What to Do When You Don’t Know What to Do!

5 THINGS TO DO WHEN YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO

You can read my Full Disclosure Policy here.

Ok, I suck at sticking to changing my habits. Is it my rebel nature? I’m just not that interested. Am I truly reward based? Argghhhh… real life, making changes is hard. In my last post working through Gretchen Rubin’s Better Than Before book mastering the habits of our everyday life I wanted to create some new move goals for myself in the new year but I haven’t been that successful so far to start 2016. Here is what I had wanted to do:

Sign my husband and I up to take salsa dance lessons 1 a week in the new year.
Continue to walk my kids to school.

So I wrote that post-November 19th and since then what has happened.

Well, I did walk to school unless I had sick kids or it was freaking cold outside. I’m a wimp with cold weather. Anything below -10 (I live in northern Canada) and I’m probably not walking. Then it was the holidays and we were all battling a stomach virus, yet again. Then school started back up in January and we didn’t walk too much, however, in February I have picked things up again. We have been having unusually warm weather so that is a big factor. I know I need to do more activity.

And how about the salsa lessons. Failed on that one too. But why though? Both my husband and I love to dance so what’s up? We usually count on Grandma for babysitting duties and well for grandma the days just didn’t work out for that. I should be able to just get a babysitter but I don’t have one yet. And the bigger reason was probably that the one day that it would work out, a Sunday night, I had booked my kids for activities throughout the day, swimming and hip hop dance classes and then by the time my husband and I get home again well our own activity was of course just pushed away. Nada, not happening. Did I sabotage my own efforts to organize our time? I think I just discovered a broken window of mine. My internal motivation is tied to my families and if they give me just a little bit of resistance of doing an activity then I’m more likely to give up as well even though I know it would benefit everyone. I have a strong dislike for nagging and fighting overdoing things. Which often means things don’t get done unless mama does them and this mama is getting tired. Sometimes I feel like I need a whole system reboot and so does my family but the only thing that happens is we just keep going around the hamster wheel only these hamsters are getting slower and slower.

So back to the drawing board of attempting to change the hardest of my hard habits to change. Those that surround movement and exercise and eating/drinking healthy. I’m almost at a point of I don’t know where to begin. I realize it is a lifestyle change that my entire family, not just me, will have to undertake. What to do? Where to start? I have come up my own game plan of what to do when I don’t know what to do. Maybe these 5 will help and inspire you as well.

WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO (When you feel indecisive)

Do something! Anything! Write it down, celebrate it, make a visual collage of progress! (Like the fanfare a parent makes when their child is potty training.)
Do it wrong! For me, that means it doesn’t need to be perfect. It just needs to be done! 1 walk is better than no walk. 5 pushups better than none. Declutter 1 cupboard, not a whole room!
Let the guilt go! I’m motivated to try again and that is what I’ll do. I just have to figure out what works for me and my family.
Look for Inspiration! We are looking for it, right? Am I right? See below for a round up of inspirational posts to help me/us get back on track.
Reset Your Goals and Make them Visual! I’m going to get back to journaling my progress and using the Better Than Before: A Day-by-Day Journal

I had a vision in my head for months as to how I wanted to write my next blog post on changing my habits and well it has taken me months. Sorry for the long wait. Personal journeys are just that, personal and they can take as long or short as I/you need them to take.

motivation to change habits

Now for Some Motivation!

A post on Tiny Buddha by Emma While discusses how not knowing what to do can come from our anxieties over making a decision. Doesn’t matter what it is. I know this to be true for me, I put off making decisions and then, of course, nothing moves forward, I don’t make progress which then leads to feelings of overwhelm and failure.

This post over on The Business of Introverts discusses how to run a business as a highly sensitive person. Many of us writing blogs and exploring our creativity are doing so out of a need to share our passions with others. But this world can become overwhelming for the highly sensitive individual and this post has some great reminders about stopping, pulling back and restarting on our own terms or terms that work for us.

31 Ways to Motivate Yourself to Exercise from Zen Habits.

Spring cleaning is slowly creeping into Facebook feeds and Pinterest pins, and I know I can always use motivation to keep to a decluttering habit. Melissa at the Inspired Room has A bag a Day Decluttering Schedule that might kick the spring cleaning off and the decluttering habit.

Well, I know this will help me reset myself for March. Will I be successful? I don’t know, but I just have to try. I hope you found some inspiration here today. If you are also reading through Gretchen’s book I would love to know. How is your habit changing going? Here is an example of one of my goals planning sheet and the accompanying action plan sheet. Gain full access to my free printables library for all of the planning sheets plus more goodies.

*Disclaimer: I am a writer, blogger, educator, and a mom. I am not a counselor, psychologist or a mental health professional if you seek help in Alberta please go to the Can We Talk page where you may find the support and numbers you may need. I do believe we all need help at some point in our lives and support mental health care initiatives and access for all.

For more information, you can read my Full Disclosure Policy Here.

This post has been linked up at these fabulous blog hops/linkups:

Sunday Blog Hop