In this episode, we are recapping the moms30for30 capsule wardrobe challenge. I will be sharing the insights I have learned and the ones shared by the ladies who joined in this round. 

Listen to this if you are curious about a capsule wardrobe, simplifying your closet, being more intentional with clothes shopping, being mindful about how trends impact you and finding your personal style, and if you have struggled with the notion of being a mom who gets dressed each day. 

 

 

What is the moms30for30?

This is a 30for30 challenge in which we wear 30 items of clothes for 30 days (or pretty darn close!)

 

Why I love to do the 30for30 challenge:

It has helped me do things like learn to put outfits together, get to know my style better, interview my closet so I can declutter things that don’t belong, and get dressed each day. 

If you want to read about the past challenges I have done over the year head to this page. 

This challenge has helped me really challenge a lot of discomfort I have had about being 'too much' and having a limiting identity of 'who I am/who I am not'.

Challenges put us in a situation where we are challenging ourselves....getting uncomfortable! And also, getting some consistent data and increasing our awareness of what the experience is like for us.  We have so much to learn from doing a challenge vs trying a behaviour or action for a day or two. 

 

Insights we (myself and those ladies who joined in!) had around wearing 30 items of clothes for 30 days!

Listen to hear more about each of these points:

Getting dressed in our favourite items vs always wearing the familiar items

Some questions to ask yourself to help you understand if you are going for favourite or familiar 

The benefits of wearing your favourites

The burden of keeping 'backups'

A simple exercise to help you determine your favourites

Understanding why we shop

How fast fashion impacts our ability to determine our own personal style

Noticing feelings of insecurity and scarcity we have when we think about buying more clothes

How we handle these feelings of insecurity and the two outcomes it can give us

My new shopping mantra that I have adopted that has helped me shop very mindfully

Taking pride in ourselves vs the vanity of focussing on our outward appearance

There is a common sentiment that being a mom who focusses on her own appearance can be a self-focussed or vain situation

The filter through which we make assumptions about others being vain or being empowered

How to determine what is acceptable for you and understanding healthy pride vs vanity

Related and Mentioned Links

Thanks to those who have filled out the 2022 Feedback survey, if you are up for sharing your feedback please do so here

The intro episode into this year's 30for30 and my aha moment around what was in my closet 151. Capsule wardrobe closet remix challenge, the #moms30for30

Decision fatigue (for those who feel overwhelmed by all the options of fashion) 144. How to lighten the mental load of DECISION FATIGUE

Noticing a scarcity mindset 40. Does the ‘not-enough’ mindset show up in your momlife? (Scarcity/Abundance)

Getting dressed day episode 128. Getting dressed every day, with less guilt & more confidence (with Jaime McLaughlin)

Being moms who support other moms regardless of what we wear The Instagram Post

 

Photos from my 303for30 challenge this month

 

 

FULL TRANSCRIPT

Welcome back to the simple on purpose podcast.

0:12

This is a place where I encourage you to slow down and start paying attention to your life. Start removing the distractions, really decide what matters most to you and show up well for that living on purpose.

0:26

So to start out, thank you to those of you who have filled out the feedback survey, that is something that I do each year and I ask questions about how you like to follow simple on purpose,

Hi friends, welcome to an MVP episode.

These are episodes I have shared over the years that I have had feedback on that they have been particularly helpful. I am sharing these for those who missed them the first time around and for those who want a refresher. 

This MVP episode is all about the labels we give our kids and how it changes us and them. 

 

 

In this episode we talk about:

What is a typecast

How we are labelling our kids, and might not even realize it

How we parent according to this label and enforce our own confirmation bias

How it changes our child's self-concept and can become a self-fulfilling prophecy

What to do about labelling our kids 

 

Links mentioned in this episode:

the 2022 Feedback Survey 

book a free mini-session

Personality isn’t Permanent by Benjamin Hardy

episode 49 on having a growth mindset vs a fixed mindset

Episode 76: Why it matters what you think

This past week I decluttered a few spaces in the home, the kitchen craft drawers and the office closet. 

These are areas that had become unruly with stuff and clutter. They have been on my list to declutter as we need to start clearing out our kitchen and dining area to prepare for an upcoming kitchen reno. 

