If I’m honest, I never really got going at the beginning of the year and if you’re anything like me, I hope this blog post will help you.
With all the noise about new year resolutions, intentions ‘new year, new me’ hype (me included), I think what happens is a state of overwhelm. Expectations run so high, and the fear of not measuring up to all those expectations (that for the most part, we impose on ourselves) inevitably leads to a state of denial and avoidance – at least, I think, with hindsight, is what got to me. That and a few other things that I’ll explore in this blog post.
First off, I know I’m definitely affected by SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder). When the days are short, grey and dark and there’s a series lack of sunlight, it really affects my mood and my motivation. My focus is non-existent and I often feel like I’m just getting through the day in a state of fogginess and fuzziness. My Lumie light does help, but the SAD has been so bad this year that I wasn’t even motivated to use it regularly (note to self – I need to use it again as a non-negotiable part of my morning routine).
Getting outside in daylight, preferably in the morning, is great not only for SAD but also to set your circadian rhythm for the day, but to be honest, I’ve been sporadic with that too. It felt like I was constantly self-sabotaging. I knew what I needed to do to get myself out of the funk, but despite the knowing, I wouldn’t do it, and so it became a vicious circle, a downward spiral of lack of motivation, which in turn resulted in even less motivation. You can see where I’m going with this.
I did, however, manage to set in place a new routine: to walk for 30 minutes every day. There’ll be a video very soon on my YouTube channel documenting the first month, but let’s just talk about it a little bit here too. Initially, my intention was to walk outside every morning for half an hour, but, full disclosure, I’m a fair-weather walker. I hate walking in the rain, so I mixed it up: walking outside as long as it wasn’t raining, and on the treadmill when it was. As the days went by, I found myself finding that half an hour wasn’t long enough – I guess I started enjoying the process, valuing the ‘me time’ it gave me and I suppose, I was walking faster. Very soon, I was walking outside for anything up to an hour. On the treadmill, I stuck to 30 minutes as find the treadmill intensely boring, but I found I craved the outdoor walks more and more.
Thankfully, we are now officially in British Summer Time (even though the weather seems not to have got the memo), but as I write right now, there are blue skies and glorious (albeit not warm) sunlight streaming through windows, and that makes me so happy and feel alive! Living in England, I know it’s temporary; we have rain forecast again in two days, but I’m feeling so positive right now, I’ll take it. And I’ll be making the most of the longer days in terms of my daily walks too.
There’s no getting away from the fact that I’m going through the menopause, and I know that that has probably had a huge amount to answer for in terms of my feelings of lack of motivation and ‘get up and go’. The weight gain I’m seeing around my belly had really been getting me down and although I know it’s hormonal, the feeling of losing control of my weight has been a real downer. It’s for this reason I’ve finally decided to take the plunge and go on HRT – well, this and also the other health reasons for taking HRT including bone health and cardiovascular health. I talk more about this (and also why I didn’t take HRT beforehand) in my most recent YouTube video, which you can watch here. It’s only been three days since I started with the HRT patches, so obviously the effects are not manifesting themselves yet, but I’ve definitely been sleeping better since I started, which in turn has an enormous knock-on effect on how I feel during the following day. I’m hoping the spring / summer weather, along with the HRT, will really positively impact my mood and desire to be as productive as I know I can be.
I’ve been taking thyroxin for 19 years now, (I have hypothyroidism) but recently I’ve made a change to the way I take my medication, and I honestly feel that has made the biggest difference in how I feel. Again, I talk about this in my YouTube videos, but essentially, for the longest time, I’ve been taking the thyroxin pills at the same time as my iron and magnesium, all in one go, just before I go to bed. For the last ten days, I’ve switched that up completely: I now take the medication very first thing in the morning, at least an hour before my morning coffee and this, I feel, has made the BIGGEST difference in how I feel. Ultimately, we are all dictated to by our hormones in terms of health and how we feel, and the thyroid is crucial: it regulates so many of our other hormones. I honestly don’t think, in all the 19 years I’ve had to take thyroxin, that anyone ever told me to not take other supplements at the same time as thyroxin. But as I’ve been feeling so low recently, I’ve been doing a lot of research about hypothyroidism and Hashimoto’s Disease, and the key to getting the best out of your thyroid medication is what I’ve described above. The change in how I feel is testament to this. I just wish I knew it sooner.
We are also now at the very beginning of the school holidays, and while I miss the routine that the school days give, I’m going to thoroughly take advantage of the slightly slower pace of life I can afford myself for the next two weeks. The feeling that my time is my own and not being at the beck and call of the children’s timetables feels incredibly empowering. I’m not even sure why I feel this way – my children are all in their late teens and early twenties, but for some reason, I still feel the need to be available for them. I guess as a mother, that will never change. Nor do I want it to.
The promise of summer holidays to come is now very real (although, somewhere in the back of my mind, I always knew this), but it’s only as the weather changes that I feel the reality of it – and the excitement and motivation that comes with that. As a personal trainer, I’m always a regular at the gym, but the prospect of getting into a bikini in four months and the desire to rid myself of this annoying meno-belly adds an impetus to my workouts, and I’m here for it. As you may already know if you follow me on instagram, I’ve been on a course of hypoxi training and I can see the difference that’s making to my shape (and when I changed the way I take my thyroxin – wow, what a difference!). I’m making sure to include some form of exercise into my day, every day – whether that be the hypoxi training, and gym workout, or a workout at home – either way, that’s also a non-negotiable.
As the brighter weather hits, we’re drawn to lighter foods too; the comfort foods of winter take a back seat and the lure of a hearty salad becomes more appealing. The injection of way more vegetables and salads, with all their nutrients, vitamins and minerals will also help to feel, for want of a better word, more alive.
So that’s it for now.
I hope that was helpful to you if you needed to hear this.
Make sure to follow me on instagram at @beautypassionista and on my new fitness/health account @beautyfitflow and also on my YouTube channel – linked here – for more on all the things I’m talking about in this post.
Until next time, stay well, stay motivated and stay informed.
Much love
Ambarina xx
