Big Rest, Reflect and Reset Week and The Expectation Effect

Nov 16, 2024

woman lying on bed white holding board — Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash

We're halfway through November already and though it's dark at night, it's been hard to believe we're cruising towards the festive season, it's been so mild! I love this time of year, I find I tend to become my most calmly motivated in November as it tends to be when I have a desire to go inward and think about what I'd like to achieve (or to have in my life) and also reflect on what my behaviours and beliefs are right now.

If you follow my social media, you may have noticed I spoke about having gone on a run (which I loved) after having had a kind of rough sleep and how sometimes it allows me to sleep better and sometimes it doesn't. This week for me was largely about resting it out.

At first, I was a little frustrated because I was so excited to have found a couple of new gyms to go to. It felt so good to be enjoying some of my favourite lifts and exercises, as well as seeing how much strength I've retained despite not having trained in that specific way for a while...

But my body said 'no'.

In my teens and 20s, in particular, I pushed through a lot of the signals my body would send me and in times of survival, it was finding ways to exercise that helped keep my spirit up. However, in everyday life, that kind of behaviour just doesn't serve me well.

I'm in a period of my life where I now have the opportunity to play Bluey's Bandit playing Born Yesterday and approach how I live as if I'm a complete beginner and starting over again.

Throughout life we pick up so many messages and a lot of conditioning around how we should be living our lives and what does and doesn't work, irrespective if it applies to us or not. When it comes to our bodies, movement and how we fuel ourselves, we also believe it is as simple as what eat, how we exercise and what we believe we are capable of.

If you carry certain beliefs around what you should or shouldn't do, what does and doesn't work and how receptive your body is to changes, those beliefs can shape and impact your hunger levels, your hormone levels and your overall motivation and energy to meet your expectations.

Being aware of this, I've been using my time to think about what beliefs I myself have around my efforts, my capabilities and how I am still primed to do more than I really need to do in life, wellbeing, money, business and parenting because of a conditioned response to always be productive - even if it negatively impacts my life in all of these areas.

I've been working on looking at what beliefs and behaviours I want to embody and align with and finding the language which is going to help support me in my efforts, rather than hold me back and steal my energy. Over the last 8 years I've picked up a lot of protection beliefs which, at the time when I was facing significant challenges helped me to move through them, but now I've outgrown them, they're only holding me back - and I do hold the power to change them, little by little. Which is awesome in itself.

I'm human.

I'm great at helping others to declutter and streamline their efforts in their life, fitness and wellbeing - and while it could be easy to think it's easy for me, or I have the perfect set up - periodically, I have to revisit these concepts for myself; mainly because I love learning new methods and techniques so I can end up with routines that are waaayyyy too long.

One of my favourite books this year for exploring these concepts, packed with research examples in an easy to read, enjoy and understand way has been The Expectation Effect by David Robson (Amazon Affiliate Linked) which I've both listened to and read in book form because I love it so much. He covers exercise, food, ageing, genius and a whole host of other topics and the aha moments are epic.

I recently updated my Recommended Reading List which you can download here too!

It's tempting to leave the routine decluttering process until January, after the hectic festive season has passed because it feels like one more thing on the to-do list. In reality, taking the time to declutter your schedule, set and forget the supportive routines for your everyday living that include movement and making sure you're eating enough in ways that make your life easier, not harder actually help you to have more time, energy and money over the festive season compared with if you decide to just coast it.

Take an inventory of what your average day looks like and how you feel; if you're regularly eating and drinking enough; and how much time you get to exercise, spend time with loved ones and space for yourself and see which areas need a little TLC. Be honest and declutter any activity or cost that doesn't add to your life and replace it with something that does - sometimes that will be empty space! Especially if, like me, you have a habit of trying to fill every blank space with productivity!

If you want to encourage more good to flow in, you need the space to let it come in.

If you would like a little help to bounce ideas around on what you could declutter from your schedule or to think about how you could bring more joy into your routine, you can book a 50-minute Creative Wellbeing and Fitness Audit with me and we can call in more peace, clarity and energy for you in time for the festive season. You can book your spot here.

Have a great week!

Amanda Jayne

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Big Rest, Reflect and Reset Week and The Expectation Effect

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