 

In this episode I share:

How decluttering one space can require decluttering of another space where storage is interrelated

How I have been slowly reducing the storage in my kitchen over the years

The craft drawers in the kitchen and the maintenance they have required of me

What junk I am finding in my office and my craft drawers

How I declutter these areas (steps I take to tackle it)

What I have learned over years of decluttering my spaces

How I have resistance to decluttering and how I pep talk myself into getting the decluttering done

 

Photos of the spaces and decluttering process

Before we moved in, this was the wall between the kitchen area and the living area

 

The kitchen, before decluttering (2014/2015)

 

The wall of pantry storage in the kitchen, before decluttering

 

Our current kitchen (2021/2022)

 

Decluttering the craft drawers (and sorting into piles as I go)

 

Emptied the craft dresser in the kitchen! Only the top supplies made the cut, to be stored in the office closet

 

The required humble brag memes to let my husband know I will be buying myself a tiny trophy* for my efforts (*probably in the form of aged white cheddar)

 

How the office closet was holding up.... (and if you spy that White Jesus art there, it is a completed puzzle that someone framed- I know, I have questions too. But I brought it home so I could use the frame)

 

Totally emptied out the closet so my husband could build the shelves. It is amazing how much was crammed into that space!

 

Real-life organization that doesn't look cute, but works for us

 

Related links on decluttering and managing 'stuff' in your family

Episode 11. Are we TOO comfortable? + Do we need so much pantry space?

Episode 2. Decluttering the kitchen, meal planning book, capsule wardrobes and the currently list.

Decluttering our home (on instagram stories)

Setting a vision for our kitchen helped me to declutter it over the years

Episode 65. When your kids don’t play with their toys anymore

5 common mistakes moms make when organizing their homes, and what to do about it (+ cheatsheet of 5 more)

Hygge vs Minimalism

All the recently decluttered archives are here

 

 

Full transcript (unedited)

0:12

I am recording this on my Friday, Friday, it is finally a free day for me a free day where I didn't have any work scheduled any school that I had to do. It didn't have to be recovering from COVID, all of that kind of stuff. And the reason why it's a free day is I had finished my coursework a couple days early for this session that I'm in, I do a course every three weeks. And so every three weeks, I turned in that package of assignments for the course. And I tell you every three weeks it feels like I'm delivering a child like I'm birthing something, it's like a labor and delivery every three weeks and then start again on Monday.

0:53

So I had a day to day where I knew I was going to have time to tackle a big decluttering project in my house. And it was one of those projects, that involves a couple areas of the house. And I know you guys have shared this with me about your own hurdles, and decluttering. It's like, well, if I do the bathroom, and then I have to do the whole cloth. And if I do the hall closet, then I need to do the linen closet. Like it just all starts connecting room to room space to space, right.

1:22

I call it the decluttering series. And so I had a decluttering series in my life, so to speak, because here's what's happening in the spring, hopefully this spring, we are planning to do a kitchen renovation.

We spend much of our days avoiding the emotions we don't want to feel and panicking when we do feel those negative emotions. But then what happens is we give control over to the emotions and build up our lives hustling away the 'bad'. 

Over the years I have learned a lot about emotions that has personally brought me freedom from fearing emotions. This is something I have also coached many women on over the years. A big hurdle we have is knowing what we feel, and then struggling with the fact that we don't WANT to feel that emotion. 

 

 

In this episode I cover:

The three big insights that have changed my relationship to my feelings

What the work of Dr. Candace Pert reveals about what emotions ARE

How we learn what we are feeling

How we are conditioned to view feelings 

What makes an emotion 'negative' or 'unacceptable'

Being aware of our tolerance of emotions

The real problems with emotions 

Understanding the role of emotions

How to tap into the intuition emotions can offer us rather than running from the emotions

Collaborating with our emotions rather than competing with them 

 

Related links you might like:

