5 things that changed in my lifestyle

I’ve always told myself that I would never be a morning person. I’d never enjoy getting up early to work out. I’d never function during those dim hours before the rest of the world wakes up. Little did I know how quickly that would change.

For the past several weeks, I’ve been making it a practice to get up every day at 7:00 AM at least. Not only that, but I’ve created a daily schedule, so every hour of my day is productive and put to good use. I know, some of you are already shaking your heads and rolling your eyes, thinking this is way too excessive and unnecessary, especially for a high school student! But I’ve seen what happens to my life when it lacks structure. I’m working on being more focused and learning how to stick to a schedule, otherwise, my days end up going haywire and I get hardly anything done!

I just never realized how much having a plan and a goal for each day could make such a huge impact. Because of that, I want to share with you 5 things that have changed (literally a complete turnaround from what I had been doing before!) since I’ve created structure and routine in my life:

I’ve had time in the morning to workout
In the past, I’ve always tried working out, but it just never stuck. I finally decided to sit down and create an exercise plan. Now, I work out 4 days a week for at least 20 minutes (I usually go over, but it’s important to me to at least have a minimum time limit). I make sure to incorporate weight lifting, cardio, and stretching into my routine. Besides intentionally waking up early to exercise, I also try to go outside and get some fresh air whenever I can, whether that be going to get the mail or walking my neighbor’s dog. Although lately, it’s been so cold in Ohio that this has become a little difficult!!

Exercising helps me immensely with my mood and overall health. One of my favorite ways to de-stress is to physically work the anger and anxiety out of me by lifting weights or walking. The physical movement clears my mind and helps me think and sort through problems. I really encourage you to try out different types of exercises to find something you enjoy and pursue that. Set a small goal, 2-3 times a week to start, and slowly build from there. And remember to always have a “why” to your health and fitness, because otherwise the initial hype and energy will fade away, leaving you tired and unmotivated to get up and complete each workout.

I’ve been eating well
This ties into my first point because I believe the food you eat is as much a part of exercise as lifting weights and running. Besides creating a workout schedule, I’ve also designed somewhat of a food regime. I eat basically the same every day except for dinner. It makes meals a whole lot easier and simpler to prep because I know every day what is for breakfast and lunch, without having to stare at the frig or pantry for hours, trying to decide what to eat. Maybe this is something you never struggled with, but for me, this was a game-changer.

I tend to eat smaller meals throughout the day instead of consuming large amounts of food in three sittings. For example, I usually have a meal/protein shake and toast for breakfast with fruit or something small about mid-morning. Lunch is a salad with veggies, seeds, nuts, and sometimes fruit. About mid-afternoon, I’ll have another small meal like pretzels dipped in peanut butter and an energy/protein bar. Dinner is the only thing that changes daily. My mom creates delicious and organic meals for our family every night. Her cooking is so good that I no longer enjoy eating out because, in comparison to her cooking, the food is nowhere near as good! Because of her encouragement to eat healthy, I have come to love and crave simple, natural food like fruits, vegetables, nuts, and some meats. However, if it were up to me, our whole family would be vegan, but not everyone likes the sound of that😉.

I haven’t been procrastinating as much, especially in school
I don’t know about you, but procrastination has always been a struggle for me. It was always the mindset of, “There will always be tomorrow.” However, I’ve learned recently that procrastination is the thief of productivity. Since I’ve created a routine, I’ve noticed the temptation to put things off until another time hasn’t been as prominent. I now have time slotted in my day planner to complete tasks, with small boxes next to them to check off when they’re complete. This has been and continues to be, a tremendous help. I HIGHLY suggest getting a planner like this to organize your day! I now don’t have the option to procrastinate on projects because the time I need to complete them is already set aside and right in front of me! I no longer have the excuse to wait because “I don’t have enough time.” And when I don’t have an excuse and nothing else to do (because I have other time set aside for those other projects), I immediately feel the urge to tackle that next task, if nothing else then to check it off the list. I eliminate distractions, like my phone, by putting it in another room and turning the volume and ringer off.

