You are the captain

After 45 years, I know what I need to do in order to take care of my physical and mental health.
The first and most important thing to know is that no one else is going to do this for me.

I am the captain of my own ship.

That knowledge is the foundation.

If you’re waiting around for someone to save you, or you’re leaving your well-being up to another human, nothing is going to change. Empowerment starts with claiming responsibility for yourself.

After that, you can explore what basic things you need to do in order to be okay, and hopefully even better than okay!

Here’s what the basics look like for me:

I need to move my body on a regular basis. It doesn’t matter what type of movement, I just need to get up and move every single day. What that looks like for me right now is a mix of weight-lifting classes, swimming, walking, and yoga.

I need to eat a whole-food plant-based diet. And since I can’t get this type of food from restaurants, I need to prepare my own. This way, I know exactly what ingredients I’m using and where they come from. I either follow our meal plans, or I pick 4 or 5 component recipes to build quick meals with.

I need to get good sleep. This means powering off electronics and getting in the bedtime zone before bed. Once I’m in bed, it means reading until I get tired enough to fall asleep, and it means starting this process early enough so I’m asleep by 10pm at the latest. I usually get up at 6am, which gives me a solid 8 hours of sleep a night.

I can’t drink alcohol. I’ve been alcohol-free for over 10 years, and there’s no going back.

I need to take care of all the non-fun life stuff so it doesn’t pile up. Renewing my driver’s license, getting my oil changed, making that doctor's appointment, going to the dentist, Venmo-ing that guy who fixed my screen door, figuring out what to do with that broken patio umbrella that’s still taking up space in my yard, making annoying phone calls. All the adult things—you know them.

These things aren’t always fun, but if I stray, shit gets wonky. No matter how tedius it feels in the moment, I remind myself that my physical and mental heath are always worth it.

The first step of taking care of yourself is knowing that no one else can do it for you.

The second step is figuring out the three or four non-negotiables that have the biggest impact on your physical and mental health. Then you just gotta do them, even imperfectly, especially imperfectly. The better you start to feel, the more you will stick with them.

Grab hold of that helm, and navigate in the direction that YOU want to go, instead of bobbing around wherever the choppy waters take you.

You got this, captain.

Head to the Facebook group and tell me your three or four non-negotiables using hashtag #Captain.

Molly