30 Day fitness Mindset
Don’t let the cold weather stop you!
Dr. Sara and I are in the throws of winter in Michigan! If you are from the mitten state you know what that means, gray cloudy skies, cold, extra-crisp air, and very little sunshine. It is easy to see how you could be swayed to not get outside. I urge you to reconsider!
Yesterday, I was sent a link called 1000 hours outside. 1000 hours outside has a powerful purpose and that is that you are to attempt to match your screen time with your nature time. On average children spend 1200 hours a year consuming media through screens. This idea is asking you to shift your time back to nature, get outside! Did you know that our children, your children and mine are consuming that much screen time in one year? I am blessed that my children love to be outside, in any weather, partly because of their age and partly because we don’t encourage screen time. As a family, we love getting out to explore our neighborhood or our local trails to find animal tracks, frozen ponds or to just experience the quietness of nature in the winter.
If Michiganders are going to attempt this, we need to be getting out all year long!
As you all know I enjoy running as my primary form of exercise, I do not own a treadmill so that means I need to get outside to run! I find that I might not run as far in the winter as I do in the summer but overall I seem to run better during the winter months. My breathing is better, my pace is easier and my body seems stronger. With the proper outdoor gear, you too can get out to walk, run, bike, snowshoe, and ski. There are many health benefits to being active in cold weather. Winter doesn’t need to be a burden to your health, it can give you just the boost you need!
Studies show that exercising in cold weather can help you burn off extra calories, this means the same walk you take in the summer will yield you a greater calorie loss if done in the winter! Get outside! Studies also show that when you train your immune system to survive in a colder climate you are actually strengthening your ability to fight off infections! We all are looking for ways to create a stronger and healthier immune system so that we can fight off infections naturally!
Being out during these winter months also helps you to get a better night’s sleep, improves your brain function, and can kickstart your heart. Exercising in colder temperatures allows your heart to work double-time to keep your body warm, working on your heart muscles is a great way to maintain good cardiovascular health! In any situation please be sure to consult your healthcare provider before adding a new workout to your daily routine.
Share with us this month how you got outside. What did you do to stay active? How did it feel? I can guarantee that it felt much better than sitting behind a screen, watching television, or checking your social media account.
Letting go of Control
Comfort Zone: Unless your brain is trained differently, you will always come to what’s comfortable
Have you ever wondered why you gravitate toward certain people, places, or experiences? I have recently pondered this more and more as I work on my internal assessment of who I am and what I am. All the gurus argue that you consciously or unconsciously create the world you live in and as a Christ follower I always come back to the idea of control and faith. Do we put ourselves in specific situations to keep ourselves comfortable and on repeat or are we constantly checking in with ourselves and creating a new future for ourselves? I have Deuteronomy 31:6 as my screensaver on my phone, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” Are we staying in our comfort zones because we are complacent and unbelieving or are, we afraid to step into something beautiful?
I see this with people who hire me. They feel like they need more time, more information, more encouragement, and more permission to be and become the person they want to be. Every time you know you should and want to do something and you put it off and make an excuse, your brain remembers that. Eventually, you have programmed your brain to believe that you do not follow through on things that make you happy. Your brain is so smart that it actually will help lead you in the same direction in the future UNLESS you are aware it is happening and you start taking action IMMEDIATELY. No excuses, no reasons to wait. I think we play small because we are afraid of how great our God is and what he has planned for us. But we get into cycles, comfort zones that give us the feeling that the predictability of our routine is safe and controlled. We relinquish control to God when it suits us. Every day. Every minute. Every second. We lean in on the physical world for re-enforcement. I read a book recently that said relying on the outside world turns us dependent on the physical world, where the need becomes greater each time you need the “happy” fix. Comparison, envy, greed, “keeping up with the jones” become pervasive emotions all because we were told that happiness comes from those things. The only people I know who are genuinely happy and aren’t pretending are the ones who kneel down daily and bring their focus back to God and his promises. Gratitude, peace, love, and joy do not require a million dollars in the bank to be them and exude them.
Do I think you can have nice things and be a follower of God? Absolutely! Life is meant to be enjoyed. But as soon as you rely on those things for your personal happiness your soul starts to settle. God never intended to see us settle, he intended us to move forward in faith. If you haven’t been able to successfully get there on your own accord, reach out! The most magical thing people do to get unstuck is to hire someone to walk with them. Someone who can easily see their blind spots and quickly pivot to keep on track. Soul growth looks like…
-Doing the things that scare and excite you at the same time
-Things that you think about but feel aren’t meant for you
-Something that will be a positive light to the world that only you can bring
-I really want to do xyz but I cannot because…
You must raise your vibration to see what God has intended for you. Do not live your life based on emotion—we aren’t robots and if we live as such we are missing out on our greater calling. Be great. Be yourself. Be bold.
