Spring time, such a great time of the year. The days seem to stretch a little longer with increased sunshine and warmth. Leaving behind the almost slumber of winter is always refreshing and this makes it a good time for re-invigoration, re-focussing and re-motivation regarding your health and fitness goals. If you were part of the few who maintained your exercise efforts or even increased them during winter, kudos to you.
The change in seasons is a great chance to clean up the clutter you may have accumulated during winter. Complete a stocktake of the things in your life that are taking up space, while not positively contributing to it. Things such clothes that you no longer wear; paper work that is cluttering your home or office; emails and/or social media messages that are counterproductive to your current situation. These are some of the physical sources of clutter that you can get rid of. There are also emotional and mental sources of clutter too. This can include negative ‘stories’ you’ve been told about yourself, or even told yourself from years gone by; resentment, hurt, guilt or disappointments from the past; negative self-talk that you repeat to yourself. De-cluttering these items from your life will help to create a positive environment for yourself. With a positive environment, you can experience increased productivity, decreased anxiety, increased mental sharpness, increased energy and you may be more open to opportunity when it comes knocking.
With the days stretching a little longer there is more opportunity to exercise before, during and/or after work. This doesn’t have to be anything overly strenuous and can include going for a walk with your family or friends at the end of the day. This can be a great way to combine bonding with increased movement. It doesn’t need to be called exercise per se, but think of it as exercise in disguise. Other forms of exercise in disguise include parking further away from your work, taking the stairs and taking your lunch break outdoors by walking to a park. Another great way to get exercise in disguise is by spring cleaning, aka decluttering. While participating in the physical decluttering of cleaning, have music going and bust a move. It’s a fun way to work up a sweat and get your heart rate up.
One of the things I like about spring is that gives you a set time frame in which to achieve a goal, or goals, for summer. No, I’m not talking about ‘getting your beach body ready’ but rather any goal that you would like to achieve prior to summer. The time frame, 12 weeks, is a crucial element in setting a Specific Measurable Achievable Realistic Time-based goal.
So, get out there, declutter, re-focus and make the most of this wonderful time of year. You’ll be glad that you did!