EP11 // 3 Tools to Reset Your Mindset & Start Your Day Even When You Feel Like Crap

EPISODE 11
 

How do you start your day when you are feeling like crap?  And you are feeling like crap because you made some bad choices….  like Hershey Bars and Graham Cracker Ice Cream.  YUM!  Shan had a sugar-fest, for a few weeks, and is paying for it dearly.

It can be food.  It can be lack of sleep.  It can be doing too much.  As women living with chronic conditions,  we make dozens of choices each day that impact how well, or not, we are going to  feel physically.  Which then impacts how much we like ourselves and how much we can get done.  

If you would like more self-compassion than self-critic in these moments, have a listen to these 3 top tricks for resetting your mindset, getting into motion, and turning the corner so you feel better both mentally and physically.  

 ******************
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:

Hey beautiful and welcome to Finally Effing Happy. a podcast and community for kick ass can do women living with chronic illness. I am happiness coach and Self Care strategist Shannon Klenk. And today's episode is a short happiness hack, where I share self care strategies and happiness hacks from my coaching program and own personal experience in my journey to joy through chronic illness.

But before we dive into today's edition, I want to make sure you know two things; If you want to hang out some more, come join me in my free private Facebook group, “finallyeffinghappy” group. https://www.facebook.com/groups/439427417252088

And I'm also super excited to share with you that I am opening up three spots in my 30 day self care starter program at a special beta price. This is going to go through 30 days of helping you as a woman with chronic illness to feel better, you don't have to feel tired all the time, you don't have to wish that you could just feel better, that these simple daily systems will help you get more done, be more joyful, tap into some more energy. And I am going to walk with you along the way, giving you a daily easy framework that you can follow because it takes into consideration the nuances of your chronic condition partnered with some light accountability, three people only and once they're filled, they're filled. But you get the special price because you're going to be the first three people to walk this journey with me in this way. That's $287 for 30 days, five and a half hours of individualized coaching to make your self care something sustainable, something doable, and dare I say even enjoyable. So if that sounds like something interesting, let's do this, send me an email at [email protected]. And I can send you some more information and answer any questions that you might have.

I'm super excited about launching this self care starter program, because I am so passionate about women being kind to themselves through radical self care. Because when you are kind to you The world is a better place. Alright, enough of all of that. Let's dive into today's episode, which I think you're going to love because I have some really juicy specific suggestions on how to get your day started when you're feeling like crap.

Hey, beautiful. I am bringing you this mini talk about when you are in that in between place. You know you're not so sick that you're in bed and can't get out of bed, but you're also not feeling great. And that is where I've been the last couple of weeks. So I had a little bit of a sugar fast and when I say a little bit of sugar fast it was like for three weeks. Graham cracker ice cream, Hershey bars and coffee with my husband for dessert. Oh my goodness, so fantastically delicious and yummy. To eat what you love and when you hear those health programs and they're like eat really healthy, then you know, it's okay if you cheat once in a while. Oh, you know, when I cheat, I do not cheat once in a while I go off the wagon for a couple of weeks. Anyways, that a little bit of sugar fest. Which means for me, waking up in the morning has been exceptionally painful. It means that I feel like I'm shaking concrete out of my joints, it means that I have a little more foggy brain. And on some mornings, I have a ribbon headache to start my day and makes it super hard to open my eyes. And if you are a kick ass woman living with chronic illness, I'm imagining that your first thought in the morning is not always I feel like a rock star. No, some mornings my physical first thought is, Oh, this is so hard. But I'm still gonna get up and do my day. So what do we do about this those days? All right, here are the things not to do from my personal experience. The first one is just turn the news or something else on. So there is background noise in my brain. So I don't have to think about how crappy I feel.

Number two not to do for my own personal experience is stay in my bathrobe until 10 or 11 o'clock in the morning. Now don't get me wrong. There are some days we're staying in your bathrobe till 10-11 in the morning is totally warranted. But not when it's coming from a place of because I feel like crap. I am crap. My life is crap. This is all crap. is not a good day to stay in your bathrobe. It is a good day to stay in your bathrobe when you're coming from a place of “I love to nourish and nurture.” This is so yummy and delicious and enriching. But when I'm shaking concrete out of my joints, it's not coming from that place. So added the bathroom. And then the third one is not to do known from my personal experience is get immediately to work from that place of No, no, you don't understand. There's not enough time, there's not enough energy. So I have to change the sheet right now. I have to respond to these emails right now. Whatever it is, no, no. And here's the last thing not to do. beat yourself up. That is my first go to my first go to is, this is all your fault, Shane. See, you're just weak willed. If you had more willpower, if you were more of a grown up, if you took these things seriously, I did, too. did that. See all of this is your fault. Now that little voice where we beat ourselves up for the choices that we've made that make our body feel like crap. Sometimes those voices can be really loud and overt. And sometimes they're subtle, and they just start slowly eating away in the background. Either way, the beating ourselves up is totally counterproductive to shaking the concrete out of our joints. Moving on through that headache, getting ourselves up and ready for our day when we know we have to with any sense of nourishing support, kindness, gentleness, encouragement. And so here are your strategies to do it differently.