People assume that because I manage to go to the gym most days that I have something figured out that I do not. I told Jamie one day, I procrastinated 10 minutes in the parking lot because I did not want to go in. I finally went in because Jamie gave me the sweet kick in the rear to make it happen and I am glad I did. I used to wait for things to get easier for me to do that next thing. Life did not get more peaceful once I embraced that all of the areas I habitually check in with are helping me grow my soul. Health needs, mental needs, emotional needs, spiritual needs. I passionately believe if you can’t make the right small decision, you will never grow into making the right big decision. It develops the habit muscle. Habits allow you to be bold and not afraid. It teaches your brain to welcome change instead of resisting it. Let us offer you time with us to see if we can help you cross over into moving forward in your health. I would love the opportunity to offer guidance and grace as we recognize more than ever that it is up to us to say “yes”. Click the link below to start on the greatest journey yet… becoming more yourself!
Your brain without proper management will always lead you toward safe decisions. Ironically, control and safety are an illusion. We all live in warm places with people who love us with food on the table. We all have issues, trials, and tribulations but God’s promises keep me forging on even on the bad days. As I type this, today was not a great day. I do not judge how I feel, I just don’t change my destiny because of it. Lead with courage and let go of control. No more justifying actions that you know are not getting you any closer to where you want to be. It is that simple and that hard. We have so many people winning right now, we would love for you to walk alongside them and win as well!!!
Schedule a no-commitment call with me to see if we can help you get to the next level: https://calendly.com/dr-sarawhedon/clarification-call-with-dr-sara
2021 is sneaking up on us!
It is simply amazing to me that another year has passed and the new year is about to begin. We are all aware of the challenges around 2020, the year for me was a challenge but it was also full of so many blessings! I pray that when you reflect on this year that you too see the blessings it held.
“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland” Isaiah 43:18-19. A new year is only a few days away my friends! It is upon us!
It always seems like the week between Christmas and New Year is spent discussing resolutions. What will you resolve to do this year that you either failed at or didn’t do last year? Personally, I am not a fan of resolutions, in fact, I wrote about this last year and probably will every year. Why do we set ourselves up for failure? Studies show that resolutions last on average until about the second week in February, which is only 6 weeks. What are we supposed to do with the other 46 weeks of the year?
This year I say we flip the script – throw out resolutions and create disciplines in our lives. Disciplines help us to create life long habits. Diets create immediate results, a discipline around food creates a lifestyle change. Resolving to workout or go to the gym lasts only a few short weeks, creating a discipline around working out creates a lifestyle change. I’m sure you can see where this conversation is headed. What disciplines can you create in your life to create a real change. A change that takes you from good to great! A change that sticks, that makes each day for you brand new and feeling your very best.
The whole idea around disciplines came to me through my dad. He was over one day and my children were complaining about their newly instituted chores. As he listened to his grandchildren argue that they don’t need to make beds or empty the dishwasher or put laundry away, I wondered how he would tackle this one. He allowed them to finish then poured out his wisdom. He shared that chores create discipline in our lives, it’s a discipline to make your bed each day, to empty the dishwasher, and to put your laundry away. He then turned it on me and said, your mom runs every day as a discipline. I sat there for a few minutes thinking about this and realized as I often do that, he is right! We need to create lifestyle changes that not only initiate the change but allow us to be successful.
Take dieting for a second, so many of my peers love doing the Whole 30 challenge, nothing against the Whole 30 but if you do not decide that this is how you will eat for the foreseeable future your success will always be short-lived. Experts say that it takes at least 66 days to create a new habit. You need to create a new relationship with food, one that fuels your body for greatness. Eating a certain way for one month will not create a lifestyle change.
Let us not dwell in the past, goodbye 2020! Let’s make 2021 the year of creating new lifestyle changes, a change that creates a more energetic, better feeling, closer to God, you!
Jamie’s Favorite Christmas Memory
My favorite Christmas memories revolve around being with my family. I am a sucker for family time! I remember the Christmas we got the brand new Nintendo system and duck hunt game with the gun included. Imagine three sisters opening up a gaming system and gun – we were thrilled, excited, and couldn’t wait to get it going. Every time Mario or Luigi jumped my sister would jump. Or how close we got to the TV when we were shooting the ducks, the tv got shot down more than the ducks. 30 years later I can still feel what it felt like that morning in our family room, the love, the joy, the excitement! As a child, I knew that Christmas was not about the presents but the awe that God sent his Son to be born on Christmas day in a cave so that He may walk among us! Emmanuel, God with us! Merry Christmas!