Kat Thorne: Welcome back to the Positive Habits podcast. Now, I'm really excited about today's solo episode because if you are going through a difficult time, this is the 10 minute solo episode for you. So I've been reflecting recently as I've also been going through a bit of a difficult time and so are lots of people around me. Some of those are in my work network. Some of those are part of our plunge network and our women who plunge network. And I just think that right now, many people are struggling. Life has changed a lot. It's got a lot faster. There are a lot more expectations. And I think the big thing is there's a lot more noise than ever before. So I wanted to talk to you about a realization I had in the last couple of weeks. which I've known about for some time, but have been really reminded of how important it is. And it's funny because there was a guest on the podcast a little while ago who said, we've forgotten to do the basics. And when I asked her what the basics were, she basically was talking about the foundations of being a human being. And I think whatever you are going through right now in your life, whatever challenge you are facing, No matter whether that's to do with your health or your career or your relationship or your finances or family, whatever it is, whilst I can't sadly give you the answer to that solution, what I can do is share with you the things that will help you manage this situation in a much better way. Now, if I think about how I grew up and I'm sure some of you listening to this can relate to this. So I was shown from a very young age that alcohol was a way to manage stress. And for many people, it still is. I think there's that feeling of when you finish work on a Friday, when you've done everything, can have a bottle of wine or a beer or whatever, and that's your time to relax and de-stress from the week. And when I used to do that, actually all that did was ruin my weekend. It used to make me feel really sluggish. It used to make me sleep in late. It used to make me feel really negative about things that I was going through and challenges in my life. And I'll tell you, there has been a temptation in the last few years when I've been through other difficult periods in my life where I have wanted to reach for that kind of pain relief. But actually the things that really work, the things that keep you grounded in your moments of challenge and turmoil and pain are the 101, what I call the 101 of being a human being. And I think if you get these foundations right and you just almost try to put the challenge that you're facing to one side, you put the challenge to one side and you say, I actually can't control that right now or it's something that I can do something about later because depending on what it is you're facing. But the only thing you can control right now is you, your energy and the way that you spend your time and those habits and how that makes you feel. So whilst I am usually pretty consistent with these things, I've realised over the last few weeks, I've really had to tighten up my consistency on these things. And by doing that and by being really consistent in all these areas, it's actually made this challenging period a lot easier. And they are really simple habits like sleeping. And I know that's hard when you're going through a difficult thing because you can wake up a lot in the night, you can find it really hard to go to sleep. But trying to stick to a sleep schedule is really helpful. And even if you're tired during the day, trying to commit to going to bed and waking up at the same time is one of the best things you can do for your mental health. But in addition to that, I would say looking at your fuel, what are you feeding your body? How does that make you feel? And the more whole foods you eat, the more you eat from the ground, the more your body just feels so good. The more energy you have, the clearer you think. And also it goes for the mind as well. So I used to never think about what I was putting in my body or I was putting in my brain. just used to, I had no boundaries when it came to those things. And now I have such strong boundaries with what I consume and I consume content that's good for me, that makes me feel good, that makes me feel more positive. And I love listening to YouTube shorts, for example, and often listen to like meditations or I absolutely love Dr. Joe Dispenser. I follow a lot of different types of podcasts and YouTube videos. And for me, it's like liquid gold. It's just pouring all of that good vibes, the good information into you. I think when you're going through a difficult time, if you can consume content, that helps you try to understand why you're feeling like you are and understand that a lot of our reaction to things that happening to us are our thoughts. So the other thing that I've got really into again, I used to do, I've done this for 10 years, but I used to sort of pick it up and put it down and now it's become something I do when I wake up and something I do before I go to bed. And that's just writing my thoughts down in a notebook, AKA journaling. And that has been really, really transformational because if you don't write your thoughts down, they run around your mind like a wild animal and they can make up any old stories and convince you of any old BS. So by writing them down, you can really get such a lot of control and really empower yourself. The other thing that has been incredibly important for me to stick to has been movement. So I have made sure that I've been walking. In fact, I've been walking a lot more. And I think whenever you feel really heavy or overwhelmed or stressed, like if you move that energy around, if you move your state, even if you come back and you don't feel 10 times better, you'll probably feel a little bit better than you did when you went out. And even if you don't feel any better, you would have got out, you've got some fresh air, you've got some steps that will probably help you sleep better. And then that will help contribute to slowly but surely starting to feel better in yourself. And I think the reason I was so excited for this solo episode today was just because I had forgotten and it's like you're reminded when you have these highs and lows in life, how important the fundamentals are. If you've got those fundamentals in place, I've realized that they skyrocket you when everything is going really, really well. They help you go higher. They help you do more. They help you stay grounded when good things are happening. But they also really, really fundamentally help you when you're going through tough times. They really help stabilize you. They help give you structure and routine. And even if you might want to be, you know, lying in your bed, crying, not getting up, feeling really bad about whatever it is you're experiencing at the moment. These small steps will help you regain your confidence, your control. And I think this is something that we forget to make part of our lifestyle. We're so good at putting everybody else first all the time. And I think this is such a strong reminder that The more you invest in yourself, the more everything and everyone benefits. And this is especially important during really difficult times. So I hope that this episode has resonated with you today. And if you are going through a difficult time, just trust this process, give it some time. I can't remember who it was that showed me. watched a speaker a few years ago. I think it was Richard McCann, you know, and it was a graph of like, it was just basically this really wiggly line of life with red dots at the bottom and green dots at the top. And he just said, this is like a map of life. And I thought, that's so true. Like you can be absolutely flying and everything's going really well. then bang, without any warning, it changes. So. If you're not in a great place right now, just start putting the basics in place and trust you will start to feel better. And if you're in a good place, also put the basics in place so you can manage this unbelievably messy, beautiful roller coaster of life. Thank you so much for listening and I will see you on the next one.