No Days Off and Staying Motivated.

 One of my biggest philosophies is that there should never be a day off from being the best version of yourself. For me, that means always working on some thing that makes you better than yesterday. Whether it’s at the gym, learning something new, trying a new recipe, there is always work to be done.

Having a chronic illness like MS means that life is just a little bit more unpredictable. I never know if I will have the energy or the time to do what I could’ve done today.  Even if it’s just five minutes, I tackled some thing that might make a big difference tomorrow.

Lately I have been all about meal prep. I have really changed my diet by having plenty of food on hand to just prepare for dinner later, or the next day.

Yesterday I wanted to make roasted vegetable lasagna, a recipe I haven’t tried in a while by Dr. Hyman. His recipes are fantastic let alone his philosophies and books, but the more intricate the recipe, it’s just seems that I can never get it done for the same day. This means splitting it up in two days. Last night I roasted all the vegetables that would become the layers of the roasted vegetable lasagna. And whipped up the cashew cheese and cashews that have been soaking the whole day. Raw cashews that is.

Now I have all of my ingredients prepared in the refrigerator, and all I have to do is just layer it today, bake it in the oven for an hour, and dinner is going to be so good later. I really hadn’t prepared any dinner yesterday except for throwing some salmon in the air fryer if you can call it that, but preparing a dinner like tonight, requires steps.

So whether it’s just breaking down something that you want to do into steps, to help you get it done the next day, we’re doing some thing for just a few minutes today, means you saved yourself a few minutes tomorrow.

When I’m at the gym, there is always somebody part that is at rest while I’m working on another body part. When it comes to doing cardio, my heart never has a day off does it?  When it does, I think I’m done for. So for now, I will always get my heart going. Every day at the gym. It doesn’t mean that I have to do the same amount of cardio every day, in fact, I don’t even focus on time, I focus on my mileage,

I tried to put in 100 miles a month Using my arms on a hand bike, or standing up on the elliptical with my full body weight, I never take a day off from this. Sometimes my neck will get a little tight, so I ease up on my minutes on the hand bike, and pick it up on the weekend.  I’m at the gym every day for two hours. It’s a habit I’ve been sticking with for about two years now, and it works for me. I’m not saying it would work for everybody, and I definitely don’t do the same intensity on all days. Some days I will do more reps some days I will do just a certain body part. But I always work on something within those two hours.

So whether it’s cooking, exercising, and definitely learning, which means an investment in your mind, there should never be a day off. Especially for me, when it comes to serving others, like I’ve done recently. Wanting to share my thoughts having a chronic illness, what keeps me going? I feel I need to serve others since this has been working so well for me. It’s what keeps me empowered.