Monthly Goals: August

 Hello friends! I hope you all had a nice weekend! I go back to work on Tuesday and am very much looking forward to a fabulous school year ahead!

Today I am linking up with Sarah and Holly for Hello Monday to share my goals for the month of August.

1. Slowly Build Up a Tolerance for More Food-- By the end of chemo, my stomach was destroyed. There were several days where I would have to force myself to eat anything at all, usually a banana. I am working on trying to eat a balance of healthy foods so I can get a variety of vitamins and minerals into my body, with a large emphasis on protein. So far so good, I am back to eating three meals a day, albeit small meals. I know my body needs food to heal and I also know the importance of healthy food, so I will keep trying my best to fuel my body with as many fruits, veggies, and proteins as I can stomach.

2. Light Exercise-- Another important thing for recovery is light exercise. I am hoping to continue my daily walks or to include some light yoga daily. As I get stronger I can make these activities more challenging, but I'm not there yet so no rush!

3. Rest-- This one is proving to be the hardest! I am normally such a "go go go!" kind of person that forcing myself to take time to rest is hard, especially with young kids at home. However, it is very easy to overdo it during this recovery phase, so I need to make it a priority to rest in order to recover. 

4. Daily Affirmations-- I used to think affirmations were cheesy/hokey and didn't really believe in the power of doing them, but I do firmly believe in the power of having a positive mindset. Well, I'll be honest, the recovery phase for chemo hasn't been going as quickly as I would like and I very quickly began this downward spiral of negative self-talk. I was thinking things like "I am so frustrated," "I'm still so weak," "I can't believe I'm letting the kids watch MORE tv so I can rest," etc. Day after day of that negative self-talk really did make an impact and I was finding it hard to be positive. I decided, even though I didn't really believe in doing affirmations, that forcing myself to say positive things wasn't going to hurt, so I should try it. Well, I am now a believer in affirmations-- hah! It's amazing how changing my thinking to "I am healing," "I am a fighter," and "I am a great mom" really and truly did make a difference in my mindset. You have a choice each day to either be negative or be positive, so why not choose to be positive?

5. Get Back Into the Bible in a Year Podcast--  I started the year doing so well with my Bible in a Year podcast, but throughout treatment would skip several days and now I am over a month behind. My goal is to not skip any days this month and to hopefully listen to an extra one here and there so I can slowly work towards getting caught up.

What about you? Do you have any goals for this upcoming month?