Episode 27: Ignite Change this Holiday Season: Shaping Your Health and Wellness Journey for 2024

Imagine waking up on January 1st, 2025, looking in the mirror, and seeing a healthier, happier version of yourself. How did you get here? Through the power of creating new habits and setting realistic health and wellness goals. That's right, it's all about embracing change, developing a plan that works for you, and committing to the process. In this episode, I draw from personal experiences during the festive season, discussing the challenges and benefits of planning your wellness journey amidst the holiday cheer.

The cold winter months can be a great time for outdoor workouts and creating "white space" for reflection. I share how this helped me navigate my Thanksgiving experience and how it can do the same for you. We delve into the various areas to concentrate on in 2024; be it improved nutrition, stress management, quality sleep or exercise. And remember, stumbling is part of the journey. It's okay to fail, as long as you're learning and moving forward. So, take this December to reflect on your goals and prepare yourself for a transformative journey in the coming year. And remember, you're not alone in this, I'm here to support you along the way. Let's get excited about your progress and envision a healthier you in 2024.

Follow me on IG: @kathy_mead_fronheiser

Check out my website: www.kathymeadfronheiser.com

Transcript

Speaker 1: 1:14

Hello everyone. It's Kathy, your hostess of the Fun Over 40 podcast. You know, a few weeks ago I said this was the Fit Over 40 podcast, which I think is applicable to our podcast. However, I had to laugh when I listened to the recording after and was like I'm losing my mind. I don't even know the name of my podcast. Anywho, I hope you're having a great day. As I sit here, this is the Monday after Thanksgiving 2023. So I hope you had a great holiday.

Speaker 1: 1:48

We had an opportunity to visit my in-laws. I don't know, I've never really talked about this on the podcast, so if you know me in real life, you probably know this stuff. But my husband is from Pennsylvania. We live in Tennessee, so we made the trek up to Pennsylvania for Thanksgiving. We had a great time.

Speaker 1: 2:09

It was not as cold as I expected, so I totally overpacked, but all is well. I got a lot of walking in. One day I did walk in some freezing rain, but it was kind of lovely. I actually really enjoy being outside when it's gray and quiet and cold. I was walking in the woods. They have a lot of. They have, I don't know, an acre-ish of their property, but it basically is like their house. Like many sort of Northeast New England, I don't know, northeastern homes are like right on the road and then their property goes straight back and up the hill. So it's kind of a skinny and long property, if that makes sense, and the backside of their property is predominantly woods. It's really beautiful. So I walked a little bit back there while I was up there and one day when I was walking back there, it started like freezing rain and it was making the sound right, like the t-t-t-t-t sound, and it was crunching. As I'm walking, like the leaves are crunching and I don't know, there's just something about it. I just enjoy that solitude of gray, cold quiet, you know so anyway. So maybe that's something to think about as we move into that season.

Speaker 1: 3:29

You know a lot of folks they just automatically move indoors for their workouts and that's totally fine. But I would say there's still something to be said for bundling up, getting outside, enjoying some fresh air, even if you've got, you know, three layers on. So do what you can. At the end of the day, move right. That's the most important thing. But if you can get outside, it's really a great benefit to your mental health, I would say. Anyway, I also want to let you know that trainer Doodle, my cat, one of my three cats is quite saucy this morning. So if you hear him meowing, just everything's fine. He's just being very vocal today.

Speaker 1: 4:13

So, anyway, okay, so we're in the midst of the holidays right now, right, so it's just Thanksgiving, christmas is coming up or Hanukkah, or whatever you celebrate, and you know, of course, we're getting inundated with all the deals right now. Like I can't even. I cannot even deal with the deals. I'm not a shopper, ps, like it stresses me out. I am a saver, not a spender, so it stresses me out the whole shopping process and also, you know, just getting the right thing. But anyway, you know, the other thing that I feel like we're inundated with right now because I'm not going to go down the rabbit hole of deals and shopping is, you know, working on health and wellness goals in the new year. Whether you've seen advertisements for that yet. You will, oh, you will, you just wait, and maybe you're thinking about it as well.

