Can I change my life in 45 days?
Let's find out.
I’m not sure what or when the exact moment was that I became sick of my own bullshit but I have known for awhile that it has been time for a change. I was tired of looking at old photos of myself and longing for the health and fitness I once had. I was tired of getting to the weekend only to feel unmotivated and flat. I was tired of the weeks blending into one another. I was tired of knowing things needed to change, but not doing enough about it. I got sick of my shit, really. And that’s when things had to change, I guess.
I have some big goals for the next year, which require me to level up in ways I haven’t in a long time. The season I have been in the last seven years has been of service to others, which has meant completely letting go of myself. I have put aside my health, fitness, desires, goals to ensure others could thrive and survive. And I am exhausted and I am done. For real. Because when my blood pressure was taken recently and it was showing pre-hypertension, I knew it was time I needed to make several changes.
I decided that my annual trip home to Canada would be the perfect reset point, as it always is. The place that I can disconnect from the world while my soul reconnects to myself again. Initially I was going to set myself a 30 day challenge to change my life, but that would have ended while I was still in Canada. Any massive life changes need to be able to weave into your actual, every day grind too, not just when you’re on holidays. So, I decided that 45 days would be perfect: enough for me to make the changes so that they become habit and long enough that it would spill over when I returned to Australia and ensure it sticks.
As a nutritionist by trade, a yoga teacher and a psych student… I felt like I had all the tools in my toolbox to make the changes needed. Here’s how I’m doing it:
The 45 Day Retreat
Body
Fixing my gut health and soothing my hormones (stress)
Daily supplements to support my hormonal and gut health:
Probiotics
B Complex
Magnesium
Milk Thistle with Turmeric and Dandelion
Vitamin C
Omega 3s
Removing refined sugar and other inflammatory foods
Eating whole foods that nourish
More fermented foods
Lots of high protein, high fat and organic veg
Daily yoga
Sleep - If I need sleep in the first 30 days, I will do it. After the last few years working shift work, my body is in a deep need to reset and find balance again. Our sleep health is integral to our overall health.
Attend to my physical health: go to physio, chiro and acupuncture to ease stress, fix my plantar fasciitis and finally be in shape to get back into running again (good news, yesterday I went to physio and have a plan for my feet!).
From day 15 on, begin to get back into a regular weight training and cardio program
Snowboard, as much as I can
Mind
Finish reading a physical book
Meditate at least 3x per week to start, with the ultimate goal being daily by day 45
Develop a sustainable morning practice/ritual
Develop an evening wind-down practice: Screen-free before bed
One social media-free day a week
Soul (heart/emotional)
Go back to therapy
Journal at least 2x per week, with the ultimate goal being daily by day 45
Say no and enforce boundaries where needed
Snowboard, as much as I can
At least 2x week, a forest walk
Try something new that feels enriching (pottery? painting class? floristry workshop?)
Rediscover my inner child by introducing play back into my life
Write a list of ways I can nourish my emotional health and do those things (“what would I do if I loved myself?”)
Act of kindness challenge: do something for the greater good at least 3x per week (donate to a local charity, volunteer, pay for someone’s coffee)
I think what I have realised the most is how reactive I have been. I’m letting life happen instead of being proactive. I am not sticking to promises I make to myself and I am not making choices that would reflect a deep self-love. I will say I’m going to do something and it just doesn’t happen, and that has finally worn me down. I used to be very deliberate, very structured and disciplined and it worked wonders for me. I am determined to be that girl again and I feel with a ‘45 day retreat’ (not a challenge…) that has many sustainable elements, that this will be far more achievable. It focuses on small steps to generate large strides by the end.
I’m on day three by the time I write this and I can say that I have been taking my supplements, eating better and snowboarding as much as I can. I’ve even been to physio and have a plan for my feet and have been making enquiries for therapy. And! I’ve been doing my daily yoga, which is a celebration on its own because despite having done yoga for a long time and my yoga teacher training, actually doing yoga feels like pulling teeth sometimes (I’d rather be doing something “more exciting”). But then after I’ve finished a class I’m always so much happier for having done it.
Day 45 will be April 25, which seems perfect given 25 is my lucky number and will mark two months exactly since my birthday (which I often use as the ‘real’ start of my year).
To be continued.