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Personal Trainer Michelle McIntyre is here to bring you the motivation, affirmation, and love you need to unleash your most powerful self. Always real and deeply personal, Michelle and her guests offer up experiences that will help you navigate the worlds of fitness, health, and wellness. Join her on this journey and discover that You Can Be A Fit Bitch Too!
00:12
Hey, you amazing humans, it's Michelle here and welcome back to You Can Be a Fit Bitch 2, the rising series, all about pivots, changes, new chapters, all about coming through and building yourself up to be the best version possible. And in today's episode, we are going to talk about self-care. Yes, self-care, self-care can be sexy, my friends. It doesn't have to be boring.
00:40
It can be adulting with a little bit of extra glitter. And I'm going to dig into some of the things that I have found that have helped me through harder times, more stressful times to set up a morning and evening routine. So we're going to dig into that right away and know it's not boring and know it's not being weird. It's about setting yourself up for the day in the right way in the best way possible. So what
01:07
Is a good morning routine well that's gonna be different for everybody you know is something that you're going to have to carve out some time for put some boundaries around that for yourself. may mean getting up an hour earlier so that you can feel more prepared for your day and start and ease your way into your day not like a fire drill. Right.
01:29
Who wants to get up in the morning like their hair's on fire and they're scattered and they are just like, you know, we're running around trying to find matching socks and outfits and get breakfast and get coffee and get out the door, get the kids out the door, get everything started for the day. Right? And when we start out on the wrong side of the bed or on the wrong foot, the day tends to get away from us and snowball. Been there? Done that.
01:59
And then I thought, you know, I'm looking at all these like Instagram influencers who have laid their perfect morning routine and it's so easy to fit in. I'm going to tell you what, it's not easy to change our habits. It really isn't easy to change our morning routines because you probably already have what you do on automatic pilot every morning and every evening. Again, until you do the same thing. So.
02:29
How do we start this so that it's easy to integrate? We do one little baby step at a time. And I'm gonna give you some tips and some ideas that worked for me for morning routine. And let's just face it, we all like to get extra sleep. I have been the queen of setting my alarm for 6 a.m. hitting snooze, hitting snooze, hitting snooze, hitting snooze.
02:59
And then I get up at the last minute, get out of bed, get my coffee. That's automatic. I have to get blue out. So have to get her breakfast, you know, and then I start my morning and they usually have an early morning client, which is great. I love that. It makes me accountable for everything in the morning. But you know what? It wasn't working for me the way it should have. I would wake up stressed in the morning. I would wake up in a rush, in a panic, forgetful.
03:28
trying to jam as much coffee and caffeine into my body as possible so my brain would feel like it was actually working. So I had to really kind of take another look at this and I thought, okay, what is gonna work for me? It's gonna be different for everybody. I had to commit to getting up earlier in order to ease into my day. And so, yes, number one was setting my alarm earlier.
03:58
and actually not hitting snooze, making myself get out of bed, whether I wanted to hit snooze or not. And I'll be like, come on Michelle, get out of bed. I mean, I know I'm comfy with blue here. I gotta start committing to this so I can set my day up properly. Hydration first thing in the morning, no scrolling, leave the phone.
04:25
Do not get on your phone first thing in the morning. How many times have you like rolled over, checked your social media, checked everything before you even got out of bed? So I know, I digress. We'll go back to water. So hydrating first thing in the morning. And this is coming from the copy queen. Coffee does not count for hydration first thing in the morning. I wish it did. Cause that's kind of how I fueled myself. Every morning was coffee was ready to go.
04:55
Now, water first thing is really important. That really helps you to clear your body, get the hydration that you need for your brain, for your body to flush out, you know, the toxins from overnight. And then yes, have your coffee ready to go after that, but start with your water. Now that was the biggest thing for me to try to like integrate. So what did I do? Not only did I set my alarm earlier and make myself get out of bed, but I have my water and my coffee ready to go.
