Gemma Ray's Blog

My Most Powerful Self Love Affirmation for 2023

Do you have a word of the year?

It’s something I do every year and a question in my free 2023 Reflections workbook (click here to get your copy – a great way to start the new year).

I thought I had my word of the year sorted. I usually start thinking about it in November. This year is a little bit different and unexpected.

I can’t write too much about it at this stage (because we have had pretty much no guidance yet) but my husband and I became emergency foster carers at the beginning of December.

It’s been an unusual month of mixed feelings, emotions, a heck of a lot of juggling, and having to throw my hands up in the air multiple times and say “Fuck it”. The realisation that I really cannot control any aspect of my life, something I hugely struggle with, has been hard. This whole of 2022 has been hard. Last year, and particularly this last month, I have had to learn to let go and be at peace with whatever comes our way.

The Twixmas Time of Goals and Motivation

Every year, this week between Christmas and New Year is my favourite time of year. As a goal-striving, self-improvement addict I love the reflection of the year that has been and the projections of goals and dreams I’ll start to plan for the year ahead.

I usually make a vision board at this time, I journal a lot, I set my intentions, I plan out my calendar with military colour-coded precision, and create milestone reminders. I might sign up to a coach or a mastermind to keep me accountable, I get motivated by podcasts and I buy far too many books on Amazon. I’m that knobhead in the gym every day, determined to start my new year goals before everyone else.

But this year is different.

My best-laid plans need to be screwed up, churned up and set on fire. I have no choice but to go with the flow because there’s a possibility that a newborn child will need our nurture for a few months too. A newborn, a 5-year-old and a 12-year-old don’t care for Zoom meetings, colour-coded schedules or adhering to content strategy deadlines. They care for warmth, love, support and my undivided attention.

via GIPHY

Before the pandemic, if our kids needed us we dropped our work and we cared for our kids.

During and after the pandemic it became the norm to try the impossible task of balancing both work and children…at the very same time.

It’s perfectly normal right now to expect young children to fend for themselves or spend hours in front of YouTube, placated with biscuits and promises of sweets if they could _”Just keep quiet sweetie while I’m on this meeting. Yes I know Susan is in my computer and ooh yes Geoff does have a cat there on his desk but please, go on, please put Peppa Pig on again and I’ll be down in a minute.”_

It’s totally fucked. And it’s too much trying to hold down a job and work while you’re also needed to care for children.

So this year I might have to give up my work as I knew it. Or work in ways that require a heck of a lot of flexibility.

It means that for the first time in my life, I’m not planning ahead with things to look forward to over 2023 or obsessing over goals.

Which is probably exactly what I need. Thanks Universe. Funny that, eh?!

Wanky Word of the Year

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My husband and I were watching a comedy and someone was talking about their word of the year. Shaun laughed and turned to me saying “Sounds like something you would do.”

“Yes, every year.” I replied.

He looked quizzical. “Really? You do that every year?”

“You know you always bollock me for writing on mirrors with chalk pens? That is my word of the year. I’ve had ‘Reclaim’ ‘Boundaries’ ‘Discipline’ ‘Strong’ over the years and affirmations like ‘I am enough’. That’s why I write them everywhere and change them every year.”

“I just thought you wanted to make the house look like a posh crack den.” he laughed.

This year I thought my word of the year was going to be ‘surrender’. I’d made myself some new phone wallpaper featuring the word and started to roll it around the tongue in my morning meditations. But it kinda doesn’t feel right.

I know that with so much uncertainty in our lives right now that I do need to let go of the grip of control I always try and exert over everything and surrender. Yet it also feels defeatist and weak. The dictionary definition of surrender literally means ‘to give up’. I feel like I need more courage, strength and power than to give up over these coming months.

Due to life as I know it effectively being firebombed, (I type this sentence right now with one hand while a sleepy 5 year old cuddles into me on my lap) I know that I can’t fall into the trap of letting my needs slide. I did that in 2022 when my son broke his leg and it had disastrous consequences for my mental and physical well-being.

My Affirmation for 2023

This year, instead of a wanky word, I’m going for a sappy sentence which is…

‘I matter’

This came from a conversation with a friend on New Year’s Eve that went like this…

I truly am committed to stopping the habit of constantly letting myself down like I did in 2022. I am committed to raising my voice and being direct because people-pleasing and being passive has not worked out for me so far.

