Welcome to the nourishing. Amy podcast. I'm Amy Rankin. I am an emotional intelligence and life coach as Speaker, a Creator, and a wellness. Chaser, I have created this podcast for you to learn how 'but mindset changes and get really actionable. Takeaways to find out who you are, what lights you up, how you can love yourself again and how to live your best life. Give yourself the space to welcome in more self-care and
confidence. Reduce feelings like overwhelm and stress and let find your sparkle again. Are you ready? Let's do it. Welcome to another episode of Monday motivation with me. Amy, I am checking in with you guys. Because, like I said in the last episode and kind of the episode before, as well, this upcoming week, potentially has the opportunity to be one of the busiest. One of the more overwhelming one of the more stressful weeks of the Year, we're ramping up to the end of the year.
We're getting towards that phase where we're like wow. What day is it? Like are we what year are we in? All of that kind of fun stuff, but before that the lead-up to that can feel a little overwhelming and a little stressful. There's a good chance that you have had lots of things booked into your calendar over the last few weeks, and I know for me as much as I personally have.
Been absolutely loving it. I've also kind of burnt myself out a little bit as well over the last week, just purely from over-committing and saying yes, Yes, to all of the things and being so excited about all of the things. But also not really having a lot of time, then for prioritizing myself and from the people that I've been chatting with as well.
I know there's a lot of people that are in the same boat so I wanted to share with you, a exciting refreshing Monday motivation and this is actually based on one of my most popular Instagram posts for this whole entire year. It's my most saved and shared posts. And it's essentially a weekly check-in that you can do with yourself to just see how you're feeling. I also did some feelings that you can be aiming for some reminders and also some affirmations and self-care
ideas. So I will actually share the link to this post in the show notes so that you can head over to Instagram and you can save or share this post so that you can come back to it at any time. For yourself, it's got some really great like little journaling prompts things to think about maybe something stands out that you would like to remind yourself but I'm going to talk you through them in this
episode. Maybe you grab a pen and paper, if that feels good for you and write something down, maybe write a few little journaling prompts, right? Some reminders that you want to be taking into this upcoming week, so that you are feeling refreshed invigorated, energized, and we're really wanting to try to move away. From feeling overwhelmed, feeling burnt out, just not feeling like that, best version of yourself, of course.
It's only normal to be feeling these other feelings like stressed overwhelmed, burnt out, all of those things. It's normal from time to time to feel that, but also we want to catch it out when we do feel those feelings. We want to recognize that coming up, and we really want to be doing what we can to move through it as quickly as
possible, right? So, without further Ado, I actually just Membered, I'm supposed to do a recommendation and guys I just really have not thought about one this week so you can have to next week. Alright, yes, without further Ado, let's get into some of the little journaling prompts that you can do for yourself. So you will know if you are an OG listener to this podcast, my absolute favorite question to regularly, check in with yourself, is, how do I want to
feel this week? Now, you can check in with yourself with this one every day if you want to. How do I want to feel today? So how do I want to feel this week. What that does is instead of. So with a lot of these check-ins that I like to do its future thinking or Forward Thinking rather than thinking about like how you are feeling how you were feeling last week, or the last few weeks, and the feelings that you might be carrying into this week that are residual from the previous week.
