Thirty Day Reset

I don't know about you but for me, when May comes around, I tend to evaluate my health, my home, my work, pretty much my life in general. Maybe it is because I'm a teacher and "May" means the end of one school year and the beginning of summer. 

Summer for me doesn't mean a break. It means I've already started planning for the next school year while I am doing my best to make the summer fun for the children who spend it with me.

Nine years ago during the month of May, I did my first 28 Day Super Juice Me juice "fast". That was a change in my health and how I look at food. I did a second one three years ago. I love to do short juices because it is a LOT of work to juice for 28 days straight. 

Two years ago, I did a water fast during the month of May. It was an amazing month for me in terms of my health and my spiritual growth. I spend a lot of time in prayer during that time. I was only able to progress through it for 26 days because of the time I spent in prayer and by allowing the Lord to "feed" me spiritually. That might sound a bit corny, but it is the absolute truth. 

Last May, our family was going through a challenging time. My thoughts weren't on me. There was zero self-evaluation going on. I slowly reverted back to some toxic food habits that I had let go over for over a year. I tried to find all sorts of mental relief in food and buying things to make life "better". Those are some OLD habits I have been fighting to overcome most of my life. 

For the past couple of months, I've been moving OUT of the cloud and working my way back into the life I should be living. I've been praying for wisdom and direction on how to proceed. He has shown me a few areas that I need to work on and ways to make it happen. I wanted to share the "big picture", if you will and then I'll do my best to write some posts on the breakdown as I go through the process over the month. 

I've been seeing a few things on a Digital Detox or a fasting from technology. I watched a couple of sermons on it, a third one is going to be this coming Sunday. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND you watch ONE HERE and TWO HERE. I'll link THREE HERE after they get it posted. There is such great information. I never really thought I had a BIG problem with it. Sure, I depend on my phone too much and I spend too much time scrolling. But I'm NOT LIKE ... fill in the blank with whatever name you can think of that is on their phone too much. I came to the realization that yes, I do have a BIG problem, like most people do that own smart phones. I will be doing a version of detox, one that allows me to still run my business BUT that removes MOST of the digital elements from my day to day life. 

I wanted to share some definitions on those words with you, just so you can get a better idea of what I'm talking about.  

Detox: a process or period of time in which one abstains from or rids the body of toxic or unhealthy substances. 

Digital Detox: a period of time during which a person refrains from using electronic devices such as smartphones or computers, regarded as an opportunity to reduce stress or focus on social interaction in the physical world. 

Fast: abstain from all or some kinds of food or drink, especially as a religious observance. You can actually FAST from just about anything. It doesn't have to be food. But we generally think of a fast as no eating, which is accurate. 

As I pull away from technology that is "stealing" my time (honestly, I am willingly giving it away) I have decided to once again spend the month of May in deep prayer and study while fasting so I can cleanse my body of the toxins that I am once again put INTO my body over the last year and a half and deepen my walk with the Lord. 

There are many types of fasting. Intermittent is probably one of the easiest to do. There are different types of that fast, it's all about the windows that you eat and don't eat. There are juice fasts. There are fasts where you take things OUT of your diet, like the Daniel Fast. There is also a water fast, which is the most challenging to do and one that I don't recommend unless you have done extensive research and consulted your doctor. I started with a juice fast and I've done 18/6 and 16/8 intermittent fasts.

I will be taking a month off of lifting and cardio. I will take walks as many times a week as possible and doing some stretching and mobility exercises. This will be a month of going to bed early and sleeping in just a bit each day. Getting as much rest as I can, allowing my body and mind to heal. 

I'm going to focus on some personal habits that tend to fall by the wayside. Washing my face daily, having a bath with Epson salts and essential oils weekly, soaking my feet every day that I don't have a bath, putting lotion on my arms and legs daily, doing my nails regularly, getting sunshine and doing deep breathing exercises to get more oxygen in my lungs. Those are just a few things that I want to make sure I am doing more of. 

When evaluating things, I realized this would be a perfect time to do a No Spend Month! I am taking care of everything this weekend, stocking the fridge for the month so my husband has food to eat and making sure there is nothing that I NEED to purchase in May. Since I will be OFF social media and I will NOT be getting on any shopping apps, it will be somewhat easier to have a painless no spend month. If I think of something I want to get, I will add it to a written list, not go on the actually app! If after a month I still think I need it, I'll see if I have the funds and purchase it. 

Just think, what if I did that all the time? What if I wrote it down and waited until the following month to even consider purchasing things that pop into my head?! It has gotten so easy to just jump online and order whatever little thing that I think I need. And yet, I have a HOUSE FULL OF STUFF I DON'T USE BUT I HAD TO HAVE IT things. Which leads me to the final element of May's Thirty Day Reset.  

My daughter shared a podcast that had Dana K. White (aka. A Slob Comes Clean) as the guest. I looked up HER podcast and her books. She sounded JUST LIKE ME. Many of the things she said were mind blowing, to say the least. It made perfect sense why it never worked for me to organize. I got all the containers, different containers, just like in the pictures. Only most of the time, it didn't look like that for me. Come to find out organizing is NOT the same thing as decluttering. 

I realize I will NOT get my entire home decluttered during the month of May. My goal will be to get her list of daily habits built into my day where they are non-negotiable AND make some progress on the decluttering. I got a couple of her books, "How To Manage Your Home Without Losing Your Mind" and "Decluttering at the Speed of Life". I plan to at least speed read both by Monday morning and then go back through and use some Post-It tabs for pages I need to go back to. 

The place I donate EVERYTHING is Mission Arlington. If you live in the DFW area in Texas, it really is a great place to take things. They have SO MANY people come there every day needing things. I love that they share Jesus' love with everyone that stops by. I don't do well with trying to sell my stuff or having garage sales. I'd rather spend my time doing something else besides sitting in my driveway all day! I'd rather GIVE it to someone needs it. 

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If you have read this far, THANK YOU! I am so glad you are here! I will be taking each one of these steps as slowly as I need to. This is going to be a month of growth and change. I will be forming habits and routines slowly, so they will last. It is going to be VERY strange not to be on social media so much all throughout the day. I know after the first week or two, I will feel so FREE. I will be deciding the boundaries for when I come back on June 1. Boundaries for many things in my life. 

I have the next two days to get everything in order. I'm excited! I will be blogging throughout the month as I am able.  

As always,

~A Simple Texas Girl living life on the Jesus Way!