‘I matter’ is a sentence I’m already putting into practice.

Gemma’s head voice: ‘Go on, watch one more episode of The Traitors’
Gemma’s positive head voice: ‘No, let’s get some sleep. I matter and so does my rest.’

Gemma’s head voice: ‘Fuck the washing, do it in the morning.’
Gemma’s positive head voice: ‘I matter so let’s do it now and not add to tomorrow’s stress today.’

Gemma’s head voice: ‘It’s raining. Can’t be arsed taking the kids out.’
Gemma’s positive head voice: ‘I matter, so let’s get out, get some fresh air and play with the kids. They will love it too. Win-win.’

You Matter

Whether you’re a wanky word of the year type or not, I want to remind you too that you do indeed matter.

You are worthy of self-love and self-care, despite how difficult it can be to put yourself first.

If, like me, your default setting is to people please above all else and put your own needs last, I invite you on this 2023 journey with me of discovering how joyful it can be to be selfish for the right reasons.

We matter. We really do.

Let’s go rock 2023, OK?

Gem ♥️

PS – If you’re sitting in the fuzzy feeling of new year motivation and goals, why not check out my best-selling books on Amazon?

For more useful blogs, check out…

How to Dominate Your Deadlines Why We All Need To ‘Sit In Our Sh*t’ At Times The Power of Productivity FREE Goal Setting Workbook 2023

The post My Most Powerful Self Love Affirmation for 2023 appeared first on Gemma Ray.

FREE 2023 Goal Setting Workbook

Get ready to set your most powerful intentions for 2023 and beyond with my FREE goal-setting workbook.

This free printable workbook encourages you to reflect on 2022 and the lessons learned while then focusing on 2023 and what you want to achieve.

These 20 powerful questions will help you celebrate everything you achieved in the year just gone, while looking forward to next year and all that is possible for you.

This workbook has been white-labelled by other businesses I have worked for and I have thoroughly enjoyed seeing the reactions of those who have used it.

I’ve never put this out to my own audience though (I always give away my best stuff to clients!) but this year I wanted to share it with you.

Why Reflect Back

If, like me, you’ve had an absolute shitter of a year it can be too easy to spend this last week of December saying;

“I can’t wait to see the back of this year.”
“I just want this year to be over.”
“2022 can fuck off.”
“2023 is MY year!”

As we sit on our sofas, wondering what frigging day it is, determined to hold out on the big shop for one day longer (you’ve still got cheese, brandy butter, and 43 selection boxes as sustenance after all) you start to mope. You can end up focusing on the negatives and forgetting about all the good that also happened too.

Because, even if you’ve had the worst year of your life ever (me! That’s me! Hands up that’s me!) there are ALWAYS moments of joy, love, happiness, pride and connection. And even in the shit times, there are valuable lessons to be learned.

via GIPHY

Why Focus Forwards

It’s all very well saying “2023 is my year!” but if you don’t get some clarity on what you want in 2023 and how you will get there, you might find yourself back in this cycle of being in a December slump, wanting the year to be over and saying the same thing into 2024.

Since I wrote my first books, I do think times have changed. I really struggle with the ‘hustle hustle, go go go’ attitude of the tips and techniques in my books, but actually, I know I probably need to read them myself again right now! (Oh the irony!). There’s a place for motivation and giving yourself a hard kick up the arse, but there’s also equal importance on rest, recovery, stress reduction, and letting go of the need to control every aspect of your life.

This is why I like this workbook and I’m thankful to the old version of me who wrote it a few years ago. It’s a perfect mix of introspection and inspiration without being unnecessarily unkind to yourself. Because we all need compassion after these last few rough years when the world changed.

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Download Your Copy

Whether you’ve got big plans to change the world in 2023 or you’re focusing on just having the ability to change your pants every day (no judgement) this workbook is for you.

Download your copy by clicking here.

I’d love to know how you find it. I’m going to work through it myself and share my findings as we move out of 2022 (so long sucker!) and into the hope and anticipation of 2023.

Gemma

 

For more useful blogs, check out…

How to Dominate Your Deadlines Why We All Need To ‘Sit In Our Sh*t’ At Times The Power of Productivity

The post FREE 2023 Goal Setting Workbook appeared first on Gemma Ray.

How to stop feeling the festive overwhelm

Overwhelm is the pits, isn’t it?

It feels like you have a backpack full of rocks on your shoulders, dragging you down and backward at every opportunity.