If you struggle with procrastination, I suggest you MAKE A SCHEDULE! When you are telling your time where to go instead of letting it slip through your fingers, I can guarantee that you will be much more productive and feel like you have actually done something with your day, instead of spending hours on social media or whatever you find your distraction to be. I’m still not perfect when it comes to this, but since creating a routine, I’ve noticed a significant improvement.

I’ve been intentional in decreasing the time I spend on my phone
Ooooo, I’m going to be honest with you, this one hurt a little! Until I turned on Screen Time on my iPhone, I didn’t even realize how much time I was spending in front of a screen. (By the way, I really encourage you to do this. I know it might not be pretty when you see how much time you spend on your phone. It isn’t meant to be. It’s meant to be a wake-up call!) Mine certainly wasn’t pretty. I was spending around 5-7 hours on my phone!!! Whoa. That was a LOT of time of doing absolutely nothing, except watching other people live their more “exciting” lives. I look back now and cringe at how much time I wasted watching vlogs of couples throwing parties and going on fun double dates and best friends laughing together while filming a video. I think back to when I viewed hundreds of posts of friends having fun at their favorite restaurant or artists traveling the world to photograph gorgeous landscapes or YouTubers going on extravagant trips. It began this never-ending cycle of watching someone else’s life play out on my screen. It started an unconscious vortex of wasted time.

When I started cutting back on the time I spent online, I actually became sick and tired of watching YouTube, especially vlogs. For some reason, the thought of watching someone else have fun on the other side of the screen while I watched began to sicken me. I became frustrated because I wanted to be the one experiencing that fun and going on those crazy adventures. I wanted to be the one going on a European tour. I wanted to be the one going to Hawaii for 2 weeks. I wanted to be the one having actual, physical connections with my friends, instead of over a screen. I realized that watching someone else live their dreams will never help me accomplish my OWN dreams and goals. You have to take your focus off others to begin working on yourself.

I majorly began cutting down on my screen time. I now set my social media time to around 1 hour for intentional work and 1 hour for plain fun time (I sometimes go over, but I work hard to keep it within these limits). I cut the number of people I followed and now only spend time on people and pages that matter to me. I don’t browse and I don’t just randomly head to the trending page to scroll. I also have a limit on YouTube for 45 minutes. This I rarely go over because I also unsubscribed to a ton of channels. I used to be getting over 20 videos every day in my subscriptions tab on YouTube. That’s ridiculous!!! When was I going to watch all those?! Let alone the complete waste of time that would be since they weren’t even helpful or beneficial to my life. Cutting down on my phone time has definitely been one of the biggest recent changes I’ve made in my life.

And finally, I’ve established routine in my life
This may seem so obvious and I mentioned it before, but having a schedule for your day and week is crucial. I used to be “that” person who made excuses for not having routine or established plans in my life. I used to claim I wasn’t talented at planning or organizing so I could never create a schedule, I could never focus, I daydreamed too much, I believed life was too short to be rigid and structured, and so many other ridiculous statements. But I’ve learned that you don’t need to be a highly logical planner to find a routine that fits your life. It will take a little adjusting, but I can’t emphasize the importance enough.

You need to be in charge of your time, instead of letting it slip away from you. Otherwise, you’ll end up running the rat race, always moving and struggling, but never getting anywhere. Setting a routine actually relieves stress because it assigns every hour of your day to a specific task, instead of just haphazardly working on one project here, another job there. It’s an intentional way to accomplish things in life. This also ties into achieving your goals. When you plan out your day and week, you can start scheduling time to work toward your dreams! This is why I encouraged you earlier to get a day planner. They are lifesavers, literally. And hey, high schoolers (especially if you’re homeschooled), you need one as well, even if you already have a school schedule!! You can plan the other time before and after school. Try beginning with a solid morning and night routine. This will definitely help your day start and end more smoothly and peacefully.

These are only a few of the amazing changes I’ve experienced from altering my lifestyle, but definitely the most noticeable of them all. I hope you gain some insight and inspiration from them! I have truly experienced so much more progress and productivity since creating a routine. I get more things done, I’m more focused, I’m more vibrant and alert, and I feel strong and healthy. I highly encourage you to try it for a week at least, setting intentional daily goals and staying focused by limiting distractions like your phone. I guarantee it will change your life!