SEPTEMBER REFLECTIONS FROM MARY

For me September has always felt like a new year – a fresh start and a new chapter. I believe it's that new school year feeling combined with the change of seasons – whatever it may be, I love the month of September. I headed into the month with some intentions around my health and self-love, not only the benefit myself now but also set myself up to head into the last quarter of the year feeling my best. From fueling myself well both with food and mindset to reminding myself of my capabilities to enjoying things I've loved for many years, this month has been kind to me through the hurdles and obstacles that always come up along the way.

READING

As many of you know by now, I love a good book – or ten! Reading has been a safe space for me my entire life and some of my best childhood memories include reading or visiting my local library. So when it comes to reading I'm always inclined to pick up yet another book to add to my stack and promise myself I'll read. Which sadly, that stack has not been completed but we're here for progress over perfection (we'll talk about that later). Earlier this year I got into fantasy with the ACOTAR series and now I'm three books deep into the Glass Castle series from Sarah J Maas which has been a lot of fun reading a genre that I normally wouldn't. Outside of my fantasy fiction reads I have also been reading a few books on manifestation – starting with Roxie Nafousi's Manifest and now her second book Manifest in Action. Both are extremely relatable and inspiring books that have made understanding and believing in manifesting feel less 'woo-woo' and more realistic. I've also been reading You Are a Magnet by Amber Lyon to compliment my journey with manifestation and finding my confidence (again, more on that later). I'd love to know what you're reading and what books are inspiring you – let me know in the comments or on social so we can read together!

EATING WELL

September was all about eating well not only because I feel better but because my body needed a reset. ICYMI I introduced the AIP approach to eating started at the end of August and have successfully carried through with this month. I wish I could say the adjustment was easy but in all honesty, it was far from easy and more of a mental challenge than I anticipated. Upon exploring more with my naturopath we were able to determine that not only eggs (RIP to my favourite breakfasts) but also onions were irritants causing inflammatory responses. Thankfully I had cut eggs out at the end of August but only recently cut out onions which once I did, became very clear how impactful it was on my overall health. Going from daily chronic headaches to fewer and more manageable headaches has been such a relief. Not only did this mean cutting out a lot of food, but on the other side of the coin, it's helped me explore new recipes – like this roast chicken with dates, olives and capers. Not only is it easy to make, you can prepare it a day or two in advance and then pop in the oven to enjoy an hour later. I highly recommend this for anyone whether you deal with inflammation or not, the flavour is out of this world! 

CONFIDENCE

This past year my confidence levels have been all over the map and I'm sure I'm not the only one. Maybe it's being in my mid thirties, or the vast amount of change our world has been through in the last few years, or just life in general but I haven't been feeling as confident as I was a few years ago. I have to admit imposter syndrome affects me more than I'd like to admit, but as an entrepreneur the expectations and comparison to others is constant resulting in me questioning my own skills and abilities. Some days I give into these doubts and allow my mind to wander with them, believing them to be true. But I know deep down, they are not true and the only person who can convince myself otherwise, is me. Which is why I've been using my morning affirmations even more the past few weeks. Everyday I want to start feeling my best, but when I wake up on the wrong side of the bed it's easy to write the day off before it even begins. Which is where my affirmations come in – I say them aloud to myself in the mirror (eye contact for extra points) and repeat them as the day continues with the negative and doubtful voice gets loud again. I've been sharing these with our Instagram broadcast channel as our fuel for the week and it's been so powerful to share this with you, our community. 

ARTISTIC OUTLET

When I started MARY YOUNG I was so excited to be creative and artistic everyday and as much as I am still artistic in building and growing the brand, I'm not nearly as artistic as I had hoped. This is a common reality when you start doing what you love as your career, the things you enjoy become smaller while you adapt to operating and building a business. Rather than feeling stuck in this reality, which does happen from time to time, I've decided to ensure I have an artistic outlet to allow myself to explore and remind myself that I still am artistic – even when I don't feel like I am. Being an artist doesn't simply mean you create art, but rather you look at things and do things in an artistic way – however that feels natural to you. Some of my artistic outlets are cooking – trying new things and experimenting, spending time outdoors – taking a new hiking path or paying attention to things I haven't noticed before, all the way to creating something new with my hands. For me this month it's been knitting – which has been a slow artistic outlet as time management hasn't been my strong suit. But I do have a knitting project on the go and am choosing to look at other daily activities through an artistic lens. Doing that has empowered me to feel more artistic in my daily work and for that, I'm grateful for this mindset shift.

PROGRESS OVER PERFECTION

This is something I know to be true and yet I often forget it, or ignore it as time goes on. I'm an a-type person and love a solid plan, but living that way often has me leaning into perfectionism and missing out on things as they happen. By focusing on the end result, the perfect plan and doing it (whatever it is) best, I miss out on growth, building my agility and resilience and enjoying the journey. Despite knowing this I do often get caught up in striving for perfection so this past month I've had more internal conversations with myself around slowing down, being present and recognizing my progress along the way. This isn't easy to do, it's like training an old muscle or one that I haven't used in a long time, but with intention and focus, I've been able to slow down and recognize progress. Even when it feels minuscule or irrelevant – every small step is movement and should be acknowledged. Not only have I been mentally taking note of any and all small progress, I've also spent more time journaling on these small steps and movements while also celebrating my little wins for continuing to do the hard things. 

Thank you for joining me this month and I hope it inspires you to also explore these topics for yourself. If you do, I would love to hear them - if you want to share of course. Feel free to leave a comment or DM me on @ITSMARYYOUNG to chat more. The beauty of all this, especially being on the internet, is to feel less alone and reminded that we truly are in this together. Thank you for being here, thank you for being you.