The Importance of Changing Direction in your Life #Mindful30

I committed to a Month of Mindfulness on January 1st and I have stuck with it, every single day throughout the month.

Aetna Mindfulness

In all honesty, I can’t believe that this is the last week of January. It seemed to fly by in a flash. This is the first time, in a long time, that as January comes to an end… I’m not stressed from head to toe.  Mindfulness truly helped me throughout this month as I navigated each day and didn’t allow daily and unnecessary stresses from life to weigh me down. The worst kind of stress is the kind of stress that you know you can do without, but you don’t allow yourself to release it. I didn’t want that to happen this month. I really kept myself on track and embraced mindfulness.

If you haven’t been following my journey this month, you might be asking yourself, “What is Mindfulness?”

Mindfulness is a way to be aware of yourself and what’s going on around you.

It’s an incredible way to help reduce stress in your life and boost your overall well-being. With help from Aetna, I’m making 2016 better for me and my stress levels through mindfulness. I’m going to be honest with you, at the beginning of the month, I wasn’t sure what the outcome would be. I was open to trying mindfulness because I felt it would be good for my body, mind and soul. I have to say, it’s done wonders and it’s something I will continue to do on my own.

Aetna created a month-long mindfulness challenge to guide and help people experience how mindfulness can easily be part of healthy living. Once you start your mindfulness journey and allow yourself to be embraced in it, you don’t want to stop.  Each morning, Aetna provides a Mindfulness Tip for you to implement. My advice is to read the tip, let it sink in and then read it again. Take the time to really listen to what the tip is telling you and let it resonant within you. Don’t just read, think about it and move on. Allow yourself the time to breath it in and let it have an impact on you.  I started a journal to help me on my mindfulness journey this month. It has truly helped to jot down my thoughts and keep myself moving forward.

Today I’m excited to share with you my thoughts on Day 22, Change Direction.

Mindfulness #Mindful30

Today, try driving a different route – whether it’s during your commute home or when visiting a friend. You’ll find yourself paying attention to what’s happening in the moment with a open mind.

I had to modify this tip because I work from home (a majority of the time), so I don’t have a daily commute that I run through every single day.

What I decided to do was modify the commute to the swimming pool where my sons have practice 4 nights a week. We switched swim teams this year, which wasn’t an easy decision for our family. My 4 sons swim competitively and it’s something we – as a family – have really committed to being part of. If you know swimming, you know it can be pretty intense. Our commute to the “new” swim team is about 30 minutes, which can be tough in rush hour traffic.  It’s something we actually all dread on certain nights because we KNOW it’s going to be stop and go, stop and go – the whole way!

Mom and sons

I decided to “off road” to swimming the other night. I’m kidding when I saw “off road,” but truly, I changed the route. It was definitely a longer route to take because it was off the highway and it was a ton of back roads, but it was fun – it was like a new adventure! I purposely gave us the extra time to be able to take this new route because I knew it was going to be about 45 minutes and not 30, but even the kids got into it! I had the route plugged into my GPS and the boys kept trying to guess where it would take us next. I have to say, as much as this MAY have stressed me out before, I loved it. It was like taking a mystery ride with the kids and just letting what happens, happen.

Good news – we even got to the pool before practice started.

Even though it took longer, I didn’t feel rushed or stressed or anything when we got to practice. The boys were all smiles. I was relaxed. Everything was OK. Everything was fine. Honestly, we needed the distraction of the different route to keep us sane! That sounds funny, right? But it’s 100% true!

The other route we take 4 nights a week is the “normal” way. It’s direct. It’s easy. It’s constant.

The new route was just fun and different and! It wasn’t direct (at all). It wasn’t even easy to find. But I’ll tell you what, it’s was the better of the two!

This Mindful Tip made me realize that changing direction is a smart thing to do in your life. The direction changes you choose don’t have to be these enormous decisions, they can be small and still have the same kind of wonderful and inviting effect.

This month has been incredible.

I’ve really brought everything together this month. I’ve taken the Month of Mindfulness seriously and saw it as a true gift to myself.

Thank you Aetna from the bottom of my heart for hosting this wonderful month, the roots of change have begun and I thank you.

Disclosure:
This post was sponsored by Aetna, who believes health is about the body and the mind. Stress can affect emotional and physical health, and reducing stress can boost wellbeing. As part of their #Mindful30 challenge, the views and opinions expressed in my posts on the topic of mindfulness are my own, not Aetna’s. To learn more about mindfulness, visit aetnamindfulness.com.

About Audrey

Audrey McClelland has been a digital influencer since 2005. She’s a mom of 5 and shares tips on her three favorite things: parenting, fashion and beauty. She’s also a Contemporary Romance Author.

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