It’s heavy and hard and no matter how much you seem to mentally push back against it, it doesn’t get any easier. You’re stuck, you’re stressed and you’re about to lose your sh*t.

Here are the common signs of overwhelm;

– You don’t know where to begin no matter how much you think
– You’re not physically or mentally able to start your task at hand
– You procrastinate and do everything BUT the task you’ve set for yourself
– You get headaches or backaches from too much stress
– You forget important things

So what can you do?

Step 1 – Stop

I was recently on a spa day with my sister who couldn’t relax and was extremely overwhelmed. She’d got too much on and too little time; building work in her home, a weekend away she hadn’t packed for, Christmas decorations and faulty Christmas lights were strewn around her house and her daughter had a school performance that night.

With the spa date too, it was too much. She had over-committed and had too little time to do everything. In the absence of a time machine or pulling an all-nighter it was time to stop, breathe and refocus.

When your brain is whirring and whizzing with too much, staying in that frantic energy is not going to help you. I am someone who sits comfortably in frantic energy so stopping and taking a moment feels like you’re asking me to climb Everest. I’m the type of person who will sit at my computer and click tab after tab, hoping for a magical solution to make all the tasks go away. I’ve got better at stepping away from my desk, facing my window that looks out over some green fields, and stopping, shutting my eyes, and taking some slow deep breaths.

It doesn’t always work and I will often stay sat in my sh*t, stressing and flapping but even writing this out to you now will help me remember that this is the first step to stopping the overwhelm next time I feel I can’t catch my breath.

Step 2 – Audit

Once you’ve stopped and taken a breath, get a pen and paper and speed-write a list of all of the things that are piling up on your to-do list.

In my sister’s case, for me being an outsider, it was obvious. The Christmas decorations were a mess but they weren’t a non-negotiable task that absolutely had to be done.

“Shut the door on that room and tackle it when you come back,” I said to her. It wasn’t what she wanted to hear. Her neat freak personality was going to think about the mess all weekend. I know many people struggle to relax when their homes are not orderly, but when time is of the essence you’ve got to draw a line through anything that isn’t urgent and important.

My overwhelm is almost always linked to work tasks. The nature of my work is very deadline driven and working with multiple clients means that I not only write this audit list but I put time estimates next to each task and grade them by importance. At the moment it feels like EVERYTHING is important but looking at the list, looking at the time estimates, and cross-referencing it with my schedule soon gives me a clearer perspective of what needs to be prioritised.

Once I have that list in front of me and know I can’t possibly do it all, it’s time for step 3.

Step 3 – Use the Eisenhower Matrix

Once you have your list of tasks, you could also divide them into these four quadrants of the Eisenhower Matrix. Yes, I know this is a wanky corporate thing and you’ve probably seen this on a bajillion PowerPoint presentations but have you ever tried it for your personal stuff? Give it a go before you think it’s just for work stuff.

Urgent and Important – REDUCE
This is crisis management. When it comes to festive stuff, a lot ends up here because of last post dates or stuff that’s needed for Christmas dinner.

Not Urgent but Important – SCHEDULE
Can you schedule it in? Perhaps add it to your online calendar, set some alarms or ask someone to keep you accountable.

Urgent but Not Important – DELEGATE
So this needs to be done, but by whom? Could you delegate this to someone else?

Urgent and Not Important – DELETE
This needs to go! Scrub it off the to-do list, it’s just adding to the overwhelm.

A Tool For Prioritisation

The Eisenhower Matrix was named after President Eisenhower who was known for his excellent organisation skills and commitment to doing tasks that were both urgent and important.

The Matrix is a great tool for prioritisation and improving productivity and time management. For me though, it’s one of the best ways to organise and prioritise an overflowing to-do list according to how urgent and important your tasks are.

Step 4 – Communicate

You’ve done the Eisenhower Matrix and it’s time to communicate and either reset some deadlines with others or get some help.

That might be a conversation with your boss or team about the things you can’t possibly get done before Christmas.

It could be a request to your partner, friend or loved one for help – whether that’s with the Christmas shopping or childcare or getting the house ready for visitors.

If you don’t speak up and ask for help, you’re going to stay stuck in overwhelm.

Consider starting a message or call like this

“Hey so I’m at a point where I’ve reached my limit, I’m really stressed and overwhelmed and I’m hoping you might be able to help me?”