The Spotify playlist for all episodes on Emotional Intelligence 

139. Are you TOO comfortable? And what is it costing you?

66. Are you stuck in the hustle for happiness? Finding contentment in momlife

How to really start showing up for your life

Four steps to manage overwhelm in motherhood

The Enneagram and Motherhood Series

Book: The Molecules of Emotion by Dr. Candace Pert

Aritcle: The Physics of Emotion 

Simple Pleasure of the Week: Benefit cheek and lip stain

 

 

Full transcript (unedited)

0:06

Hey friends is Shawna, your nerdy girlfriend and life coach from simple on purpose. Welcome to the Simple on Purpose podcast. My aim here is to share with you thoughts, ideas, stories that will help you let go of the old ways, the useless stuff, the heavy stuff, the unnecessary stuff in your life in your space in your brain, so that you can get into the driver's seat of your life, and steer that car, steer that ship to where you want it to go.

0:36

What do you want more of more fun, more passion, more purpose, more presence, because that's what I signed up for. And that's what I'm here to share with you.

0:48

But it doesn't all come without the shedding part, right without the letting go. Letting go of what doesn't work, what doesn't help you live on purpose. And this is the part that needs to be addressed. Because life on purpose is not just like Instagrammable, magical confetti and balloons. Life on purpose comes with friction and discomfort.

1:11

And so today, I want to dig into that a little bit and talk about the F word, feelings. And a lot of this content is some I had drafted up back in the fall. And I came across it when I was doing a school project this week.

1:25

And let me tell you school was my only focus this week, because your girl was home sick on the couch with COVID. And I know many of you have had it, it finally hit us here it finally hit our home, I was the only one that had it though. Everyone else thoroughly avoided me and seemed to skirt it.

1:44

But I was sick in I see a lot of different people on social media sharing their experiences with COVID. And I was comforted by those who told me that they were really sick too. Like I was exhausted just making toast. I needed to nap a couple times a day. And I am not a Napper.

2:03

But I had also gotten to this place where I was kind of comparing my experience with others because I had heard that there were others who had only a cough or a scratchy throat. And here I was just like rolling from the couch to the bed to the couch day after day. And it was definitely getting into my head, feeling like I should be tougher. I should get over this sooner. Like they say five days, but it's been more than five days. And it's just ironic, really,

How do we talk about hard things? For some of us, our emotions seem overwhelming and we find ourselves dumping them out onto those around us. For some, our emotions seem unacceptable and we find ourselves bottling them up.

Neither of these strategies really helps us process our emotions and make progress with them.

I think we all find ourselves either emotional dumping to bottling at different times to different people, and I want to support you with how to address both of these situations

 

In this episode:

What emotional dumping looks like

How it causes a disconnect and drain in relationships

Why we emotion dump

What venting looks like

How it can create connection and support in relationships

Why it is hard to vent

How to grow in self-awareness if you are someone who emotion dumps

What to do if you are someone who emotion dumps

What to do if you are someone who bottles up their emotions 

The difference between clean pain and dirty pain

Giving yourself permission to vent

How to vent to someone you trust, in a way that creates safety and connection

 

Related links mentioned:

The #moms30for30

The episode from Hidden Brain, Where Happiness Hides

 

Full transcript (unedited)

0:12

For those of you who are new, you're welcome. I'm Shawna. I'm a mom of three. I live in small town BC, Canada. I am a life coach to moms who want to live with more purpose, peace, presence and passion. And I think passions really important part because I think that we should be enjoying our lives a lot more than we let ourselves sometimes.

0:31

So I am just squeezing this recording in my kids are going to be home in about 27 minutes, I'm going to record this. And today I want to talk about something called Emotional dumping.

0:42

And let's Twilight music back to a time when my kids were much smaller babies and toddlers. And this was about seven years ago, I had all my babies and three and a half years. Now they're 10, nine and seven.

0:56

So let's flashback, and I'm home with them. And you know, no matter how many kids you have, if you're at home with a kid, one or two or three, it can feel wild. And when there's more than one and they take turns napping, and then they have tantrums, and their snacks lying around the kitchen. Like it's just, it's just crazy times.

1:15

And there's good times too right? like dance parties and dress up and cute little giggles. But when you are in it, day after day, it wears you down. And I know there were a lot of days where Connor would walk through the door at the end of the day. And I would unload narration of everything that went wrong that day. And I've reflected a lot on this. And it's something that I still do sometimes.

