Living Our Best Lives

by Sparkle Abbey

Sometimes it’s a struggle to balance daily life with pursuing our dreams. We’ll be honest, there are days it’s a struggle to just live our best lives.  

After morning coffee, we find ourselves jumping into the day, tackling never-ending projects, putting out fires, and skipping lunch. By the end of the day, we lack the focus and energy to do anything more. 

There are actions we can take to turn the focus back on living our best lives. These aren’t difficult, we just need to make the decision to follow through and make them a habit. 

So, for anyone else who might be struggling to live their best life, here are three habits we want to challenge you, and ourselves, to take on for the next 30 days. 

    1.  Visualize your day

Take 10-15 minutes in the morning and visualize how you want the day to unfold, what you want to accomplish, and how you see the day ending. By doing this you’re more apt to be productive. You can do it over your morning cup (or cups if you’re like us) of coffee, in the shower, or lying in bed before your feet even hit the floor.

Not sure how to visualize your day? Ask yourself the below three questions. See yourself accomplishing those things.

Example: If one of your tasks is to write for 30 minutes, visualize yourself sitting in your writing space, turning on your computer, opening your document, and typing the first sentence. Acknowledge that emotion you feel when you’ve accomplished that task.

• What are three tasks you want to accomplish?
• Who will you interact with?  
• How do you want to end the day?

Okay, now that you have pictured your day, you need to take ACTION to live out that image. You can do it. You’ve seen it.

    2.  Eliminate negative thoughts, emotions, beliefs

We decide what to believe about ourselves. If we’re going to live our best lives, we have to eliminate those beliefs that make us feel incapable, less than, and unworthy. 

I’m not smart enough. People will judge me. Someone else is more deserving. Any of those statements sound familiar? 

Track when you have those thoughts. If you identify when those negative emotions happen you’ll be able to reframe them sooner.

Once you’ve identified your negative self-talk pattern, quiet those thoughts with positivity. What would your best friend tell you if you shared those thoughts with him or her? That’s what you tell yourself. Choose to react with positive feelings, even if it’s something small like, “I love the smell of my coffee this morning.”

    3.  Prioritize your health

Look, if you’re not putting your health first, there is no best life, no dream to conquer, right? Move your body, stay hydrated, eat better, and get sleep. Visualize what a healthy life looks like for you. Put that into action! Here are some ideas:

• Talk a walk around the block
• Drink one more glass of water each day until you’re drinking a minimum of 64oz a day
• Meal prep
• Get eight hours of sleep every night
• Substitute veggies or fruit for chips or crackers
• Instead of picking the closest parking space at the store, pick a spot at the end of the row
• Journal your thoughts

What do you say, are you up for the challenge? Are there other actions or habits you think we should try? If you do join us, keep us updated on how you’re doing. We want to cheer you on!

Sparkle Abbey is actually two people, Mary Lee Ashford and Anita Carter, who write the national best-selling Pampered Pets cozy mystery series. They are friends as well as neighbors so they often get together and plot ways to commit murder. (But don't tell the other neighbors.) 

They love to hear from readers and can be found on Facebook, and Twitter their favorite social media sites. 

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