Step 5 – Put it in the F*ck It Bucket

If there’s anything on your matrix in the final ‘declutter’ quadrant that you can’t possibly fit in, it’s time to eliminate it.

I like to imagine it heading into my imaginary F*ck it Bucket! Because I can’t possibly give any more energy to this issue if it goes in the declutter box.

I hope that helps you feel less overwhelmed this festive season. I know there’s a lot to do but with a bit of head space, you can do it!

For more tips on productivity check out my books

Self Discipline
Stop Procrastinating & Start Living
How to Stop Procrastinating in Six Steps

Gemma

 

 

 

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How to Reduce Your Mental Load with Fair Play by Eve Rodsky

I got a bee in my bonnet this week, or as I like to so eloquently put it “Felt like I had sand in my vagina.”

It was all because Kim Kardashian came out and gave the following advice to women in business:

“Get off your fucking ass and work. Nobody wants to work these days.”

It felt a little tone-deaf, considering the current world landscape on the back of two years of a pandemic.

It made me think about Fair Play by Eve Rodsky, an incredible book to help anyone who feels like they take on the lion’s share of the time-consuming, invisible and thankless work in their home. You know, the work us minions do that the likes of Kim K has help for.

Anyways, back to the book. I wasted too much energy on the Kardashians for one day.

Fair Play is not just a book, it is a hands-on system to help share the mental load, rebalance your relationship and divvy up domestic duties not in an equal way, but in a way that is fair.

In addition to the paperback and audiobook, Eve Rodsky has also created a 100 card deck to accompany the book and broker the issue of sharing the mental load successfully with your partner.

The idea is that we all hold ‘cards’ for various tasks within our family lives. The Fair Play card deck contains 100 cards that represent 100 tasks within a family home with children.

Cards are categorised by the following suits:

Home 

These include tasks like laundry, taking out the bin, grocery lists and other daily grind tasks that must happen every day to keep the family home going.

Out

The Out suit of cards contain tasks that represent things done away from the home like the school run, extracurricular sports, sorting out the car.

Caregiving

This suit of cards are the tasks related to the care of others, whether they’re children, other family members or parents. This could include things like potty training, pet care, homework supervision or the bedtime routine.

Magic

These Magic suit cards are moments of meaningful connection and relationship building. They include birthday celebrations, middle of the night comfort, sorting the Tooth Fairy.

Wild

These cards in the Wild suit represent life-changing scenarios like a job change, losing a loved one or moving house.

The idea is that you look at all the cards that represent tasks that take place within your family unit and decide who will CPE each card. CPE stands for conceiving, plan and execute.

The majority of women are being left with all the cards in terms of domestic fairness. Let me explain…

When I read this book in September 2021, it encouraged a conversation with my husband about cooking. I work almost 75% more hours than he does and cooking is something I really don’t enjoy. I have deep-rooted issues with food cravings and stress eating and I find the whole process of cooking ridiculously stressful. It is my most hated task. My husband enjoys cooking, so we agreed that moving forwards he would cook.

If we were to be playing the Fair Play card game though, I had failed at the recommended CPE (Conception, Planning and Execution). Shaun cooking is not Shaun holding ALL the cards and it took us another six months and me having a meltdown for him to fully pick up the card. I have to say that this was all off his own back, I didn’t ask him to do it, he could see I was struggling and now he holds the cooking card which INCLUDES meal planning, buying the ingredients and keeping on top of the store cupboard staples.

I can’t even begin to tell you the life-changing impact this has had on my mental load. Knowing that I don’t have to think about getting to the shops every other day, planning the food, keeping on top of the best before end dates etc has been LIBERATING!

This is one of many cards that we hold, but an example of the positive impact it has had in our lives.

We haven’t fully worked through the Fair Play card system yet but we did realise that one of us holding one particular card to ourselves wasn’t working. Shaun holds the finance card for us and deals with a lot of things like the utility bills. We know that this isn’t working for us as a family as I have no idea on our financial position. In this case we BOTH need to hold this card. We’ve got a sit-down meeting next week to look at our finances in full and if I’m being honest, for me to stop being an ostrich, remove my head from my ass and be a grown-up about money for the first time in my 40 years of life.

Fair Play has opened up some powerful conversations between my husband and I and it’s given me the confidence to admit to areas where I am struggling and ask for help without feeling like I am failing.

