How to Make Today’s Economy Work in Your Weight Loss Favor

Pearl Two talks about the best way I know to bring more nurturing into our creative lives.

Welcome to Friday, Thrivers!

If you’re new to living a thriving lifestyle, how about trying it for just one weekend? Say, this weekend?! Begin by journal-writing about what thriving means to you.

In my life, thriving means always on the look-out for ways to take baby steps toward goals that matter to me.

Away we go with our Pearls!

Pearl One

It was 2009 and my husband had anxiety about keeping his job in the ‘08 downturn. We lived in California (pricey), had five-year-old twins (insanely pricey), and were living on the edge financially (what my husband called bleeding money). His company wasn’t paying him market value – which was okay because he wanted the work experience – and was trimming staff.

So when he landed a job in Virginia, we were both stoked. Technically, I was “supposed” to be sad along with my California brethren, but I wasn’t. I was aching to live in a different part of the world and see new sights. And my hub was aching for a better salary.

When a ginormous moving van pulled up to our house in early 2010, we were both elated.

My happy-to-move story is a perfect example of “circumstances” (the downturn) not determining my mental state. I saw needing to get out of Dodge as a positive, not a negative.

In our current recession we can also choose our thoughts about the economy.

Join me in making this not-so-good economy work for us rather than against.

Do you remember during the first several months of the COVID-19 lock down, it was fashionable to let our hair go grey and gain a few? Well, just like then, let’s instead get something wonderful out of this downturn.

Is Fast Food Actually “Food?”

I get that a drive-thru is a fast experience, but one wonders if it serves up actual food? Okay, one doesn’t really wonder. One knows the fast food joints aren’t serving real food (that should be called fast-porn-food). We can debate the point, but I’d likely win.

The truth about our current economic situation means that most of us need to allocate our money differently.

Let’s start by not spending money on fast food drive-thrus (like DQ, Starbucks, McDumb and the like). The companies are charging a small fortune for items, so in a sense we’re paying in two ways:

One: We pay by giving the junk food industry our hard earned for questionable “food.”

And two: We pay later by further embedding a bad habit into our being, rather than strengthening a good one.

Our battle cry: this is our moment in time to develop a no junk food rule; no drive-thrus, no grocery store junk in our carts, and no ginormous restaurant food plates.

Let’s emerge from this not-so-fun economic time with strong habits and a better relationship with food.  

Let’s show them what we’re made of! ♥

Pearl Two

How often do we read an incredible book and remember it’s main tenants decades later? Well, that’s exactly what happened to me. I read Julia Cameron’s bestseller, The Artists Way, a couple of lifetimes back, and I still remember her invention – so to speak – of “morning pages.”

Let me go a step further and say: not only do I remember morning pages, but I continue to write them several times a week. Thrivers, this method has taken me from glum to mellow-yellow on so many days . The best moment for morning pages that I’ve found is when I’m upset at my husband. I want to hash out whatever is bothering me, but he’s either not around or still won’t get what I’m saying anyhow.

That’s when I put it all down on paper.

The essence of morning pages is this: write three pages by hand (I’ve found typing is fine for me) getting everything down on paper that worries, petrifies, or angers you on this particular morning.

The idea is to not only gain clarity about an issue, but to also leave it all on the page so that you can resume giving your precious energy to your day’s activities. I can’t say enough about morning pages. If you’re skeptical, try writing a morning paragraph for five days. You’ll see.

You should also know that beyond morning pages, Cameron writes a page-turner of a book about how to best support our creative lives. This wowza book just hit it’s 25^th Anniversary printing.

I am — and will always be — a library-gal at heart, but Atomic Habits (more on this book below) and The Artist’s Way are two that will forever live on my desk giving me an inspirational-boost whenever I need it most. ♥

Pearl Three

Our July topic is habits: how to develop an amazing habit, how to dump an annoying one.

This jewel of as story is from James Clear’s book Atomic Habits:

“After my baseball career ended, I was looking for a new sport. I joined a weightlifting team and one day an elite coach visited our gym. He had worked with thousands of athletes during his long career, including a few Olympians. I introduced myself and we began talking about the process of improvement.

‘What’s the difference between the best athletes and everyone else?’ I asked. ‘What do really successful people do that most don’t?’

He mentioned the factors you might expect: genetics, luck, talent. But then he said something I wasn’t expecting: ‘At some point it comes down to who can handle the boredom of training every day, doing the same lifts over and over and over.’

His answer surprised me because it’s a different way of thinking about work ethic. People talk about getting ‘amped up,’ to work on their goals. Whether it’s business, sports or art, you hear people say things like, ‘it all comes down to passion.’ Or, ‘you have to really want it.’ As a result, many of us get depressed when we lose focus or motivation, because we think successful people have bottomless reserves of passion. But this coach was saying that really successful people feel the same lack of motivation as everyone else. The difference is that they still find a way to show up despite the feelings of boredom.” – Mr. James Clear in his outrageously awesome book, Atomic Habits. ♥

Pearl Four

Food Talk. The very popular Houston TV news anchor, Dominique Sachse, told her You Tube viewers a funny story. When her son was younger and went grocery shopping with her he’d beg– like most kids — for junky foods. So she told her son that if he could pronounce every ingredient on the package, she’d buy it.

Brilliant, right? I tried this method on myself. It totally slays. ♥

Pearl Five

Successful people are successful for one simple reason: they think about failure differently.” — Seth Godin ♥

Oh, man, this quote nails it. The instant we think of failure — in anything — in a new light, the closer we get to forming a better habit. When we turn left instead of right, no biggie, we make a U-turn and head in the “right” direction. Right? 🙂

I’m meeting a group to bike Saturday on a trail that was once a railroad track that’s been turned into a flat — thank goodness — biking trail. Apparently we bike five miles out and five miles back. They say the trail is shady. I hope “they” are right!

What are you doing this weekend to get a bit sweaty? I know it’s hot. Getting out early is the trick.

Have a good one, Thrivers!

♥, Wendy

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