1:40

And when I'm doing it when I've done it, I think that I really want someone to acknowledge how hard it is and how hard I was trying. And I know that I didn't validate myself a lot, especially in early motherhood, and I was looking to him to do it. I still sometimes do this, like I said, it's a process.

1:57

But I think this is a pretty common pattern that we moms can fall into. Because our world is really shrunken down to the toddlers in our home. Some close friends or two and the stream of moms quote unquote, doing it right on Instagram. So when that person who's out in the world walks into the door, we do it I call emotional dumping.

2:19

Even if you're like me, emotional dumping is not a term you want to give it because you want to know that you can come to the people you love with the hard things that you're going through and talk to them about it. And that's not quite what I'm talking about.

2:33

I'm going to spend this episode really differentiating the two, I'm talking about those times where it goes past, venting into that land of complaining and nagging and blaming.

2:46

This is a topic that I've covered in the month of gratitude challenge that I've done in the past.

We are feeling ready! We have stocked our motivation with books and podcasts and tedtalks, and we have our sneakers on and we are READY

So what do we do??  It is normal to start making a list of all the changes we want to make and pursue a massive overhaul of all the things we want to see changed. 

This is NOT the sustainable way to make change. It feels so necessary to do all the things while this window of motivation is open! But this approach will leave us fizzling out and believing we just aren't disciplined enough and that we don't have enough willpower. 

 

In this episode we talk about:

What happens when we take on a lot of change all at once

What happens when the motivation tapers out

Myths we believe about willpower and how it impacts our view of ourselves

How we can set ourselves up for success by simplifying the whole approach

How to make change that fits into the life we already have

Why our brain is not excited about making a lot of changes all at once

Why simplifying change is important in developing our skills for change

My approach to simplifying a change I want to make with my coffee intake 

Resources and episodes mentioned

105. Do you TRUST yourself to show up for YOU?

153. How to move from ambivalent to ambitious (making change takes more than just willpower)

78. Small things that can change your whole life (the compound effect)

133. 4 simple habits that make my momlife better

Podcast Playlists: Simple on Purpose on Spotify

The Life on Purpose Workbook

Homemaker, on Purpose (the guidebook)

 

 

Full transcript (unedited)

0:04

Welcome to the simple on purpose podcast. This is a podcast for women, moms, whoever, whoever wants to do this work, who wants to do the work of living their life with more purpose, more peace and more presence. And I think more passion, because this is your life, and you should enjoy it.

0:26

This is a follow up episode to the last one about moving from ambivalent to ambitious. And I want to talk about that moment, when you are finally motivated. What should you be doing? How should you handle this motivation that has been bestowed upon you? By all of the work you have to do? Because there are a lot of steps that had to get you here to feel ready to make a change? Do you remember some of those from the last episode, acknowledging the dissatisfaction acknowledging the desires? Asking yourself honestly, if you're willing, and asking where you're capable? And where do you need to work on some skills?

1:02

So let's say we've acknowledged all of these components, it has taken a lot to get here, right? We had to move ourselves from ambivalent to ambitious. It's like pushing a boulder up hill. All right, so we are feeling ready. What are we doing? We're feeling ready, we listen to some podcasts, we read the books, we watch the TED talks, this is everything that I have done to get myself even more motivated. Just to keep stoking those motivation fires. This is going to happen we are going to make some change. Watch out family Mom's got her sneakers on copies on Bruno Mars, singing perm. Watch out, okay, we are here, we're ready.

1:40

What are we gonna do? What will we do? How will we handle this energy that we have that we're just ready to get started. And this is what I see happen all the time. What I did to was think I have to change all of it. Everything, Pinterest boards for all of it, the kids will be on a schedule. Every room will be decluttered vegetarian meals all week, family meditation, or let's try that morning exercise. That is how I felt when I finally woke up to my life, all of the things need to be changed.

