One question to ask yourself

If you knew you would get everything you ever wanted soon, the career, the partner, the family (*insert what you want most) and that this time in your life would pass, what would you do with your time right now?

I used this thought process a few years ago, when I was struggling after a tumultuous break up and my personal life didn't looked at all what I'd planned at 13 years old, nor at 19, nor at 29. I thought, one day I won't be able to get 8 hours of sleep very night, eat so much Mexican that I can't trust my butt before going to sleep, or pick up and travel at the drop of a hat. I must take advantage of this now. 

Journal on this - what do you want in your life? How does that wanting take away from the moments and opportunities you have now? Where can you find joy in the now, whilst you wait for the then?

Something to consider

"Nothing in life is as important as you think it is, while you are thinking about it” - Daniel Kahneman

Journal on this -  What's in your head right now? How much time are you dedicating to it? What would it feel like to get it out on paper, and then choose to let it go? This is of course, one of the beauties of journaling in itself...

One thing I'd tell my younger self.

Don't look for a firecracker, look for a fireplace. 

I heard this in some recent deep reading aka TikTok earlier this week. It tied in with a conversation we were having in the ETPHD community group chat about recognising the difference between chemistry and compatibility, excitement and fear, gut instinct and attachment triggers. The idea I wish I'd understood earlier (with the actual want to not have changed a single path in my life), is that in relationships (of all kinds), fireplaces - the warm, safe, comforting spaces, are consistent and loving relationships. The firecrackers? They're danger, and we can chalk it up to intense chemistry if we want, but the inconsistency and resultant heartbreak will continue to show us otherwise until we learn.

One thing to try this week

Notice where you direct your attention (and if you don't like it, change it)

Life is a sum of what we pay attention to, which seems obvious, doesn't it? Yet we often allow our minds to get consumed by challenging thoughts, negativity, comparison, irritation, rumination over people that are annoying us and past experiences that have hurt us. The flip side of course is seen when we allow ourselves to direct our attention to worrisome thoughts about our future.

I'm definitely prone to this when I'm lacking focus, joy or peace elsewhere in life. I find myself (albeit rarely these days) falling down a rabbit hole of what is effectively, incredibly boring and unhelpful thinking

A few things to tell you...

I guested on Sasha Buy's podcast and I LOVED the direction of conversation around being a woman in fitness and in general life, finding peace with where we are and of course, diet culture. Listen here. 

Responding to cravings, working within your scope of practice and being afraid of eating out were all topics we covered in the EIQ pod.

As we come into the festive period, we encourage you to take a look at your relationship to alcohol on the ETPHD pod this week (and lols at the time I deleted half my instagram at 4 in the morning). 

On the ETPHD mentoring pod, we covered finding qualitative markers of business success, managing your business over christmas and what to do if it takes you 3 hours to create content. 
 

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.