This has been a year unlike any other which I know we will never forget and hopefully will look back on and feel proud of how you managed you through the health crisis of our generation. While we are approaching the end of the year, we still have several weeks and the holiday season to get through. With all the challenges and changes that we have had to face the best way to rise and reinvent ourselves starts at the source–with ourselves. One key learning I will be taking from this year is the importance of taking time to nurture and nourish ourselves and prioritize our personal health, fitness, and wellbeing.
When work and life become busy, overwhelming, and out of control at times, it is definitely more difficult to remember to take care of ourselves and, prioritize our own needs. But this is the most essential time to be taking care of ourselves! Self-care builds the foundation for strength and resilience, which is what you need to overcome adversity and make it through challenging times. This is critical to remember, now more than ever, for us to remember. Remember self-care is your best health care approach to maintaining a strong immune system, mental health and wellbeing. A familiar analogy, in leadership and in life, is that you “can’t pour from an empty cup” and to be of service and to help others, we need to fill our own cup first. Taken from another perspective, we must keep our personal power and internal “battery” charged for optimum performance. This is the function and necessity for remembering and prioritizing self-care practices. Self-care is super important because YOU are important! You matter, and to be your best in life, work, relationships and your own health and happiness, you must start with you. Many undervalue self-care but the rewards are massive, especially at this crazy time in life and now as we approach the holiday season. We need to find ways to integrate self-care practices into our lives with consistency – that means daily and not just when we feel run down, overwhelmed, or burnt out!
I know taking time for self-care is not always easy. I struggle at times to make MO’re time for self-care, however, every coach will tell me that what you focus on expands. To help you remember to take MO’re self-care MO’ments I have created MO’s 30-Days of Self-Care MO’ments Challenge. In this 30-day challenge, I am sharing my personal recommendations and top tools, techniques, and tips that I use for myself. I have accumulated and developed these practices and routines in my almost four decades of work and learning in the fitness industry and as a licensed physiotherapist and certified fitness professional. They are tried and true and I cannot imagine I would have been able to get through this year alone or have been able to do all the things I do regularly and show up as I do and have done this year without them. I have compiled a list of my MO’st powerful practices and I am sharing them as a reminder to all that as we approach this holiday season we may need to challenge to keep us MO’ving.
Think of this challenge as a holiday advent calendar where each day you open up the window in the calendar and give yourself a gift. All these activities are simple, practical, and take 15 minutes or less to complete. While I set it up as a 30-day challenge, you can repeat it again and again, month after month.
The time is now to recenter, refocus, take back your power and get ready to reinvent yourself in 2021! Completing this self-care challenge will arm you with strategies and self-awareness that will continue to give you resilience, agility, calmness, and energy to help you through the holiday season / remaining weeks of November and December. We have gone through a lot this year, so let us turn it around and recharge, refocus and realign ourselves to finish this year at our best so we are ready to MO’ve forward into next year!
I’m going to start my challenge on Wednesday, November 11 and I encourage you to join me on that day. Remembrance Day is a profound start date because it is a day for remembering who and what is important to you. The challenge ends on December 11.
Here is the full list of activities for the 30-day challenge. You can download a printable calendar to cross off each day as you complete the task for that day.
- Do the What Drives You Self-Assessment to learn what drives your MO’tivation
- Do your morning skincare routine (Mo’s ritual: Lumispa routine to cleanse and treat face and body)
- Have a healthy Breakfast (Mo’s tip: Green Protein Shake with daily nutritional supplements)
- Spend 2-minute on a POWER POSE routine to power up and protect self-confidence
- Plan a “sleep-in day” (I do that for myself on Saturdays—this one time of the week when I do not wake up to an alarm)
- Power down on social media for the morning —do not look at social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Google) for an entire morning.
- Complete 15 minutes of reading or podcast self-development
- “Dress the part” – get dressed up professionally or in one of your favourite “out on the town” outfits
- 15 minutes of Morning Meditation
- Take a 15 min power walk
- Drink MO’re water – try for 5 bottles x 5 days (or 7) in a row and watch your energy grow
- Do 10 minutes of evening stretching
- Do your evening skincare routine (Mo’s ritual: Lumispa routine to cleanse and treat face and body)
- Practice Yoga
- Reflect on and remember your WHY for 10 minutes
- Get outside for 15 minutes to connect with nature
- Spend 10 minutes writing in your journal what no longer serves you (negative thoughts)
- Sit in stillness for 5 minutes and focus only on breathing long and deep
- Train your core – these are the “power-house” muscles of the body
- Practice 1 MO’ment of Gratitude
- Reach out and connect with someone to give and receive ideas and inspiration
- Give yourself a mini facial
- Detox day with no negative self-talk all day—when you catch yourself in negative self-talk you immediately say “Cancel-Cancel” and replace with the opposite (positive) e.g. “I am not good with technology” you say instead “Cancel-cancel, I’m getting better with technology every day”
- Do 1 minute of MO’vement – Rebound 30-50x, Jump Rope, Jumping Jacks to boost your energy
- Watch an old classic movie that brings back nostalgic moments as a kid—I love to watch “The Wizard of Oz”, “White Christmas”, “It’s a Wonderful Life” or “Love Actually” (during the holiday season)
- Give yourself a mini pedicure – Epson salts bath, foot scraper
- Buy a bouquet of flowers or a flowering plant to connect with the beauty of nature
- Listen to upbeat or holiday music
- Go to bed 30 minutes early
- Register for canfitpro’s CPR Essentials course for your self-knowledge and awareness of heart health
Remember to support yourself in showing yourself some self-care, kindness and compassion this month and commit to completing this challenge with me!