05:24
the night before so that I'm set up, it's there. I don't even have to think about it. I just grab my water and go get the coffee ready. And that was one little trick that I did for myself just to make it easier so that I wasn't getting up and scrambling for everything in the morning, but I was able to have it ready and prepared. Another really great thing to add in into your morning routine is
05:54
A journal. Oh, I know some people are like journals. Oh, those are for whatever. It doesn't have to be a long journal entry. I want you to get yourself a nice book. Um, something that you can make all of these like bullet points for the morning when you get up a gratitude practice. I want you to think about, you know, what you're grateful for, how you want to set your day up prompts in there. Like what can I do this morning to set my day off on the right foot?
06:24
Those kinds of things are really great because they keep us accountable and no, they're not weird. Self-talk in the mirror. No, it's okay to talk to yourself. Self-affirmations. It's not weird. I know I'm crazy. We're all crazy. We all talk to ourselves anyway, usually pretty negatively. But if you can start to implement a morning sort of self-talk practice, self-affirmations in the morning when you're washing your face, brushing your teeth, putting your makeup on, it doesn't have to be anything fancy. It can just be,
06:54
I choose to take care of myself better today. I choose to show up the best way possible. I choose to dress up, show up. You know, a lot of us that are working from home, that's really important. I want you to think about your morning routine as getting yourself ready, getting yourself dressed up to like meet the day head on. Another practice that you can start first thing in the morning is a mobility somatic release practice where, you know, maybe you take
07:21
10 to 15 minutes just to move your body mindfully, connecting with your breath, connecting with your body, connecting with how you feel in that moment and release any stressors that you're thinking about for the day. Something I like to do is like a brain dump in the morning as well with my routine, which really helps me kind of unpack everything that I'm holding onto that I think I need to get done, know, our to-do lists that just pile up and pile up and stress us out.
07:49
All we're doing is thinking about the things we have to do. So another thing is like a brain dump where you put down a list of all the things that are on your mind that you need to get done, like purging clothes, cleaning up the basement, getting bills paid, fitting in a new exercise, anything, getting your hair done, whatever it is that's piling up on you that you need to do for work or that there are
08:18
all of these things that are weighing you down. As soon as you put them down on a piece of paper, just let it pour out. Don't censor it. Just put them all down. Doesn't matter what order, just whatever order they come out of your brain. And once you do that, you get them out of your head and you put them down on paper, it actually eases the stress. So then you can go through the list and tick off what are the most important things and what is it that I want to get accomplished today? Pick three things.
08:48
Pick three of the most important things and make sure that you put the time in your day to get those accomplished. I find that that's been really helpful for me. So then I'm not like walking around with a head full of like, I've got to do, I got to do, I got to do, oh my God. Now I'm so stressed out about my to-do list. I can't do anything. Freeze. Right? How often does that happen? And then we procrastinate and we put it off and we get more stressed. So.
09:16
That's another little thing that I do love to add into my morning routine. And it's not selfish. Setting up a morning routine is self love. It is one of the best things that you can do for yourself and for your loved ones because the more that you can manage and handle and set your day up, the better your day is gonna be, the better the people in your lives days are gonna be. And it is setting a boundary. So,
09:45
I have the luxury of living on my own. So I don't have to organize my schedule around kids anymore or a partner. I organize my schedule around my bulldog. So I know that, you know, I got to make sure I will check in with her. was like, are we okay with this morning routine? I promise I'll still get you breakfast and take you out to pee. I am a little more leeway that way. So those of you who have families and are dealing with partners and
10:15
other people that live in the house, maybe it's roommates, you know, maybe it's six dogs and you've got to figure out like, how are you going to fit all of this in? Set your boundary. And if you are in living with other people, let them know that this is how you're going to start to start your day and that this is your private time to set your day up so that you have that and you don't get bothered. So is self care just bubble baths and all of this? oh
10:45
No, self-care is whatever we want to make it look like for us. It all depends on us. Self-care is putting up boundaries and saying no sometimes. You know, that's a really hard one for women, especially, and mothers, because I find that we tend to, you know, put everybody first before ourselves. And then we get resentful about it. We want to have time and carve out time for us and to be able to take care of ourselves properly.
