Lately, I’ve been having one of those uncomfortable conversations with myself where I already know the answer, but I’m not particularly thrilled about admitting it.
I’ve been saying for quite some time that my health is my highest priority. And I mean it. I want to feel strong, energetic and healthy, and especially at this stage of my life, I know that taking care of my body isn’t something I can keep putting off until I have more time.
But when I look honestly at how I’ve been spending my days lately, there’s a disconnect between what I say matters most to me and what I’m actually making time for.
Some of the healthy routines that used to be a consistent part of my day have slowly fallen away as work has gotten busier and family commitments have taken more of my attention. Then I injured my foot and my wrist, which has complicated my strength training at exactly the time when I know how important it is for me. I have osteopenia, so building and maintaining strength isn’t just something I’d like to do. It genuinely matters for my long-term health.
And yet, somehow, it keeps getting pushed around the calendar.
What makes this particularly frustrating is that I know better.
I know what I need to do. I understand why it matters. I know how much better I feel when I’m taking care of myself consistently.
So when I don’t do it, my mind can very quickly head down a road that isn’t particularly helpful. I start getting on myself. I wonder why I can’t just get back into the routine I had before. I start focusing on everything I’m not doing instead of recognizing everything I am carrying right now.
And then, of course, I feel even worse.
What I’ve been realizing is that none of that actually changes anything.
Beating myself up about the choices I made yesterday doesn’t help me make a better choice today.
But changing something about the way I’m living today might.
Our Lives Reflect What We Repeatedly Make Room For
I think most of us have something we say we want to change.
Maybe you want to feel healthier.
Maybe you want more peace in your life.
Maybe you want to start writing the book, building the business, looking for a new job, spending more time with people you love or finally figuring out what you want your next chapter to look like.
And yet it is remarkably easy to keep living essentially the same day over and over again while hoping our life will somehow look different a year from now.
That’s the part I’ve been thinking about.
Because wanting something is important. Intention matters. Vision matters.
But eventually, something in our everyday life has to change too.
And I don’t think that necessarily means waking up tomorrow and creating an entirely new routine or giving ourselves a long list of habits we now have to perfectly maintain.
Sometimes the change is much smaller than that.
It might mean protecting an hour of your morning instead of immediately handing it over to everyone else.
It might mean putting the phone down earlier at night.
It might mean creating a boundary around your workday.
It might mean saying no to something you would normally say yes to.
It might mean finally saying yes to something you’ve been postponing.
Or, in my case, it might simply mean putting my health on my calendar instead of continuing to tell myself I’ll fit it in somewhere.
Because somewhere has a funny way of becoming nowhere.
Look at the Life You’re Living Today
Labor Day weekend has always felt like a natural turning point to me. Summer is winding down, routines begin to return and suddenly we can see the last few months of the year sitting right in front of us.
And instead of asking ourselves what else we need to accomplish before the end of the year, maybe there’s a different question worth asking:
If I want my life to look or feel different a year from now, what needs to change about the way I’m living today?
You Don’t Have to Change Everything
Not everything.
Just something.
For me, that means getting much more intentional about making space for my health again, while also giving myself some grace as I work around injuries and figure out what that looks like right now.
I don’t need to recreate the exact routine I had before.
I need to create one that works for the life and body I have today.
And perhaps that’s the invitation for all of us.
Instead of criticizing ourselves because we haven’t been doing what we think we should be doing, we can simply notice where our current choices aren’t aligned with what we say matters most—and make one change.
Not from punishment.
Not because we’ve failed.
But because our days are creating our lives.
And if we want something different, at some point, we have to start living a little differently too.
Positively,
Deanne
P.S. If you’ve been thinking about what you want to change before the end of the year—but know you need more than good intentions to actually make it happen—I’ve been creating something new for you. The Next Decade Accelerator begins in October, and I’ll be sharing all the details very soon.
