Happy Sunday! 🌀 The holidays bring family, invitations, and expectations — and our self-care is often the first thing we quietly set aside.

This week, we look at how to enjoy the season and the people we love, without overwriting our own body wisdom to please everyone else.

Prefer to listen?

Have the last few weeks been crazy weeks?
Have you missed most of your scheduled exercise due to family in town?
Been traveling yourself and off your normal routine?

I am sensing many of us are dealing with these kinds of challenges, is that right?

As a result, we might be sleeping less and are otherwise off schedule.
Our eating might be off the charts: more sugar, more starch, more alcohol.
Our exercise pattern may be sporadic or non-existent.
And on top of it, the relationships and emotions around family members together make it more challenging.

Don't get us wrong.
We looove holidays and the holiday spirit.
We love family all together and around us.
We love spending time around holidays.
And what if some of us are not with families at all?
What if some of us are alone?
What if holiday time brings memories of sadness?
This is an emotional challenge of itself.

The question is:
What makes our own self-care so hard and difficult to stick to around holidays?
The answer might be 'meeting conventional social expectations'.

Let's be really honest with ourselves.
When are we overwriting our own body wisdom in order to do things to please someone else?
How do we know when it's ok and when it's not ok to change our self-care routine because someone else needs us?

Do we tell ourselves, "after holidays pass, I will get back to exercise, I will get back to my healthy eating when my family leaves?"
We know deep inside it feels very legitimate and reasonable, but still an excuse.
We know the time to be back on our routine may never come, because something else "more important" comes up.

As a result, we can feel guilty.

We hope deep inside to make time to exercise, to make better food choices, to not get upset at a family member, but yet can find ourselves frustrated, caught in a vicious cycle.

I was recently asked by my fellow health coach:
what do I do to stay true to my health commitment?

• Take time for self-care.
• Be silent to hear my inner voice guiding me through this time.
• Bring that inner knowing into presence by letting people around me know my intentions and non-negotiable needs.
• Block my calendar and stick to it.
• Keep boundaries firm.
• Use mornings to my advantage — for example, get up and exercise while everyone else is still asleep.

Do you have your examples?

To drive my point home, it is possible to enjoy holidays and yet not compromise our self-care due to relaxing our own expectations or putting off our needs due to the social expectations of others.Find a strategy that works for you and stick to your boundaries by thinking forward about what you will face and planning your responses.When we do that, we can keep our healthy routines and still enjoy holidays and people around us, embracing the joyful holiday spirit.

👉Give a gift of health: Get "My Power Journal"

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NOVEMBER IN THE ACADEMY: RADICAL SELF-LOVE 🌀

People sometimes ask what the Academy actually is.

Picture it like this: the Academy is a library with two aisles — the Wellness Vault, and the community. You don't have to consume everything. Just take what you need, as you go — the app is your key to it all, your wellness on the go.

In the Vault aisle this month:

our theme is "Understanding Levels of Love — and What to Do About It" is in the Wellness Vault.

I have also uploaded fresh videos to Fitness on Demand, so your movement practice keeps moving with you.

In the community aisle:

we practice together. November's practice is gratitude & appreciation — two anchor weeks of it (the weeks of Nov 9 and Nov 16), and a quiet Thanksgiving week to simply live it. And in the community aisle, you can ask me anything. I'm right here at the front desk — and now even my virtual assistant, Ask Me Anything with virtual Nadya, is there to help you find what you need.

👉 Click here to join the Academy (entry level) for $37/month!

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 That is VIP Fitness — live fitness with me, week after week.

Our Fusion Flow crew starts a brand-new routine this Tuesday.

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And if you'd like to see the whole framework in one sitting first, my next free masterclass — Own Your Health to Own Your Life — is Thursday, November 19, 6:30 PM CT. Come live, or register and watch the replay: https://www.coachingbynadya.com/own-health-to-own-your-life-free-masterclass