Hello there beautiful people, Happy New Year & happy first Monday of the year.

I hope you’ve all had a great start to this year and had a nice festive season. I know many were/ are in quarantine or have loved ones who were in quarantine over the holidays – myself included – which I’m sure put a damper on the festivities, sadly a sign of the times; but now it’s time to look forward and get some goals in place.

Now I’m not really one for resolutions, I never ever stick to them! I find I used to make impossible resolutions that I of course eventually break and then feel bad about myself for doing the inevitable. That’s not what I’m talking about when I say it’s time to set goals.

It’s all about making small, lasting changes that add up!

It doesn’t need to be a new year to do this, I used to sit down with my planner once a month to do this and it was so helpful! I fell out of this habit somewhere between the start of the pandemic in 2020 and now – just like I fell out of so many other good habits and routines I’d like to find my way back to now.

Between the pandemic, having a baby and life in general, I feel a bit deflated, tired and just not at my best right now. I’m the happiest I’ve ever been (most days) but I feel it’s about time I start taking care of myself again. My needs have come last for a while now and that needs to change – you can’t pour out of an empty cup.

So, if for whatever reason, this resonates with you too, take this as your sign: it’s time to fill your cup!

Here are some of my goals for the month of January 2022. Every end of the month I will reevaluate and change where necessary. This is the only way I stay accountable and follow through.

• Start the day with a large glass of (warm) water (with lemon) and drink it entirely before consuming ANYTHING else

Just writing “drink more water” is not enough for me to actually do it, even though that’s what I need. However when I start my day with water I feel like it acts as a reminder to re-hydrate and do it more often.

• Daily smoothie for breakfast

This is one thing I used to do and really miss. I like adding A TON of nutritious ingredients – like spirulina, maca, hemp (more on this later), baby spinach etc. – to my smoothies and start the day feeling full and with a great kick start.

It’s very difficult to find time with a baby BUT I have started prepping my smoothie ingredients the night before in my Nutribullet, keeping it in the fridge so in the morning all I have to do is blend – GAME CHANGER!

• Meal prepping and PLANNING

I’m pretty good with prepping, planning on the other hand is a different story. My goal here is to make a list every Sunday night or Monday morning of our meals Monday – Friday. This will help me make sure I don’t over or under prep and still make room for flexibility over the weekend.

• Daily movement

Even if just a 10 minute walk. My goal is to incorporate daily movement.

• Pick up yoga and meditation (again)

This used to be where I find my calm. I find it very difficult to make time for this. Every time I’m home and Amber is asleep, I start cooking, cleaning, working, doing laundry – but I’m going to strive for 1 session a week this month and go from there.

• Build structure / routine

I’m self-employed for the most part and have a 6 month old baby. My life is lacking structure and routine like never before. My goal is to build a routine that is both structured enough to allow me to be productive but flexible enough to allow for the uncertainty and changes of both business and baby.

• Time in nature

This. Nothing helps me re-charge more than this!

• Less TV more reading

I don’t actually watch much tv but I would love to pick up reading again. Automatically, when we finally get some time to relax at home, we hit the tv remote. The goal here is to read a few times a week instead.

• Dinner at table

We’ve picked up the bad habit of eating at the breakfast counter or in front of the tv. Mindful eating is really important and the first step is actually taking the time to notice you’re eating. So dinner at table it is!

That’s it from me for today – I’ll be back with a new blog post Every Single week 🙂

If you like this, don’t forget to ‘like’ it – it helps let me know what you guys want to see more of!Don’t forget to click on the ‘follow’ button below to stay updated on all the content I share here. Also, I do share a TON of recipes over on my facebook and instagram pages – @holisticnutritionninja

Thank you for taking the time to be here and read this ❤️

Until next week, be well xXx