The Keys with Kristin – The Most Important Part of Your Day

The most important part of your day.

I believe in daily habits. I believe that stacking up a few intentional daily habits can change your life, and create happiness. Happiness is not a destination; it’s a journey, and that journey starts today. What will you do today to enjoy this day? What will you do to win today? Not worrying about yesterday or what can come tomorrow, but today.

Shortly after my son was born, I felt the overwhelming feeling of being a new mother. The crippling anxiety of how to be all things to all people. How would I be as a mother? How could I grow a career while being a mom and a wife? Am I screwing it all up? I spent a few months in this spiral. I at least knew something wasn’t right and sought out help from a professional who then prescribed medication. At that time, it was exactly what I needed. As time went on, I felt the need to control things in my life myself and not let medication have control over me. That’s not the case for everyone, and I want to clearly acknowledge that. I wanted to gain control of my own happiness, and that wasn’t going to come from a doctor or anyone else for that matter. That had to be built within me. I dove into the pool of personal development and am still deeply in the study of self-improvement.

The greatest habit that has come from the study of personal development for me is journaling. As I researched and went through the practice, I learned that journaling is really hard. What the heck am I writing? Is this like a “dear diary”? Am I supposed to write what I did today or how I felt or a letter to myself? All of it felt foreign and strange. If I am completely honest, I hated it. Today, it’s the best part of the day. Just like anything great, it takes time. You have to find the groove that works for you. I am not here to tell you what your journal should say, but I am here to tell you to try it. Here are a few ways in which to start.

Why journal?

1. Improved attitude
2. Clarity on your dreams, goals, happiness, and vision
3. Dealing with difficult situations, anxiety, and trauma
4. Success in your chosen field of parenting, career, and relationships
5. Leave a legacy message to your children

I think we will all agree that we want the things above. Who doesn’t want to feel better on the daily and see success within their day? If you are still a skeptic, that’s ok. Try on a few prompts below, and see if you can find one that sticks.

1. Gratitude – this is the start of my journal every single day. For your gratitude, you write down ten things you are grateful for in the past 24 hours. This is NOT things like my family, my health, my job. This is specific and must have happened in the last 24 hours. For example, this might be my new coffee mug, my 4 am club Wednesday workout, a text from a friend, a good meal, or my son holding my hand while watching a movie. Your life is good; your day is good. This is the proof. You use this list to get your mind in the state of being grateful for the moments that come and that will take the ordinary to extraordinary. You will also find, as this practice builds, that you’ll be spending time looking for new things within the last 24 hours to write down on your list. It will make you stop and admire the hummingbird out the window and the flowers that you have managed to keep alive on the porch. Beautiful days come from beginning with gratitude. Start here. If this is all you write down for 30 days, I can guarantee a path to happiness.

2. Goals – Of course I am going to say that. Write down five statements of who you want to be. Every. Single. Day. This may sound crazy because it is. These are big statements that are a part of the person that you are becoming. Write this in the form of “I am” – present tense. Be as specific as you can. In my goal setting for the year, I categorize my goals into Faith, Family, Fitness, Field, Fun, Friends, and Finance. (See the previous VUE issue on Goal setting) From those big goals, I developed a vision for who I will be in 5 years, and I write those statements down. Here’s your proof this works:

 In December of 2019, I had just become certified in Les Mills BodyPump. I was asked to teach a class at 4:15 am on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I was absolutely terrified. I had a stage, a mic and was fresh out of training. I remember thinking I might just throw up. I had hives breaking out on my neck, and my voice was shaking. I had maybe ten people in the room, and I could feel the heat of them staring and clearly thinking that I was nowhere near qualified. Then something happened. When the first class was over, I felt an insane wave of energy. Excitement and happiness I had never experienced before. I felt the tug on my heart that this might be something. I wrote it down. I noticed I kept writing about how I felt after teaching and how that grew. Within two weeks, my statement of goals in the journal was “I teach a sold-out BodyPump class at 4 am.” This seemed beyond nuts because 1. Who works out at 4 am?! and 2. Why would anyone want to come to my class, I am so new? I wrote this statement every day, and just two months later, on February 24^th, 2020, my 4 am club showed up and showed out with a sold-out class. I went home and cried. It started with a tug on my heart, and now we have a crew of incredible men and women who push me to be better every week. We frequently run out of equipment and space, but we will always make room for more.

These two prompts are small and simple. They may only take 10 minutes a day, and that is enough. You are building a daily habit to build the person you see yourself becoming. The bigger you write, the more you will become. I can attest that this has improved my relationships, parenting, career, and success on more than one occasion. It’s become the catalyst for change. It’s therapy and prayer. It’s tears and fears. It’s change and inspiration. Mostly, I think about my son. I hope that one day he finds a box of notebooks and sees that his mom worked to build a life of impact. I want him to see that the hardest days are followed by the glorious ones and that every single day you have the power to choose happiness.

Happiness is found in every single day, and all you have to do is pay attention.