Habits Archives - Page 10 of 10 - Healthy Happy Life Secrets

From Burnout to Sabbatical: Recharge and Change Your Life

Retirement financial guru David Bach is known for “The Latte Factor” on how to save money. Maybe you saw him on Oprah as I did back in the day?

Fast forward years later, he went from burnout to sabbatical living. In hindsight, he now calls a sabbatical “the magic pill” to happiness.

He mentioned in interviews that it all began when his wife asked him what he wanted for one of his birthdays, and he expressed a desire for full-time off from work.

And so that’s just what he did, although he still had to convince himself to get off his busy work train.

Taking time off in a restful sabbatical isn’t a common practice for Americans. There aren’t too many role models to follow. Retirement after 60 and beyond is still the American norm.

Like David Bach, more go-getters in the prime of their career are opening up to this approach to a healthier lifestyle to recharge somewhere in the middle, make life impact changes, and gain clarity about their remaining life’s path.

We all want to live our Best Life, but not all of us do what we need to fully live because we’re not given a road map so we end up playing it safe… staying in the same career or corporate work path with golden handcuffs and benefits, despite being miserable.

Future uncertainty can be uncomfortable to those who want their lives fully planned out, but as I (and you too probably at least in this past year) experienced, life throws monkey wrenches in the mix if you’ve been around long enough, and you can question what this life is really all about.

…and maybe you’ve had those types of questions swirling in your mind lately that you’ve been wrestling with?

If so, you should consider taking a sabbatical if you’re in a place where you can or you all of a sudden, find that you deeply need one to restore your mind-body. It’s not a cop-out, it’s a smart move in case you need to wrestle the idea with the logical side of your mind.

The trend is moving this way. Kids who are just becoming adults are acceptably taking gap years from college. And if you worked in corporate in 2008 with the economy dip, you most likely made a work change, maybe entered a different industry as in 2020 and the aftermath, where we all had our work changed and life turned upside down.

Someone wise ahead of me ingrained this idea that never left me: “Your entire life is a transition.”

So then with that lens, I’m happily entering my fourth act. And depending on your age, you’re probably at least entering or considering your second one (along with almost half the women in the workforce according to survey data).

When I was in college, and it took me 5 years to graduate, that was a big deal in my mind. I questioned why I took a year off after a few semesters of working and attending business school full-time.

During my gap year that wasn’t the usual way, I stopped and learned how to create a business (the reason that you would think you go to business school but most like I did, graduated and entered the corporate workforce).

What I wanted most that I didn’t want to admit to anyone including myself was I wanted deep rest. And that semester off test-taking I got off sleeping aid pills. I got off the hamster wheel and avoided burning out.

Back then, I was already creating a different way of life of taking breaks because my body was calling for it. And now in more aware times, my mind was too.

Similarly, a mid-life sabbatical idea is a pretty darn good idea for recuperating. It can be a lifeline even though it still has a bad wrap. If you’re a well-known author and speaker like David Bach, you can do it because you’ve earned it. But if you’re like most of us or the person trying to make ends meet, then you’re still justifying, like I had to.

I had to lean in and switch into abundant thinking and what I would gain over what I would lose.

And when the call inside you grows louder, the idea can grow more intriguing, and that’s when you know you have to seriously investigate!

You may just need some little sign or nudge to get you to take the step. Or you may just need the right timing or feeling to show up again. In my case, I knew I had more to lose if I didn’t.

You are where you are because of your choices made.

And because of my sabbatical choice, I wouldn’t have traveled to so many great places and countries before 2020. And I wouldn’t have discovered my real passions and purposeful direction in this life that isn’t the corporate path I started on.

I’m not suggesting that’s what you have to do or to be irresponsible. I would never say that as I believe in accountability and personal responsibility. I’m super practical. I’m also led by what I feel is happening in my mind-body-spirit. You get to discern and decide if that’s what is right for you.

From my sabbatical journey, I can tell you, if you follow your internal loving (and not fearful) guides, you won’t be led wrong. Any short-term losses you think you may take, you will gain so much more for your life. Because you’ll pivot into something greater that you would not have uncovered without taking the time off. Your perspective will change and you’ll want to re-strategize your life.

Plus you’ll have all the great memories that you can relive for more years than starting in retirement. (I love looking at sabbatical photos and reminiscing about my vacation and time-off).

