5 Key Habits You Need to Implement in 2023
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The new year is almost here and I know with that comes new years resolutions. It’s tempting to want to adopt all these different habits all at once and to go on a diet and make these huge proclamations for what you’re going to do to get back into shape. So, here's what I think: The habits we adopt aren’t habits we should be trying to adopt in the first place, or we try to do too much too fast. That’s why in this episode of the Embrace Your Real podcast, I outline the five KEY habits I believe to be truly important that trump all other habits. This is just my opinion, but I think it can drastically help you come the new year!
What I discussed:
Honor your body with movement.
Nourish your body with what it needs.
Prioritize what makes you happy
Express gratitude
Visualization
If you want more from me, be sure to check out:
Instagram: @embraceyourreal | @movementwithjulie
Transcript:
Hey there, beautiful human. You're listening to Embrace Your Real with me, Julie Ledbetter. A podcast where I empower you to just be you. With each episode, I issue a dose of real talk and actionable advice for building your confidence, honoring your body, and unconditionally loving your authentic self. Stay tuned if you're ready to embrace your real. Let's get it, let's go!
Hello and welcome back to another episode on Embrace Your Podcast. I hope you had a very Merry Christmas. I want you to know that I'm so grateful for you. I'm so thankful for this community as we head into kind of this low week, the in-between week of like the week before New Year's and between Christmas and New Year, you're like, don't know what day or month it is, but you start thinking about 2023. I thought it would be really helpful to outline, like in my opinion, five key habits that I believe are the most important and that trump all the other habits. And that will really help set yourself up for a successful 2023.
So that is what we're going to be talking about in today's episode. But before we dove in, I want to share this review. It comes from takeatripwithLMOD. She gave a five star review and said "Best Self-Talk. This podcast is my favorite one that I've ever listened to. It spoke to my heart in my toxic relationship with food that I was in the dark about for years. God bless you for teaching me to honor and love my body. I got rid of my scales and I've never been happier. Thank you for sharing your life lessons."
I love this so much. Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to send this in. I'm so grateful for you. I'm so thankful for this community. It truly means the world. Okay, so let's dive into the five habits that I believe are the most crucial as we head into 2023.
Number one, you know, it wouldn't be an embrace real podcast without honor your body with movement. If you haven't started moving your body out of love for your body, please let 2023 be the year. Long gone are the days of working out as punishment. That is no way to develop a healthy relationship with your body. In 2023, I want you to make it a goal to move out of respect for your body.
You are going to move because your body deserves to be moved, not because you eat too much, not because you're trying to punish it for what you did yesterday or work it off. But I also equally want you to recognize that a part of honoring your body is listening to your body and giving your body rest days. When it needs rest days. It's also getting yourself to move your body when you don't feel like moving your body. It's about showing up for your body because you want to respect it and you want to do everything in your power to ensure that it is the healthiest it possibly can be, both mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually. Right.
Honoring your body, though, I also want you to recognize, is not about always crushing a workout every single day. Some days, yes, you're going to be pushing yourself. You're going to be creating PRs. Other days you're going to be picking up lighter dumbbells than you normally use just to move your body. Other days you're going to be going for a walk in your neighborhood or with a friend. When you learn to honor your body with movement, you actually realize that there are no boundaries for what movement is, and it can be anything as long as you were up and moving. And it truly gives a whole new layer of movement. It gives you a whole new perspective and allows you to recognize that movement is such a form of gratitude. And every single day that you have the opportunity to honor your body with movement is a blessing, and it should come from a place of celebration instead of obligation.
Number two, you are nourishing your body with what it needs. Please, please, please do not enter 2023 saying that you're going to cut out carbs, you're going to do X, Y and Z diet, whatever, quick fix diet that is currently trending right now if you're thinking about doing it because Susie lost14 pounds in seven days on Facebook, stop. The reason that you want to hop on a diet is because you want to change your body, right? Like that's why people go on diets. You want to build the body that you want. But here's the thing. These diets are not going to do that for you. They're only going to give you temporary results.
Do you really want another year of temporary results only to be back at square one every single New Year's? I'm telling you that I would much rather establish nourishing habits that I can maintain long term so I can maintain the results long term.