I highly recommend this book, especially the part about each parent finding their ‘Unicorn Space’ – the things we do for fun that must be encouraged, protected and nurtured.

I realised in looking at my own ‘Unicorn Space’ that blogging and writing for fun is one of mine and it’s not something I’ve done properly for many years. I hope you reading this blog right now will be a renaissance of writing for me as I work hard to carve the time and space needed for me to enjoy this Unicorn Space writing hobby of mine.

If you’re interested in my other writing through my books to help you Stop Procrastinating & Start Living, click here.

 

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I’m So Annoyed About My New Book

OK, not really.

Well, maybe a little bit.

You see I wrote my latest book Stop Procrastinating in Six Steps in a couple of hours.

I should point out that the process of then getting said couple of hours of work into print took WEEKS but the point is the initial writing process was a piece of piddle.

The idea came from my friend Leah who lives over in sunny Australia. She made a joke when I released my second book that she was procrastinating on reading the book about procrastinating.

Around the same time, I was also asked what my husband thought of my books.

My husband has never read a single word I have had printed. Yet he’s EXACTLY the type of person that I want to help. The type of person who doesn’t know where on earth where to start when they’re stuck.

Knowing that my husband Shaun might just read a book that was less than 30 pages long and taking Leah’s smart-arse wit to the shower (where all the best thoughts happen) I decided to write a mini-book. One that could be read in less than an hour.

To really get people to think and take action I decided to add exercises into the short book that would help people come top some answers themselves.

Because I know we all know deep down what to do for the best. It is reaching deep down to those answers that’s the hardest part of the process. I wanted my mini-book and exercises to be that helping hand to reach for those answers and help people take guaranteed action.

This is why I’m annoyed. (But not really).

This short, mini, took-no-time-at-all publication is ALREADY having such an impact and changing lives. Those who have read my first two books are telling me that while they loved those books and those books really helped them be more productive it is this mini-book that is having the most profound change and transformation stories.

 

The reviews are still coming in and the beta readers have been so amazing in their help with changes, suggestions and feedback. (If you’ve got one of my books and haven’t yet left a review, please consider taking a couple of minutes to do so as it helps an independent author like me so much).

Thank you for your support over the launch of the two books I released today. I am deeply grateful for the feedback, reviews, praise, critique and support.

Gem ♥️

 

 

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Sorry I’ve Been 💩

Sorry I’ve been sh*t 

This is going to be the headline on my email to my email subscribers.

This was also the image I used in my [Level:Up] The Level Up Community for Living Life Better with Gemma Ray Facebook group too.

Pretty much every social avenue I have as an author needs a short sharp jolt with imaginary defibrillator pads to get it going again.

That’s what happens though, isn’t it?

You put something off, you let things slide, or priorities change and then it just becomes so much harder to take that first step and take action.

I know this because I’ve been there so many times with so many aspects of my life. The health kick, the sorting out of the finances, the dreaded tax return, the sorting the kitchen drawer of random and utter shite. Taking that first step on tackling many things feels so hard and heavy when you’ve repeatedly put them off.

I like to think of life as moving in seasons.

I haven’t been in the right season to manage and maintain my author blogs, email newsletters, review appeals, course marketing and book marketing.

The season that has been 2021 has been focused on my full-time role at Body Smart Fitness, my son in lockdown and then changing schools, Honest to Gob Podcast and my health and fitness.

And that’s ok!

Because we can’t always do all the things. We sometimes have to understand it will happen in the next season, or maybe the one after that.

I’m moving into my next season right now. With two new books about to launch and aching close to my health goals, it’s time to support people again as you #PullYourFingerOut to take action on your goals.

I’m doing it for myself and I’m taking everyone along for the ride too! Buckle up!

Gem 

Ps – still looking for beta readers of my third book out in two weeks. Will take you less than 45 mins to read! DM me if you’d like an advance digital copy and you’re happy to review on launch day.

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Dropping Balls

How many balls do you juggle?

And how many are made of plastic? And how many are made of glass?

This was a question I posed to my podcast co-host, Claire Morton, on our latest episode of Honest to Gob podcast. It came from my friend Stacey. She reminded me recently that as working mums we juggle many balls. Sometimes, it’s OK to realise that some balls are made of plastic and some balls of made of glass.

 

In 2021 so far, I have most definitely set down a lot of plastic balls and focused on the glass ones.

