Hello! 👋 

Welcome to Issue 25 of the weekly Chronic Evolution newsletter, where I share mindfulness tips, tricks, and anecdotes to help you evolve your mindset in 5 minutes or less.

Let’s get right into it.

Use These 3 Journal Prompts To Help You Reset Your Life

Not too many years ago, I spent Thanksgiving on the couch. Chronic pain meant I spent every day there, shuffling to the kitchen or bathroom as infrequently as my broken body demanded. Today, I am pain-free and able to move through space with ease.

There is much to be thankful for on this (Canadian) Thanksgiving day.

I’m not going to bore you with a list of things I’m grateful for, though the list does indeed run long. Instead, I want to share three questions I asked myself to get from a state of pain to blissful freedom.

May they help you step into the next era of your life, whatever that looks like for you.

1. What does my best day look like?

If you could wake up and do whatever you wanted in life, what would it be? Would you rise without an alarm? Work from home in your PJs? Be a Hobbit Mamma harvesting fresh food from your garden to cook healthy meals for your family? Where would you live, who would you be surrounded by, and how would you spend your hours?

Map it all out in vivid detail. After all, you can’t start working toward your dream life until you know what it looks like. Write things down without judgment and without external influences swaying your vision.

2. What scares me about getting my dream and why?

Chronic pain afforded me a certain comfort in life. I know it sounds like an oxymoron, and it took me a long time to own up to it, but being in pain meant I didn’t have to try so hard in other areas of my life. It became an excuse. A crutch that held me back instead of up. For a long time, I was scared to heal my pain and live up to the version of myself I had dreamed up in my mind. Would I be good enough? Would I be brave enough?

Identify the things that freak you out about your dream life coming true and why they’re causing uneasiness. If you don’t, you’ll subconsciously sabotage your efforts to evolve into the next version of yourself.

3. What would I do if no one knew I was doing it?

If there was no social media, would you still want everything you identified as part of your dream day in question one? Maybe. Maybe not. Revise as necessary.

This check helps ensure your aspirations align with your highest self, not the part of you that seeks instant gratification from followers and likes on a screen. (Pro tip: You can do this with purchases, too. Before buying anything, ask yourself if you would still buy it if no one was ever going to see it. You might be surprised by how many times you walk away empty-handed.)

Today is always the best day to reset your life. There’s no point in dwelling on the past or worrying about the future. But right now, you have the beauty of controlling the present moment. How will you use it to write your life story?

To your chronic evolution,

Carly 

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