But besides good memories, you will gain productivity from resting. You won’t know the individual rewards you’ll gain until you take the bold leap.

When should you do it?

I think I described it above, but the short answer I would give is: when you can. You’ll know when you can’t!

Especially if you’re burned out from your job, have life overwhelm, life underwhelm, considering a career switch, or get laid off, now may be a great time (to eliminate life in burnout to sabbatical living that you didn’t choose on purpose… that can leave you de-motivated instead of feeling excited and energized).

Or maybe you have a deepening desire to explore something new in life and that is winning over any fears you have for taking a risky and unknown bold step towards your future, despite questions from loved ones you may receive.

One other word of nudging encouragement to take the proactive bold step… free yourself from feeling like you have to please others (or be a martyr to do it for others). Your life and mental health are at risk, and if you lose yourself in the process, then you have nothing to give.

A mid-life crisis is a real phenomenon that still exists and can come falling like a ton of bricks. It often sadly ends with regrets and not the way it started.

I didn’t experience that (and maybe that’s because I took a sabbatical) but I’ve seen it in others’ lives and maybe you have or will too.

Sometimes it’s just easier when things happen to you that are out of your control, so you can more easily explain your decisions. You lose a job. You get a divorce or another loss happens.

You can find your lost soul, your higher spirit, or a new mission on a sabbatical.

Personally, I love that the sabbatical idea is catching on in our work-addicted society, especially after a shocking 2020 year where we all had to rethink and redo old ways.

Maybe now is a good time for you and you’re looking for encouraging supporters to take a sabbatical. And maybe I’ve piqued your interest, then you’ll want to keep reading as I share more from my memoir and ideas that can help you… Continue reading “From Burnout to Sabbatical: Recharge and Change Your Life”

Onion Ring Snack (Baked) – Plant-Based Diet

Onion ring snack can be a healthy stack when not fried, but baked. Because onions are one of the healthiest allium foods out there.

Jump to Recipe

Healthy red onion ring snack.

They’re prebiotic foods that are fiber and feed the good bacteria in the gut. AND they are great for immunity. Plus they add so much savory flavor without much effort.

Baked onion ring recipe below 🧅

In cold and flu season, I stock up on onions. And they’re such an easy and affordable add to foods and plant based dishes. One that I didn’t like when I was younger. Today, it’s a staple because I know how healthy they are!

Onions are a good way to start a plant-based diet morning. They are part of the Crudite I begin with. And a more plant-forward intention for the day, along with healthy proteins from all sources.

Plant-based diet doesn’t mean you have to give up non-plant based foods like meats. It simply means adding more natural plants into your diet (and less processed plants 🏭).

While a full plant-based diet is not what I do, I have incorporated one plant-based meal per day that matters. I share below a meal plan that I think is a good way to maintain a consistently healthy ideal weight, year after year.

Eating healthy and balanced doesn’t just affect your physical body, it also positively impacts your brain, daily thinking mind, and mental health.

Getting proper vitamins and minerals that come from animal proteins help our brains function properly, that helps us keep our mind-body system balance.

I believe that not including fish, meats, carbs, fruits, and vegetables is missing what God gave us here on this earth.

We hurt our bodies when we don’t eat enough from any of these categories, or we eat too much.

In most meals, strict vegetarians don’t receive enough vitamins and micronutrients (minerals), some that are richly found in animal protein. Fish that are also considered animal meat, contains necessary B vitamins and good omega fat sources that healthy vegetarians usually come to realize they’re missing.

If only we could take vitamin supplements as a 1:1 nutrient exchange for food, but that’s not the case and especially with diluted vitamin pills.

And onion is food medicine with Vitamin C and some B vitamins.

And was is every diet book I was looking into.

My favorites were The South Beach Diet and The Inflammation-Free Diet.

Today those are evolved to a Mediterranean diet and an anti-inflammatory diet that I prescribe to that has a list of foods that are healthy and easy to find at the grocery store.

And there are similarities like plant-based food, and a baked onion ring snack that would fit the bill.

I do my own meal prep that incorporates these more sustainable and healthy ways of eating daily, and that includes a hybrid plant-based diet and a wide array of foods.

