Episode 19: Enjoyment Comes After The Boring

Am I embarrassed to admit that today's episode was inspired by an episode of Bluey? Nope. Enjoyment is essential for creating sustainable health and wellness routines. Here's the thing though, sometimes the boring things allow us to find the enjoyment.

Episode Transcript:

Sometimes those boring things, we put them into place so that we're able to have fun. So that we're able to feel the well-being that comes from getting outside or feeling well-rested and having the energy we need to get throughout our day.

INTRO MUSIC: Welcome to The Compassionate Wellness Podcast. I'm Alex Treanor. I'm a Nationally Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach, and I am so excited you're here. The wellness industry is full of do's and do not's, should's and should not's. But I like to take a different approach. I'll be sharing all things health and wellness from a joyful, real-life compassionate perspective. If you're ready to drop the cookie-cutter approach and create a life you truly love, while eating a cookie or two along the way, let's dive in.

Hey, friends! Welcome to this week's episode. This week was a wild one for me, so I just have a quick thought for you this week.

Before I start with this thought, it does require me to give a brief confession. I have no children, but I love the show Bluey. I love Bluey. I can watch it all day. I have probably watched it all day. It's awesome. So I had Bluey on in the background while I was getting some work done and I want to tell you a bit about this episode that I was watching and the lesson that it reminded me of.

Just to set the scene, and if you want to watch it, because you totally should, this is in season 1, episode 22. It's called The Pool. So get yourself a Disney Plus membership if you don't have one and watch this because Bluey will change your life.

So here's the premise. It's a hot day. Bluey, (who is a dog, I don't know, that seems important for some reason) but Bluey and her little sister Bingo are sitting around, they're kind of lounging. And you can tell they want to do something fun. It's a hot day. And they say they want to do something and their mom tells them that they have to brush their teeth first. And they kind of give her some pushback, like "that's so boring. We don't want to do that. We just want to do the fun things". And then of course, right at that moment, their dad walks in, and is like, "Hey, kids, I've got access to a pool, let's go". And mom says to them, hey, don't forget to bring your bag with all the swim stuff. Don't just take the fun things, take all the things and they kind of you know, give her a hard time like, Oh, you're so boring Mom, you're so boring. And they leave for the pool.

So when they get to the pool, turns out, nobody brought anything. So they're not prepared for the pool. They don't have sandals and the ground is hot. They don't have sunscreen. So now they have to stay in the shade. They don't have hats. They don't have floaties. So now they're stuck in the shallow end. Don't have goggles so theycan't go underwater because the chlorine is burning burning their eyes. And I guess that's not the worst thing because they also don't have like the little diving rings so there's not a reason to go underwater. And it's pretty boring. They're kind of stuck in like this tiny shaded area of the pool.

So they are like can we eat something maybe we can get some snacks don't have snacks, they go to get out. They don't have towels. Now they're freezing. So it's just like the whole trip is a bust because they didn't bring the bag that they were supposed to bring. And luckily, of course at the end, Mum comes in, she's got the bag of all the boring things kind of saves the day as mums do and has all the supplies so that they can have a fun time.

The lesson that I pick up from this is that the boring things are important because they allow us to have fun.

In my coaching practice, and on this podcast, we talk a lot about enjoyment and building enjoyment into your routines. And I truly believe that enjoyment is essential to creating anything that is going to last you a long time. If you want to do a habit or routine, long term, it has to be something you enjoy. But I think I sometimes don't clarify. And that's what this episode reminded me of, that enjoyment isn't just doing whatever you want all the time, right? Like it's not just like, Oh, I'm gonna do only the fun things all the time. Sometimes we need the boring things because that's what allows us to have the enjoyment and to have the fun.

When I think about vegetables, are vegetables the most exciting food on the planet? Not for me. Not for most people, not for many people that I talked to. But we know that they are very good for us in terms of long term health. The same thing with being active. Some people really enjoy activity and some people don't, but we know that the health benefits are there. Getting enough sleep also essential. I would much rather stay up late. Sometimes we just want to stay up scroll on TikTok, sleep in, you know not have this structured routine. But getting a good night's rest is so foundational to all of our other well being habits, that sometimes we have to do the boring thing.

It's important to do the boring thing, because then we have more energy to do the fun things. The enjoyment often comes after the boring thing, even with the habit.

I was reminded, as I was pondering on this, back in November of 2020, it was COVID times we were all inside all the time. I was living in Pittsburgh, so it was getting cold. I'm from the desert, a core part of my identity is that I hate being cold. I don't like the snow. I don't like going out in it. And it was very cold in Pittsburgh (from my perspective). I knew winter was coming and I also know it's important for me for my well-being, I like being outside. I don't like being cold, but I like being outside. So I knew with winter coming, I need to find a way to get outside, I'm inside all day as it is because of COVID and working from home, that it's important for me to find a way to build this into my routine.

So what I decided to do was to walk at least a half a mile outside every day. I gave myself the option, you can walk it, that it takes me about 10 minutes to walk half a mile. If it was super cold, and you want to get it done fast, hey, you can run it, I could probably run that in about five minutes. My goal was to try to build consistency with it and do it every day.

It is not something that I enjoyed in the beginning. I actually have gone back and seen like Instagram posts I did from when I started doing this, and I was literally trying to convince myself to go outside every day. But I went outside every day and I grew to enjoy it. I learned that it can be fun. And that I can wear 800 layers and go out like the Michelin man and have a totally fine time out on my walk. I could go super slow if I wanted to. There were a couple of snow storms where I would just walk really slow in like foot deep snow. And it was enjoyable! I'd bring my camera with me. I took some pictures along the way, there was no rush that it had to be done at a certain speed. The goal was to get outside and to get some movement and that could look like a lot of different things.

And from doing it, now I've grown to enjoy it. I've gone every day since then. Now that I've moved back to the desert, it helps me to get outside when it's super hot outside. And every day since then I've gotten that sunshine or the fresh air on my face. Sometimes my face is the only thing that would show of my body in the winter. But I've gotten outside and now I truly enjoy those daily walks. It's something I look forward to every day, but in the beginning, totally boring, and I had to force myself to do it.

I think this is the same as with Bluey right, sometimes those boring things we put into place so that we're able to have fun, so that we're able to feel the well-being that comes from getting outside or feel well rested and have the energy we need to get throughout our day.

Because they're not always super exciting right away, we can work to find enjoyment in them through the process. For example, when I would go on my walks, I would bring my camera like I mentioned or sometimes I would bring, actually a lot of times I'd bring my headphones listen to a good playlist or a podcast that I really liked. Finding ways to enjoy it through the process. That's what I mean when I talk about building enjoyment into your routine. And the more we do that, then we're better able to sustain the habits where it becomes to the point where now the whole routine is enjoyable.

So this week, I encourage you to consider what boring things are essential for your well-being and how can you learn to find enjoyment in them through the process?

That's what I have for you this week. Hope you have a wonderful rest of your week and I'll talk to you next time.

OUTRO MUSIC: Thanks for joining me on this episode of the compassionate wellness podcast. If this message resonated with you, please share it with someone you care about. I'd love to connect with you as well follow me on Instagram @alextreanor.coaching, or visit my website alextreanorcoaching.com. And as a reminder, Treanor spelled kind of goofy, it's T-R-E-A-N-O-R. For any references mentioned in this episode, be sure to check out the show notes. I hope you have a wonderful day and don't forget to make time for something you enjoy.