Speaker 1: 5:08

And I would say you know, a lot of trainers and help coaches will say, like you know, don't wait for the new year, start today. And I'm totally a fan of that. You know, if you're actually going to do it. I think right now would be a great time, like I was just mentioning, to just get outside, take some deep breaths. You know there's a lot of stress for a lot of people right now during the holidays, whether it's travel or family or shopping or money or whatever the thing is. So, you know, just taking some time for some stress management I think would be a great goal for for December, whether that's something movement related or maybe it's just some deep breathing, it's getting some quality sleep, enjoying a book, you know, enjoying some fun Christmas holiday movies. You know that you have enjoyed growing. You know you enjoyed growing up or whatever, so I'm definitely a fan of that.

Speaker 1: 6:03

But you know, I think sometimes feeling like you have to start in December on whatever your health and wellness goals can also feel like just one more thing that's going to stress you out. So I have an alternative idea for you. An idea could be to take this time in December right to really just think. I know that sounds crazy, but really consider what plan is going to work for you after January, january 1st. Okay, so as my business coach Holly calls it she calls it white space and we talk about it a lot in business too. You know, sometimes you have to slow down, to speed up. That's what she says, and I like that because here's the thing you can start moving forward with a plan without even having considered if that plan is going to work for you, right? And then the next thing, you know you've failed, again, using probably your words, not mine. Okay, so that's it. I'll see you in a minute, okay. And then here we are again. You know, a year from now.

Speaker 1: 7:14

So I really challenge you to take the month of December and a little bit of quiet time. Go for a walk, you know, sit in a warm bathtub and just think what is something that I want to challenge myself to do? What's the plan that's going to work for me after January 1st? If you have health and wellness goals, which most people do, I'll just be totally honest, most people that I talk to do maybe it's just my world, but anyway. So consider, kind of, the four big needle movers Exercise, nutrition, stress management, sleep. Consider those which one would you want to start with and, honestly, I recommend choosing one to focus on. And a crazy idea that I've had recently that I love. Again, going back to the podcast I did about getting healthy. Isn't sexy, crazy idea.

Speaker 1: 8:20

Maybe you take the entire year 2024, and focus on one big goal, one of those needle movers, and then you take the whole year, one of those per quarter. So maybe I'm just making this up, but maybe quarter one is exercise, maybe quarter two is nutrition, quarter three stress management, quarter four is sleep or whatever, and maybe there's four needle movers. Maybe they're years or something else, but for me those have kind of always been the big needle movers for most people that I've ever worked with with health coaching. And really, you know, if you're working on, let's say, exercise in quarter one, then once you get to nutrition in quarter two, guess what? We're going to keep those exercise goals going. So this is like a layered effect. Okay, not not like we're going to work on exercise quarter one and then drop it quarter two, okay.

Speaker 1: 9:15

So the idea is to really take, you know, that 10,000 foot view and and make a plan. It really takes time to figure out what's going to work for you. It's a dance. So if we're looking at exercise specifically, just because someone else loves going to the gym doesn't mean that you will. But maybe that's what you try at first, right, you know you're like, okay, well, I'm going to get this gym membership and I'm going to try it. Or you're going to try some group exercise classes at the gym, whatever, whatever you want to do there. But then maybe after a few weeks you realize, for whatever reason, it's not working for you. You're not, and what I mean by that is you are not going. If you made a plan and you're not doing it, then we need to reassess.

Speaker 1: 10:07

Okay, so instead of giving up, maybe you have try and at home routine. You know, even if you don't want to commit to paying for anything, there's a lot of things on YouTube. You know a lot of workout videos on YouTube you could follow. And again, if you've committed to one goal per quarter, that's more doable Because you're giving yourself that grace in advance that it's going to take time. You've already committed to that time. Right, one big goal per quarter.