Everyone’s immediate health goals can be slightly different. Overall we all want to maintain a consistently healthy weight, have more energy and vitality, and prevent disease and inflammation.

Aligned to those goals, I’ve noticed this is the eating way my body appreciates and my healthy mind works to prepare meals.

Here’s a quick overview of my meals today…

Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner

Eating 3 meals per day, balancing roughly one plant-based meal per day (dinner preferred as later in the day), a heavier lunch with chicken or fish, and a health-conscious breakfast, I believe is a way to maintain your ideal weight, year-round, and what I practice to stay a consistent size 4 for over the past decade.

Breakfast for me can be a smoothie, cereal, or oatmeal which sounds healthy but these are all still either high in sugar, acidity, or both. That’s why athletes and extreme health fanatics eat lean protein for breakfast, such as fish. They’ll include non-sugar carbs and sprouted bread.

Egg whites (and eggs) seem to be the safe breakfast protein. In my balanced natural Vata form, I like to mix it up. But if someone comes up with a plant-based diet for breakfast I’d definitely try to incorporate. Easy foolproof poached eggs and onion are a great healthy start and tasty combo.

Bearnaise sauce (like in bougie Eggs Benedict served in fine brunch restaurants) is so easy to make at home deliciously and healthy (without butter).

I consider breakfast the creative meal of the day where you make it interesting. For a typical Vata (that’s me!), every morning it’s a brand new day to choose a mix of healthy sweet (e.g. cereal or smoothies) and salty (e.g. eggs and potato) desires.

A sticky sweet bun would be too cloying for me now because I’ve trained myself to not like super sweet items as they make my skin crawl. And that evolved into my blindsiding adult eczema.

And I had to re-learn (again) healthier ways to not-tip-the-(skin)-scales. Thank goodness low-sugar recipes work for a sweet tooth… and is a good formula for healthy and happy long living happy missions in life.

You find what works for you.

And then for lunch, I consider the energy and productive meal that keeps you going…

For lunch, I have a filling carb like pasta along with chicken or another low-fat protein that hits the spot and I know I won’t be hungry for hours so I can make it through the afternoon. Rarely will you see me eat a light salad bowl for lunch as high calories burned in the daytime.

Without sustenance, especially if you have a dominant Vata body (or have a combination Vata body), you can have a tendency like I do for your blood sugar level to drop fast so you wanna stay ahead of those crashes.

For me, I learned in those past situations where I felt light-headed or a bit jittery.

You know exactly what I’m talking about if you try to carry a dry snack or some in-between snack (like an onion ring would be good) with you around when you go out in the day.

So I eat or snack before any hunger sneaks up.

And the big switch that I’ve made over the years is eating a plant-based meal with sauteed spinach salad. Some are harder to spell than to add to the diet like broccoli or Brussels sprouts (named after the Belgium capital so is funny with two ending “s”).

For variety and taste, I will add some tofu or garbanzo beans, but it’s not necessary. That’s the meal I keep light.

The difference is that I’m not hungry by dinner so eating a light meal makes sense. If you find you’re most hungry around dinner time, then you may want to experiment eating heavier meals earlier in the day, seeing how that lands, so that you can try a lighter, plant-based meal way in the evening.

That was a gradual shift for me from years before, but definitely a healthy move.

When I used to go out to restaurants at night to eat a substantial dinner (or after eating a heavy Thanksgiving meal), I’d find that hard on the digestive system… maybe that’s what you’ve found in your experiences.

Without taking a digestive aid to help break down the food enzymes or drinking peppermint tea afterward to calm the stomach, that could keep me (or you) up all night or bring on nightmares and a rough night of sleep. Maybe you’ve experienced that before?… if so, you could take advantage of eating at home more often that can change your habits to the healthier ones you want to make like eating heavier meals earlier in the day.

As you get older, your body changes, and what you could do to your 20-year old body doesn’t work anymore.

Plant-Based Meal vs. Vegetarian Meals

We all know vegetables (like this onion ring that looks like another planet) are good for us.

Strict vegetarians and vegans won’t eat fish and seafood.

As the Vata body I live in (and the one you learned about above)… I know I would just graze and graze all day, still being hungry, if I ate beans and vegetables all day.

A variety of protein fills the hunger in a good way and provides healthy vitamins that aren’t filler like processed sweet and salty snack substitutions that are empty calories.