I accepted a full-time role as the head of content for Body Smart Fitness at the start of this year which I would never have predicted in a million years would happen. Surrendering and accepting that I can still do my most awesome work and spread my message as a team and a movement rather than a sole entity has been a challenge but one that I am so glad I accepted. 

If I’m honest with myself, I’d dropped so many balls up until the start of this year, I was only just about keeping my head above the multicoloured plastic. Like some kind of drowning, flailing stress head, stuck in a horror-movie-esque sinking ball pit of overwhelm. 

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 Juggling more Glass Balls

Dropping balls and working within a team has been no less stressful or time-consuming but it has provided security, friendship, education, inspiration and a lot of pride. I am glad I made the decision.

Even though I’m not juggling as many balls these days, I’d definitely say I’ve been juggling more glass balls and just about managing to make sure I don’t shatter them. While I might have forgotten about plastic balls like this blog, my books and my courses for the last six months, I have focused on my health; both physical, mental and spiritual and focused on my family. Along with my full-time job, the only other thing that I have kept up in the air is the Honest to Gob podcast because I do it for no other reason than to have fun.

The Beeb Ball Got Binned

Sadly, the radio gig at the BBC wound up back in April but I was relieved. I’d worked 7 days a week for so long and it wasn’t the same anymore. Trying to do a show where you don’t mention too much about COVID, but the only thing happening in your life is work, home or COVID restrictions was tough.

I hugely miss chatting to Nic on the way to work on Sundays and down the line in the studio but it wasn’t the easiest of shows with Nic being at home and at the mercy of technology potentially failing. It got frustrating seeing the disparity of rules and not having that connection with Nic, producer Sophie or the guests. I love connecting with people and while I completely and totally understand why that couldn’t happen in these strange times, it was just super sad.

I will be forever grateful for the opportunity to go back to radio after such a long hiatus. To be given that chance at the BBC when so many presenters in commercial and local radio had lost their jobs before and during COVID was something I never took for granted.

The Struggle Juggle

As the world starts to hopefully open back up after what has been the most testing, challenging and life-changing 15 months of our lives, I can feel more balls getting added into the daily struggle juggle. I’m trying hard to say no to things I don’t want to do, protect my time, exercise my boundaries and focus on the stuff that makes me feel great and at my best.

I’m constantly analysing these balls and making sure I truly know which ones are made of glass, which are plastic and can be put down and which can be launched so fucking far away I never have to pick them up again!

I hope you’re OK in the struggle juggle too, and I hope you are keeping your balls in the air.

Lots of love, it’s nice to be back writing for fun,

Gem ♥️

PS – I have re-launched my #PullYourFingerOut online course. This seven lesson short course aims to help you stop procrastinating and go from stuck to unstoppable with real-world practical advice and encouragement for real-world people with real struggles.

Complete the lessons at your own pace and utilise the bonus downloads like planners, productivity audio and meditations along with the course workbooks to help you get clarity on what you want and how to achieve more in less time. Click the button to enrol now.

Enrol Now

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Sunday Afternoons on BBC Radio Lancashire | Cold Hedgehogs, Tickling Your Pickle and Reframing Dry January with Janey Lee Grace

It was a jam-packed show on the first Sunday show of 2021.

Being the first Sunday of 2021, we focused the show on the mood of the nation and chatted all things goals, health and having things to look forward to in 2021.

If you listen back to the show, we had the following guests on qat the following times:

00:30 approx into the show – Dean Flynn

Thanks to Dean Flynn, from Dean Flynn PT and Online Membership who is ordinarily a personal trainer in Gym Etc, in Leyland. Now we are in Tier 4 across Lancashire and gyms have closed, Dean has turned his attention online once again and built a thriving community of people who support each other to achieve their goals.

As Dean explained in his interview, we all start January trying to change too much instead of focusing on the boring stuff. That’s why we are likely to fail our “New Year, New Me” efforts by January 15th.

Dean made us laugh when he explained about people looking for a quick fix who just wanted things that “Tickle the pickle” instead of doing the basic boring stuff consistently.

01:05 approx into the show – Chorley Hedgehog Rescue

Donna from Chorley Hedgehog rescue came on to tell us about the plight of the poor hedgehogs and what to do if you spot them out during the day.

