In this post, I’ll cover Marie Forleo’s book Everything is Figureoutable, and how it’s impacted me and why I’m changing my priorities!
The other day I had sort of a health scare. I ate all-you-can-eat hotpot twice in a week and was about to do it again the following day. I had consumed a ton of popcorn from getting large buckets twice at the movies. AND to top it off, I drank a lot of soda, ate a bunch of fries, burgers, pizza, and every unhealthy food group you can name.
I wasn’t exercising much so I went about my days with a sluggish rhythm, which was topped off with a hint of anxiety and insomnia. I was functioning at this 70% level, never feeling like a full 100%.
And then one night I woke up randomly around 4 AM, heart beating like crazy, freaking out about my health. I had eaten a ton of meat and carbs the night before and I felt my heart working extremely hard just to keep myself functioning. I even vomited and spent another 1 hour trying to get back to sleep.
When I woke up again my heart continued to race like crazy, and I realized I needed to fix something.
I’m Changing My Priorities, Because Everything is Figureoutable
As I read Marie Forleo’s “Everything is Figureoutable” I realized I needed to reconsider what my number one priority was and why I was saying “I can’t” for a lot of things I really could.
I thought about it and realized I was perhaps lacking in motivation. Why?
You know when people get that unstoppable feeling where they’ll do whatever it takes to achieve their dreams? I realized I hadn’t felt that way in a while.
Lately, I don’t feel like I have that huge goal I need to achieve RIGHT AWAY.
So upon examining the reasons for this: my financial health is actually really positive. It’s why I feel like I don’t have as much motivation to work quickly and efficiently towards my side hustles (though I’ve made huge strides in building up my brand this year).
I remember at the beginning of 2019, I felt like my biggest motivation was finding love! I didn’t have a need to build up my passive income because I was enjoying my job where I was learning a lot in marketing and my finances were top notch. My situation is EVEN better nowadays where I don’t even know what to do with my money!
It sounds like I’m bragging but it really isn’t like that. Instead my point is that purpose hasn’t been navigating my actions hard enough.
What 2016 Was Like
Now that I’ve found love, there’s actually been some push from my boyfriend’s side to achieve financial freedom earlier than later. I am motivated to get there as well, but it’s not the same as before. Perhaps it’s because I’ve been feeling comfortable.
Compare my current situation with that of 2016! In 2016 I had this extremely unbearable need to leave the office and travel the world for at least a year. It was a different yet amazing feeling where I knew I couldn’t shake this calling to leave. Fear made me more sure that it was something I had to do. Nothing was going to stop me from my goals.
I would work my job, then go home and work even harder on my own side hustles, and I wouldn’t even want to hang out with other people. I couldn’t STOP hustling.
It was a crazy, desperate NEED to fulfill my dreams to become a digital nomad and see the world.
In Marie Forleo’s Everything is Figureoutable, she mentions that “I can’t” really means “I won’t” and that if you’re using those words, you’re probably either making excuses or realizing what really matters to you. I realize I’ve been guilty of using these words, making excuses, and procrastinating, and it made me want to reconsider my priorities and figure out what I needed to kick myself in the butt.
What My True Priorities Should Be
It hit me, that the main thing I SHOULD be focusing on now is fixing my anxiety and my health. I must admit, this is where a lot of my excuses come in. I don’t go to the gym because I think I can get home workouts in – yet I don’t do them. I don’t drink enough water, and I don’t exercise enough. And then I tell myself that my anxiety won’t go away, my health is messed up, and I can’t fix my insomnia. All these “I CAN’Ts”!
But in reality, fixing my health should be and should ALWAYS be my number one priority. If I’m constantly working on my businesses or other things in life and I’m not focusing on my health, there is a large possibility that I won’t even live long enough for me to enjoy the benefits. On top of that, just existing can be a struggle sometimes especially because of my chest pain and insomnia. I know this is all rooted in mental health / health anxiety concerns, and I believe a huge way to begin working on this is through exercise, affirmations, visualization and meditation.
My Plan
Because of my health scare and this new book I’m reading, I’ve really decided to turn things around. Before you say, “Sharon, you’re probably not going to keep this up…” I want to say that this is actually sort of a new feeling for me. I’ve gotten winds of wanting to exercise more but I’ve never actually felt the health fear so vividly to motivate me.
I’ve also never spoken my affirmations with such faith and belief.
There was a passage in the book that showed studies with people feeling the placebo effect hard. Their physical symptoms actually aligned with what they were being told – for example, kids broke out in skin rashes when they were told they were being grazed with poisonous plants (when in reality they were not poisonous). People were healing from fake knee surgeries when they were told they were real.
It made me realize that my chest pain and anxiety may truly be concocted in my brain if physical symptoms can actually be conjured by the mind. There’s nothing to be afraid of!
I have to change my “cants” to “cans”.
If I say I can’t fix my anxiety, then I can’t.
If I say I can’t fix my insomnia, then I can’t.
So it’s time for me to change things around.
My plan is:
- Every day I will start my day with the Miracle Morning challenge. I may try to use the Omvana app instead of Headspace because I’ve been listening to a new guided meditation that includes both meditation and visualization and is quite helpful.
- On weekends I will go to the gym! I will use the elliptical and run a mile each time at minimum. I realized that running with music and a book while repeating to myself that “I CAN” — has actually helped me achieve this feat. I hate doing cardio and would much rather do weights to get stronger – but my heart is what needs healing. I want to reduce my resting heart rate to perhaps 60 BPM.
- I will limit my soda drinks to 1-2 per week, and I will choose water more often than not.
- I will buy fruits and eat them multiple times per week.
- I will turn off electronics 30 minutes before sleep (and possibly read a book instead).
If I’m able to do these things I’ll be quite proud of myself. Eating healthy foods is usually not as much of a problem for me as is exercise and water consumption, so I’ll definitely be focusing on those things. The meditation, affirmations, and visualization parts of the challenge will be included within the Miracle Morning.
Rather than cutting myself slack and telling myself I need to focus on my businesses instead, I’m going to start placing my health as my number one priority. I have a tendency to push off my health so I can work – but in reality I believe I partly do this because I get lazy and my priorities are out of order. I’m really glad I’m re-examining my priorities. If I’m doing the best I can to fix my health, my anxiety, and insomnia, then I can live my life with less fear and more confidence which will probably allow me to go about my day in a more productive manner.
Conclusion
Thanks to Marie Forleo’s book and my health scare, I’m really trying to turn things around for myself. I’m still not done with the book, but I’m pretty hooked. I think it can really change things for me. I even started working on my milestones and goals again for 2020 (doing my Mark Manson goals).
Hope you guys enjoyed this post on my priorities, my health scare, and the book Everything is Figureoutable. If you have any feedback let me know in the comments below!