11:15
And I'm not just saying just women, any kind of caregiver person in that role, you tend to put yourself last and that's when burnout starts to happen. And let's face it, burnout is not sexy. Burnout is inevitable when we're not looking after ourselves properly. And that means, you know, good nutrition. That's another self care tip is implementing
11:40
new recipes, new healthy foods that are going to help support your body and your mood. Also honoring when you can get your steps in that self care too. So a lot of people are turning to, you know, getting your steps in after work or before work, moving the body. One of the other more beautiful things that I uh really want to say for me has been the ticket to self care. And I try to implement it in as much as I can every week.
12:10
And that is making and carving out time to get together with individuals that lift me up, whether that's a group or that's one-on-one and planning to get out in nature, go for a hike, reset and the sunlight, know, especially now that it is fall in the Maritimes in Nova Scotia, you know, we're changing and transitioning through the seasons.
12:37
We have the most spectacular days coming. And if you can grab somebody or you can grab somebody, just be careful what you're grabbing. Um, if you can plan to make an accountability partner, the two of you or the three of you or whatever the group is, you know, and stick to a time during the week, a specific day. I've been doing this with Michelle on Thursdays.
13:06
We have a little Thursday fun, never know what's gonna happen, never know what kind of adventure we're gonna get into, but it is beautiful self care, because you get a chance to connect with someone personally one-on-one while you're moving outdoors and resetting. And it has just been so fun. I've been doing this with another friend and client of mine too, Jan. We will make a Wednesday appointment and stick to it, whether it's a beach walk, it's a hike.
13:34
It's, you know, explain something different that we both feel like we want to do. And it has just been so incredible to reconnect gives us time to decompress and talk. And it just really lightens the load, especially if you are going through something personal and you need to talk about it, you know, to have a buddy where you get outside, you move your body and you just let it fly. It's awesome. So that's.
14:01
one other really fun kind of self care thing that you can start integrating into your life. And I encourage you to reach out to your friends, to reach out to someone that you know you would like to maybe spend some time like that with and share your thoughts or what you're going through. It really is so beneficial for everybody. And it's just a win-win situation. You get to move your body, you get to blab, you get to talk, you get to reset and
14:30
you get to be outside and who doesn't want to do that? So if we're talking about self-care morning routine, uh-uh, uh-uh, we also wanna add in a self-care nightly routine. And that's not doom scrolling. That's not just Netflix and wine. It is setting up a nighttime sort of like ritual.
14:58
that you do like the morning. I had such a hard time with this. Oh my God, actually, let me just be honest. It takes discipline and it does take accountability and it does take effort to do these things. And I was terrible at my night routine, especially coming through so much stress. Oh my God. I was on automatic pilot in the morning, automatic pilot in the evening. I would just
15:26
Get what I could get done at night. I would crash out sometimes. I would crash out and not even wash my face. Just crawl into bed, pull the covers up, get on Instagram and scroll through everything that everyone else is doing. Stress myself out about what I didn't have or how I didn't look or why wasn't this happening for me?
15:51
All these people are making millions of dollars and I'm just scrolling watching everybody's life. Doom, doom, doom, doom. And that is such a thief of time, a destroyer of dreams. When it comes to that and you just find yourself just scroll, scroll, scroll, scroll, you know, because your brain just wants to numb out at night.
16:18
I just realized how stressed out it made me and how much I was comparing myself to everything I saw on social media. I mean, social media is not going anywhere, but it is a platform that we all use. A lot of us who have our own businesses use it, you know, for advertising, to be getting our names out there. I'm not saying it doesn't have a place, but it's really good to shut it down an hour before bed.
16:47
just to make sure you know, you got your alarm set for that early morning and to create a self care routine in the evening really sets you up for the next day as well. So they used to become bookending, right? Like one sets the other one up, one sets the other one up. And so I really had to start to change the way I spent my evenings because it was just...