Did you know? Hedgehogs are nocturnal animals so if you do spot a spikey creature out in daylight it means there is something wrong. Donna informed us that the best thing to do is carefully place the hedgehog in a high sided box (they’re good scape artists you see!) and keep it warm with a hot water bottle wrapped in a towel. Once safe, call your local hedgehog rescue who will take over and take care of your new furry friend.

01:30 approx into the show  – Love Her Wild

Fiona Orrell from the Lancashire division of Love Her Wild came on to tell us about the women’s adventure pursuits group she is part of. Fiona stressed the importance of getting out in nature for our mental health and told us all about the expeditions that they have planned for 2021. She also shared her favourite local Lancashire spots to take in the sights, sounds and scenery of our beautiful county.

I was so inspired by Fiona and the sounds of her adventures that I actually went and booked onto the Wild Woman retreat she mentioned in the interview! Let’s hope the world is back to normal by the end of April so I can learn bush craft and fire lighting.

 

02:30 approx into the show – Janey Lee Grace

We were honoured to be joined by BBC Radio 2 presenter Janey Lee Grace but this time wearing her other hat as a wellness expert. If you listen to our show regularly you will know that we always feature an author every week. As it is January and as Nic is attempting Dry January from the 4th (better late than never!) we invited Janey on to tell us about her brand new book, Happy Healthy Sober. Janey has been alcohol-free since 2018 and now runs thesoberclub.com to help other people reassess their relationship with alcohol. Janey gave us some incredible advice that we know will really help those listeners of ours also quitting alcohol this year.

We had loads of awesome tunes, plenty of laughs – especially about me eating pizza in the bath on New Year’s Eve!

Catch the whole show again here or listen every Sunday via the BBC Sounds app 2-6 pm.

 

 

 

The post Sunday Afternoons on BBC Radio Lancashire | Cold Hedgehogs, Tickling Your Pickle and Reframing Dry January with Janey Lee Grace appeared first on Gemma Ray.

Journal Prompts: Personal Energy

Every Saturday I set a series of journal prompts that should last you through the week (Or if you’re feeling super sprightly you might want to do them all in one go?). You also might choose to pick and omit prompts from the list. There’s no right or wrong way to journal and I provide these prompts as a way to get you thinking and writing your feelings on paper.

Journal Prompts About Personal Energy

I’m really lucky that two accountability mentoring clients of mine have started recording a podcast all about being female. These two brilliant women are working with me to create a strategy around launching their podcast and I’m helping to hold them accountable for their actions. I have been given VIP backstage access to listen to their episodes before their podcast launches and my brain has been blown!

These ladies are super knowledgable when it comes to hormones, female health and female mindset. What I have learned listening to their podcasts has opened my eyes and my mind to the concept of my own personal energy highs and lows. Even when I chat to the ladies about the tasks and admin side of things to get their podcast up and running, we honour their personal energy and mine as we set work tasks. If one of us is hormonal, it can change the dynamic and energy levels so we change and adapt tasks to suit everyone’s personal energy at that time.

I’ve never worked in this way before and I cannot believe how much of a difference it has made to my productivity levels. I can’t wait to share their knowledge with you when their podcast launches.

In honour of acknowledging energy and the fact mine has been low this week, I set this week’s journal prompts around the theme of energy levels.

 

Grab a cuppa, your favourite pens and journal and dig into these:

 

Write a list of things in your life that leave you feeling energised.
Looking at the list, which do you practise on a regular basis?
Looking at the list, which things have you been neglecting and why?
Outline how you will commit to making time for more of the things that energise you.
What time of the day do you feel at your best and most full of energy?
Do you always do your most valuable work at that time? Are you making the most of your energy spikes?
Write a list of all the things that drain your energy.
From the list, which of these things are in your control and why?
From the list, which things can you commit to doing less if they don’t energise you?
What is your favourite high-energy song or piece of music? After writing it down, play it loud and uplift your energy. In the future, remember and refer back to this song when you feel like your energy is low to help lift your mood.

 

Want to share what you learned from completing the journal prompts? Come and chat to us in the free Level:Up community.

Speak soon,

Gem x

The post Journal Prompts: Personal Energy appeared first on Gemma Ray.

What is in Your Eye Line? One Way to Reduce Cravings, Drink More Water, Take Your Vitamins, Think Better and Exercise More

Ever heard the phrase ‘Out of sight, out of mind?’

I want you to think about this phrase the next time you want to stop doing something and reverse it when you want to start a new habit.

What’s in Your Eye Line?

Want to reduce cravings for certain foods like sweets, crisps and nuts?

