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This post is a bit of a break from our traditional grandparenting ideas, but I do believe that when we invest time in our own lives, we are also preparing to be better grandparents, better spouses, better friends, and well just better ‘us’. Fall is a great time for a habit reset!
The grandkids and the grown kids are busy establishing new schedules and surviving those first weeks of school. While I will still hear bits and pieces of their days, this is the time of year with a little less connecting.
It may seem counterintuitive, but I believe spontaneity is much more likely to happen when I’ve got my life in order. When I’m frazzled and distracted, the joy of being spontaneous flies out the window.
To keep that response in check, I find it nice to have a ‘new year’ or habit reset, several times each year to get everything back on track.
The areas I tend to struggle with over time are:
- meals
- paper
- maintaining habits
So I’m putting this out there for all to see, and I’m also hoping it will inspire you to tackle an area of your life that might cause frustration for you from time to time.
In This Post
Habit Reset – Meals
By the time I get home from work, I just don’t want to cook – okay, I don’t want to do the prep. And with cooler evenings on the horizon, chopping up ingredients for a cool summer salad won’t be nearly as inviting.
This year, I’m going to add freezer meals to my weekly menu.
Now I love freezer meals, and have used them for various busy seasons, and especially vacations. However, I haven’t made them part of my average week, so I’m giving that a try this year.
There are a lot of great freezer meal ideas out there, but I have landed with Polly and Rachel’s Thriving Home meals. They’ve got a great variety of quick meals, freezer meals and cooking tips.
Once I get a few meals in the freezer for myself, I can stock up a few more to take to my grown kids, or to someone in need.
I’m excited to mix in a couple of these meals each week to simplify planning and prepping.
A couple favorites of mine are the Chicken Tortilla Soup and Southwest Chicken and Bacon Wraps. Yum!
Habit Reset – Paper
I really do consider myself an organized person, but sometimes the amount of paper that lands on my desk at home amazes me.
- What should I keep?
- What should I toss?
- Where is that password?
- Didn’t I write that date down? (And don’t suggest going digital, because my laptop desktop looks way to much like my physical one!)
One of my favorite paper solutions experts is Lisa Woodruff with Organize 365. She suggests having a binder for four areas:
- Household Reference (where all the guides and how to’s of our home are found),
- Home Management (all the info for running our home)
- Finances
- Medical
The goal of these binders is that not only is it helpful to us, and a great replacement of a file cabinet, but it also is a resource that should my husband and I have an emergency, we (or a family member) can access the binders and find important info without additional stress.
I started this paper organization project last Winter, but have yet to complete it. I’m looking forward to refining it in the next few weeks.
Maintaining Healthy Habits
It sure is a lot easier for me to slide into bad habits then to maintain good ones!
I know that maintaining good habits helps me meet goals and helps me steward my time for the things I say I want to do.
This Fall I’m hitting the habit reset button again – and that’s ok!
I will be reviewing two great books.
The first is called Atomic Habits by James Clear.
The premise of Clear’s book is that we can get 1% better each day when we create better systems. He shares simple step by step ways to create and manage habits. Clear also shares some great habit hacks such as “Make your habits fun.” Figure out the most enjoyable version of a habit you want to keep, and do that.
The second book is Craig Groshel’s The Power to Change – Mastering the Habits that Matter Most.
You might consider Craig’s book to be the faith based version of Atomic Habits. Both books have had an impact on how I plan and spend my time. And that makes me a better wife, mom, friend and grandma.
I want to use the gift of each day wisely, and to impact those around me in a positive way.
Imagine if thousands of Over the River subscribers made the choice to invest in ourselves this Fall. Imagine all of us getting 1% better in important areas of life – like grandparenting! I want to invite you to choose one or two areas to focus on that will help you be the very best version of you! We would love to hear what you choose! Let’s begin this new season together – less frazzled and ready for all the opportunities that being a grandparent brings our way.