Speaker 1: 10:40

So if your goal is, or your focus for quarter one is exercise, you know, maybe your goal is you want to regularly exercise three times a week and you're literally giving yourself three months to get to that goal, and you start at the gym and you realize after two or three weeks like ding, ding, ding, I'm not going to the gym. So now we go to a home workout. You know, let's try something at home. And then you realize, okay, I like working out at home, but maybe you first tried some sort of strength training and you don't love that. So now maybe you find decide you want to try some kind of cardio or yoga or a mixture of all of those, right, and again you're giving yourself sort of that grace to try new things.

Speaker 1: 11:30

You know, you're giving yourself the grace to be curious, right, like instead of you know, when something doesn't work like going to the gym that didn't work you just decided you're not getting there, instead of just, oh, I knew I couldn't do this. I don't know why. I even thought I could. I've never been successful at exercising regularly. Instead, you're curious, right. You're curious like why didn't it work? Well, it's because I don't want to drive over there. Because maybe I'm trying to go after work and I know that it's going to take me 45 minutes to get to the gym when it's two miles down the street, right, or whatever. Or I don't want to work out in front of people. You know, a lot of folks feel that way. So just be curious.

Speaker 1: 12:26

You as a person did not fail. That plan failed, Okay, so don't take it personally, it's okay and we'll just try something new. So I think, when I keep saying we, and it's because this is something I've worked through with people so many times before and I do think working with a coach or having some sort of accountability partner or group for this would be clutch, because staying committed to something like this isn't easy. And if this is something you've attempted to commit to in the past and you've been unsuccessful, you know that. And especially if you're really committing to something like this for the long term, because it's tough to stay on track, you know it's so easy to just be like, oh, and give up because it's hard. It is hard. If it wasn't hard, we wouldn't even be. I would not even be having this podcast. I mean, literally, if it was easy, you would have already done it, everybody would be doing it, we wouldn't have this issue and I wouldn't have this podcast. So it is hard, just accept that.

Speaker 1: 13:25

But do you feel like a year is just so long? You want those instant results? Right, we all do, and I get it right. Like you start off and you're like this is a great idea. I am all in for this. And literally a weekend, you're like I'm sore, this hurts, I don't want to do this, I don't have the time. Quote unquote. You know I don't have the time. Quote unquote. You know I don't want to make. The time is really what it is and that's okay, but just be honest with yourself. So we all want instant results, but I'm going to give you a little tough love here. Okay, love you all. Tough love here, too bad, it doesn't work that way in the real world, right, and again, I'm sure you've tried some quick fixes before and like here we are Still with the same goal, right? So be honest with yourself. You've tried the quick fixes in the past, like give yourself a year, be patient. You will still be here a year from now. Okay, and would you rather be here? You know, waking up.

Speaker 1: 14:41

Just imagine waking up one year from now and you, you've completed your journey. You've created an exercise habit, you've mastered a healthier eating routine, you're managing your stress, you're getting quality sleep. Like, who is that girl? She is you, my friend. She is you one year from now. I mean, I might drop, like I feel like I'm done with the podcast at this point I'm not really, but you have got to have some patience, because if you can remember back to last Christmas which honestly, I really can't, but you and I both know what I'm trying to say like it wasn't that long ago, right, and what? If you would have made that commitment a year ago, you would have been here now, okay, so that the year is gonna come and go and you're either gonna be in a better place and proud of yourself or you're not, and you're literally.

Speaker 1: 15:38

It's like Groundhog Day every year, same goals. So instead, imagine you're going into 2025 with an ability to focus on all new goals, if you want to. Maybe you're just like, you know what I got these goals like in 2024. Now I'm just gonna like, really, I mean like double down on these goals. Or maybe I'm just gonna chill in 2025. Like, imagine I'm just gonna read some books. It's gonna be great Versus having the same goals you've been trying to accomplish for like the last 10 years, ie like health and fitness, health and wellness goals, whatever you want to call them. I mean, imagine like this weight lifted off your shoulders and how amazing that would feel.

