Self Care Sunday - Get Yourself Some New Clothes

Hello again friends. This week for Self Care Sunday we are talking getting ourselves some new clothes. As much as I like to find cheap or inexpensive ways of self care, sometime you also need to spend a little on yourself. You deserve it.

That said, if money is tight you can also host a clothing swap (I will so blog about that soon). Clothing for free while cleaning out your closet. I actually spent the first 6 months of the year without buying any "new" clothes. As in meaning from a store. Only clothing swaps and second hand stores. 

Now as that was fun, this past week I got some new clothes and it feels pretty great. 

I did some online shopping at Belle + Bliss Boutique and got this awesome shirt.....

And this sassy skirt.....

As I said in the Self Care Sunday - Self Primping post, when you're in a rut, when you spend some time on making yourself feel good, something awesome happens. You start to feel good! It's really that simple. A few simple pieces of clothing that make you feel sexy, comfortable, saucy or just plain fresh and new help boost your confidence, starting that chain reaction of positive thought. 

So this week I want you to buy yourself a new piece of clothing. Either actually new from a store (think investment pieces lasting longer than #30wears) or new to you from a thrift store or clothing swap. Not that you likely need tips in shopping but here are a few to avoid maybe some upsetting:

• Think about what's missing from your wardrobe that would make a difference. For example, I'm actually in particular need of some cute flats that aren't sporty or sandals. Closed toe, non fancy cute flats. Something that every time I leave the house in cute shorts and think "crap I don't have the right shoes for this", so it would help complete my wardrobe and feel better. 
• Go alone or with girlfriends. DO NOT drag your kids or hubby along. This is time for you. 
• Plan a few stores (or stores online).
• Eat a good light meal. No need to be hANGRY  (hungry + angry) and get impatient while waiting for the dressing room, but not to full so you're bloated!
• When you look at yourself in the mirror each time, say one nice thing to yourself. Even if it's unrelated to the clothing. (This is a bonus tip just to be nice to yourself)

Happy shopping friends! And come back to share with me what you got. Either on here, my Facebook  Page or Instagram! 

Love, 

Jen the Bitchin' Housewife

Restart, Do Over, Just Try Again!

Tomorrow is February 1st. A time to reflect on our year so far. Many of us set resolutions or intentions for the month, year etc and now it's time to check in. 

According to Static Brain only 8% of people complete their new years resolutions. This makes me wonder why? In our world of immediate access to information and usually access to the tools we need to do almost anything we want in life, why do we set goals for ourselves and then forget them?

I imagine there is many reasons, that are very personal to each and every one of us. And that is okay. You are trying your best.

That said, let's take February 1st as our "restart", January was our trial run and we can try again. Let's take it past that though. After February 1st you will likely fall off track from whatever your goal or resolution may be. That important thing is you try and try again. 

Seldom do things go the way we plan they will. When we hit traffic on our way to work, or a meeting doesn't go how we thought it would, do we turn our cars around and drive back home? Do we walk out half way through the meeting? Not usually. So why do we do this with goals? Why do we say "Crap, I fumbled on my diet plan" or "I didn't put away the money I planned to the past two weeks" and believe we just weren't meant for success? 

Get back on the horse, ride through the rough patches and the gentle strolls and reflect on maybe this is what your success looks like. Perfectionism isn't real. Think about anything you've accomplished in your life. Did it go perfectly? Would it have been as fun or as much of a learning experience if it did?

Good luck to you, in whatever your goals are. Just keep trying again. 

Love, 

Jen

Fitness Takes A Village

We often say this when talking about raising children. And that is very true. I will not contest that in the slightest. What I don't think that gets spoken about often is that its needed in our health and fitness lifestyle too. 

In our day to to day lives, how many times are we exposed to offerings that are not in our diet or meal plans? Daily, hourly, every minute (thanks Instagram and Facebook and your damn food accounts pfft). Oh sure we can argue it takes willpower. Sure it does. That's not the whole bit of it though. 

Starting a journey into fitness can be exciting. Being honest though, like most new things, the novelty wears off a bit. You have to find that sort of love for it. Read my Love Your Fitness post talking all about that subject. But one thing that can keep you motivated is finding your "village". 

Thinking back on to the hot new fitness regimes out there all the time. A big part of it seems to be the people. Crossfit being the best example of this I think. They compete with each other but in a supportive way. They all do the same daily workout. They are a village in it together. The Zumba phenomenon years ago. A village, dressing in bright colors expressing themselves through their creative dance. Yogi's looking to each other for support and guidance and assistance. Body builders coaching and spotting and competing together. From what I've seen most successfully winning in groups. Families. Villages. 

Taking that outside of the gym, zumba room or barre class, you need your village in support of your friends and family. And that's the more difficult one. You may want to change your ways but your husband or friends don't. You want to stop the Saturday nights binge drinkfests, ball team cookout that could feed an army or just fast food picked up daily by the family. So many motivational and inspirational messages tell us we can't change others, only ourselves. It is a matter of willpower and strength. Half right. Half wrong. We can not change them, but we do not just have to grin and bear it. Seek a village. Seek those with goals like yourself. Connect with those that inspire you, lift you up and support you. 

Something I found profoundly powerful? Asking to be supportive. I tell my husband, "Hey I need to really stop with the wine and candy for a bit. I'm not feeling so hot these days." Now my husband is amazing and he says "okay, I'll be as supportive as I can". Because you know, he's one of those jerks that can eat like crazy and loose weight. *Love you babe* But even if he didn't say that, now he knows my intention. My reason for not having a beer on the deck with him, but a water, or a salad instead of ordering pizza. 

Put your intention out into the world. Really the scariest thing that can happen is you get what you ask for. And hey who knows, maybe you are the one that inspires those around you!