17:13
going nowhere for me. And I don't like the fact that I would just crash out, not take care of myself the way I should have been like washing my face and really just taking some time to unwind throughout the evening, even if it's just for the hour before bedtime. So thinking about that, let's just kind of give you a little idea, you know, everything's gonna be a little bit different for people to again.
17:39
I know that I have a little more leeway being on my own and I'm not cooking huge dinners for family right now. It's just me and Blue. She's pretty easy to cook for. ah I do make her food. She's a little spoiled. So I base our meals around what we like, steak, chicken. And so it does make it a little simpler for me.
18:07
I know that this may be a little bit more difficult for other people with families or just more individuals to deal with in a home, but find a quiet space for yourself. Set your nighttime routine up with a, I know you're gonna think it's so boring, but a really nice tea. Something, there's a really great tea that I love. I'm just gonna share this with you. It's called Mother's Little Helper by David's Tea.
18:34
It is got valerian root in it, all these calming herbs. So it's nice and warm and it's relaxing and it helps to unwind the body and the mind. I really like it. So you can get that at Sobees Superstore, David's Tea. It's called Mother's Little Helper and it is a fabulous one to add into your night routine. Like I said, it helps you calm and helps you sleep better.
19:02
Also adding magnesium in there. So I'll add my actual magnesium into my tea. Again, the magnesium helps with sleep, helps with cramps in the legs and the body and the muscles. And it really does help to calm the nervous system. Another one is Ashwagandha. You can add that in as well. And in the evening, because again, it is a herbal supplement that helps to unwind and de-stress the body rather than going for
19:30
a glass of wine. There's all these other kind of alternatives that will give you that same sort of relaxation feel, but are natural and aren't going to make you wake up feeling like shit at 3 a.m. dehydrated or restless sleep. Yeah, so add that in. Also some somatic release and movements and stretching before bed is a really great one to look at as well. Just to decompress again, I hear I'm going to do a little like plug.
20:00
But 7 PM on Tuesdays is my Mobility Somatic Release class. There you go. Add that one into your nightly routine or your night routine on a Tuesday. Come and join us. First class is free. uh DM me, michelle at ignitefusionfit at gmail.com. And I will gladly add you to my Tuesday night class. I think I've said that before.
20:29
And the other thing is like in the evening, you know, making sure everything's cleaned up, the kitchen's clean. Who wants to wake up to a dirty kitchen? Right? Everything's put away. You've got your coffee ready to go in the morning. You your water set. You've got your clothes out for the morning so that you're not rushing around.
20:48
trying to figure out what the hell you're gonna wear. And I don't know about you, but I've had so many times when I'm like just searching for underwear and I'm searching for socks that match and oh, everything's just everywhere. So that was one of the things that really helped me up. Get my gym clothes out, ready to go in the morning, underwear, socks, you name it, bath mats down for my morning shower. And that really, really, really helped to set my day up. I'm not, oh.
21:17
I'm not waking up to a dirty kitchen. I can get my coffee and my hydration. I can get my shower, get ready, all of that in the morning because I did it the night before. So night routine in morning routine, mwah, go together. And now I think that you can do in the evening too and that is just set up your skincare regime. You know, what is it that you like to use on your face?
21:47
What is it that you like to refresh everything before you go to sleep? Get that ready. Commit to taking care of yourself that way. And then again, also one of the biggest things that you can do for yourself is instead of doom scrolling, find yourself a good book. Read before bed with your tea. I love all kinds of self-help improvement stuff, obviously. I've been the queen of that for years.
22:16
So I always like to grab a good book that is gonna nourish my brain, gonna help me be a better person. Now, sometimes it's nice just to escape too. So if you're into fantasy novels or there's other things, historical novels, whatever it is that speaks to you, grab that. Maybe it's an audio book too. It doesn't have to be. I like tangible. I like something in my hand, but also audio books are great to listen to. And then the other thing that I've found that
22:45
really, really has helped me calm and re-center in the evenings is on Spotify. I find a healing, you know, frequency music, chill vibes to fall asleep to, meditation, an evening meditation. I like to journal as well. So journaling in the morning, journaling in the evening. And it doesn't have to be a lot, you know, it can just be as simple as
23:12
I am so grateful that today went so well. I'm so grateful that I had all my clients show up today. I'm so grateful about the people I get to work with. I'm so grateful that I have what I have in my life, my home, my dog, my family, my friends also put in one win for that day. Was that one win that you changed up something like an eating habit that you wanted to, you you're starting to take sugar out.