What we really want to be doing is forward thinking. And thinking about, if I could pick a feeling that, I really want to be aiming for, this would be it and it can be anything. No. Judgment, whatever the feeling is that you're really wanting to move towards. So how do I want to feel this week? Second question. Now this one for me is a really important one. This week. What are my top priorities this
week? Now if you are high achiever or if you're a yes person it can be really hard to prioritize, all of the things for the week and that also means that that can lead to procrastinate. And because sometimes when it feels like there's, you know, 10 or 15 different things that you're really wanting to prioritize. And we've only got seven days in the week that can feel
difficult. So when you can really get clear on what a my top priorities, that gives you some real Direction and Clarity for your week that, yes, you can have your to-do list. So, something that I really like to do with this is, I do a big brain dump on like a Sunday evening or a Monday morning before I get started really properly on my day. And I do a big brain dump of like water. All the open tabs in my brain. Like, what is everything that I'm just, like, I can't forget
this. I don't want to forget this, and I brain dump everything out and just do a really big list. And then what I do is I look through that and I think, okay, if I could just choose, my absolute non-negotiables are top priorities and I go through and put a little star next to them or highlight them. And then, what I do is, look at my work days, like my working hours, my calendar off, like,
things that I've got scheduled. In meetings, all of that type of stuff and then I look and see and think okay in between all of this stuff that I know I already have on, where can I fit my non-negotiables in? What does that look like for me? Where are the spaces of time that I can allocate? And so, then that means that my absolute non-negotiables are covered. And I know that I'm going to get
to them. So that's one less thing to be thinking about and stressing about and then all of the other things I've already got them written down. So in my mind, my brain is like, okay, I have these written down Down. I know I'm not going to forget about them, it gives you the opportunity to close out some of those tabs to know and have that sense of confidence within yourself as like, it's okay. I can come back to these. They're all written down. I'm not going to forget about
them. So that's my other second. Favorite question. Now, my next to how am I nourishing, my body. And how am I nourishing my mind? So how am I nourishing my body? I kind of relate that back to like, what food prep have? I done? Have I done any meal planning or? Prepping this week that I know I'm going to be eating nourishing foods because let's be honest for a lot of us and
definitely be included. If I haven't got food ready to go in the fridge for me, then I'm stopping in at the Macker drive-through when I'm in a rush because I'm out on the road and I'm doing 10 different things that day and I just haven't had time to prep any food or not, even haven't had time, let's catch that out. I haven't prioritized prepping healthy food and I don't have any snacks with me.
So I know that when I'm really busy and like I said this up, Coming week is generally quite a busy week for a lot of us is when my nourishing myself really starts to drop down the priority list because there's so much other things that I'm trying to prioritize. So how am I nourishing? My body. Also coming into this means moving my body. That also is kind of actually for me part of how am I nourishing my mind?
Because for me moving, my body is a form of prioritizing myself and putting myself first, even if it's just for 20 minutes or half an hour. And so for me yes it's She's my body and getting that movement in, but it's also my mind because it's prioritizing me. It's giving myself a chance to just switch off for half an hour and put me first. So, how am I noticing my body? How am I nourishing my mind? Next one, where can I prioritize self-care?
And I'm actually going to give you guys some ideas for self-care in a few minutes. So self-care doesn't always have to be the one our massages and facials as much as that's a beautiful way to give back to yourself for some when we I've only got five or ten minutes spare here and there during the week, driving out to go and get a massage and prioritizing that time doesn't feel achievable in that week. And that's okay, there's time and space, that is available for
those bigger periods of time. But for now, let's have a look at some other ways that you can prioritize self-care easily. And that feels achievable for you in a few minutes. Next active, journaling question. What habits are going to make me feel good? What habits do you already have in your If maybe you have a morning routine, maybe you have an evening routine. Maybe, there's a skincare routine or shower routine that you really enjoy, what habits are going to make me feel good
this week. Next question, what am I proud of last week? And the reason that I love this is because especially when we're feeling a bit overwhelmed or really busy. It's easy to look back at the last week and think far out, like, I hoped, it was just so stressful. I just had so many things on it was so busy. And whilst yes, that might Be true. That doesn't mean that there's not things that you're actually proud of as well that went really well or that you actually really did achieve.
And so it's nice to be able to reflect on those things. And just take a moment to be proud of yourself in the midst of everything else that's happening. And then also my last one, another favorite, am I choosing to let anything go? So, is there anything that you notice that maybe you've been holding on to emotionally physically, mentally, is there any thought patterns, or thought processes that have been? Coming up for you, that haven't been making, you feel good. Maybe.
There's some conflict with somebody, whether that's a family member friend relationship in the workplace. Is there anything that you are deciding this week that you choose to let go of? So there, they are my top, absolute favorite weekly check-ins that you can do for yourself, just to reset, refresh. And like I said, start the week feeling really invigorated and like you've got some direction and clarity. Eon where you want to be moving for this week.
How you want to be feeling? Which I'll give you some feelings in a second. And also just some clarity on like what does this upcoming week look like for me if I was to be showing up as the best version of myself. So next thing that I want to touch on because I know that this can feel a little bit hard for some people back to that first question, how do I want to feel this week?
Now that question can be hard because some of us are not used to checking With feelings and really not even recognizing, or being aware of feelings and what they are. So, sometimes even the question of, like, how do you feel at the moment sometimes for us? The answer can be. I just feel shit. Like, I just don't feel myself and shit, isn't a feeling not feeling myself.