So that’s how I moved toward a plant-based meal in the evening.

I just listened to my body.

I never called it a plant-based diet that you hear about everywhere now…

Having one plant-based meal (over a fully plant-based diet) plus one low protein animal meal daily or regularly, I think you get the best of all worlds–having energy and vitality, and looking young, as your food and what you ingest shows up on the healthy glow of your face and skin.

Having a regular, healthier eating plan to stay consistent gives you the best chance for achieving and sustaining an ideal healthy weight and energy that we all desire.

These tasty plant-based onion ring snacks can help you toward your goals! 🎯

And when you’re feeling like you’re coming down with a cold, eat onions for some assurance.

Panko Red Onion Ring Snack

Course Snack

Cuisine American

Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Ingredients

1 Red onion
Nutritional yeast (or panko bread crumbs for panko method)

Instructions

Cut rings of onions to thickness desired.
Bake on low heat until crispy-texture desire. 300°F temperature recommended. Nutritional yeast is vegan-friendly and gluten-free, and has a powdery cheese texture and will melt in the oven as such -- it won't be a melted cheese effect and it won't be a full-on powder that doesn't melt.
Alternatively you can use the Panko (breaded crumb) method. Dip onion rings in olive oil or water, flour, and then bread crumbs before baking, depending on your desires and diet needs.

Morning Thoughts Healthy Reframe Exercise

Morning thoughts that aren’t always pleasant tpop up when we’re groggy and half awake coming out of dreams we don’t control.

And we can change our thoughts and attitude from this one exercise and yoga exercise habits described below. 👇

Below are some yoga moves so even you wake up on the wrong side of the bed or have a busy day, you don’t miss out on your best day where you feel good when your head hits the pillow at night.

Wake up, Sunshine! Rise and shine. In the morning when you get out of bed with groggy morning thoughts.

But you can change this with your breaths in present moment.

Morning is a great time to start deep breathing for more oxygen… a natural way to get more energy.

Sitting up and standing helps to clear your passages that can be stuffy from laying down.

Survey your home and where the best morning light is if you’ve never done that.

That will be the eastern exposure windows or if you have indoor/outdoor living.

Be sure to let light into your eyes for at least 30 seconds.

Wearing blue glasses to protect eyes from digital screens and shades during the day outside is is a good idea! 😎

In the morning when it’s not direct sunlight like at noon, take them off to look outside and see what’s happening in your natural environment while you enjoy your morning water, smoothie, coffee, etc.

If you’re not a morning person, this is especially good so you wake up.

And if you experience seasonal affective disorder (SAD), this can change your outcomes.

Women need more sleep than men and children need more sleep than adults. Waking up adult energy changes and depends on many factors including a Kapha imbalance (could be mind or body).

If you’re naturally a Kapha body, then this is your natural way more than your Vata and Pitta counterparts.

If you’re not sure which imbalances you currently have and want restoring suggestions on your specific body imbalance symptoms, then I encourage you to take the body balance quiz.

Morning Yoga

Morning yoga even for 5-minutes is worth the effort for restoring good morning thoughts!

Everyone has 5 minutes they can sneak in.

And getting into Table Top pose and doing Cat and Cow can change your day.

Your Ayurvedic routine can include ginger and water. And finding your imbalances. If you’re super tired, Kapha is dominant.

If you’re super hard charging, Pitta is dominant.

If you’re feeling scattered, Vata is dominant.

And if you feel all, know that your Vata runs the show. The other name for Vata is wind, so like howling wind, that will dominate. But then later in the day you may find that your other (Pitta and Kapha) moods kick in.

These are all natural but the more you can feel less moods and restore them to peace and calm, the better.

It’s like your healthy body that doesn’t have symptoms. And when there are symptoms, then you’re focusing on how you can fix the symptoms.

So in the morning, maybe in the kitchen or bathroom, survey what your mood is. Do you need to calm from anxiety, worry (Vata) or being critical of yourself or others (Pitta)? Or are you tired and withdrawn (Kapha) or the opposite extreme of being needy (also Kapha)?

Yoga can change your day. And deep breathing on your mat will help all these restoring needs…. calming anxiety, lowering blood pressure, and breathing in oxygen for energy.