Speaker 1: 16:21

Okay, but here's the thing you've got to start. And you have got to be willing to fail. And, like I said, instead of beating yourself up when you quote fail, look at that failure from like a curiosity angle. Like why didn't that work? What can I do instead? What might work better, whether that's fitness or nutrition. Like, again, there's nothing wrong with you, you didn't fail. The plan failed, the going to the gym, that wasn't a good plan. Oh well, that doesn't mean you're a bad person or you're a failure. It just means, like we need to reassess and figure out, like, what's the next tactic. And I promise you, if you are genuinely committed to figuring that out, you will find something that works for you. But again, tough love.

Speaker 1: 17:14

I think If you're not ready and you're gonna be whiny and unwilling to change some of your current habits, then don't even bother starting, and I don't mean that to sound harsh, but your head has to be in the right place. Like you have to go into this, like, okay, obviously I am comfortable where I am, whatever those habits are, whatever you're doing right now, but I wanna make a change. And you can't make a change in a vacuum. You know things have to change to make a change. So you have to make some changes. You have to try some new stuff. Maybe try some new foods, try some new recipes. Maybe actually do a little like grocery shopping, maybe cook for yourself, because you're worth it. Or maybe you figure out ways like I actually just shared an Instagram post this morning into my stories ways that you can increase protein without even cooking. Okay. So there are things you can do. Okay, but again, you have to be committed to trying new things. If not, you're just gonna keep restarting year after year, and doing that, I think, is the biggest direct hit to your mental health. Just same thing year after year, wanting to achieve some sort of goal and it just not happening right. So, again, the idea is to commit.

Speaker 1: 18:50

The big idea that I'm sharing with you today is to commit to working on and creating healthier habits in each of the following areas, with one focus per quarter in 2024. So, again, I believe the big needle movers are, and I think research supports this. I'm not just like making this up. Business or movement, nutrition, stress management, sleep those are huge umbrella terms, though. Okay, there can be a lot of different things that fall under that, and that's why I do think working with a group, or accountability or a coach or accountability partner just one person can be really helpful. You know, obviously, if you do need a guide for this, just shoot me a direct message on Instagram.

Speaker 1: 19:39

I do offer one-on-one coaching, but I only have three openings for the year of 2024 because, as you can imagine, this is a pretty deep dive and it's a commitment. It's a one-year commitment, but I would love to help you. I really would and this is like my gravy no, is that how you say that? My bread and butter? I don't know Lots of Thanksgiving terms here. I just would love to help you. It's what I do. And then, if you just have some general thoughts or questions, you can always DM me on Instagram with those too. But, like I said, I really want you to take the month of December.

Speaker 1: 20:18

Think about your goals, think about if you're willing to take the entire year of 2024 to work on those goals, if you're willing to take it slow, if you're willing to make mistakes, if you're willing to fail but be determined to figure it out. Like, have that curiosity why didn't this work? Take the personal out of it, right, it's facts, not feelings. Why didn't this work? What can we try next? Not I'm a failure. I knew this wouldn't work for me. That's not getting you anywhere fast, beating yourself up. Just throw that out the window because there's no point. I do it too. I'm saying this to myself too, right? But really be determined to figure it out.

Speaker 1: 21:08

Imagine what it would feel like to wake up January 1st of 2025 in that new place of like. I have all these new habits. I mean, a year ago I didn't even have any of these. I mean, it would be so amazing. And then you can just double down on those habits and just make sure they are locked and loaded so that you just don't even have to think about them anymore. I mean, that's what a habit is right. It's something we do without thinking about it. So that's the goal and I want that for you.

Speaker 1: 21:40

So if you have questions, if you want to discuss I am happy to do that Shoot me a DM on Instagram. I'd be happy to just answer any questions or work with you one on one, like. If you're ready to commit to 2024 and you need a guide, like, let's do this. I love working with people who are genuinely excited and committed and know it's going to be challenging. Yes, it is, it's okay. You can do hard things. You got this All right, all right. Well, have a great day, happy Thanksgiving week, happy holidays, all the things, and I'll talk to you guys soon, see ya.