That's not actually a feeling. It's explaining how you feel, but it's not actually being able to put a label to the feeling. And so, when we get so used to Like disassociating from our feelings, may be pushing them away, repressing them, and just not being super aware of what our feelings are, it can be then also difficult to recognize. Okay, well, what's the opposite of this for me? Like so some people it might be while I just want to feel better or I just don't want to feel
like that which is fantastic. That you can recognize how you don't want to feel, but we need to be able to give ourselves some direction of how you do want to feel otherwise. How are you supposed to move towards that? So Some feelings that you could be wanting to aim for could potentially be calm. Relaxed. Happy excited, peaceful affectionate passionate caring empathetic optimistic, eager proud joyful content, satisfied, compassionate organized and productive.
So Oh, of course, there is like so many different feelings. That is just some that I picked out that I thought May resonate with some of you that is in general. Some of the feelings that I will notice. I try to aim for during my weeks so there's some feelings ideas for you. Of course, another tool that you can also use is the feelings wheel. I do have a blog post over on my website, with the feelings wheel
and the image of that. But you can also really easily just Google the Ling's wheel and clicking to images. And there's so many different feelings, wheels that come up for you. They generally all the same, they'll just be different colors. So that's a really great tool. What I actually encourage you guys to do and all of my clients to do is actually save that feelings will as an image on your phone and keep it as a
favorite. So that whenever you are feeling a little bit confused, either about how you're feeling it at that current moment, if you noticed that you've been repressing some feelings and pushing them away and you're just noticing like, can't really put A label to how I'm feeling. I feel like I'm stuck and I'm not moving through it using that feelings. Well, being able to go into your photos into your favorites and just click on that pic, okay?
This is how I'm feeling giving it that label is so freeing, because what that means is, when were able to label how we feel, it gives us some ability to then be able to move through it. Okay, I recognize this is, this feeling is what's coming up for me at the moment. What can I do now? Like, why is that coming up for me and what can I do to move
through that? So we Use it as a reflective tool and we can also use it as a proactive to love like, okay, what are some feelings or what is a feeling? I can pick out that I want to be moving towards with this. So feelings wheel is one of the best tools that I personally love to use and that I love to encourage my clients to use. Now my next one that I have my Lex next slide, sorry on my Instagram post, is some reminders for you this week.
Some really important reminders and maybe There's just one of these that really stands out for you. That's like all that's relevant to me from the last few weeks or this feels like something I want to keep reminding myself coming into this upcoming week. Maybe you write it on a Post-It note and have it on your laptop for work.
Maybe you write it out and stick it as like a little sticky note on your fridge, or you put it as like, your background on your phone to remind yourself, whatever it is, is there any of these reminders that stand out for you? So, there are only three things that you can control. Roll, your thoughts, your feelings and your behaviors. My next, reminder, everybody else's thoughts feelings and behaviors are outside of your control, my next, reminder.
And this is one of my favorites personally. Your emotions are valid but your reactions might not be My next reminder, you don't have to be perfect. My next reminder not every day is going to be a good day, but that's okay. There is always a new day tomorrow and I love this one because I am not about Positive Vibes. Only, you guys will know that I
talk about this all the time. There is a podcast episode, if you just search Positive Vibes, only is bullshit, it will come up, but it's just reminding yourself that it's okay. It's normal to have down days. It's normal to have days that don't feel like they They've gone according to plan or but something's thrown you off. It's okay. There is a new fresh day for you. Starting tomorrow that you can choose how you want to be
feeling. And think about, what would I structure what habits would I bring in? How do I want to feel tomorrow? My next reminder, you are strong capable and worthy. And my last reminder, one small thought or Habit in the morning can change your whole day. And again, that's another one that I really love because it's really just thinking about what am I doing in the mornings too. Set myself up to be prioritizing myself and feeling good.
If I can do one thing, even if that's going in, filling up my drink bottle and drinking a liter of water before ever. Really done anything. Or while I'm writing up my to-do list for the morning. I know that I'm prioritizing myself and hydrating myself well, from the minute that I get up. Okay, let's talk about some affirmations. Now, I'm actually going to do a
podcast episode. My next podcast episode is going to be on affirmations and how you can actually really embody these because I think affirmations feel like a good idea. They seem like a good idea to a lot of us but it's like am I actually just standing in front of a mirror reciting these things but not actually fully believing in them. So I'm going to give you some ideas for some affirmations but if this feels like something that's a little bit confusing or something.
