CwL Ep107: Stop waiting for Monday!

Lisa Corduff:

Hey. It’s Lisa Corduff. Welcome to the podcast, where you can expect inspiring, raw, energising, and transformative conversations with people on the path of personal evolution. I’m here to really live my life. And if you are too, these conversations are just for you. I’m really glad you’re here. Enjoy.

Lisa Corduff:

Hey. Welcome to another episode of the podcast. I’m really glad that you are here. I’m all rugged up today. The weather has definitely cooled down, here in Melbourne. I hope that you are warm and cosy if you’re in the Southern hemisphere. And I hope that if you’re in the Northern hemisphere, you are enjoying some magical, warmer weather.

Lisa Corduff:

I love the changing seasons, and I was thinking recently, about how we can often use these beautiful, natural, seasonal, line-in-the sand moments to kind of move us out of things, like when the whole spring clean kind of phenomenon, the weather starts to warm up, and suddenly you’re outside a little bit more, you’re naturally just moving more when things warm up, although too much heat kind of massively slows me down, I must say. But you know what I mean.

Lisa Corduff:

We can have New Years Day, which is often a time that people draw a bit of a line in the sand. I love those moments that we can attach a meaning to them, to help ourselves create a bit of a shift or, as I said, draw a line under the sand, some things that we might not want to carry forward into a new season.

Lisa Corduff:

But there’s also this whole phenomena of waiting, sometimes, for these moments, waiting for a line in the sand. And do you ever find yourself thinking, “Oh, I’ll start Monday. I’ll start that Monday.” “Oh, I just, I’ve fallen off the waggon,” or, “I’ll give myself the weekend. Oh gosh, I can’t. I’ve just had such a bad morning of eating all the things, so I’m just going to take it to the max the rest of the day. I’ll start tomorrow. I’ll start Monday.”

Lisa Corduff:

Why do we do that? I mean, time is kind of irrelevant in lots of ways. We only ever exist in the present moment. We can only ever make a different decision in the present moment, a new choice, right here, right now.

Lisa Corduff:

And, so, I wonder if you find yourself in that pattern of waiting until Monday, waiting until the New Year, waiting until spring, waiting until the kids finish primary school, and then waiting until someone around you is feeling good, and then you can … What are you putting off? What are you saying requires a different set of circumstances or a different time to do?

Lisa Corduff:

Let’s take the example, even of food, because I know that this is a struggle for lots of people. We sort of think that there’s some moment where we’re going to get on top of it. We’re going to stop doing a thing or eating chocolate after dinner or something, not that … There’s literally no … I’m not in that space. If you’ve ever heard me talk about food, where there’s hardcore rules or right or wrong. I think many people are so deeply disconnected from their bodies that they don’t even know what foods make them feel good anymore. Yeah. We can blame that on all sorts of things, the food system, corrupt, corrupt food system. Anyway, I’m not going to go down that path. That could have turned into a very big Lisa rant.

Lisa Corduff:

I’m talking more about how, if I … if on the weekend, I love some pastries. I love me some coffee and pastries on the weekend. And sometimes, it can be those fresh, delicious donuts from the bakery or danish, my very, very favourite thing, a Portuguese tart.

Lisa Corduff:

And here’s what I don’t do in those moments, is, “Oh, I mean, I started the day with the Portuguese tart or two. So, therefore, let’s go get takeaway for lunch,” and whatever, whatever. It’s like why would I wait to give myself some good, healthy food? I could just do that at the very next meal. I could chomp on an apple for morning tea. We don’t have to wait for anything to happen to make a different choice. We don’t have to wait for time to go by.

Lisa Corduff:

We’re feeling a bit uncomfortable in our clothes. And we’re thinking, “Oh dear. This doesn’t feel nice. I can definitely tell I haven’t been moving my body as much. I know, next week, I’ll … ” Blah, blah, blah. Or “I’m going to buy a gym membership when I get a pay rise, so then I can exercise,” or we put things off. Right?

Lisa Corduff:

Instead of just going, “Ah, this doesn’t feel super comfy. I know I probably need to just get out and move my body,” and just putting on our runners the next chance we get and going out for a walk, prioritising the thing that we want, making the present moment count, instead of waiting until Monday.

Lisa Corduff:

I find myself, I do it with things, I build in this, “I don’t want to have to wait,” if I’m feeling discomfort about something, if my body or my brain is telling me that things … something’s off. Well, of course, sometimes we can’t do everything in the moment, but just take … I can get uncomfortable about my house and think it starts to sort of feel a little bit on top of me, when things aren’t happening around the house. There’s a bit of clutter. There’s been a lot of stuff happen, or there’s been a lot of people in the house, and it’s just been go, go, go, and then, suddenly, bam.