This is a good way to ease into the morning even if you only have 10 minutes before someone or something needs you.

My stretch routine is below (and if you’re a yoga beginner or think you’re not-good at yoga because of body issues, I’ll explain how not to be intimidated).

Here’s a daily yoga morning practice that you can try and tweak to how you like.

Do your Sun Salutations that are done standing.

You can rise up slowly and as controlled as you can like one spinal vertebra at a time, into a standing Mountain pose position.

From there, test your body for where there are kinks in the body, where there’s tightness and especially cracking sounds that are common in the morning or if it’s cold outside.

It’ easier to do this seated or laying down.

Seated, do a Seated Spinal Twist to see if your sides are tight. This was one we did as kids (maybe, hoola hooping, doing Twister, or Sit-n-Spin).

Then check your back. Lay on your back in Corpse pose. Survey. Then when you’re ready, do a Bridge pose. See if there’s tension in your bridge.

Easy Yoga for Beginners

If you’re intimidated by the idea of yoga and doing poses wrong, don’t be…

I’ve been in yoga classes before where I would hear people say they’re “not good at yoga.”

Re-framing your morning thoughts help and then you’re better at it in the future!

We all start as yoga beginners and each morning is a re-start so your body feels different than the day before. It’s a good metaphor for being a lifelong learner.

If you look at laying down flat on your back as another name for Corpse pose, you can make the connection that yoga can be a fancy name for “just being.”

Besides, the funny and interesting thing is, no one is looking at anyone else in a yoga class. Everyone is too busy concentrating and looking at their own body parts and poses.

No one talks about other people’s poses, in or after class. The point of yoga is that it’s an individual sport. You get to look inward and see yourself like when you look in a mirror.

If you’re self-conscious, then yoga can help you break away judgmental feelings about yourself.

If you’re a beginner, doing more yoga gives you self-confidence, and you feel better about your body when poses work.

When I attended my first class I didn’t like it because I didn’t know what was going on, and that’s just par for the course of learning a new skill.

And practicing yoga at home gives you more confidence. So don’t be too quick to rule out yoga as a sustainable activity for you and your morning.

If that’s you at this stage, just have fun with getting to know your body, and center your mind on parts of your body and intention for your practice. The rest will work itself out.

We all have weak spots and our vulnerabilities and bringing them to light is how to go through them. You never know, you may end up loving yoga like I did and do.

And if you’re beyond beginner yoga overthinking or any yoga insecurity, then maybe use your morning yoga practice to work on your patience and resilience.

So that’s my morning routine start (that you can use) before my coffee and catching up with my daily news.

Then I make myself a breakfast smoothie or a breakfast snack and get to productive work.

I hope by reading this, you’re a wee more happy inspired to get up in the mornings and kick those negative morning thoughts to the curb!

7 Effective Gym Habits For New Year’s

Intended effective gym habits can begin in a new year and die before February 1. Don’t let that be YOU in the upcoming year. Make this year and better and different that it deserves as you’re a better, more resilient person.

The usual drill…

Welcoming in the first week of the year with effective gym habits is the intent, where many of us think of new personal, health, and fitness goals. In my mind, I think of the end goal that comes from 7 habits of highly effective people that can be applied to life. But not always effect in fitness areas…

Because most people don’t like to workout. That’s the first hurdle. Especially if you prefer to work or play instead of work out (I know the feeling!). At times, working out can add more stress if you don’t have a routine down.

But, if you prioritize, practice and adopt doing regular habits (great for Vata balancing)… and they are habits you enjoy, that could be a game changer to effective habits. Let that be the new year mantra or philosophy you breathe in…

OUT with ancient new year’s resolutions, and IN with inspiring habits for your betterment, progress, and self-improvement goals.

Simple steps like attending a Gold’s Gym (my fond memories) or similar, and doing at-home ab exercises regularly can help get you into healthy physical body habits with good results if you choose successful ways that help you, explained below…

Inspired by 7 habits of highly effective people who are proactive in their lives and begin with the end in mind, these are 7 effective habit traits (and what it boils down to), to embrace ideas that can turn into action and help set you up for success.

I think these ways make habits easier to adopt, and you can apply to any area you want to have continued success in.

So, applying these traits will help you with training to stay active and healthy fit for the year and keep effective gym habits for life.