The first one is affirmations. I can hear you now Oh, God, I hate affirmations. Or I know affirmations. I already do them. I've got it covered. Awesome.

So say this. “Everything is working out for me. Everything. Everything is always works out for me", it totally is going to work out for me, this is going to work out for me.”

We're going to start right there. Second of all, arms wide open. I am more powerful than my physical body. I am more powerful than my physical body. I am powerful. And then the third one hand on your heart, hand on your belly, feet flat on the ground, whether in your bathroom, standing in your closet, trying to decide what you're going to wear for that day, still at the side of your bed, trying to get moving hand on heart hand on but on your belly, feet flat on the ground, three deep breaths. And as you're saying, taking those three deep breaths deeply and completely love and accept myself Exactly. As I am right now. I deeply and completely love and accept myself exactly as I am right. Now. Here's suggestion number two. And that is mirror work. If you're not familiar with mirror work, DM me shoot me an email. I'll teach you a little bit about mirror work. And yesterday morning, this was my strategy to get out of it. I literally looked in the mirror and talk to myself until I could go from frowning and long exhausted, painful, miserable face to smiling face and it sounded something like this. Hey, good morning. SHAN How you doing sweetheart? I know. I know. You're not feeling great. I know you had three weeks of sugar fast. Wasn't it fun?

Did you enjoy those moments with your family just enjoying the flavor of the ice cream and the Hershey's chocolate and I know, I know you're paying for it now. But you've got this baby, you have got this and you're going to drink your water and you're going to do some gentle stretching. And you're going to shake it. And you're going to feel right as rain in about three to five days. And that's okay. This is part of the cycle. And this journey. Hey, Hey, good morning, Shannon. How are you? How you doing sweetheart? I can even see myself smiling as I'm just sharing it with you on this podcast. So try a little talking to yourself saying good morning in the mirror. The third strategy is music. I have a morning playlist just for those kinds of mornings and they start with some couraging songs and then they start with some high energy songs to get me going. Seriously, what are those songs that you can feel at the bottom of your soul When you listen to those songs and I'm sure you're thinking you know some of your favorites, or yeah yeah musics. How But really do you have a playlist of them and maybe you already do. But if you don't promise me that today or before the end of this weekend, you're gonna take some time. And just put together like three to five of those songs that you feel at the bottom of your soul. They might be high energy, they might be low energy, it doesn't matter, whatever it is, that speaks to you. And I've got everything from Stevie Wonder to Dolly Parton to meditation spirituals on mine and Stevie and Dolly, get me through these mornings, when I feel like I'm shaking concrete out my joints and have a rip and headache that I'm just gonna gently walk on through to get my day started.

But the music makes the moment and that gets me to the logistical strategies, which I'm sure you already know. But just a friendly reminder, water, water, water, water, water, happy hydrating, I am crazy about water. Even though I hate drinking water, I should say I hate drinking water because words have power. But it is one of my great challenges and something that I have a lot of strategies around to make sure I get the amount of water that I need because it absolutely helps me feel better, gentle stretching, and of course, the no sugar. I have certain foods that I keep in my house almost all the time, so that when my family is enjoying their ice creams and Hershey's bars, I've got some sweeties that don't have sugar in them that I've made from scratch at home that I love that are just as nourishing and fulfilling. But if I don't have them in the house ready at my fingertips, I'm totally down for the ice cream and Hershey syrup, but boy do I pay for it. So on those mornings, when you might want to start beating yourself up for making a choice or to Oh, I had a loaf of bread, I eat some sugar I made these bad choices and therefore my body hurts rather than beating yourself up. Try a little affirmation.

Try a little deeply and completely love and accept myself a little Good morning mirror work until that smile appears because once the smile appears whether you feel it or not, whether it's fake or not. science shows that the endorphins the oxytocin, they start to release in our brains and then dancing around with some music. So this morning was the first morning I woke up didn't have a headache, still shaking out a little bit of concrete. But I'm putting all of these in practice in my life today sharing these strategies with you and until we connect next, be kind to you today.

Hey, beautiful. If you heard something on today's episode that was helpful to you and or someone that you know and love you do me a favor, drop a comment and Apple podcasts because this helps more women find Finally, if unhappy or better yet, take a screenshot and share it on Instagram or Facebook and tag me. And finally, if I'm happy, you can follow me on either instagram or facebook at you guessed it finally, if unhappy. And if that technology is not your jam, you can always leave me a voicemail at 860-385-1088. And last but not least, if you were interested in doing 30 days of one on one self care accountability coaching with me, I am currently offering to three people and three people only my 30 day self care starter package at the beta price of $287. Do you feel like your chronic condition gets in the way of you living your life to the fullest? Have you ever said to yourself by the time I finish taking care of everyone else, there is never enough energy leftover for me. And these simple daily systems will help you get more done be more joyful tap into more energy and I'm going to walk with you along the way, giving you a daily easy framework that you can follow because it takes into consideration the nuances of your chronic condition partnered with the accountability three people only so if you're interested, DM me or email me a [email protected] I can get you some more information, answer any of your questions and get started to feeling better. I am so excited about this offer. Because I am super passionate about women being kind to themselves through radical self care. Because when you're kind to you, the world is a better place. So until we connect next remember, be kind to you today.