2:09

Now your Enneagram type might start to shine through right here. How will you handle this idea of making all this change. And if you're a type nine, like me, you would turn around, crawl back into bed and just put your blankets over your head but for most people,

How do you go from sitting on the couch staring at your phone to DOING the THING you said you WANTED to be doing? I want to teach you how to spot AMBIVALENCE and how to address it, so you can go through the steps of moving from ambivalent to ambitious and feel ready and motivated to make the changes you want in your life. 

 

I reference the 'last episode' and since I recorded this episode earlier, this is the 'last episode' on Habit Refinement that I am referring to. 

What is ambivalence? 

Ambivalence is being of two minds, you want it and you don't. Ambivalence distances us from making change - sometimes this distance is helpful and sometimes it just keeps us stuck 

The steps of moving from ambivalent to ambitious 

Waking up to your life and becoming aware of our dissatisfaction and/or our desires. This can be a very uncomfortable stage that requires humility and bravery to address. Ambivalence shows up here with a defense for the status quo

Willingness to make a change, and the most important thing required here is honesty on if you are in fact WILLING to make the change and go through the change process

A sense of capability. We expect ourselves to be innately capable of making changes and overlook the fact that making change takes layers of skills we need to develop and hone. 

Change takes more than just discipline and motivation

I wanted to lay all of this foundation out because it is worth acknowledging what it actually takes to be ready to make a change. We often think we just need motivation and discipline and then change will be innate. But it takes so much more, particularly paying attention to the stories we are telling ourselves and what we really truly want and are willing to do. 

 

Help yourself move from ambivalent to ambitious

What am I dissatisfied with here? What is my part in it? What is in MY control?

What do I want, what do I desire? What doubts come up for me here?

Am I willing to make this change, and go through this process?

What skills do I have that will help me? What skills do I think I will need to work on developing? Am I willing to do that?

 

Episodes mentioned

150. A new approach to habit change: routine and habit refinement

139. Are you TOO comfortable? And what is it costing you?

140. Give your discomfort a purpose #uncomfortableonpurpose

 

FULL TRANSCRIPT (unedited)

0:06

Hey friends, it's Shawn, your nerdy girlfriend life coach from simple on purpose.ca Welcome to the simple purpose podcast. If you are a simple on purpose podcast listener returning again, Welcome, friend. So glad that you were here coming back time and time again, I love spending this time with you. And if you're new here, welcome around here around simple on purpose. And we're all about finding ways to make your life more simple and more purposeful, so you can show up for the things that really matter to you.

0:32

In this new year, we're talking about things like intentions and personal values and habits. And I want to keep building on this topic because I don't want you to lose momentum. If you are feeling like this is on your brain making some changes looking at your habits, then I want to help keep stoking that fire so to speak. In the last episode, we talked about going through your daily habits that you already have and starting to refine them.

0:58

And that was a really powerful exercise for me, I did that as I was writing those notes for the show. And I've kept my notes in my notes app on my phone. And I'm going back to them. And I'm still looking at like my daily habits and how I want to be altering them a little bit. I found it really helpful. For instance, I'm already spending less time on my phone in the morning and a little bit more time with my planner, kind of figuring out what I want my life to look like instead of looking at what other people's lives looks like. There are worksheets with that last episode.

In order to do my capsule wardrobe challenge (#moms30for30) I decided to do a big closet declutter. I'm sharing my takeaways and tips to help you do that big clothes declutter, make refined decisions about what stays, and have a strategy to build up a capsule wardrobe that WORKS FOR YOU! Cause, you need a wardrobe that works for your lifestyle,  your taste and your body!

 

The steps of my recent big closet declutter:

Precontemplation: motivation, conviction, paying attention to what is there, considering the style vision you have for yourself

 The total closet clear-out: considering do I NEED more clothes?

Approach to choosing what would stay in my closet: what stays vs what goes,  refining my closet, choosing items I love

Questions to ask to decide what stays: versatility, fit, personal style

How to consider your lifestyle when choosing what clothes to keep: hobbies, activities, weather, job, your seasonal lifestyle, how you want to feel in your current life, etc. 