23:42
I want you to start writing down your wins because the more you start writing down your wins and the things that you've accomplished, the more you're gonna feel empowered by these little tiny changes that you're making in your life. They add up to big results. They really truly do. Believe me, I know it sounds like a lot, but it isn't. Once you start slowly,
24:07
you become more accountable to yourself and it becomes something that becomes really sacred to you your time in the morning and your time in the evening. It becomes almost like a ritual and it should be and it should feel sacred to you that this is the way that you set up your day and end your day so that you feel good and successful and start slow, start slow, start with one, start with a morning routine or start with an evening routine.
24:36
and let them build naturally. Because once you start implementing one of those and more self care habits, you're just gonna want more. You're gonna start to feel better about yourself, about your self esteem, about the way you're taking care of yourself. You know what? I don't know about you guys, but I've been the queen of self sabotage.
25:03
I know we all have those moments of self-sabotage and I don't want you to get into your head about this. It's okay if you do it for two days and then you fall off the third day and get back on the fourth day. Just because you couldn't carry through for the whole week doesn't mean you failed. It means you're trying. And if you're trying, then you're winning, right? So implement some of these strategies slowly.
25:32
easily, you know, allow yourself to adapt to a new routine, give yourself grace, you know, might not be doable for seven days a week. Maybe you get three good morning routines in your first week. I'm going to say that's fucking huge. And maybe you only get two nights where you really stick to what you wanted to do. That's fucking huge.
26:00
The more we can encourage ourselves, the more we can be our own cheerleader, the more we can be accountable to the things that we want, the easier it becomes to shift and change. And who doesn't want that? We don't start out of the gate being perfect around these things. We start out by trying, we start out by failing, we start out by trying again, we start out by making it a couple more steps. We start out by it being a journey.
26:30
I want you to look at it like that. This is a journey for you. And then you're going to look back and you're going to go, Oh my God, it's not as hard as I think. It's just natural now for me to wake up in the morning and drink my water and journal and move my body and get ready with ease. It will become second nature. You just have to give yourself the grace to get there. Takes grace and grit.
26:59
my friends, and it takes a commitment to yourself. Let's not address that. You have to want to be committed to changing things up for yourself. And it's not selfish. Self-care is not selfish. A lot of people will, you know, if they're so used to you doing everything for them or you're always there, you know, you always say yes, you are going to get some kickback because people are used to
27:25
the way things run on automatic pilot. And if you're starting to put up some boundaries, it's okay if you get a little bit of resistance, that's normal because things are starting to change and you're starting to take that power back, which is so important. It's only going to have the most beautiful ripple effect through your life to all the other people in your life, to the way you show up, the way your energy shows up, you know, the way you show up to take care of yourself is so...
27:55
so important and it's sometimes the last thing that we do for ourselves. Okay. uh I really hope that some of this will help you to set your day up so that you feel like you are just gonna win. And I hope that this will help you set your evening up so that you can unwind.
28:24
and de-stress from the day and unpack it in a positive way. And if no one has told you yet today, I know that you are capable of these small changes. I know that you're capable of taking care of yourself. I know that you're capable of starting this journey and rising up and becoming the very, very best version of yourself possible. I believe in you. I believe in your ability to change.
28:53
I believe in your ability to pivot. I believe in your ability to start taking care of yourself the way you want to.
29:07
Until next time.
29:12
Thanks for listening. connect with Michelle, you can email her at ignitefusionfitmichelle at gmail.com or visit her on Instagram at DivaDelight911. Support the show by subscribing or sharing it with friends or anyone you think would benefit from hearing it. You Can Be a Fit Bitch 2 is produced by Haunted Mouse Productions. This has been a Haunted Mouse Production. Cut that out.