The Power of Slowing Down: How Taking a Step Back Can Help You Achieve Your Goals

I am in the process of finishing my second poetry book, and the main challenge is making time to write. I'm focusing on my fitness, and the toughest part is carving out time to exercise. I'm attempting to eat healthier, and the most challenging aspect for me has been finding time for meal prep. I would like to read more, but... well, I'm sure you understand where I am going with this.

No matter what your goal, challenge or ambition...we have to slow down.

Slowing down entails taking inventory of what you have, what you need and where to start. For example I have been eating and snacking on the go a lot lately and I realized in order to adjust my eating habits I need to slow down and meal prep on weekends.

What I had : on the go snacking

What I need : healthy meal plan

Where to start : cook on Sunday

This works for any ambition.

Lets say you want to run a marathon. What do you have? What do you need? Where do you start?

What you have : slow pace / sedentary lifestyle / painful knees

What you would need : practice / dedicate time / research

Where to start : find a running plan / strict ritual / see a doctor

No matter what your goal, the solution starts with slowing down.

Like many of you, I lead an incredibly busy life. As a single mom, I have two children involved in school and sports. They both have homework, projects and school trips. On any given day, you can find me balancing my reading AND theirs. My daughter insists that I watch her entire gymnastics session instead of reading. My son has even had football practice up to three nights a week. This doesn't include the random nights I want to veg out and watch a new show. And let's not even talk about the laundry...

What I'm trying to say is, if I don't make slowing down a priority, I won't finish anything I really desire to do. That can include my book, working out, meal prepping or reading.

This blog is my encouragement and reminder to you that you must slow down if you believe you will succeed at any of your goals.