Approaches to building a capsule wardrobe:

Focus less on numbers and meet yourself where you are at

Seasonal rotations 

Creating uniforms (owning it and making ones that work for your lifestyle) 

How to handle the clothes you are decluttering (the safe option vs the one that is hard for us)

Consider how you like to interact with fashion (room to play vs sticking to simple and timeless)

 

The steps to build a capsule wardrobe that works for your life

Keep what you LOVE

Keep what you feel good in (fit, style, shape, colour)

Keep clothes that work for your lifestyle

Spend the time getting to know your closet and learning how to put outfits together

Make some uniforms you can have as go-to outfits

Consider the 'gaps' items that you want to bring in. 

Shop with a list, shop mindfully 

Don't buy into the urgency to have a perfect capsule wardrobe tomorrow 

 

How to join in the #moms30for capsule wardrobe challenge (Feb 1st!)

Share in the Facebook group

Tag me on Instagram

 

Episodes mentioned:

Episode 151. Capsule wardrobe challenge #moms3for30

Saturday morning chores

Waves of decluttering, How I Started Decluttering (+ tips and insights)

Episode 90. Declutter ‘what if I need it one day?’ items from your home with THIS shift

Episode 104. Dress like you are 30

read all about the past #moms30for30 here

 

Full transcript

0:08

my aim is to help you simplify. And that really means removing those distractions, those thoughts, those stories that distract you those habits that distract you those things that distract you. And to start to fill your space and your life and your mind with the things you want to keep.

0:34

And we're talking about clothes, shopping, I mean, we can get deep. And you know, it is kind of a deep experience to really start analyzing your relationship to your closet, how you're dressing yourself each day. But I want to continue on the theme of the capsule wardrobe challenge.

0:50

So last week, I recorded an episode that I would be doing the capsule wardrobe challenge the mom's 30for30. This is the challenge that I've been doing since 2014. This will be I think, time number seven that I'm going to do it. And we call it the mom's 30 for 30. Because it is for kind of just that regular old mom life that we're living. And we're gonna wear 30 items of clothes for 30 days. So go back and check out last episode, if you're interested in more info on that more encouragement around that.

1:18

But I did let you know that as part of this process for me, I was going to be doing a big declutter of my closet. And I shared it on Instagram. I shared it in the Facebook group. I did it this past weekend. So I'm going to follow up with an episode on how I did my Declutter. And you guys had some questions around how I made my decisions. So I want to tell you all about that. And then end it all with some real practical tips that I've learned over th...

The 30for30 is a popular closet remix challenge. This February 1st I will be hosting a #moms30for30, which is a challenge we have been doing since 2014, where we wear 30 items for 30 days. 

You can learn so much about your relationship to your clothes and how to make your closet WORK FOR YOU! 

 

The build-up to the big closet declutter:

Packing outfits for a trip

How do you feel when you see your fave outfits hung up in a tidy closet

How do you feel about your cluttered closet full of all the things

What can help you do an effective closet declutter? 

If you are gearing up to declutter your closet then consider getting to know your clothes, putting them through an interview of what will stay. I like to do this with a closet remix challenge, like the #moms30for30, wearing 30 items for 30 days and putting together different outfits. 

Start paying attention to the clothes you reach for the most, try on clothes you rarely wear and ask how you feel in them (are they uncomfortable for you?). 

 

What we need to know about doing a closet remix challenge

This isn't about looking the most instagrammable for a full month. This is about getting dressed, putting outfits together and making some decisions about what will earn a spot in your closet. 

This comes down to the big question we often face when we declutter our clothes:

Can I still be enough if I don't keep a closet full of options?

Decluttering your closet may challenge your sense of security and you might not a scarcity mindset coming in (check out the episode on that right here). 

 

Will you join the challenge and do a 30for30 with us?

This is about learning more about your relationship to your clothes and how you are dressing yourself each day. 

I am doing this challenge for the seventh time (started them in 2014) and I learn (relearn) something valuable about my relationship to my clothes and how I am getting dressed. 

This is meant to be fun and helpful. It can help you put together outfits that you feel great in. 

The challenge isn't about being the cutest and trendiest, the challenge is more about getting dressed each day. 

