At the beginning of 2020, when everything in March basically stopped and the world completely changed, that was the time when I really got out of nature, and my family and I did a lot of hiking because that was pretty much the only place we could outside. And being out in nature and being out hiking to the top highest peaks of South Lake Tahoe, one of my biggest lessons was to have a perspective. We are teeny-weeny in this huge world and looking down and seeing all of this beautiful nature, really gives you a perspective of the situation and where we’re standing.

So, perspective and gratitude was a huge new learning for me in 2020. And looking at everything and just saying thank you, thank you for giving me this breath, thank you that I’m able to hike and have my family to be with. So, I think that for many of us, depending on what your situation was in 2020 if you’re still watching this video it means you have breath, and I think that’s one of the things that we must also be so grateful for.

The second thing that really helped me survive 2020 but also learned and what I took away from it, is having a role-model mindset.

As a leader in my company, as a leader to so many women that I’m helping style, as a mother, as a wife, as the older sister, I had to take a leadership role model, and instead of me being down and worried, which of course I was, naturally! Because our entire business got hit upside down and I still have a family to feed and provide for. Everything turned up upside-down but as soon as I took that role-model mindset and I knew I had to be strong for my family and I knew I had to be strong for those around me, it was almost like putting on a uniform and just going out and leading and not really taking any of that time for Netflix, binging or just crying on stuff. I mean, of course, I had my bad moments but I think that having that role set, that role-model mindset is super crucial and that’s the same mindset that I’m gonna go in 2021 cause you don’t what’s gonna happen! So, that I think is a huge learning and something also you can adopt for the new year.

The third biggest learning for me from 2020 and also I hope to share with you for an amazing 2021 is to set yourself up on the right foot in the morning. In other words, having a morning routine.

I know, many of us just want to sleep in and hit that alarm clock a couple of times and then drag ourselves out of bed, throw on some sweats, and get to our computers or move on. But having a strong morning routine, where maybe you’re journaling or meditating, stretching, doing a little bit of exercise, giving your heart right up… All of those things are going to set you up for a better day.

One of the things that I also had to do is because now I have three kids at home, two of them were home-schooling, I mean… Again, it’s been crazy! I can’t tell you that every single day was easy. But I would get up earlier. So, I would wake up between 5 and 6 AM so that I had my alone-time to do all of those activities. I would also listen to some motivational speakers. So no to phone, no to TV in the morning, maybe I caught up a little bit of news later in the afternoon. But I really needed to have a strong mindset in the morning and that’s a habit and kind of a morning ritual that I adopted earlier on in this year and that really helped me through the year, and I think it’s going to help me in 2021 as well.

So, I hope it’s something you might consider as well. Depending, again, on your situation. Whether you have kids or not, just getting up in the morning and having that strong morning routine is going to set you up for the best.

Another huge learning from 2020 is that confidence matters. Confidence is the belief that you’re going to be able to figure things out. And although sometimes I was scared, although sometimes I just felt a little bit beat up, I had that confidence in myself that I knew I could figure this out and so I just took one day at a time. So confidence I think is crucial. Anything you can do to build up your confidence I think it’s super important.

One of the things that I also use to build up confidence is just having… Yes, great style! Of course, if you’re listening to this video and you’re thinking ‘Ok, how is this related to style?’. Well, style is a tool! Is one of the tools that help us with our confidence and for me at the very beginning of the year where everything hit, I didn’t really have a very nice lounge capsule per se, capsule meaning like a small collection of clothing that you can mix and match. I had sweatshirts and sweatpants, but they weren’t necessarily any items that were gonna make me feel good.

But I paused for a second and I redid my capsule, like my go-to wardrobe that would make me feel good, that would make me feel confident.

I mean, there’s such a big difference when you get up in the morning and you put on some sweats, you don’t do your hair, you’re kind of greasy, you don’t shower. Or a morning where you do all of those things and you set yourself up in a super comfortable empowering outfit and then you take on the world! Whether, again, being Zoom calls or just you in an office or you even on your own! There’s a lot of folks that are probably following that are retired. But you just looking and feeling good in the morning, it just really helps your confidence and I think it was something that was really important to me and for many of my clients and that we’ll definitely put on our list for the 2020 review as something that we’re going to continue in 2021.

And if you’d like to join us I have a special something coming up, so stay tuned! On how you can join my style community in the upcoming year to help empower you and set you up for a more confident you in 2021.

One of the things that I’m sharing with my daughters and that I wanna pass on to my daughters and also to you, my viewers! Is less judgment, more compassion and you’ll feel better. Again, it’s been a crazy year, a very divided year, but if we’d just judge a little bit less… And yes, I’m coming to you from a stylist perspective and saying like ‘Hey, you’re being judged, so wear the right outfit’. Yes, I get that. However, if we do a little bit less judging, we will feel better. So that’s something that I’m personally teaching my daughters and I just wanted to share with you because I think that we’d feel better if we’re just more compassionate. Because we’re all coming into this from different perspectives and different situations, economical, geographical, but if we could just have a little bit more compassion I think we’ll feel better.

A huge takeaway from 2020 and something that I’m definitely working on myself is making health a priority. Eating right, exercising… I think many of us see how important our health is and how we have to take care of our bodies. So that’s something I’ve really made a priority. I’m exercising on a regular schedule. For me personally, I need a coach! It’s something like I have the best of intentions and I wanna go out there and I wanna run and exercise by myself every day, but I just… I have the best intentions but I personally need a coach. Somebody that’s gonna helps me hold me accountable. And that’s what I’ve been able to accomplish in this last year that I’m gonna continue doing for 2021 is having a coach hopefully that will help me stay on top of it, on top of my health.

And I encourage you to do the same! Whether it’d be for your health, whether it’d be for style… Having a coach, having an accountability buddy is, I think, huge in helping us stay on track.

Release stress: that’s been definitely something that I took away from 2020. I need outlets, you need an outlet, you need to know how to release your stress. And the way that I do it is by journaling. I journal every morning, I journal every night, I ask myself ‘Did I live, love and matter?’. That’s something that one of my mentor’s shares. I think it’s really awesome to kind of like look at your day end and think about that. Definitely running for me is stress relief, exercising in general, bike riding, going into nature, walking and journaling, maybe deep breaths, meditating… Those are great stress releases for me. Whatever it might be for you, you need it!

And last but not least, is to find a community that helps you build. Whatever it might be. So, it might be your style and build your capsule collection. And again, with our group, we go beyond that because style starts from within, and then we work our way out. So there’s so much more involved in style, we have an amazing community. Find a community that helps you, that teaches you, that lifts you up, that empowers you!

I have, again, my style club community that has been amazing. I mean, we’ve got through this year together, basically holding hands, and getting through it together has been, has just been so much more uplifting. So, find a community that helps you build a schedule, build a routine, build a capsule collection, build whatever it might be to help better yourself. I think it’s super important, a community will also help you to keep you accountable. And it’s so easy to start the new year and kind of feel like ‘Alright, I’m gonna take on this new year, I’m gonna do all these things’ and then fall off mid-February, statistics shows that, right? But if you have a community that will help you, that will uplift you, that would help hold you accountable, you will get through the year and have all of your goals! Or most of your goals, at least, accomplished.

I hope this helps you and I hope this helps you have a better 2021! Remember gratitude, family, and all of these things that I named are so important. So thank you so much for watching and we’ll see in the next video. If you know anybody that could potentially benefit from this video, your sister, mom, cousin, friend, please share it and give me the thumbs up if you’ve enjoyed it.

Again, thank you so much for watching and I’ll see you next time on Ada Style Minute!

Useful links:

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