At the start of the year, I spent some time reflecting on my personal goals related to health, running, family life and coaching. It lead me to ask myself, what can I do to help me succeed towards all those goals? My first thought sarcastically was energy, definitely more energy. As I thought about it a bit more I began to think about fueling. Am I fueling enough to have the energy to achieve my goals? I kept thinking about this for a few days.
I have a message up on my fridge that I wrote as a reminder to my family, that says "Fuel your Body and Mind to do Great Things". When I wrote this initially, it was to remind my kids to make good food choices to fuel them for the school day. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that fueling our body and mind is essential for us to be the best version of ourselves which is really the ultimate goal.
When I think of fueling, the first thing that comes to mind is food and nutrition. Most of the time I eat enough nutritious food but I definitely can do better. I have noticed during those busy times with soccer tournaments, and activities, I find myself scrambling to keep up with healthy meals and often we end up finding food options on our way from one activity to another. Which sometimes leads us to overstretch ourselves between snacks and meals. Also the mornings when I'm getting my kids ready for school and fixing lunches, I'm usually the last one to eat breakfast and may short myself on time and not eat enough. Some days I squeeze in a run before a busy day of soccer games and end up rushing a quick breakfast as we head out the door. Not the best way to fuel for a busy day. When we are the busiest our bodies actually need more fuel to keep up. I think it comes down to planning ahead and I'm afraid to say it, getting up earlier.
I have started to plan better for those busy times. I make extra batches of nutritious oat pancakes from the, Rise and Run Cookbook. It's super helpful having them in the fridge, quick to heat up, plus my kids love them. We also bring them to soccer tournaments with fruit to fuel them for the day. I started to get up earlier and eat breakfast before fixing lunches and getting my kids ready for school. This helps ensure that I start the day off well fueled, no matter what mahem happens preparing my kids for school. These little changes are making such a difference and it's something that I will keep working on and improving.
I also began to realize that fueling our mind with positivity is equally important as fueling our body nutritionally. Reflecting on the little achievements helps us to see that we are moving towards those big goals. Also giving ourselves grace on the days we need it and being patient when things take more time than we had hoped. Telling ourselves to keep going, keep working hard and enjoy the process. We got this!
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