Future Self Starting Now

After years of feeling like I’m constantly failing at “being an adult”, and going through various stages of deciding maybe nobody really becomes a Grown-Up, I finally decided to sit down and write out what being an adult means to me; what the grown-up version of me is like. This all stems out of a lifestyle-change writing exercise one of the Fit Bloggers I follow posted – she asked all her followers to visualize how the “fit” versions of themselves behaved and to write all that down and then just start doing those things. To behave as if they already were the person they wanted to become. I thought it was an excellent idea at the time I saw it, and believe I actually mentioned it here. 

I tweaked the exercise a little bit for my own purposes, and this is what became of it:

The woman I want to be:

• Spends lots of time with her husband and children, but understands that friendships, extended family relationships, and time for herself are also important.
• Says "no" to social outings if she's feeling run-down, overwhelmed, or just not up for it - without guilt.
• Avoids spending too much time around toxic people and/or in toxic environments.
• Gets 7-8 hours of sleep every night in order to maintain a good mood and to avoid depressive episodes and high anxiety.
• Does some form of exercise every day and is more active throughout the day, in general.
• Puts wholesome foods in her body both to fuel her active lifestyle and fuel her mental stability, but doesn't feel guilty for indulging in the foods and drinks she loves in moderation.
• Cooks a healthy meal for her family almost daily, but knows that sometimes life happens and doesn’t feel guilty for the occasional meal of mac’n’cheese or chicken nuggets.
• Doesn’t stay up drinking/socializing until 2am if she knows it’s her turn to wake up with the kids the next morning (or at all).
• Doesn’t drink heavily and drive. Ever.
• Doesn’t smoke regularly (or at all).
• Works hard and works well even if she doesn’t always like or enjoy her job, but makes sure not to burn herself out to the point of leading to depressive episodes and Sunday night anxiety.
• Doesn’t feel guilty for taking time away from work if she’s sick or for requesting vacation time.
• Always strives to improve her quality of life and isn't afraid to make the tough decisions in order to maintain healthy balances between work/home/friends/family.
• Is smart with her money and practices good spending/saving habits.

While several of these things I scrolled out right away, others came a little more slowly and after much thought. After completing the list several days ago, I've continued to read over it almost daily to be sure these are all things that I really want and not just what I think I should be doing. I ended up removing a couple items and adding others over the first couple days, but I believe this list honestly represents the person I want to be. I've already begun taking a lot of the steps toward this version of myself. So far, so good.