Want to reduce your desire for alcohol?

Want to reduce the craving for a cigarette?

Want to floss more? 

Take your vitamins every day?

Drink more water?

Work out at home?

Stick to your tasks?

Then you could achieve all of the above by focusing on what is in your line of vision.

Watch the video in full here:

Get It Out of Sight

I’m all about making life easy for yourself. I am a big believer in using what is in your sight to your advantage and removing temptation out of your eye line so that you’re more likely to win and achieve your goals.

Today is the first day of December. It means the Cadbury’s celebrations boxes will start infiltrating our homes along with multiple cans of Pringles and Twiglets. The number one way to reduce eating these kinds of typical festive foods would be to not buy them in the first place, but I know that isn’t always possible.

One of my 1:1 accountability mentoring clients has been reporting feeling like “One trim mother fucker!” over the last 8 weeks. I’ve helped him adopt intermittent fasting into his daily routine and drop some mega calorie snacks that were dominating his dinner times. Along with a shed load of other daily actions around his sleep, mindset, work, hobbies and family, his eating habits and cravings have significantly reduced. Now we are into December he was worried that his wife (who has a lot more self-control than him) would be buying all these delicious goodies and his trim mother fucker-ness will be compromised.

As he doesn’t want to ask her to not buy them completely, I suggested that these treats need to live sealed in the cupboards. If you have them out on display, you’re more likely to want them. I know this because this too is something I have to adopt with my own cravings and eating habits. When I buy selection boxes for the kids in my life, they either have to get stored in the garage, or I place them in my highest cupboard that requires a step ladder to access the chocolatey goodness.

Placing things out of sight is so obvious, and I’m not telling you anything new or groundbreaking here. You might just need a reminder though, Go and look what treats and temptations might be derailing your progress and remove them out of sight.

Other Things You Can Put Out of Sight

I stopped drinking in February 2020, so this one doesn’t affect me anymore, but if you want to reduce your alcohol consumption, get it out of sight. If you’re a beer, wine, rose or Prosecco drinker put those drinks at the back of the cupboard or on top of the fridge. There’s nothing worse than craving wine or a beer, and the bottle is not chilled. Lukewarm fizz anyone? Urgh.

If you are trying to reduce the amount you smoke, put the cigarettes out of sight. 

If you spend too much time distracted by your mobile phone, put it away completely in a drawer. You are NOT missing anything by moving it out of sight and instead you will be helping yourself to stop the temptation of scrolling. 

Putting Things Top of Mind

On the flip side of putting things out of sight, what could you put in your eye line that will have a positive impact on you?

As I explain in the video, I usually refill my water bottle three times a day, and today I forgot to place it on top of my desk. Instead, it was on the floor beside my office chair. I think I’ve not consumed more than about 200ml today, which is rubbish for me. No wonder I have a bit of a headache and feel cranky. 

If you want to drink more water, put it in front of you.

If you want to floss your teeth regularly or use that moisturiser and toner or read more – get all those items out on display!

My family bought me an Instant Pot for my birthday. It is a slow cooker on steroids, and I love it. It can cook a whole chicken in 25 minutes! My husband said we should clear space in one of the cupboards to store it and I completely disagreed. The moment we do that it will end up full of dust – just like the blender and the juicer that live at the back of our cupboards! It is staying out on the worktops to remind us to use it regularly because it is BOSS!

 

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Instant Pot Duo 7-in-1 Electric Pressure Cooker, 6 Qt, 5.7 Litre, 1000 W, Brushed Stainless Steel/Black

 

If you want to stick to your work tasks and your schedule, have your planner or time blocked tasks in front of you.

If you want to improve your confidence and self-esteem, have affirmations in front of you to remind you how awesome and capable you are.

If you’d like to work out at home, get the weights in your eye line, put the yoga mat out and dust off the bike out of the garage.

It just makes your daily decision process that little bit easier if things are in sight and accessible.

There are many different ways you can put things at the front of your mind and in your eyesight to help you feel like you are winning.

Share Your Wins

Has this helped? I would love for you to share your thoughts over in my Level:Up community for people looking to live life that little bit better. You can join for free HERE.

Please note, this article contains affiliate links.

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The post What is in Your Eye Line? One Way to Reduce Cravings, Drink More Water, Take Your Vitamins, Think Better and Exercise More appeared first on Gemma Ray.