This is why I'm a firm believer in utilizing the tool of macro counting to properly nourish my body. Yes, it's a learning curve. But once you learn how to properly fuel your body and what it feels like to properly fuel your body, you'll be like, "Oh my gosh, I can't believe that I was doing X, Y and Z for so many years." Like, not only do you get educated and become mindful of portion sizes, but you're also recognizing like what foods are fats and carbs and protein, and then how much your specific body needs based on where you're at and what your goals are. There's no cutting out food groups. There's no food guilt, there's no deprivation. Like I'm telling you, I've literally eaten a yasso bar for dessert every single night for as long as I can remember. And I joke probably five years. There's not been like more than one or two days that I've missed eating chocolate. Like, because I know that that's when my body craves and I allow myself all these food. I don't cut specific or entire food groups out because I know that that's only going to trigger something that is not going to serve me long term.
If you want 2023 to be the year that you learn how to properly fuel your body through utilizing the tool of macro counting, I have a solution for you. You can learn all about my online academy by going to macro counting made simple dot com. Again that's macro cutting meat simple that I will link it in the show notes below, but I really think that this course is going to help you learn how to properly fuel your body and remember that this is long term, sustainable results that you can maintain for a lifetime.
Truly, like I learned macro accounting a decade ago, and I can see myself utilizing the tools that I've learned from this a decade from now, two decades from now. And that's how I know that this is sustainability, right? This is a sustainable way to go about my goals.
Number three, I want you to prioritize what makes you happy. I think that it's time that we prioritize our mental health just as much as we prioritize our physical health. Right. And the first thing that I recommend when focusing on this is prioritizing things that bring us joy. So think about the things in your life that you do on a regular basis and ask yourself, like, do these things truly make me happy? Do they bring me joy?
I want you in 2023 to start making things a priority that bring you joy, at least one thing every single day that brings you true joy. And when you do this, when you implement this into your life, when you ask for help if needed, when you do the hard thing, I can guarantee that it will transform the quality of your life.
I know what you're thinking. Like, Julie, I don't have time to prioritize myself.
I'm telling you that it doesn't have to be this grand gesture, but doing one thing that you enjoy that brings you joy every single day, that will improve your quality of life tenfold. And you will not only feel fulfilled and feel happier, but you will also be able to give the best version of yourself to other people because you're able to prioritize things that bring you joy. So it's like a win-win. You're feeling good and you're also able to serve others in your best capacity.
Number four, I need you to express gratitude. I know you've heard me talk about gratitude practices before and how it's something that I personally prioritize daily. I know you've also heard everybody in their mom talk about it, too, and I know you're probably thinking that this is like a fluffy practice that won't actually help or it sounds great, but in reality you don't think that it will really help you change the way that you feel in your life. But there's actual science to prove just how powerful a gratitude practice is. It's not just like a woo woo fluffy habit. It can truly transform your life.
Which is why I believe that it is necessary for you to adopt this habit in 2023 if you haven't already.
First of all, did you know that our brain actually has a negative bias? This means that we are chemically wired to see the bad in things. We're wired to notice threats in the environment, which translates to us always noticing things that are bad and always noticing things that are wrong in our life rather than focusing on all the good that surrounds us, like the chemical wiring of our brain, changes with experiences that we have. So the more that we practice gratitude, the more our brain learns to tune in to the positive things that surround us in our everyday lives.
So when we choose to express gratitude through feeling, we actually trigger the reward center in our brain. And when this is triggered, it releases our feel good hormones like dopamine and serotonin and oxytocin. I know I'm getting more technical than I usually do, but I think it's so cool that gratitude can do this. Also, those hormones that are all associated with feelings of closeness, connection and happiness. This means that the more gratitude that we have, the more connected and close we feel with the people in our lives and the more joyful we will become in our life. Also, the hormone serotonin is also linked to sleep, which can help us also sleep better. Who doesn't want to sleep better in 2023, right?
Just remember that negativity feeds negativity and positivity feeds positivity. So when you're unhappy, you're always going to notice more things that will make you unhappy. We need to disrupt this cycle by actively putting in the effort to notice the positives and the more positives that we pay attention to in our lives, the more positive things we will see in our lives. Right? On a physical level, gratitude has also been linked to a stronger immune system, reduce inflammation, lower blood pressure, less stress, less feelings of depression and loneliness. Honestly, the list goes on and on.