 

Ways to let me know you will join in the challenge:

Share it in the Facebook group

Let me know on Instagram

Let me know by responding to the Simple Saturdays email

 

Full transcript

0:09

Welcome to this podcast. I'm here to help you think about the ways that you have been showing up for your life on autopilot. Letting life just happen at you letting things just build up. You might notice this if you have some frustrations and overwhelmed some resentment, you might be living on autopilot. And I want to help you look at the ways that you can simplify. Remove the distractions, remove the clutter, from your home, your heart and your life, so that you can show up for things on purpose with intention.

0:38

So this, it's been a while. It's been a while since I've been back on the podcast, I took a week off again, this winter is slowing me down. I feel like maybe I should just hibernate, like maybe I should just call it what it is and go hibernate, like compare and see all in the spring. But I just love the podcast so much. So I'm back again. I was sick this past week, I had a kid home for some of the week. And I really it's been a while since I've been sick, not COVID. But it's been a while since I've been sick.

1:06

And I just had to laugh at myself. Because I was dreaming over the fall. I'm having this real sick day where I would like you know, before you had kids where you would just stay home and you would watch TV in your pajamas and just check out. And then it turned out I got one. And I really struggled with giving myself a sick day. Which is weird because of all the advice I give my friends and my clients to listen to their bodies and honor their seasons. It's another thing to do it right. I mean, I can call in sick to work. I can put the podcast off for a week,

The new year brings a lot of thought to the goals and habits we want to have.  I have a new tool for you to try if you are feeling overwhelmed and frustrated with all the work that goes into creating new habits and stopping 'bad habits'. This is called habit refinement. 

 

A new tool to try for making habit change

With this tool, we do a habit audit to get awareness around what. is already happening and then we use our vision/goals to help us determine how we can refine our current habits and routines to better serve us. 

Get the worksheets

Throughout this episode, I am sharing examples of how I use this tool and I have some worksheets for you to put it into practice in your own life too. 

Try a new approach to habit change

I know this approach might feel counter-intuitive but I encourage you to give it a try as you approach making changes in your life this year. 

I think you will find this is a gentle yet still challenging way to approach habit change that might help you be more sustainable in your efforts. 

Posts and resources mentioned in this episode:

Find all the shows and the show notes (and transcripts) right here

How to make a daily routine that works for you and your family (especially for those of you at home with your kids home from school right now)

Four simple habits that make my momlife better (for ideas on simple habit refinement you can add to your routine)

The Live your Vision worksheets (the free worksheets to help you set a vision for the nine areas of your life)

The Life on Purpose workbook (discover, organize and plan the life you want to live)

Habit & Routine Refinement (the worksheets that go with this episode)

How to hygge when you're a busy mom (for that cozy, connected, contented vibe of HYGGE that I mentioned in the Simple Pleasure)

Hygge vs minimalism (how these two trends stack up to one another)

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FULL TRANSCRIPT (unedited)

0:06

Around here, I am sharing ways that you can declutter your home, your heart, and your life. So that you can get rid of those distractions, those frustrations, those sources of overwhelm that are slowing you down, and keeping you from showing up well, for the things that you do want, keeping you from showing up with purpose and intention every single day in the little things that are going to move you closer to that life that you want to be building into.

0:38

So first of all, I want to give a shout out to my fellow moms who have their kids home from school right now. I'm in BC, so our kids were kept home for an extra week, from the winter break. I think in Ontario, you guys have your kids home two extra weeks. So I just want to give a shout out to you guys. And my heart goes out to all the parents who are managing this and making it work. And I know it's not always pretty, it's not always easy. Everyone's in the space, everyone's sharing the space, people are restless, the routines that you've relied on are not happening.

1:10

And so I just I feel for you, because I know what that's like, I was so grateful to my husband that he could take two days off to get me through that week that my kids have been home. But one thing that I always have to come back to and I have to remind myself after not doing it for a couple days, and realizing like oh, I actually need this is a plan a little bit of a plan, a little bit of a routine in place. And I've got some episodes on that. I'll link in the show notes if they help you make a plan that works for you guys and your family.

1:40

But moving ahead, thinking about this time where we're going to get back to school, we're going to kind of get back to our routine, a lot of us in the New Year naturally start to think about our routines and our habits. And habits is a topic that is really popular around this time of year.