[235] 3 Tips to Being More Flexible in Life

After learning to be flexible with my travel plans, I'm sharing three tips on being more flexible so that you can enjoy life, stress less, and step outside of your comfort zone.

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Life comes with a lot of twists and turns, ups and downs. And the way it's really weather the storm without driving yourself, bonkers is by being flexible. I learned this by being more flexible on trips with my family. And I want to share a little bit of that with you. But if you're new to me, hey there. My name is Toni Ann. I'm the podcast host of the real happy mom podcast, the podcast for busy working moms. Who need help with gaining more time? In a tube in their big Coles without pulling their hair out. And in this episode, we are going to be talking. All about some QA to stay in flexible so that you can enjoy life more. Now I want to preface this and say that I am not a psychologist. However, I do feel like I am a great person to speak about being flexible because there was a point in time. When I was very, very, very structured and I had a plan for everything. I had a plan for my day. I plan for my week, month life. Everything. And I had some contingency plans cause I knew life happened, but there was a plan for everything. And when things weren't going, according to plans, it made things very stressful for me. And as I became a mom and I learned that with kids. They just are unpredictable. So I learned that. I can't always plan every single thing out and I've learned to be a little bit more loose. In my plans. And started to be more flexible. And I really was noticing how much I've changed when I went on a trip here recently with my family for spring break. Usually I would have everything planned out for the trip. I would know exactly where we're staying. I would know all the places to eat. The things to do. I would even have a timeline of when we're going to do certain things. And then, you know, of course. When the weather gets a little goofy, I would have some other activities just so that all of our bases are covered. But this time. I went on this trip with my family and all I had was the hotel booked. And that was it. I didn't know where we're going, where we're eating, what we're doing. I didn't know anything. And I just kind of figured things out as I went along and I realized, like it was a lot more fun. I wasn't as stressed. The kids had a great time because there wasn't any set plans, any such structure. I was able to be flexible. It really just enjoy. The moment and enjoy the time that we had while we were there. And that's what I want for you. So if you're not familiar with what I'm talking about as far as being flexible, Most of it was just being able to adapt to. Situations. That are demanding, being able to adapt to. The demands of life. And just being able to redirect and just find new ways of doing things when things don't go. The way that you had intended or thought they would go. And some of the benefits that I have found with being flexible as it helps in three major ways. One with parenting. To at work and then three mentally. So when it comes to parenting. Parents who are just. Inflexible, it causes a lot more stress on their families. And this was definitely something that I noticed when I was in being as flexible in the beginning. Also being flexible allows people to have better mental health and increase their job performance. Because they have a lot more autonomy and they're able to solve problems and come up with solutions on their own. And then lastly, flexibility reduces stress and anxiety. In depression, because you're able to have more endurance and be able to tolerate things a lot more. And this can also translate into your physical health too, as well, because there's even some studies that say that people have a higher recovery rate. Then people who are not as flexible. So some tips for getting started with being flexible. I just have three that I wanted to share with you that I think have been super helpful for me. So the first thing I would definitely say is start pushing yourself to be more open to different ideas, experiences, and perspectives. I know for me, it was hard in the beginning because I felt like it was my way or no way, but there are other ways of doing things. And once you start to let go and just be more open to. What other people are doing and experiencing different things. Then you will see that you'll become more flexible, you know, actually enjoy things a lot more. Number two is instead of trying to predict the future. Be curious. I have really adopted this. So that I can go in a lot more. Open and curious to situations instead of trying to predict every little thing. So if you're the type of person that wants to predict what's going to happen next week. And try thinking about being more curious, be curious about, you know, what will happen, how things will pan out, what you'll actually experience. What the kids will actually like be more curious about things instead of trying to predict. Well, it's going to happen. And then lastly, number three, just understand that life brings challenges. And changes that can be uncomfortable and uncertain. And as much as we don't like the uncomfortable and uncertain, just remember that. It's okay to embrace these feelings instead of avoiding them because these things don't last forever. These things are only a temporary, and this is something that has really helped me a lot. Because a lot of times in our minds, we think like, oh no, we can't deal with that because we would think that it's going to be permanent. And when you talk it out, it does kind of sound silly, but in your mind, It sounds like the gospel, but just know that. It's okay to push yourself into these uncomfortable and uncertain situations because it's only temporary. So those are the tips that I have that had. Led me to go on these trips with my family, with just an open schedule and really just enjoy myself and enjoy my family and have fun while we're doing it. Because honestly, we figure things out as we go. And you're a smart cookie, and I know you'll figure things out too as well. So go out today, be flexible, be curious, and be open to some new things. So that's all I have for this episode. Check me out next week for another full episode. Take care and with lots of love.