That you're more interested in have a listen out for my next podcast episode. And I will talk all about affirmations and how to really make them feel like you are embodying them and believing in them as well. So here we go. I am working on creating the life I want to live I am not behind. I am exactly where I need to be. I have so much to offer the world. I am smart successful and confident. I am calm, centered and grounded. I am growing and learning every
day. I am strong enough to handle what today brings I am enough today, not just once I have achieved that goal. I have the courage to set boundaries and say no when needed. I prioritize myself because I am important.
So they are some of my favorite affirmations that I wanted to share with you guys over on that Instagram post, of course, like, even if you go on Pinterest or Google and search affirmations, there is literally thousands that would come up, but they're some of my favorites that really helped me to just again. Get that Clarity and Direction on how I want to be feeling for that day. The things I want to be feeling like I am embodying and really feeling and believing and buying
into. So have a listen out if there's any of them, that kind of sad. With you that you're like, yes, that's one that stands out for me again. Go and write it down. Put it somewhere that you're going to see it this week with affirmations.
I keep them on a little piece of paper next to my mirror in my bathroom because I mean, I mean, they're regularly during the day whether I'm going to the bathroom or I'm brushing my teeth, whatever it is that I see them and it gives me the opportunity to just check back in with them and just breathe into it again, I'll talk more about that in the next episode. Now my last one like I said I'm going to share with you some self-care ideas. Now these Swans should feel easy
quick and achievable. So, like I said, we've always got the big ones like going and getting a massage or getting a facial going for, like a long lunch with the girls catching up with somebody, those types of things, which yes, they are all forms of self-care. But in the midst of feeling busy, and overwhelmed, maybe leaning a little towards burnt out. Let's talk about some things that feel easy and quick for you that you can be implementing to just reset. So utilizing Do Not Disturb mode
on your phone. This one for me is huge when I'm feeling burnt out and I'm getting to the end of the day. Now, I know I spoke about decision fatigue, a few episodes ago. Perfect episode to pair with this self-care idea of this is one that comes up for you. When I feel like I'm getting to that point in the afternoon that I'm just super overwhelmed or I'm getting to the point that I'm like okay I could start to lean towards feeling a bit Snappy and irritable Do Not Disturb mode.
My phone is a lifesaver because I feel like any time my phone flashes out with a notification or, you know, a phone call or someone's messaging or, you know, there's a group message happening, it can be another way that your energy and your focus
is taken away from yourself. Especially if you're like busy at work, or you're really trying to focus on something being distracted by. Your phone is something that again takes more time and energy and effort away from you or that thing that you're trying to do. And Be present with. So utilizing Do Not Disturb mode on your phone. Yes. People can still get in contact with you, if they're in your favorites and they need to they can call you twice and the phone call will still come through.
So if there's an emergency, it's still there. But it means that you have less distractions which means intern you, hopefully feel less overwhelmed as well. So do you use? Do not disturb on your phone. Nourish your body. With healthy foods, kind of touched on that one at the start hydrate and move your body. Again, something that we Sun at the star. But I don't think that those two things are really focused on a self care and ways that you can be looking after your mind and
body enough. Next self-care idea is Journal. So maybe that looks like doing a brain dump. Maybe you're just like oh my gosh, there's so many things that are on my mind. I've just got to write them all down and just like blurt them all out. Maybe it looks more like being a little more specific and utilizing some of my journaling prompts that I gave. Maybe there's some other things that come up for you that you would like to be journaling about About my neck, self-care idea. Read a book.
Now, this is something that I've actually started to bring in of an evening instead of screen time when I get into bed or watching a TV show, like I love switching off. You guys will know. I love my reality TV shows. I love getting really into like a series, like money Heist. All that kind of stuff, but for me reading a book is something that just helps me to feel more relaxed and it really does help to feel like something that I'm doing for myself intentionally.
So reading a book, now there's so many different genres are So that you could be reading, maybe you really enjoy the self-help, maybe you enjoy fiction books and getting immersed in that maybe you enjoy the non-fiction books. So whatever it is pick, something that feels really good for you and just take 5 or 10 minutes to just sit and try to quiet in the mind. Reading a book.
Next one, take two minutes to sit be still and listen to your favorite song and just focus on your breathing through that song or dance around seeing. Into the song, like let your energy shift in your body, your favorite song. Probably only goes for. I think, like the average time limit for a song is like two and a half minutes. So this one I really love because it's like it's giving yourself two and a half minutes. It's not a a, like, huge
extended period of time. But your favorite song, A lot of the time is an anchor for feelings. That feel really good for you as well. So we're anchoring into those feelings.
