Well, it’s official Fall has finally arrived! Yes, even in the deep South we are enjoying a little fall weather in the early mornings and late evenings. It is my favorite time of year. For me, fall has not actually arrived until I feel that crispness in the air. Even if everywhere you look you see pumpkin everything.

Personally, I am not a fan of pumpkin spice anything. I prefer the comforting creaminess of caramel and chocolate, and the toasted gooeyness of marshmallow. These types of sweet sinfulness start to arrive long before the nip in the air, and I find myself splurging a little too often.

This year I chose to be more intentional in how I am living the last 3 months of the year. I am participating in a #last90days challenge put on by Rachel and Dave Hollis. The idea behind this challenge is to end the year with the same intention and motivation that we often start the new year. In the challenge we are striving to follow Rachel’s 5 to Thrive by getting up an hour earlier to have time for ourselves, exercising 30 minutes a day, drinking half our body weight in ounces of water daily, giving up one food category that is bad for us, and doing a daily gratitude practice.

Every weekday morning at 8am Rachel and Dave hop on live stream to offer inspiration, motivation and answer questions. One day last week Rachel was talking about how she was receiving notes from people who had already fallen off the wagon in one area or another. She was encouraging them to not take this as a failure but to just pick up where you left off and keep on moving.

One statement she made really stuck with me, that was “Why can’t doing better be enough?”. So often we set these lofty goals for ourselves only to fall off track, beat ourselves up, and ultimately give up altogether. Why can’t we just be proud of the progress we have made instead of focusing on our shortcomings. Why can’t we move on from eating a cookie, piece of cake, or an entire bag of Oreos without sabotaging our progress for the rest of the day, week, or even quitting over one slip?

Think back to when you were young, and you were having trouble learning to ride your bike. What happened when you fell? Your parents told you to try again, or maybe sheer determination made you get up and try again. My point is you didn’t give up because it didn’t go exactly as planned. You persevered and worked until you got it right!

That’s how we should approach our health and wellness goals as well! We should not allow ourselves to lay in the dirt and refuse to get up because things didn’t go as planned. We should move past that lousy choice with a determination that the next 5 decisions will be better. We must strive for progress, not perfection because nobody is perfect! We are all going along this journey of life making choices every day, some good, some bad. Hoping to make a better way for ourselves.

But as Rachel says “Hope is not a strategy.” So we have to start each day, each week with a plan to succeed. So I challenge each of you to start tomorrow, because you don’t need a new week, a new month, or even a Monday, to start a new habit. If the 5 to Thrive sounds like too much, start with one of them for 1 week then add another the next week and before long you will be living your life with more intention and happiness.

P.S. if anyone is interested in joining the #last90days challenge you can sign up here. If you are interested in following Rachel or Dave, you can look them up on Facebook or follow them on Instagram @msrachelhollis & @mrdavehollis.

A BIG thank you to Sugar Rush Baking Company for the beautiful picture of their even tastier treats!