One question to ask yourself

Will my current habits take me me to the future I want?

And a happy bank holiday Monday to you too... Seriously though. If you don't want to be in this same situation in 12 months, how much longer are you going to spend on this? Some things aren't changeable right now, but mostly? Even a little? They are.

Journal on this exact question. 

Something to consider

Values are worthless if they don’t contain some sort of real-world manifestation, some tangible benefit in the form of positive experience." - Mark Manson.


Everyone loves a value these days, don't they? But a lot of us tick the box and choose our values on our idea of 'shoulds'. I value health and family and love and career. Come on now, look deeper. Google some examples of core values - there's a lot more than these outwardly accepted umbrella-term values. Living in line with your values is the realest way to that peaceful feeling we're all seeking. Dysfunctional habits, unease, anxiety - these often all stem from a misalignment somewhere, an incongruence. 

Journal on this - If someone looked from the outside, what would they say my values are?

One thing I'd tell my younger self.

Write it out.

As the tears streamed down my face yesterday (you know the free-flowing, non-ugly, I imagine this is what I'd look like in a 90s music video type?), I laughed at myself as I realised. I'd been ignoring making real space for my journaling, and as soon as I did, the water erupted from my eyeballs. There's actually nothing wrong, I just let the little moments build up and didn't acknowledge them. In the past? I'd never have those journaling sessions. I'd let it all build up, forever, and it'd come out in me binge eating instead. Can't let them out? Must shove them down. What we resist, persists. But the best weight you'll ever lose (aside from the weight of others' opinions), is the weight of the emotions you've been harbouring inside. 

Journal this week. On anything. Everything. Write out everything that's going on for you. All the stories you're telling yourself. Your key problems and sticking points. The solutions you have. If those solutions are solving things, or simply, attacking the symptoms and not the cause. If you don't want to and don't have time? Then you definitely need to. 

One thing to try this week

Pay more attention to every moment, however mundane. 

Not only will this help develop your mindfulness, but it will create tiny moments of joy. You will become Alex Baldwins character in friends, taking mental snapshots to capture the beauty, to remember each moment. Life is a collection of tiny moments, yet we focus on the big ones, counting down until they happen, remembering them once they did. But it's these mundane moments that are the majority - are you noticing them?

A few things to tell you...

Interested in IVF nutrition, lunch time binge eating, sugar addiction and some free journal prompts? Then listen to the most recent EIQ Nutrition podcast here -  you will love it.

I politely debated the opinions of the Glucose Goddess here. Listen to this instead of her appearance on Diary of CEO (or ideally, afterwards, so you can get some skills in developing a critical eye around nutrition 'experts'.).

One more thing...

Please share your favourite stuff.

I'm really trying to have a more positive impact this year (it's where this Monday email spawned from). If there's something you really relate to or know someone who'd benefit from something in this email, please share it and pay it forward. Words are magical, and if I've learned anything from writing these emails to you for years, you never know when someone needs to hear the exact thing you've got to say.