So how do we adopt a gratitude practice? Well, first of all, I think the easiest way to do it, there are so many gratitude journals, but if you don't want to spend the money, you don't have to literally. Just take out a piece of paper. And I want you to write down five things that you're grateful for every single day. Like five things that you're grateful for right now, in the moment. They could be super simple. They could be grand gestures. I personally have found it to be way more effective when I'm just simply writing down simple things that I experienced in the last day or in that morning. And it's awesome. It is so amazing to do this gratitude practice because you are able to focus on the small things in your life and you realize the abundance of greatness and beauty that you have in your life when you take the time to write it down. Another thing if you're like, I am not a person that sits down to write pen to paper. Amazing. I want you to do a voice memo.
This is really powerful. I want you to pop on the voice memo on your phone. And I want you to record yourself speaking the five things that you're grateful for. And this is cool because you can always go back and listen to it like throughout the day. If you're feeling frustrated or you're feeling discouraged, you can turn on that audio voice memo of you and you can say, Oh, yeah, that's right, that's right. I was experiencing this, or I had this or this happened, or I'm grateful for this. And it's just like that constant reinforcement and reminding you that you will truly be better off when you are reflecting on what you're grateful for and you are taking time out of your day to look at life differently and look at life in a new lens. And when you do that, I'm telling you, it changes everything.
Number five, visualization. I've said it in many other podcast episodes, but I don't think I can emphasize it enough. Visualization is the key to reaching your goals. If you cannot vividly imagine it happening, how do you expect it to become your reality? I'm not talking about manifestation. I don't believe in manifestation. I believe that God is ultimately the dictator of everything and allows things to happen. But I also think that God has allowed us to have an incredible imagination. And I believe that when we're able to see something, it makes it so much easier to actually achieve it, right?
There's actual, like real neuroscience connected to visualization in your brain. When you visualize, you are creating new neural pathways in your brain the same way that you do when you actually do something. So you're literally making this visualization a part of who you are, right? So when you visualize actually some like following through on some plan or goal that you have, the brain generates an impulse that tells our neurons to perform that movement because you have to remember that your brain cannot distinguish what is vividly imagined and what's real. Your brain doesn't know that. You just visualize it. It thinks that you actually did it. So it creates those new neural pathways. This includes visualizing like what your workouts are going to look like, how you want to show up in life, what you want your goals to look like, how you want to, you know, be the best version of yourself to the people that you love. Like it's endless. There are literally anything that you do on a daily basis you can visualize before doing it, and so you can show up as the best version of yourself. And your brain has already created those new neural pathways, which is so awesome, so great.
I pair visualization with my gratitude and my Bible and my journaling in the morning, and I'm telling you, it has been a total game changer for the last two and a half, almost three years that I've been doing it now. It has been a total game changer in every aspect of my life.
So there you have it. Those are the five habits that I suggest that you implement in 2023. Let me quickly recap them. Number one, honor your body with movement. Number two, nourish your body that it needs. Number three, prioritize what makes you happy. Number four, express gratitude. And number five, visualization. If you want to start out 2023 on a great note and you are looking for the tools that you need to get there in terms of your health and fitness journey, I've got an app for you, movement with Julie app where I give you five brand new dumbbell only workouts every single week. There are thousands upon thousands of women from all over the world that follow these workouts on a weekly basis. And I want you to join us. You can join 50% off your first month as a new subscriber. Check it out at sale. That's S A L E dot movement with julie dot com.
Also, I talked about nourishing your body with what it needs. If you want to learn the tool of macro counting so that you can properly nourish your body this year in a healthy and sustainable way. I have an online academy for you called Macro Counting Made Simple Online Academy. It is just macro counting made simple dot com. Again, that's macro accounting made simple dot com. I'll link it in the shownotes. Both of those in the shownotes so you can easily go check them out.
That is all that I have for today's episode. I hope that you found this helpful. If you have a friend, a coworker, a sister, or someone in your life that you feel like would benefit from this, I just decided to share it out with them. I hope you had a very again, Merry Christmas. And I cannot wait to cheer you along in 2023 alongside you. Thank you. So. Just for tuning in. I love you and I'll talk to you in the next one.
All right, sister. That's all I got for you today. But I have two things that I need you to do. First thing, if you are not already following me on the gram, be sure to do so, Julie. A lot better. Yes, it's with an A in the middle for that Daily Post workout real talk, Healthy tips and tricks, and honest accountability to keep your mind and heart in check. The second thing be sure to subscribe to Apple Podcasts to never miss an episode. Thank you so much for joining me. It means the absolute world. And I'm going to leave you with one last thought.
The most beautiful women that I have met in my life are the ones who are completely confident and secure in being authentically themselves. Remember, that beauty goes so much deeper than the surface. So go out there and embrace your real because you're worth it.