Hey everybody, I'm Leah Body coming to you today with the first installment of 5 Minute Friday from hurdle in 2023.

I feel the need at the top of a new year to make sure we're all in the same page about how things work here on hurdle.

Three different episodes each week, typically Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Mondays numbered with a guest, Wednesdays, the hurdle moment series, think of these as evergreen topics, discussions with experts that help you get to where you want to be on your own personal wellness journey. We talk about everything from nutrition and gosh dental health,

environmental wellness, sexual wellness, you name it, that was a myriad of topics right there. And then last but not least, five minute Friday, what you're listening to right now, I share a story for my week, I jam with you a little bit about what's going on in my head.

And then I ask you a thought provoking question to take you into the weekend and finish things off by answering a listener question.

So today for five minute Friday, I want to talk about habits, I feel as though the beginning of a new year, we're all kind of evaluating and really putting a magnifying glass on what we have going on in our life, the things that serve us and the things that don't for me, we are on day 13 here.

And I started for the first time ever using a habit tracker at the beginning of the year, my mom gave me a journal, it's from best self co I will link it in the show notes that I've been using religiously since January 1st and in that journal, there is a 30 day habit tracker, there's one for each and every month.

I decided on December 31st to write down a slew of habits that I wanted to be a little bit more mindful of in the new year. And of course, I'll go down the list. So let's do this.

Drink at least six classes of water AM brush teeth PM brush teeth wash face 45 minutes of outdoor activity drink athletic greens journal do either breathwork or meditation, not drink alcohol, no alcohol, read for 10 minutes, get in 10,000 steps and send a thoughtful message.

Now I would be remiss if I didn't say that some of these are what feels like no brainers right morning teeth brush evening teeth brush admittedly there are some nights that I am so absolutely zonked out that I'll start to fall asleep on the couch and when I wake up, I'll just like me under my way to my bed.

Alas skipping the evening toothbrush and then there are some habits that take a little bit more effort like this 45 minutes of outdoor activity. Now my experience thus far in tracking my habits for about two weeks now is that this gamification of sorts seems to really serve me there have been some really gloomy days over the past couple of weeks here in New York.

And still up until yesterday Thursday I made it a priority to get outside for that 45 minute of outdoor activity no matter what none of those days don't worry I wasn't walking in the rain, but there would have been a time when if it looked like it did outside previously I would have been like not today instead I decided to make my habits work for me.

So what did that look like in practice it looks like walking from my apartment to my physical therapy appointment exactly about a 50 minute walk including a bridge between Brooklyn and Manhattan and it's something now that I really try to make time for every time I head over to Lolita for those of you that don't live in New York City Lolita is a neighborhood south of 14th Street in Manhattan I digress every morning when I wake up.

I sit down with my habit tracker and I go down the list and X out to check it off for the day and are there a few empty boxes a total of let's see here for in the last almost two weeks and this gamification like I said it's really working for me it's making me feel accomplished and if that's what it takes for me to do these things that I know are important to me.

Then so be it I'm telling you this story mostly because I recognize that choosing and keeping up with a new habit can certainly be overwhelming but what if you made it a point to make that habit work for you I'm not saying I need to walk for 45 minutes every single morning between eight and 9 am that's probably not realistic for me something's going to come up.

But what if I make it a point to look at my schedule and say when can I take this time for me I'm proud of myself for taking the time for me it's not always easy I feel like things have been literally non stop since I hit the ground running two weeks ago but I'm grateful for all of it and I'm grateful and proud of myself for making the time.

So my question for you this week are what are some habits that you want to be mindful of over the next I guess 50 weeks of 2023 time flies when you're having fun what are some habits that you want to be mindful of this year and is there anything that you can do to hold yourself accountable and now a listener question.

Hi Emily I wanted to ask a little bit about how you balance having performance based exercise goals and listening to your body when you maybe need some rest in recovery.

Good question I'm going to say it like this listening to your body is always king and there or queen if you want to put it that way there is a very big difference between listening to your body and being in tune with how your body feels versus

allowing yourself mentally to cop out when your legs feel like lead and you're feeling extra sore there is absolutely no reason to push yourself past a place that is safe for you in your body.

Even though you may have big performance goals you have to think long term it's definitely a place that I am living in as I navigate the ins and outs of planter fasciitis navigating this fine line requires you to be able to have a really honest dialogue with yourself and also it requires grace as well.

I'll say this when I have chosen to fight through maybe some mental fatigue show up and sweat anyway I have never regretted that workout and sure there have been times where perhaps I've settled up on the peloton bike hoping to hit a new PR and then 10 minutes in realize that I just don't have that in the tank.

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