Meal Prep My Thoughts

On a beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon I was relaxing on my front porch and I was hit with a revolutionary idea to not only meal prep my food but to also prep my thoughts for the week. I have never heard of thought prepping before and I knew God was tapping on my shoulder telling me that I needed to add this practice into my routine. I went from relaxing on the front porch to frantically running into the home, dashing up the stairs and grabbing my journal and pen from under my bed before I could be interrupted by one of my kids needing something; for if the interruption came the idea may have run away from me forever. I needed to write this idea down and sit with it for a few minutes to know what it meant for me to thought prep my week. 

I am frequently deep in my thoughts and the deeper my thoughts go they begin to control my emotions and actions for the day and even the week. For example, let’s say that for one hour out of the few precious 24 hours I have of the day my children are whining and fighting with each other and driving me absolutely bananas and I then begin to focus on their crazy behavior. Internally, I become angry and frustrated that they are not getting along with each other and I find myself continually interrupted from my tasks which now leaves me to wonder what I was even doing in the first place. The longer this behavior goes on the worse my attitude becomes and before I know it I begin to believe that I must be a terrible mom because of their behavior, my whole day is now shot which then turns into this was the worst day and I then believe I am exhausted and without purpose; I just need to go and play with my kids so they can be entertained and before I know it dinner has taken a seat on the back burner and we eat another chewy plate of chicken and asparagus. So now, my soundtrack is telling me that not only am I a bad mom who cannot focus on her tasks but I am also a terrible cook. Michael has heard me play this broken soundtrack over and over on repeat for the last 7 years and has referred me to read Soundtracks by Jon Acuff.

 

I am over halfway finished with the book and twice now I have had to completely close it before continuing to read because Acuff has written something so profound that I need to stop and think, chew on the material he has presented and then apply his sound wisdom to my own life. It was here on the front porch reading when I had an epiphany that has caused me to close the book once again and put my own twist on his thinking. He has talked a great deal about our thoughts and how we need to speak affirmations over our lives and change the soundtracks that are played on repeat such as “I am a bad mom and a terrible cook.”  I knew that this revelation of meal prepping vs thought prepping would set me on a coarse to assist in changing my unhealthy soundtrack and reroute the path for my days and weeks.

Why I meal prep? 

1. Keeps me on track with my health goals

2. Assists in staying on budget

3. I am prepared throughout the week by knowing what I am going to eat both at and away from home.

4. Allows for me to ask others in my family what they too would like to have on hand to eat. This incorporates a shared interest in our meal planning and has been a great way to allow my children to prep a meal throughout the week. 

5. Efficiency. When I grocery shop without a plan I forget to buy items that I need for the recipes; I then have to make multiple trips to the grocery store which is a waste of time and money.

I personally meal prep because of these five reasons but I also want to thought prep my week. 

Why I thought prep?

1. Keeps me on track with who I want to be emotionally, physically and spiritually.

2. Assists in staying in good character and loving those I do life with both in and outside of the home.

3. I am prepared when going to scheduled events how I want to connect with others (I have made note to keep my phone away), who I want to connect with and it even prepares me for the surprise events. For example, a child throwing up all day is not a scheduled event but things like this happen. Last week Hudson spent 16 hours of  a day throwing up and I was able to take out my calendar, cross everything off that I had originally planned and revise both on paper and in my mind that today would look different. I now needed to shift my thoughts and my plans to reflect the needs of my son. This practice helped me to not feel guilty that I did not do the other things that I had originally planned and gave me permission to forget all of those things. I was able to thought prep that I vowed not to feel sorry for myself that I now was carrying my 46 pound son to and from the toilet every hour. This day in particular was a game changer in my thoughts and emotions and how I was able to handle myself in a more positive way and I had more energy than I typically would have had at the end of this day and I believe it was all due to thought prepping and thought revision. 

4. Allows for me to have meaningful conversations with family, friends and strangers.

5. Efficiency. I am going to wake up on time because I have thought prepped that I wanted to wake up without the snooze. I literally planned ahead for that and wrote it down.  I am not going to waste time in the checkout line scrolling through Facebook or Instagram because I have thought prepped to know that there are people longing to be seen and heard around me or maybe there is someone I am destined to meet and if my face is buried in my phone I may be missing a divine intervention.

How do I thought prep?

1. On Sunday or Monday when I sit down to meal prep I also thought prep by pulling out my calendar.

2. I look at each day and the main events. On my calendar I can see that on Saturday Michael has a softball tournament. I do not know the times of the games and neither does he yet. So, I am blocking out the entire day for him to be gone. With him gone this means I will be home all day with the three children. Also, this scenario could be flipped because there are days when I am gone and I do not anticipate Michael making me feel guilty for being gone.  Knowing this, I have written down in my calendar to let Michael feel free from family pressures while he is enjoying a hobby with friends. We may attend one game but even if we do not we can cheer for him from afar. I can send him encouraging text messages such as, “You are the best baller I know,” or “I know you are killing it today because you are amazing at sports.” What I will not text him, “Are you gonna be home yet? I am dying over here because the kids are driving me crazy,” or “I hope you are enjoying yourself because I would sure like a whole day to myself.” Then, when he gets home and is tired from playing in his tournament I have thought prepped to anticipate that we both are going to want to relax when he gets home because I have been playing with the kids and he has been playing softball so I have planned ahead to opt for a movie night or plan to allow the kids to play on their own without mommy and daddy needing to entertain and we can each rest in our individual ways. Thinking this way can literally transform our marriages and how we interact with each other. 

3. Once I have thought prepped for each individual day of the week I then review and fill in the blanks. I do not put things like do the laundry, help the kids with homework or do the dishes on my calendar but these are major thought prep moments because after a long day of whatever it is I have just done I still need to take care of these other tasks and I want to do them with a sweet and caring spirit not a bitter resentful spirit. Fill in the details.

4. I review the next day and my thoughts on my calendar before going to bed so I can revise and prep for the next day. If I see that tomorrow I have thought prepped to be up at 5 am and the reasons why I want to be up that early then I am going to get up on time the next day because I know that I have purpose for the day and things need to get done so that my thoughts are not going haywire.

5. Mid week I go through my calendar and revise again. By Wednesday things happen with our schedules. Co-workers call off work, doctor’s appointments are made, kids get sick, games get canceled and rescheduled. I have to be willing to relook at my calendar and make adjustments.

6. Do it all again the next week.

I have been thought prepping for two weeks now and it has literally changed my life. If you are going to start thought prepping drop it in the comments below so we can encourage one another. I would love to hear from you and hear how you adjust this idea to your own agenda and personality. Also, if this works and changes your life just as it has changed mine then share this blog with a friend. Here is to thought prepping our way into a better life starting today.