02. Finding Balance Before the New Year

Struggling to find balance inn your health, routine, or mindset? In this episode of Hannah's Healthy Habits, we break down the four main pillars of balance: Mental, physical, emotional, and lifestyle. I share practical habits that help reduce stress, improve wellness, and create a more intentional daily routine. 

Perfect for anyone wanting to build healthier habits, reset their mindset, and feel more grounded before the new year!

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Transcript

0:01

You don't need a perfect moment to start living a healthier, happier life. Welcome to Hannah's Healthy Habits, a podcast about learning, growing, and building a healthier life from the inside out. And now we're doing it together. Hi guys. Welcome back to the podcast. I just wanna start out by thanking everyone for being here today. Anyone who listened last week, and just the overwhelming support that I've received. Anybody that took the time to congratulate me or to say any kind words about it, I just appreciate so, so much. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart. This is something that I've wanted to do for a long time, and. You know, you can only get better from the first one. So this is just my encouragement to you. If there's anything that you've been wanting to do, just do it. Just start now. You don't need a perfect time. You don't need a Monday, you don't need the start of the new year. You really just need to start. Today's been one of those days where I just feel a little off, which is funny because this episode is about balance, but I think God likes to throw in these little curve balls and create the perfect setup because balance really isn't about being steady all the time. It's about learning how to come back to center when you do feel thrown off. So before we get into the heart of this episode, I want everyone to take a moment. If you're not driving, I want you to close your eyes and take a couple deep breaths. all right, now that we are all feeling a little bit more calm, I'm gonna go into a couple questions to reflect on what we need to do this week and how we can feel more structured. So the first question is, what do I need more of this week? This can be more time and quiet, solitude. It can be more exercise, it could be more time taken out of your week to prep food the second question is, what do I need less of? Is it less stress? Less busyness? Is it less screen time? I know it's probably less screen time, and then the last question is, where do I feel stretched too thin? We live in a day and age where. We give ourselves way too much, and especially during this time of the year, during the holidays, we are saying yes to a lot of things and we're really stretching ourselves as far as possible. So wear somewhere where you're feeling stretched too thin, and what's something you can do this week that can make your week just a little bit more balanced. I used to think I understood balance, but looking back on it, I don't know if I ever really had it in high school. I functioned a lot off of routine and being organized, but again, I don't know if that is really balance. I was going to school working, I was on the dance team, And I also danced at a dance studio, so my life was always busy, but it was pretty structured. I didn't realize at the time, but I relied heavily on that structure. But once I graduated, I feel like everything changed. I went to college for a semester and I quickly realized I have no idea what I want to do with my life. And honestly, I was having a lot more fun and making way more money, working full time at a bar and restaurant, and that's when things really started to go downhill I had no routine. My habits had slipped. All of my priorities shifted. I basically spent the next few years in party mode. I'd work all day. I'd go out all night. I'd drink, smoke, repeat. My relationship with food was horrible. I went through cycles of starving myself and binging, and not eating and obsessing over if something was clean or not, and punishing myself with workouts. I was exhausted. I was mentally and physically drained and I felt really alone and I had no idea how to find balance Again. Things shifted for me when I started esthetician school. That's when I really started to learn something that stuck what you do to the inside of your body shows up on the outside. That hit me hard because I was tanning, I was vaping, I was drinking, not eating enough, and I was saying horrible things to myself. I was doing everything on the inside that worked against what I said I wanted on the outside, and that realization didn't fix me overnight, but it did open the door. Over the past five years, I've slowly worked on myself, not perfectly, but consistently. Little by little I learned that I thrive off of routine. I thrive off of balance. I don't like the strict controlling, but the kind that makes me feel steady. I love having a morning routine that grounds me. I love moving my body because it feels good, not because I'm trying to earn the food that I eat or change my appearance, but because I feel better afterward. I love eating foods that actually nourish my body, not counting calories or obsessing over macros. Just focusing on real ingredients, reading the labels, and understanding what those foods really have in them. I love journaling, slowing down and building a relationship with God. I spend my mornings quietly. I know that's not available to everyone, but if it is, I highly recommend taking the first 10, 20 minutes out of your day and just sitting down writing a couple things that you're grateful for, maybe making a list of priorities for the day and just starting there. It took a lot of time, and I'm still learning every day, but I'm finally at a place where I'm proud of my progress and I feel strong enough to share what I've learned. I'm not perfect by any means, and I definitely don't have it all figured out, but I know what it feels like to have no balance, and I know how life changing it is when you finally start building it again. The four main pillars of balance are mental, physical, emotional, and lifestyle. Mental is all about the mind. It's about helping with clarity, emotional regulation, intentions, boundaries. One of my favorite things to do is journaling. I start all of my days with journaling. I will sit up at the counter, I'll write down five things. I'm grateful for my top three priorities, and then if I wanna write a little bit more, I can, but if not, that's all that I have myself do every day. And I feel like just sitting down and writing those things out, getting it on paper and knowing that. These are the three things that I want to accomplish. Just put my mind at peace and give me a clear start for the day. Another thing I like to do is reading. I feel like it's something that I put down for a while, but the last few weeks I have been reading before I go to bed. It calms me down. It's a better way than scrolling before you go to bed. So just getting in tune with your emotions and your thoughts before you go to sleep. I try to make sure I either learn something before I go to bed or I reflect on my day, write down some things I'm grateful for, but put good things into my mind before I go to sleep Physical balance is all about taking care of your body from the inside out, I used to do movement because I wanted to look better. I wanted to be skinnier. I wanted to look toned or whatever it was, and now I move my body for my mental health. I feel like I can tell whenever I don't do a workout for a few days. Because I just start feeling