This past year, as we re-branded Flourish, the prep work was more intense than I had ever imagined and I learned more about myself, my business, my clients and my vision. It was a process that stretched me but helped cultivate a strong vision for the future.
As I went through this branding process, I kept thinking: “What if we did something similar for our own life and personal wellness journey?”
As we usher in this new year, this provides us with an opportunity for a fresh start and perspective. Rather than setting goals that might leave you overwhelmed by where to begin or even bring up emotions of guilt and comparison, what if we built out your own holistic framework to develop your wellness rituals, strategies and vision?
Are you ready for a little self branding exercise? Oh my, this will be fun!
Download your fillable Personal, Holistic Framework Template >
Why create a personal, holistic framework for the new year
Your framework gives you a foundation that will allow you to blossom and grow into your natural lifestyle.
This clear action plan serves as a guide to direct how you steward your time, energy and resources.
Your framework is not rigid as life is a constant ebb and flow, but when the hard seasons come, this will be a grounding force to keep you focused on what matters most to you.
In marketing, the biggest question you can ask is “how do I solve my customer’s need?” In creating your personal, holistic framework, the question you want to answer is “how can I encourage my wellness so that I can show up as my best, most vibrant self for those I love and my responsibilities.”
Creating your framework is an intentional exercise, designed to steward the body, mind and life we have been gifted, not a practice of selfishness.
For more inspiration…
- Energizing Your Mornings: My Morning Routine
- How to Schedule Rest + Self-Care into Your Routine
- How to Navigate Overstimulation
How to Create Your Personal, Holistic Framework for Natural Living
Download your free guide to journal and define your personal holistic framework. This tool will serve as a reference guide to keeping you aligned with your vision.
01 Define your core values
Your core values are your guiding force for how you spend your time, money, energy and life! Simple put: your core values are how you do life.
Does family matter to you? And the energy you show up with each day, does it matter to you? Does your work matter to you? Does healthy living matter to you?
There isn’t a ‘one size fits all’ or ‘perfect’ answer—your values are unique to you!
Whether or not you have sat down and taken the time to define your core values, they do exist in your life. They might just be lost in the shuffle.
Everything you do for your healthy lifestyle should relate back to your core values.
Here are a few real world examples:
Here at Flourish, our core values are:
Holistic
Intentional
Intuitive
Sustainable
Trader Joes’ core values are:
Integrity
Caring for our community
Sustainability
Cleobella (one of my favorite sustainable fashion brands) core values are:
The Process
The People
The Planet
02 Choose words to represent your holistic framework
Choose 4-8 words that have meaning to you personally and represent your holistic framework. Don’t choose ‘buzz words’ or words that will bring up emotions of guilt and comparison and don’t choose too many words. You want to be able to recall these quickly!
You want these words to have meaning to you and your unique season of life, not just sound good. For example, I’ve felt very scattered this past year, like I’m trying to do too many things rather than doing a few things well. That’s created inner turmoil and both physical and mental stress. ‘Grounded’ is the word I chose to help me stay focused on what’s most important and grounded in doing a few things well.
For a little inspiration, here are my words for this year:
- Savor
- Nourish
- Rest
- Breathe
- Trust
- Play
- Grounded
Power Thesaurus is a great place to get creative with your words.
03 Create your vision board
Use this template to create your vision board >
This is a visual representation of your core beliefs and personal framework—your wants, needs, goals and dreams—something tangible to reference when you feel scattered or discouraged. Your vision board
How do your wellness priorities for this year and beyond align with your vision?
Do some of your current commitments not align with your vision and cause you to be overwhelmed, anxious or out of balance? (We’ll address what you need to release and eliminate later on.)
Make a vision board to visualize your big picture priorities, dreams, commitments, relationships, environment, words and rituals.
Choose a color to add to your vision board and what that color represents to you specifically. This is a great resource on Color Psychology.
Use this template to create your vision board >
04 Outline a quarterly theme
Choose one main theme to keep you focused on a strategy to improve your natural lifestyle each quarter. Doing this quarterly is more attainable, that way if life happens one month you still have plenty of time to focus on this. Write out what steps you need to take to move towards this theme.
Keep in mind, these are bigger goals that won’t happen overnight and will require you to create a plan and possibly even seek outside help.
Write down your monthly theme in your planner and journal out a plan to make it happen. Put a condensed version of your theme on a sticky note or somewhere visible.
A few examples:
- Theme: make one non-toxic, sustainable home swap this quarter
- Plan: We would like to invest in organic sheets which means we will need to set aside a bit of money each month to make that happen. Where is that money going to come from? What do we need to eliminate to make this happen?
- Theme: focus on hormone balance
- Plan: My energy and hormones are out of whack and it’s affecting my physical health, mental health and the way I show up for my loved ones and responsibilities. What testing can I ask my doctor about? What holistic tools or practitioner can help me with this process?
After you choose your theme, take an hour or so to plan out how you are going to accomplish this over the next few months. Think through the starting steps you need to take and how the end goal will positively impact you (and your family).
05 Prioritize 3 daily wellness rituals
Keep these simple and attainable. It’s better to accomplish something small than to not accomplish anything at all. And you won’t get to each of these every day, that’s ok, but these rituals will keep you grounded, vibrant and well.
Choose wellness rituals that impact both your physical and mental being.
These will be small steps to make a big impact long term but also small steps you know you can actually accomplish in your unique season of life.
Here’s one daily wellness ritual I’m prioritizing this year:
Eat one nutrient dense meal each day: Stressing about every meal isn’t productive—focus on ONE. Choose what time of the day is most realistic for your responsibilities and schedule. For an added bonus, eat this meal sitting down in a relaxed state, your digestion will thank you. As a mama to two littles, meal time can often be chaotic and I sometimes feel like a yo-yo, bouncing up and down from the table while I’m trying to eat.
My plan for making this daily ritual happen is to either eat one meal after the kiddos go to bed (my husband and I actually love doing this as an ‘in-home date night’ or pausing for a moment to make sure we have what we need at the table before sitting down to eat.
If you need to brainstorm check out 3 Rituals I Do Everyday to Thrive >
06 Decide what you can release this year
It’s safe to admit that we all try to do too much…and then are left picking up the pieces of our health, emotions and hormones in the months (even years) to come. We glorify busy and checking things off our to-do list (yes I’m right there with you). Our worth as women is not tied to our accomplishments. Realizing this is the key to living a healthy and balanced life.
Every ‘yes’ you say means you are saying ‘no’ to something else. Saying yes to your child playing too many sports means you are saying no to family dinners and consistently good sleep. This might be uncomfortable and even painful at first, but the positive benefits long term are worth it!
Decide what you can release both…
Physically
&
Mentally
Resources to help you create your framework:
I love this so much! Best way to implement a vision board.