Cue the New You | Meritt Rollins Brown

“Bad habits repeat themselves again and again not because you don’t want to change, but because you have the wrong system for change. You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems” (p 27 “Atomic Habits” James Clear).
A lot times we go through life on autopilot. We think the same thoughts, behave in the same manner, and have the same results. When you want to change a result in your life like: make more money, lose 20 pounds and keep it off, buy a house, or find a partner, people often try to change everything at once.
Instead, what we need to do is breakdown our goal, and start improving one habit. If you want to lose weight and keep it off because you are tired of yo-yo dieting, you may want to improve your exercise routine. So you start walking one mile a day, three days a week. After a few weeks of walking, you may feel better because your mood has improved, you are getting more tired from walking at night so you tend to fall asleep faster, which means you are getting more sleep, which means you have more energy the next day, which means you get more things done. When you get more sleep, you have less cravings. When you have less cravings, you can create a healthier diet. Catch my drift?
This is known as creating a snowball effect with habits. You can look at the Health Trio: Exercise | Diet | Sleep. When you improve your exercise habits, you will start to improve your sleep habits, then you start to improve your diet habits. In this episode I go over the Health Trio, as well as the Routine Trio.
Admiral William H McRaven talks about if you want to change the world, make your bed in the morning. This creates a small win in your brain, and if you do it in the mornings, before checking your phone especially, then your brain is going to crave another small win. And another small win. Remember how I said the more you do something, the more you do something? That’s partly due to Hebb’s law, “What fires together, wires together.” Which basically means you are creating neural pathways when you are doing more of something.
So what habit are you going to improve?

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Why I've shifted my focus, and merged two of my passions to bring you Mindset for Mealtimes. I'm so excited to be sharing with you all of my mindset expertise, life coaching concepts, and intuitive eating tips that will help reshape your relationship with food and your body!
Xoxo

Website: https://merittrollinsbrown.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/merittrollinsbrown/
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All about becoming your future self and feeling feeling your feelings in this episode, as I am having a breakdown. So, enjoy... before I delete it lol.

Website: https://merittrollinsbrown.com/
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"Several studies show a correlation between disorganization, clutter, and mental health conditions, including, depression, anxiety, and stress. Messy environments can cause frustration, helplessness, and feeling overwhelmed. Excessive clutter often leads to feelings of shame, hopelessness, and guilt." (PsyhologyToday.com)
I have spent years, years getting to this point in my life where I’m not overwhelmed with house work. I’ll give you my number one secret. You ready? Own less shit. That’s it. I’m not talking be a bare minimalist, but have a manageable amount of things. Start being intentional with what you buy, what you bring into your home.

For years I tried a cleaning schedule, I tried buying bins to keep organized, but then I wouldn’t feel motivated to clean or I was in a rush and didn’t put things up where they belonged, and then everyone’s a mess again. It’s like yo-yo cleaning. You start decluttering, you start feeling better about your space your environment, but then something comes up or something happens, and you revert back to your old cleaning tendencies and behavior and what was once clean sand organized is now not. So you took 2 steps forward and 10 steps back. And you think well this particular cleaning schedule or routine just doesn’t work, so you browse Pinterest to find another one. And you give that a try, and the cycle continues. And the frustration and stress slowly build up overtime. And then you become bitter about your home. Not liking anything, not liking your clothes, not wanting to do the dishes again or dust or take the trash. Because you’re tired of the problem not being solved and not improving.

So I want to go over more of the psychology behind Decluttering and organizing, rather than a How to Declutter tutorial or How to become more organized. If you didn’t have clutter, what would your life look like? How would you feel? What would you think about yourself? About your home? About your belongings? If you became an organized person, how would this impact your life? What would change? How would you feel?

Ask yourself are these two end results possible? Why or why not? Yes it’s possible for me to have a decluttered space and keep it decluttered, and it’s possible to become organized. Or no, it’s not possible for me to change my decluttering ways and I’ll always be a hot mess.

*The PDF Link to the questions for this podcast episode are attached here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TPvalF5orRB-T05pKu1QNptqDsCm1X0c/view?usp=sharing
*Be sure to download the file and not open in the browser.
Psychology Today article: (https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-resilient-brain/202302/the-many-mental-benefits-of-decluttering#:~:text=Several%20studies%20show%20a%20correlation,shame%2C%20hopelessness%2C%20and%20guilt.)

Website: https://merittrollinsbrown.com/
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"Self-care is not self-indulgence, it is self preservation." - Audra Lorde
Mama’s I know we are the heart and soul of our families - we give and give to our kids, our partners, our house, our jobs, but when was the last time you really took a moment for yourself? When was the last time you felt relaxed, you felt joy, you felt great about yourself? From experience, it is so easy to get caught up in all the chaos, or comparing yourself to others, or the self-doubt, that self-care goes right out the window. But it’s crucial for our well-being: mentally, physically, and emotionally to check-in with ourselves and make sure we reconnect with who we are and who we want to become.

I cannot repeat this enough - self-care is not selfish. It is indeed a necessity. It rejuvenates our minds, bodies, and spirit. It helps fill our cups up. When we have a full cup, we can give more to those around us. When we take care of ourselves, our cups get fuller and fuller and fuller, and we can start spilling our cups over into other areas of our lives.
When was the last time you really felt emotionally, mentally, or physically full? Have you ever been burnt-out as a mom? Stressed? Overwhelmed? Ever felt not good enough? I've been there too. I struggled for years not feeling like myself, feeling lost, and I wasn't present as a mother or a partner. It wasn't until I was desperate for change that I stumbled upon life coaching - and that rabbit hole (6 years later) led me to a life of caring for and caring about myself.
Establishing a self-care routine, especially as a mom, will help you: reduce stress, improve your emotional resilience, increase your energy and mood, you will start to love yourself and your body, you will yell less, create a simple and realistic cleaning routine, have more patience with kids and your partner, let go of mom guilt, and overall have a more positive mindset. And think about what this shift can do for your kids, for your family dynamics.
It is my mission in 2024 to help 1,000 moms give back to themselves through self-care.
Remember, you deserve the time and care for yourself that you give to others. You are doing a great job.

Website: https://merittrollinsbrown.com/
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TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@merittrollinsbrown?_t=8hC2ICTEGIY&_r=1