Effective Habit Traits Inspired By 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

1. New – highly effective people consider and embrace new ideas, challenging the status quo or current norm. They keep everything fresh and have a learning and growth mindset. They think “today is a brand, new day” to do something better, remarkable, or impactful.

2. Variety – they spice up life with more than one way or choice. This can be from food to finding new inspiration or a new route. If they did it one way, they try another way to keep things exciting.

3. Fun or exciting – they have fun doing what they do. If you’re enjoying yourself, then you’re more likely to keep doing what you’re doing. Laughter is a good indicator that you’re engaged. Remember when you were a kid, and that’s what got you going?… just good, innocent fun.

4. Usefulness – they know how to be productive with their time, and highly effective people spend time working on activities that are useful and not a waste of time. There’s a next step, where there’s personal growth, observable impact, or serves others.

5. Practical – they turn ideas into action and use resources they have access to, and keep going. They don’t let excuses keep them from moving forward. Relevance guides them to their next steps and pivots.

6. Getting better – they look for progress. They know that if it’s not getting better, that it could be getting worse. They look for signs of growth, impact, and healthiness.

7. Easy – they keep it simple and uncomplicated. They know if it’s easy, then it’s doable. There won’t be delay and “easy” can be duplicable and scalable to perform in other ways.

So now here’s how can you embrace and select 1-2 of these 7 ideas into your personal fitness or exercise life and routine: Continue reading “7 Effective Gym Habits For New Year’s”

8 Ways to Avoid Stress Eating Anxiety and Holiday Stress

Stress eating can be real anxiety for the best of us (that can easily become a bad habit).

Feeling anxious from a negative thought can cause overeating and shoveling food into our mouths. This feeds our natural desire to enjoy pleasure. But then we regret our decision the next day, as it shows up on our body and then can turn into anxious body thoughts (in the mind-body connection).

Below are some ways to break the stress-eating vicious cycle, especially around the winter holidays.

Especially in December, we can’t avoid messages about the new year being around the corner, that brings awareness to what we need to do to finish up the year, and then that reminds us of the hoopla of what happened and disappointments of what hasn’t yet. We just want peace, joy, and love.

By no fault of your own, holiday anxieties can be triggered in your mind-body, and aggravate stress eating as a comforting behavior that disturbs healthy living aspirations.

One way you can start to change this is to find a healthy set of friends (or a virtual community) who will support you and you can share your successful moments with. Choose these optimistic friends over complainers. You want to leave your near-year ending on a sweet (not sour) high note. Stay encouraged, growing, believing, and finding new year inspiration.

On that note, I have some holiday stress management encouragement…

Because we all bear some kind of stress as humans. At a bare minimum, you may have been thrown a few monkey wrenches within the year and an uneventful holiday ending.

You may have thought you’ve had enough, and you would just coast the rest of the year and take time off, and then something suddenly came up. You’re asked to make an off-course decision or two, be more creative than you’ve been (thinking outside the box), and work harder in your uphill climb despite facing ups and downs.

You’re not alone.

Look on the brighter side of things, you’re needed and you have a chance to make an impact in some unique way.

Those you-matter thoughts help your inner peace, that you can get back and are just a few steps away in your meditation practice, prayer life, or relaxed walk.

By a simple choice, you can change your mind and attitude just like that if you want to, despite your feelings or moods.

You always feel better than you did after the fact. You never know what thoughts and ideas are on the other side, but the time you put in is rewarded.

You’re better off if you find some way to be optimistic, even if it’s just borrowing a belief. Sometimes you have to just do it, to adopt a new way.

Recently I was tasked to virtually decorate my Zoom screen background for a holiday meetup… those are common this year, right?

I don’t how you feel about yourself in a digital world, but coming up with a digital holiday background isn’t in my go-to wheelhouse bag of tricks, and maybe not in yours either. So I dug deep and basically looked around (…isn’t that how we were resourceful when we were younger?), and that led me to bring out the soft felted stockings and artificial decorations from the Christmas storage bin.

I’m an arts and crafts type. As a scrapbooker, I like handmade, decorating with brads and ribbons, and the whole nine yards for anything you can touch and feel… Continue reading “8 Ways to Avoid Stress Eating Anxiety and Holiday Stress”