We're accessing them by 'And and through your senses but also, if you're giving yourself the opportunity to like, sing, really loud, or put the music on really loud, and just feel that music in your body, it means that you're giving yourself the opportunity to also shift through some of those big feelings and emotions that could be feeling a bit stagnant for you to my next self-care idea that I have for you is say no to something. So, have a look at your
calendar. Open it up now and just have a look and see, is there something that just feels really overwhelming that I Could look at maybe potentially rescheduling this week or that I can actually say no to maybe there's a pending invitation that you've got for something that is just like, it's just feeling a bit too much.
Can you say no to that thing? There's also a post over on my Instagram that I did last week on ways to say no and I had a lot of people responding back and saying they do feel really empowering and their great ideas. They give different options instead of just like, nope, sorry, can't make it There's some different options there for
you. So, jump on over to my Instagram, all, of course, I forgot to tell you what my Instagram is. It's just a me underscore ranking, so go and have a look at that one, as well. Maybe save that post you for saying no to things feels a bit difficult for you. Now I've got three other self-care ideas tidy. Your space guys, I have had a huge basket of washing for two weeks in my bedroom to put away. I'm committing. I'm doing it this morning.
I've already started, I got a little bit sidetracked so I'm getting back to it this morning and it is getting done. This load of washing. I am not going to be looking at it anymore. So is there a way that you can tie to your space to feel more refreshed, create an interesting? Uh, sorry and inviting environment. So what would that look like for
you? Maybe you've got a favorite candle that you can put on. Maybe there's a favorite album, a favorite playlist, some music that you can put on, maybe you've got your diffuser. Again it touches back to tidying your space and that helps it to feel inviting. Maybe it's simply just making your bed and refreshing your bedroom for yourself. How can you create an inviting environment for yourself and my last one less screen time before
bed. Now I know it's classic but they do say screen time and being on our screens, really does affect us our atoning levels. If you're having difficulty, sleeping, if you're feeling overwhelmed and stressed, you've already got those hormones that are more Heightened that can impede your sleep. So anything that you can be doing maybe you've got some lavender essential oil that you can be using. Maybe there's a nice wine down routine that you can be incorporating in your evening
routine. Maybe it does look like decreasing that screen time and doing something like reading a book doing some active journaling doing some gratitude journaling. Whatever. It is taking some time for you before bed. That is off your screen. So they are all of my different
ideas for you. I said it's been my most saved and most shared Instagram post this year which yeah so obviously it resonated with a lot of people so I will leave the link in the show notes for you so that you can click straight through and you can save that if there's anything that you want to come back to for yourself. If it feels relevant, maybe share it to your stories. Maybe you feel like there's some of your friends or family members that would really benefit from some of these
reminders as well this week. Weak and just get clear. Like, I always say, just pick three things from this podcast episode that really stood out for you. I can guarantee you are not going to remember absolutely everything that I've spoken about, and that's okay, it's
only normal. But if you can just pick one of the three things in this episode, that I really needed to hear, or that felt really good for me, that I really want to be focusing on this week and hopefully it can lead you to be feeling more calm. More energized, more empowered, more, self-confident, and less overwhelmed, less stressed, and really moving away from those feelings that we want to be feeling less of now. Have an absolutely beautiful week. If you've got any questions.
Of course, as I always say, please don't hesitate to get in contact. I hope that there's some things that have really sat with you and I am going to go and put away. This big huge load of washing have a beautiful day. If you liked this episode, I would love for you to screenshot and tag me on Instagram. You guys have no idea how much that absolutely makes my day. I get such a big smile on my face.
Thank you so much for hanging out with me today and I hope that you have got them something from this episode. If you want to hang out more you can search the nourishing, Amy podcast community in Facebook and come and join our group. We're talking all things life, love overwhelm and everything in
between, you can share your fun. He means your stories and all of the life stuff, if you would like to get in contact with me, please don't hesitate to reach out and shoot me a message on Instagram. You can find me at a me underscore Rankin. Last but not least, it really
helps to support my podcast. When you subscribe and leave a review on whatever app it is, that you listen to this podcast on, I am just a little independent podcaster and every subscriber and review helps my podcast to be seen and heard by more people and to help more people. We'll get their Sparkle back. Thank you again, so much for being with me and have a fantastic day.