Lisa Corduff:

And then I’ll just feel like it’s a really big job, and maybe I should just wait until next weekend, when it’s just myself and my kids, instead of my … the weekends, where we spend a fair bit of time with my boyfriend and his kids too.

Lisa Corduff:

And then I’ll just think, “Well, no. I don’t want to have to wait all that time to start to feel a bit of a shift, start to do something about this.” So, I’ll just take a little section and declutter, make sure that the kitchen bench is really clear of stuff.” And it just makes me feel better instantly.

Lisa Corduff:

Or I think, right, “I’m going to do … I’m going to go to the market tomorrow. So, I’m going to do a clear-out of the fridge. I just feel like that’ll really help me feel on top of things.”

Lisa Corduff:

And, so, I don’t have to wait for a moment where I get to do a big house, full declutter or tidy. I can work away. I don’t have to wait. Sometimes, I can get quite overwhelmed by just weeks zipping by, with … Our weekly schedule is pretty full, with three kids. And that is a choice that I make. And I feel really comfortable. It feels manageable at this stage, but it’s weeks just kind of move.

Lisa Corduff:

You know what it’s like? It can be, “What the heck? How is it Friday? Where has that time gone? We have netball and karate on Mondays, and soccer on Tuesdays, and karate on Wednesdays, soccer on Thursdays, netball game Friday, and soccer game on Saturday.

Lisa Corduff:

And I can sometimes feel overwhelmed by getting out of touch with friends, like, “Whoa. I have not seen that person for a really long time,” or “Whoa. I need a good, deep, juicy conversation with that person.” The text messages are just not enough, and it can get a bit on top of me, you know that feeling?

Lisa Corduff:

And then I just think, “Oh, I’ll wait until I’ve got the … a weekend free,” or a … And those times just never come. So, if I just pick up the phone and call them. Even if I don’t reach them, I can leave a message, although who listens to voice messages? Certainly, not me. But I can reach out. I can just make an effort in the moment and just ease that feeling of it all being on top of me. I can just phone a friend.

Lisa Corduff:

And this is the thing that I really want you to just have a little bit of a think about, only because it’s something that’s really, really helped me. What are you putting off? Is there this assumption that there will always be a Monday or a new season? What if something was to happen? Are you making the most of the present moment? Are you chunking things down? Are you really here, right now, getting clear with yourself about what matters, what would help you feel good right now, that you don’t have to wait for?

Lisa Corduff:

It’s very rare that we get the perfect circumstances to start doing all the things on our list. It’s rare that someone comes along and says to you, “Hey, it’s really time to focus on you. Hey, you know that I could help you break down that big thing into smaller chunks and help you out with it?”

Lisa Corduff:

This is something that we have to do, we have to be in charge of, for ourselves. There’s no magic bullet moment, where you’ll suddenly feel ready to create huge lifestyle change. What if it was just doing what you can, in the moment? What if it was just getting clarity about what those most important things are, and then working from there, not having it feel like something you need a deadline for, or a line-in-the sand moment, or a seasonal change or a new week or a new year? It’s kind of bullshit, that whole idea, really, isn’t it? It’s really just a chance to put it off, when this is the moment that you have. What will you do with that moment?

Lisa Corduff:

I wonder, and I do always love hearing from you, if this resonates, if you end up doing something because you’re not going to put it off until Monday, share it on your socials and tag me. I would love to see how this resonated for you and what you stopped waiting for. I’ll see you next week.

Lisa Corduff:

Hey. If you want to learn exactly how to start moving through the stories that are keeping you stuck, and if you want to delve into these self-defeating thinking patterns that so many of us have, then I’ve got a free workshop that you can go and watch right now. In it, I highlight some of the main stories that I see women telling themselves, that often lead women into a spiral of self-sabotage.

Lisa Corduff:

You also learn how to let yourself off the hook a little bit more, because when you understand how your brain is actually working to create this, then you feel a lot breezier about your life. Trust me.

Lisa Corduff:

In this workshop, you’ll also start moving towards the things that you want by the end. I absolutely promise you’ll have a new perspective on your next step forward, and that can be in any area of your life where you feel stuck. I can’t wait for you to go and check it out. It’s totally free. The link is in the show notes. Enjoy.

Lisa Corduff:

Hey. If you are enjoying the conversation, then it would mean the world to me if you head over to iTunes and give us a rating and review. It really makes a difference. And it’s my intention to get as many of us involved in real conversations that really change the game as possible. Thanks so much for your help, and I’ll see you in the next episode.