OCTOBER REFLECTIONS FROM MARY

I hope I'm not alone in saying this but October was a long month – both in a good way and maybe just a little too long. From traveling to see family for Thanksgiving, to planning and preparing a lot of behind the scenes things happening in Q4 and like always, trying to balance health, wellness and productivity, it was a month for the books. And one I'm glad to say is now behind me.

REWRITING THE NARRATIVE 

I normally don't have great periods, and by not great, I mean very debilitating periods. I have endometriosis and was recently diagnosed with adenomyosis, both autoimmune diseases that result in terrible pain during my period. I had surgery last year which has helped my symptoms and as you may know I've been on the anti inflammatory protocol diet to help with inflammation (duh) but also to support my period. Unfortunately this past month was a very rough period for me which resulted in an endo flare up leaving me bed ridden for two days and cancelling all my plans. Not only was this extremely physically painful it was also mentally tough – cancelling plans, losing a few days to be in bed and the fear that builds up in me for my next cycle. After chatting with a friend who also lives with endometriosis I decided that I'm going to re-write the narrative around what my period will be like. Instead of having the unsettling fear of 'how bad will it be this month' I've decided I'm going to create a safe space for me to rest into my period rather than fight it. I've blocked off the first three days of my period in my calendar so I don't schedule meetings, social plans or really anything at all. I'm also going to 'romanticize' this time of the month by planning to make those few days as special as possible. Starting with getting a new candle, picking up a new book or puzzle, deciding what comfort show or movie I'll have queued up to watch and making a safe space for my body to rest and just be. I'm hopeful that by reframing this narrative of a time of the month I dread to one that is soft, restful and healing will make my period a more bearable time of the month. Stay tuned for my recap next month as I report back on how it goes!

EXERCISING

I'm no stranger to exercising, for many reasons but mostly for my mental health. After a bad concussion in my teens that left me unable to do any type of activity I discovered exercising like weight lifting, running, spin class, pilates and boxing in my 20's and realized how impactful exercise is on my mental health. As much as I prioritize it in my daily life, like anyone else, it's easy to fall off when life gets busy. And boy, was October busy and did I ever fall off my exercising routines. The majority of the month all I could do was get in a walk and some stretching before bed. Near the end of the month I realized my not so great mental health definitely was a correlation to my lack of exercise. Yes, a daily walk is great but I knew for myself that I needed more. Instead of feeling 'woe is me' I decided to be proactive and I tried a new pilates studio. After my first class at the studio I knew that's what I needed to help get me back to exercising and motivated to continue making it a priority. Sometimes it's easy to jump back in, while other times we need more structure and commitment, which for me I knew going into November I'd need more structure to stay on top of it. Queue booking two weeks worth of pilates classes at this new studio on an intro special they had – not only does this offer structure for me to ensure I get my workouts in but also in a cost saving way with the intro offer. If you're ever feeling stuck and need an extra push, try a new studio, look for intro offers or buy one get one deals to keep you motivated and accountable for showing up – this is my first step I take when I need to get back into it!

CHALLENGES

Blame my overachiever attitude but I love a good challenge. Mostly because I'm able to set a goal, work towards it and prove to myself that I can. But that doesn't always mean it's easy – oftentimes it's anything but easy. October was a challenge for me to focus on discipline – something I'm no stranger to as an entrepreneur but something I wanted to be more intentional with, especially as I head into the busiest two quarters of the year for me work wise. Not only have I been more intentional with my discipline – bookending my day with routines that set me up for success, habit stacking and tracking and planning my weeks out with time blocking and menu creating – I've also been sharing all about discipline on my personal YouTube channel. Before the pandemic I did a decent amount of public speaking, oftentimes courses and how-to type conversations and I wanted to challenge myself to get back into this but instead of in person, on YouTube so I can continue to grow and flex my speaking muscle. And of course, to take it one step further I've been sharing daily discipline habits on my personal TikTok account prove to myself that I can show up daily not only for myself, but also for others who are on the journey of discipline themselves.

ATTITUDE

When you hear attitude you may think of having an attitude, as in being bratty, because that's exactly where my mind goes. But I want to challenge that and create my first thought of attitude to being a positive thing – having a grateful, positive and abundant attitude. The power of the mind is something we hear about so often and something I know personally, but like anything I can fall off track with staying positive and grateful, especially when life feels hard. Which is why I've been using weekly affirmations as my fuel for each week – something to get me back on track when I fall off, because it's bound to happen but the sooner I can course correct, the better my mindset and attitude is! I've been sharing my affirmations on MARY YOUNG's broadcast channel on Instagram so you can join in too. Not only are these affirmations helpful but reminding myself that my attitude can truly shift my perspective on life. Rather than looking at a challenging season as just that, I've reframed it to look at it as a time to be grateful for growth and the opportunity to learn more about myself through the hard times. All in all, a good attitude can change how you see your life both on the good and bad days.

CAREER CRISIS

First off, don't fret – nothing is changing – well not that much. But in honour of transparency, I've been feeling like I've been having a career crisis combined with a third life crisis (I'm coining the third life crisis because I do hope to live for another 50+ years). I haven't seen many entrepreneurs share this but I can imagine others have felt this way. I've been an entrepreneur for 10 years now and that has been the bulk of my identity. Not only for a decade but for the majority of my adult life that sometimes I wonder who I am outside of being Mary of MARY YOUNG and an entrepreneur. I hear moms say this a lot about being more than a mom or wife, which I completely understand and validate their need for identification outside of those roles. Which is how I feel as an entrepreneur. So much of my life revolves around the business and work, especially with seasonal work like retail that results in Q4 being so all consuming that I oftentimes don't get to enjoy the magic of the holiday season. I'm not really sure where this leaves me as I try to find myself outside of work but it's a journey I'm currently on. If you can relate, in any capacity, please let me know and we can share this journey together!

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.