Monday, 11/16/20: Talking about traditions, the book I recently read and a new workout

Happy Monday!

It’s a new week, which means it’s time for your next Monday motivation newsletter. Read on below for some steps to a happier Monday, a short story and a roundup of positive thoughts to get your week started.

Three Steps to a Happier Monday

Each newsletter starts with three prompts to inspire gratitude and simple intention setting. Take a moment and jot down answers to these three questions. To give an example, I share my answers below.  

Step 1: What are three things I appreciated from the weekend? 

Step 2: What is one thing I can be excited about today?

Step 3: What is my intention for this week? 

GRATITUDE: From my weekend, I am thankful for a safe trip home to Florida (where I’ll be through the holidays!), time to relax and the delicious dinner I had on Saturday.   

TODAY: I am most excited to be reunited with my family today! 

INTENTION: My intention this week is to settle into a new routine. 

Okay, your turn! And if you want to share your three steps, I am all ears. 🙂

Lesson of the Week: Little Traditions, Big Impact

Happy Monday! I first wanted to express my sincerest gratitude to all who reached out with heartfelt messages about my grandma’s passing. My family and I felt so supported by all of your wonderful words and gestures. Thank you so much.

Additionally, I wanted to thank you all for the grace last week when I did not send out a full newsletter. Besides not feeling like myself, I was also struggling because this little newsletter feels very connected to my grandma. She was one of the very first readers and would religiously text me every Monday morning with her thoughts. It hurts to think that I will never get one of those texts from her again, but I will be forever grateful for the conversations we had over the past year because this newsletter. 

That Monday morning text is just one example of the my grandma’s “traditions,” which were all aimed at making people feel special and making ordinary, mundane moments extraordinary. And when I say “traditions” I’m not talking about grand gestures, but rather just these little sayings or actions she did over and over again to remind so many of her love. They were things like the three gifts she would give her grandkids when we were younger (something to play with, something to wear and something to learn), her sending us gift cards and random amounts of money when we were in college (and only signing the card with “Love” – no name!), singing Broadway songs in response to certain questions and always treating on a Starbucks run. 

I’m so thankful for these traditions because not only did they make for fun times in the moment and deepen our connection, but today, these traditions also give me the incredible gift of so many memories. So many simple things I encounter in my everyday life remind me of my grandma and her love. And that is pretty special. 

I think there is a really powerful lesson here. What if we spent time thinking about simple rituals or traditions we could establish to show love to those around us? By doing so, how many ordinary, mundane moments could be transformed into something extraordinary? 

I felt like the topic of “traditions” was especially timely as we head into the holiday season, a time that’s rich with traditions. However, like so many things in 2020, holidays are going to look a bit different for all of us this year. Many of us are going to have to adapt or adjust our beloved traditions and that is extremely hard to accept. I don’t want to discount the validity of that hardship for a second.

But what if 2020 and the uniqueness of this holiday season is also making some room for a few new, simpler traditions? In the absence of things like the large parties, the big gifts and the travel stress, there may be opportunities to establish or focus on traditions that spread love and joy in a year when we need it most.

What do you think? Are there any traditions you want to establish this year? If so, I would love to know about it. 

On My Monday Radar

Sometimes we just aren’t ready to jump into our Monday to-do list right away. In case you want some content to procrastinate with, here is a roundup of a few positive things on my radar:  

• Enjoyed this Elin Hilderbrand book! Ever since I found Laura Vanderkam and her time management books, I’ve been on a nonfiction kick and it’s been a minute since I’ve gotten into a fiction book! But leave it to Elin Hilderbrand to do just the trick. Elin is one of my favorite authors and I think I’ve read almost every single one of her books. I love that I’m always captivated from the start. Her latest, 28 Summers, is a bittersweet romance novel based on the idea in the film Same Time Next Year, where a couple reunites for a one-weekend-per-year affair. There were a couple of interesting timely twists and if you’ve read it, I NEED to talk with someone about the ending. 
• Nine suggestions for limiting social media usage (without quitting the fun altogether). Working at home, staying in more often and other factors have caused my time on social media to rise and rise this year. It’s so easy to scroll on my phone and consider it a “break,” but more often than not, I’m not walking away from that time feeling more calm or rested. I really appreciated the variety of tangible tips in this article (3, 4, 8 were my favorites!) and how the article approached the topic by focusing on our habits around the apps vs. just telling us we need to quit them altogether. 
• I’ve been enjoying this new-to-me online workout! I’ve followed Megan Roup on Instagram for a while, but I hadn’t tried her dance-based sculpting workout until recently. I wanted something I could easily do at home when it was too cold to run outside. I’ve done a “Full Body,” “Sculpt” and “Dance Cardio” class and I am hooked! Love the dance elements and how shockingly hard the little moves are in the sculpt section of class. A great no-equipment-necessary/at-home workout to add to the lineup!
• This Instagram post was everything to me last week. What a year month November has been. I will never forget the moment when I was in my kitchen two Saturdays ago and heard all this cheering and honking happening outside all the sudden. When I realized the election had been called, there was such a feeling of hopefulness that filled me and the energy of the city that day was almost indescribable. Lots of work to do, but feeling like good things are ahead. 🙂 

That’s all for today! I hope you found something in today’s newsletter that sparked motivation, made you smile or inspired a positive Monday thought. Don’t underestimate the power of starting small… a fulfilling week starts with just one fulfilling day. You’ve got this! 

Let’s make it a great Monday!
Megan

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