Take care and you are ALWAYS, ALWAYS welcome to share with me here and we can be our own village. 

Love, 

Jen

Quit Smoking With Positive Thought

Today I celebrate 5 years of not smoking.

I wrote the below post 2 years ago on my personal blog I am no longer using, but I thought it was important enough I had to reshare here. The power of the mind is fascinating. You can do anything if you really think you can.

This is something I am extremely proud of, especially after trying probably close to 10 times previously. I smoked for a whopping 13 years. Yes I started at a young age and it was very unfortunate.

I want to share with you my story of how I quit, in hopes of maybe helping someone else.

As so many, I tried many times. I tried patches, gum, food, “will power”, lollipops, water etc. I felt tortured through each process. I read the book “Allen Carr’s Easy Way to Quit Smoking” and it helped. Then I started again. I read it again. Started smoking again. But I do sort of recall using some of his thought processes in order to help me and this is why I share the book with you. It is a great book.

It really start when my younger sister and her boyfriend quit on February 1st. I was a little jealous they quit and I was still smoking and it motivated me. I said I would quit March 1st. Most people do dates like this and then do nothing to prepare until February 28th. I spent the entire month preparing myself mentally for quitting. Every time I smoked I kept thinking “this is disgusting, this doesn’t ACTUALLY taste good, this isn’t good for me” etc etc. As the days counted down I kept thinking about how I couldn’t wait for March 1st, not dread it. I wanted to quit earlier but I really wanted to spend the proper time thinking about how much I hated it. If that makes sense.

March 1st came. I woke up excited, but to be honest a little nervous about how it would play out. I don’t want to give you the impression my mind was 100% the entire time. I was pretty good for the first day, each day was a little more difficult for 6 days. I was a little bitchy, not over the top, your body really is detoxing all that crap. Most importantly every time I had a craving I made a point to honour what it was. “I’m having a craving, I really feel like I need to smoke, but I really don’t NEED to. This will pass.” In the meantime as it passed, instead of thinking about the cigarette as a delicious creature I couldn’t have, I reminded myself of the bad things I thought all month. Then redirected myself to a task, filing, laundry or whatever. I think the important thing is to honour the fact that you are having a craving and work through it. The old mind of matter is real, just not the traditional “will power” way. Thinking through the process in a positive manner, not a negative one. Thats the difference.

Another important factor for me was my visual calendar. Every single morning I went into work and the first thing I did was put a big red X through the day before when I didn’t smoke. It was extremely satisfying to make that mark on the calendar. A visual reminder all day long at my desk of the amazing work I was doing. I did this in my calendar for at least 3 or 4 months.

I additionally did a lot of hot yoga that first month. I did it a lot before, but did it 6/7 days a week then. It felt great to feel the benefits of better breathing. You may find something else for you, but digging into a healthy hobby like that made me feel amazing and helped keep me positive.

Good luck to you on your journey and stay positive.

Love Your Fitness

I posted this picture on my personal Instagram a couple of weeks ago after a great workout and I loved the shape my muscles started taking. I was talking about loving yourself through fitness. I want to chat about that tonight. Likely because being honest, I feel like I need to take a bit of my own advice today.

As I said in the post, fitness isn't about hating yourself. It's not about hating something so much that's it's enough to motivate you into fitness. Most of us get into fitness with the thought "I just need to loose these X amount of pounds", "If I could just get rid of X". Starting our journey's with negative thoughts about ourselves.

Then somewhere along the lines, one, two or maybe 5 weeks later we stop or slow down. Progress isn't happening, we still hate X so what's the point of all this effort for no reward?

During those past weeks what were you saying to yourself? "Ugh I hate X, so I gotta push through what my trainer said" "Dig deep and one day it will be better"? If we are always focusing on the negative and the things we hate, that thing is sure to stay there. You know when you buy a new car and you see it everywhere? Or you get pregnant and you see pregnancy everywhere? You see it everywhere, because its what you are thinking about. It's on your mind, so you make it come to fruition in real life. Now take that and apply it to actual self thoughts. If you think "I'm fat" or "I feel strong" then that is what you will be.

Fitness should be celebrating what you love. My entire life I hated my legs. Thought I had thunder thighs. No matter how skinny I became or what I did, they were just terrible. What do I love now? My legs. I love the muscle they have, the shape they give my body and the strength they hold for the crazy things I put my body through. I can assure you they are not smaller nor much bigger then they have been my entire life, but I have chosen to embrace them. I found a form of fitness that embraces that part of my body and makes me feel good.

I dare you to go to your mirror now and find at least one thing about your body you love. You may see the things you don't love so much, but that's fine. Accept that thought and move on. Don't stay to long there. Find what you love. Your arms? Are they strong and capable of carrying 35 lbs toddlers? Your shoulders? Are they broad, full of pride and give you beautiful posture? Your feet? Are they wide to keep you sturdy and great for balancing in yoga?  Find something that you love.

Find that something you love and build from there with your fitness. Do you love your strong powerful legs? Try running with them. Squatting with them. Your shoulders and arms feel great? Maybe try swimming or yoga. If we all took the time to work on the things we love instead of the things we hate I bet you we would all come further, faster. The more you work toward that, the easier the rest comes.

That is what falling in love with fitness is about I think. Why some people it clicks for them and can't stop working out. They found that thing that makes it a part of them. Also why people try and it fails. You may not have found the fitness you love yet. The way to move your own body and it make you feel good inside and/or out.

I love weightlifting and yoga personally, but you might like Zumba, powerlifting, swimming, crossfit, pilates, running or a combination! In tise day in age we are in of Groupons for all types of fitness just go and try them all until you find something that works. Something that makes you feel good. That makes you go home and say "wow I could do X because my X"

I'd love to hear what you've tried or what you really love!

Jen