really sad or like something is wrong. But then I remember that I should do a little workout. I honestly do most of my workouts at home on YouTube. I do a lot of Pilates. There's this girl on YouTube called Move with Nicole I also do some mad fit workouts and grow with Joe if I'm looking more for a cardio dance style, but those are anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour, so you can get whatever you're looking for from your own home. The hardest thing is showing up for yourself, but you know what? We just gotta do this for ourselves. We have to make ourselves feel better because. It truly will impact your life. Another thing is nutrition. The foods that you're eating, the way that you're nourishing your body. I used to eat to, well, I used to not eat and I used to starve myself. I used to eat all of these healthy foods from the store, but I kind of learned the hard way and found out that a lot of these protein bars and healthy snacks from the grocery store that say they're organic, they're really not that great for you, and they have seed oils and all kinds of other things that we're not gonna go into today, but we can definitely go into later. I try to focus on eating whole foods, so Raw ingredients and cooking most of my foods at home. If I am buying anything that's prepackaged, looking at the label Definitely live my life in an 80 20 balance, but for the most part,. I have been cooking all of my meals. I haven't been going out to eat, and I really have been saving a lot of money and my stomach has been thanking me for it. I think rest might be the most important thing. I For the longest time I would just go and go and go, and I would never allow myself time to rest. And if it was rest, it was. It was kind of like a half rest, or it was, I'm gonna lay in bed all day and scroll. But those days never make you feel like you actually got rest. Instead, I'll try to stretch or get a massage or a facial, or do an everything shower, something that's going to really reset me and make me just feel fresh and clean. Wash my bedsheets. Just giving your space a nice reset, a nice place to rest, It's really about listening to your body, not over training and finding movement that feels good to you. Wellness is not a one size fits all, doing the things that make you feel good is what's most important. Emotional balance or spiritual balance is all about connecting to something bigger than yourself. It's about finding purpose and meaning in life, and surrendering, trusting, having faith over fear and knowing that whatever's meant to be will be, and we're not in control of everything. It's also about having self-awareness, seeing how things feel in your body. Feeling versus reacting to different situations, not acting out of impulse, but being able to sit down and reflect on how certain things affect us and how certain actions will cause reactions. Giving yourself grace, it's okay if you miss a day, if you miss a workout, if you eat something that you shouldn't have, having grace within yourself and knowing that it is okay. It's not black or white, and it doesn't have to be. I like to start my day reading scripture and prayer and most importantly, gratitude. Which is funny because whenever I was younger and very, very depressed, my mom would always tell me to go outside and look at the sunshine and think of things that I'm grateful for, and I would look at her like she was crazy. But mom. I know you're listening. You're not crazy. You are right. Gratitude really does change everything. It's all about the way that you perceive the world. If you're looking for things that you're grateful for, it's easier to focus on the things that are good instead of the things that are bad. And it will really change your mindset start your day out with gratitude. You'll see the biggest shift. The final pillar is lifestyle balance, so your work life balance, I know that whenever I was younger. I had a terrible work life balance. I would just work all the time and I worked with all of my friends, so I really didn't have any balance. But now. I have my own business and I have a little bit more flexibility, a little bit more time off. I get to spend time with my friends outside of work. I get to spend time alone. Social time versus alone Time that was something that I've struggled with for a long time, is just knowing what my social battery was. I feel like I've always been an introvert, but like an extroverted introvert. To where now I think I might, might be an extrovert. I dunno, I'm probably still an extroverted introvert. I really do like being at home, being alone, having my alone time. But again, it's all about balance. 80 20 nutrition, having nutritious food versus fun foods. I feel like I've gotten to the point now where I try not to label anything as bad. I mean, okay, there are definitely foods that I would consider bad, but. Not judging myself for eating those foods and honestly just finding healthy swaps. I feel like that has been such a key in my gut health and my stomach problems that I have. And then another lifestyle balance is planning versus spontaneous moments. So having structure, but then also having moments where you're just spontaneous. Living life, going with the flow. Balance isn't a one size fit all, and it's not about doing everything perfect. It's not about getting to a certain destination. It's the process that counts and balance is always going to be an ongoing process. It's not like you're just gonna reach it one day and be balanced forever. It's always up and down. Imbalance doesn't look the same every week. Some weeks you're gonna have more balance in one area than the other, and in other weeks you're gonna have balance in all areas or only one of your areas, and that's okay. I wanted to give you a few tips on how to actually create balance in your life, especially going into the new year, starting now, and creating these routines that will be easier to take into 2026. So each day I want you to start out with writing down five things that you're grateful for, or even just saying them out loud. Next thing is. Your top three priorities. So three things you want to do that day, whether it be something big and extravagant or something small. It doesn't have to be much And I want you to start building routines that support you and not feel like they're controlling you or feel like it's just a box to check off, but really creating either a morning routine, a night routine, or both. Something that makes you feel excited to start your day or excited to end your day and just romanticizing it. My goal for you this week is to write down three things to focus on three things that you wanna take into the new year. Take that one small step and let it be enough. And with that, we're going to wrap up today's episode. I hope this gave you something new to think about, gave you encouragement, and something you can actually put into your daily routine. Thank you guys for listening. If you made it to the end, I have a very serious question. Was the breathing in and out too much or was that good? Because it seemed like a good idea in my head, but listening back to it, I don't know if I like it or not, but I'm gonna leave it in because you know what? It's my podcast and I can do whatever I want. But yeah, let me know if that was good or if I should never do that again. If you like today's episode, leaving a rating or a comment would mean so much to me. It helps the podcast grow and lets me know what you like and what's connecting with you. So thank you. I. keep showing up for yourself. Keep growing and I'll see you next time. Bye.