Consistency

Hello friends and welcome to my thirty-seventh blog.

One of the definitions of this word is the quality of achieving a level of performance that does not vary in quality over time.

I have a seriously love-hate relationship with this word. I am awesomely consistent in some ways and horridly inconsistent in others.

Every weekend I say I am going to plan my meals for the week. I am going to make sure that I have all the ingredients in my fridge and pantry, and I will be good to go. Our meals will be prepped and prepared seamlessly, and it will all be perfection at its best. Then what happens? I get Covid and feel too poorly to maintain this. Lame excuse, Hayles you tested negative and have got over it weeks ago. Okay, then we had an idyllic break in our Happy Place and I definitely had more time and I was only preparing for Rich and me. So many feeble excuses.

Then there is the very untidy cupboard. At the end of my convalescing, I decided I would also be that person to tidy out my cupboard and so I took upon this task with great gusto and some enthusiasm. It was exhausting and I semi-strained my hamstrings by climbing onto a mini ladder to get to the top shelves. I digress. Four enormous black bags later and my cupboard looked superb and Helen’s family were able to reap the benefits of clothes that I no longer wear. I was super proud of myself and my cupboard looked good for at least 3 days. Suffice it to say that now it is a mess again, sadly.

Then there is the pantry cupboard, which I tidied and made organized and orderly to walk the talk with one of my first nutritional clients. That lasted for a whole week and now it looks like a dog show again. My intentions are always honourable, but they just do not seem to last.

Let us not get into the chat about my bathroom, the basin, and my cupboard…do not think that we can even go there, in fact, let us not. It is appalling. There are bottles without lids, foundation on the countertops, towels on the floor. In fact, if you were to walk into the bathroom and see my side of it, you would be forgiven for thinking that there had been an explosion in there. Oh, dearie me.

I also think I may be one of the only people I know who consistently has an untidy suitcase, and that this is the case is on the journey out, not on the return. It is no wonder that my suitcase never gets items stolen from it. The would-be thief/ thieves get such a shock on opening the case that they shut it quickly and run away.

These examples of my lack of consistency in some areas of my life. There are many more examples where I am very consistent.

I consistently love, care, feed (when they are around), and nurture my boys. I have done this from the time they were born and will continue to do so for as long as I am able to. Through many years of varying counselling, my aim has always been to consistently create a loving, stable, safe and secure home for my boys as my childhood was not some of this, at times, and quite often. In spite of being the crazy and mad Mum, I think that on the whole, thanks to, and together with Rich my rock, we have been able to provide this, and for this, I am eternally grateful.

I am also consistent in my friendships and I am blessed to be surrounded by an amazing group of magnificent women. I love the fact that I learn so many different and awesome things from all these ladies in so many ways, consistently.

I am constantly striving to be my best. I read all the time and I revel in learning as much as I can and as often as I can. I am constant about writing my blog every week and putting my best foot forward when I do this. I am consistent about providing my patients with the best care I can possibly give them. I also consistently strive to aim to get my brand of “Healing with Hayles” out there and am really pleased with the positive steps that I am taking. I am consistently developing and evolving as a nutrition consultant and am thrilled with my growing business.

I am also consistently trying to stop overthinking and overanalyzing stuff. So, what if not everyone reads, comments, or likes what I write. I am also trying to spend less time on social media. I am consistent in trying to be kind to others and to not hurt or upset them, though this has failed me a little sometimes. I am consistently trying not to dwell in the past and that is a work in progress.

My morning routine of lemon water, coffee with almond milk most of the time followed by exercise seems also to be working well. My routine of eating a quality protein, a complex carb, and a good fat has become routine.

I am consistent about loving my bubbles, revelling in my sugar-free fizzy drinks though less than I used to, lying in the sun quite moderately now, (see I can use the word) and eating chocolates. I am consistent about exercising and will get back on track with yoga and meditation soon. I consistently try to be positive about my awesome life and the beautiful world in which we live.

I am proud of my ongoing consistency of comparing myself to others and being so hard on myself. Such big steps for me. Yay!!

Anyway, a bit of reading, some studying, some thoughts, and some ideas to help me learn a bit more about consistency and its meaning in my life.

For me, if the why is not important enough, I will not remain consistent. Why do my cupboards need to be tidy? It is really not that important to me. My family, friends, businesses, and care of myself is much more vital and those I am much more consistent with – so who cares about the orderly cupboards!
Sometimes one has to maintain consistency for a very long time to see results. I used to struggle with this, but in my older age, I have realized that things take time and that is okay. I just need to keep plodding.
Often, I waste time because of my inconsistencies, and perhaps this needs to be addressed. If I put things in set places, I will ultimately spend less time looking for them and have more time to do other stuff.
I might ask my family to be my accountability partners to gently encourage me in some areas of inconsistency. This may go completely pear, so let us just see.
I am learning to focus on the present and am aiming for consistency in this aspect of my life. Remember my blog, being present gives you time.
I am consistently fine-tuning my life plan and altering and tweaking my goals and my aspirations and find this so exciting.
I actually and honestly feel that I need to be a little less hard on myself about this consistency story as this is wasted effort and energy and could be used to plan those scrumptiously tasty and exquisitely healthy meals. I would also like to encourage myself to find joy in this, to make it fun and less of a chore.
I have started to understand that consistency does not have to be all or nothing, its an accumulation of what we do over time. This also applies to health and wellness.
I have decided that I need to take the time to manage my time. That is quite a thing! I need to prioritize my time and do this consistently. Since being sick, I have made a concerted effort to slow down and actually feel that this adds to my time. I am now constantly making sure that I get proper chill time as I have not quite got my Mojo back one hundred percent. My self-care has increased, and this is helping me get back on the horse completely.
Nothing is cast in stone; you can change what you believe you need to be consistent in. We are quick to make judgements about ourselves and the ability to see something through, but we need to know when these things are useful, when they are outdated and when they are no longer serving ourselves.
Routine and consistency work together. What routines really do is ensure you are consistent with things that are important to you, and consistency is absolutely key to lasting and effective change. Being consistent allows you to monitor your progress effectively, and ultimately, consistency is often the difference between failure and success. Routines help stop you from getting overwhelmed and stressed. And that means you get to enjoy more of life’s excitement.