2017 and YOU KNOW IT: How to ACTUALLY Do What You Already Know

It’s ten days into the new year and I’ve caught myself saying “I know that” more times than I’d actually like to admit. It happens all the time, at times, almost inevitably. Do you catch yourself saying it, either to yourself, your family, coworkers, to your friends or likely all of them? “I know that.”

At one point I was quite the snot nosed kid. I spent the majority of my life in my own little world. Regardless of what anyone said, I always “knew”that. Many times I did, but the proof was nowhere to be found. I would always forget to remember and after I forgot I’d remember that I “could have”. I didn’t and I KNEW!

Ha.. even as an adult in recovery when the clouds part and that ray of light touches your forehead and enlightenment strikes!… I knew, but I didn’t follow through with that one thing..

The beauty of it all is that it’s OK. Recovery is quite the process and it’s nowhere near linear. I like to think of it as a balance act. If you go to the gym, there are so many muscles to work out that there’s no way you can work them all out at once. I imagine swimming might be close, but then again, I grew up in Newark and there was no pool, only concrete. There are all of these machines that you need some kind of guidance, even if it’s your buddy who took that one lesson with a trainer and has that routine down for the past 3 years.

Then the Holidaze come around and you skip the gym since your family and friends are visiting and all of these treats are around, and your 4 machine routine at the gym bites it! Now that there are many new shiny things in your home, you cut yourself on that new knife set, you’re obsessed with that new gadget you got, you bust your toe (yes, this happened to me..) on one of  your kid’s hundred new toys that are everywhere and you have replenished all of those holiday treats with fresh ones. That early morning yoga/ push up/ crunches/ stretchy routine is long gone and sugar has now taken over. Emotions: rampant.

So what happened?!?! I thought I knew! I’m getting pretty sick of it myself! So what’s to do about it??

SOMETHING, that’s what! DO SOMETHING!

So here goes, every time I say “I know that”, “I knew it”, ”I know” or any other variation involving knowing something, I will write it down. Here are a few that I’ve been coming up with in the past few weeks:

“I’m all bloated and feel like crap. I know that I shouldn’t be overeating like this.”

“I know I don’t want to be eating for the sake of snacking, I’m not even hungry.”

“My skin is getting some dry patches. I know I’ve  been drinking too much coffee.”

“I know I should be drinking more water.”

“I know that I can’t be listening to my family when they’re being negative around me.”

“I know that I need to exercise.”

“I know that I need to work on the balance in my life.”

You get the idea… I know, I know, I KNOW! .. and could’a would’a should’a ain’t NO good’a!

So now that I “know” all of this stuff, I will write down one action to take towards it and then start implementing it. When I’m comfortable with that, then I will go on to the next step (If there is one for that “know”. So that is looking like:

-The moment I start feeling satisfied, I will stop. Eating slower might help.

-Stick to healthier snacks like fruit and veggies like carrot sticks.

-Start limiting coffee to 2 per day. 1 in am and 1 in mid afternoon.

-Dust off that fancy water bottle that’s underneath the cupboard behind that juicer I never use and make sure to keep it filled up with fresh WATER all day. Whenever thoughts of snacks come to mind, drink water. Whenever I look at that bottle, drink. It will do me good.

-Disregard all negative and otherwise derogatory commentary from family and everyone else for that matter.. It’s not about me. Smile and continue being of service regardless. Keep humility up front.

-I will be getting up at 6am and begin a little routine. 15 minutes stretch/yoga, 5 minutes push up/ planks, 10 minutes meditation, 10 minutes journal.

-Stay present. When it’s time to work, work. When it’s time to play, play. When it’s time to relax, relax. Don’t mix this all up and be thinking about one when YOU KNOW that you need to be focussed on what’s in front of you.

And so on.. And so on…

How about YOU? What is it that YOU KNOW? I created a simple worksheet for you to get started HERE. Make it your year to KNOW IT ALL! Love Life Today. THiS ReCoVeRY LiFE.