, mercy and grace. In whatever season you are going through, do whatever it takes to commune and grow in intimacy with our Lord, our God.
I meet with 3 licensed therapists on a monthly basis who help keep me in check. We'll 2 are supervisors. They push me, challenge me, teach me and help me grow. They even assign me homework, research projects and feed me Christian education.
Without communication with other humans, we're just asking for the dark challenges of loneliness and depression. If you're at home during quarantine lockdown, make the most of this time, learn new things, find your interest, connect with good friends and focus on your holistic health goals.
When I don't feel good inside. The one thing I purposely try to implement is meditation. There is a whole variety of ways one can implement meditation. I consider it deep contemplation. You can do breathing techniques. Listen to a guided meditation. Ponder a specific truth, or anything really. It is pretty much the same as mindfulness, and slowing yourself down to relax and simply be.
Meditation is also clearing your mind. It can involve relaxation techniques. You can meditate in various ways. A hot shower always does the trick. Sometimes meditation really just helps you be still and release any stress your hanging onto. Let it all go, and refresh yourself by spending even just a few minutes in deep meditation and prayer.
If you could only do one thing right.. this would be it.
There is nothing greater than being with God.
Simply be with God and find intimacy with Him.
If you were to take meditation to it's highest form, I would argue that this is intimacy with God. It goes beyond techniques and practices. It is about connecting with our living God. If you could be fully engulfed in God's incredible love and grace would you want to experience that? Well that's available to us anywhere and anytime. Do you desire Him more than anything else? What is it really like to be with God?
This goes beyond transformation and personal growth. This taps into our purpose and meaning. As Christians, there is nothing better than our loving relationship with our Abba, Papa God.
Spending time with God doesn't have to be something challenging. Cry out to Him. "Here I am God." Redirect your thoughts on God. When you are intentionally being with God you will find peace. Abide and remain in Him. Sometimes even a simple worship song or prayer can do wonders. It's a way to stay in control of your emotions and thought life. God desires to pour into us, the question is are we open, present, ready and available to receive all that he has for us?
God you are my God
And I will ever praise you
I will seek you in the morning
and I will learn to walk in your ways
and step by step you'll lead me
and I will follow you all of my days
I truly believe that more than any other goal, we are in need of God in our lives more. What does our relationship with God really look like. As Christians we often talk or think about theological concepts and truths, but what is our walk with God really like?
Intimacy with God really should be our priority every day. In fact, intimacy with God isn't something we feel like we need to force ourselves to do, rather it should be our highest joy and desire. To wake up being with Him, engulfed in his presence and love. To want to fall asleep in deep worship of who He is. To not craft up fancy prayers or need to do anything but to give Him our heart, and our full attention.
I think spending time with God makes God delighted. He doesn't need us at all. But if you think of our greatest and highest good in this life, it all points to God. I would argue that spending time with our God is probably the best thing we could do at any given moment. And yet how often do we struggle to spend even 5 minutes of our day humbling ourselves and drawing close to Him?
You're as close to God as you want to be.
Filling our heads with knowledge is great. But perhaps even more profound is filling our hearts with intimacy with God. To love being with God and spending time with Him more than anything else. To consciously direct all our worship and praise to God. To live our lives for the sole purpose of glorifying Him.
God is not some big guy in the sky. God is always with us, in every moment, pouring out His infinite love and grace on us. Can you sense the Father's love? Even when you can't He is intensely loving us more than we can even imagine.
Another thing that meditation can do is change how we think. We all have automatic thoughts, and many are negative. We need to actively change our thought life and perspective. Do not let negative thoughts trickle into your mind. They do you no good. If you are somewhat of an excessive thinker like me, you know how easy it is for negative thoughts to rule your mind that spiral into despair. Smash the little bugs before they become big bugs.
The trick is to purposely tell yourself, no, I choose to think positive, because what I think will change how I feel.
Change your perspective, appreciate the good in your life, speak positive affirmations into yourself, speak what you want into existence, remind yourself that you are capable, that you have abundance, wholeness and fullness.
Do whatever it takes to have positive self-talk. It will do you wonders.
The reason reading is so beneficial is because it's often correlated with education and learning. Sure fictional is enjoyable, but I usually eat up the self-improvement books. I never want to stop growing as a person. I want to develop better character, virtues and communication skills. Whatever you want to learn about, there's tons of books out there to explore!
The heart and mind are very powerful. They are the key to transformation. We are in charge of what we think and feel.
Control your mind and you control yourself. You can overcome pretty much anything.
I tell this to many of my clients. Stay in control of your mind, you're stronger than you think. Believe that in time you can find the change and growth you pursue. You cannot always control an outcome, or what hits you in life, but you can control how you respond to it. Through meditation, and intention.. we can begin to create the life we want to see, but it starts within ourselves. Self-love doesn't just stop at the self, it overflows onto others.
Self-discipline is self-love.
I purposely have to speak words of encouragement to myself. You can choose which version of yourself you want to be. You decide how weak or strong you are. You can control how you want to spend the next 10 minutes. You can dwell in despair, or you can go put your life and effort into something positive of value. Set your goals and go and achieve it.
The more you create healthy habits and routines in your life, the easier it becomes. I think the hardest part is really implementing and starting to replace our old habits with new ones.
Home is usually a place of comfort, rest and relaxation. But sometimes we can become a lazy sloth if we don't purposely put our mind to doing things that are good for the soul. Anything good often requires hard work and dedication. Snap out of apathy and idleness.
Put your mind, heart and energy into self-development. There's always room for improvement. Believe you can succeed and you will.
Have a confident mindset. Keep it simple. Be intentional.
Stay focused. Stay consistent.
You got this!
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