Why is it so hard to be consistent? Consistent with the healthy habits that we know will help us to feel better and to manage multiple sclerosis. If we know certain foods boost our energy, and other foods will make the fatigue and brain fog worse. Why? Why do we struggle to make these changes in our diet and in our lifestyle? The truth is, there are a lot of reasons, but a big one is the fact that our brain wants to be on autopilot. It wants to do what's easy and familiar because it requires less energy. And I have to agree, change is hard. It creates uncertainty, and that doesn't feel good. When I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, I was highly motivated to change my diet and change my lifestyle.

Because it wasn't just diet. It was sleep, exercise, supplements. The list was endless. And it felt unattainable. And one of the hardest aspects is that the change wasn’t just a one-time decision that I was making each day. They were now decisions sprinkled throughout my entire day. It felt like every minute I was faced with yet another decision.

And I was supposed to dry brush before my shower and then end my shower with cold water. And I didn't do either. Oh, now it's lunchtime. Great. Now I need to figure out what I'm eating for lunch. By the time you reach the end of the day, you're completely drained, not just because of MS fatigue, but because of decision fatigue. And despite the fact that you did make a lot of great choices throughout your day, you didn't make all the changes. So you feel defeated. This is how I felt when I was diagnosed with MS. And if I'm being honest, it's how I often still feel years later. And because I talked to so many of our fellow MS sisters and brothers, I know it's how many of you feel too.

Look, these changes are important to make because they can help us to feel better in our body. But the truth is, we have to make it easier to close the gap from where we are now and where we want to be. And one of the ways I find helpful to close that gap is by using a wellness tracker. It's a daily practice that takes five minutes, five minutes or less to keep you accountable and consistent. So if you are looking for accountability and consistency with managing MS, This episode is for you. I'm giving you a behind-the-scenes look at my own personal wellness tracker, and I'm even sharing a free copy with you to help you get better results on your wellness journey. So I am thrilled that you're here. Now let's get started. And my fellow MS sisters, if you want a more personalized approach to creating your MS diet and lifestyle, check out my private coaching program. It includes a comprehensive assessment, personalized strategies, and lifestyle support.

From multiple sclerosis? Welcome to my MS podcast. I'm your host, Alene Brennan. I remember leaving the hospital after I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. I was driving through the parking garage and my head was spinning with all of the what ifs and worst-case scenarios, along with a thousand questions and a million emotions. I felt so defeated. But I also felt so determined that I was not going to let this diagnosis take over my life. But how in the world was I going to make that happen? The doctor flat out told me MS is incurable and that diet doesn't make a difference. He outright said, 'Eat whatever you want.' It won't make a difference. Now, thankfully, as a nutrition coach at the time, I knew that wasn't true. But were all the diet and lifestyle changes that I had been studying for the last 20 years?

The problem was because I saw MS as this massive incurable beast, I kept telling myself that I had to do all the diet and lifestyle changes and I had to do all of them, not just one day, but every day. I mean, if I keep doing the same thing over and over again, I'm going to get the same results that I have today. Isn’t that the definition of insanity? Doing the same thing and expecting a different result?

Amen. It was a lot. And of course, I did the really helpful thing by telling myself that if I wasn't doing it, it meant that I just didn’t want it enough. If I wanted it enough, I would make it happen. Can you relate? But that wasn’t true. I wanted nothing more than to stabilize this disease. So it didn’t rob me of a single moment or a single memory in my life. I just didn’t see how these changes, all of these changes were attainable. And it turns out when our brain doesn't see our goal as something that's possible, it has a really hard time helping us to achieve it. The bottom line is I was aiming for perfection, the unattainable, and my brain knew it.

It knew that goal of doing everything perfect every single day was impossible. So it really didn't try to get there. I had to set a realistic goal so that I could believe that it was possible and I could get my brain on board with making it happen. You have to believe that your goal is possible. So let me ask you right now, can you visually see yourself living the lifestyle that you want? Too often we paint this picture of perfection in our minds and we don't believe that we can actually get there. So as much as we say we want to change our diet and do all the things, there is an internal resistance. Because the picture you painted is not realistic.

So what I started to do was let go of this disillusioned day of perfection that was so far off in my future. And I started to see how I could just make better changes today. And I started to see how I could make today better. Even if that was simply eating one more serving of vegetables today or just getting to bed 15 minutes earlier. I started to see the steps that I could make today to feel better tomorrow. But as small as they were, I also needed a way to keep them from getting lost in the busyness and distraction of my day-to-day life. That is where my wellness tracker came in. It's a place where I could capture the smaller changes that I was making that felt a lot more realistic.

And I knew in time they would create momentum and lean to more sustainable results. Because if I didn't capture them in some way, it would be too easy to look at my day as a whole and tell myself the lie that I didn't do enough. That I wasn't going to get results because I wasn't making enough changes. My wellness tracker became the proof that I was making changes. It helps me to close this big gap from where I am today to where I want to be. I start to see it as a daily practice and not just some fantasy moment of perfection in my future. I start to see the steps, no matter how small, that I can take today to get me closer to my goal.

I start to see that every decision matters. And I didn't need perfection to get results. My wellness tracker really just helped to take my focus off the idea of perfection and helped me to focus on my daily progress. My friend, that which you focus on gets bigger. You hear me say it all the time because it's true. That which you focus on gets bigger. If you painted this picture of perfection for yourself and you're constantly beating yourself up because you're no closer to perfection today than you were the day that you got diagnosed with MS. If this is what you're dealing with, it's time to let go of this lie. Give yourself permission to drop this idea of perfection, so that you can start to see the progress that you're making each and every day.

When you use a wellness tracker, it helps you to see the smaller daily successes so you can celebrate them, and again, not have them getting swallowed up by the overwhelm of trying to make every day perfect. And a wellness tracker can also help you get out of slumps that we all inevitably fall into when life starts veering us off course. It can help you see this sooner so you can start making the changes to get back on track. I try to see my wellness tracker not as like a daily report card where I'm aiming for straight A's every day. I view it more as if my dashboard to gauge where I'm going. Are the actions that I'm taking today getting me closer to my health goals? If so, great, keep going. If not, okay, which steps do I need to start taking to get me back on course? We're just looking for little shifts, little shifts that when made consistently get results. So I shared in the previous episode what I track on my wellness tracker, which is food, sleep, elimination, energy, exercise, and unique symptoms. And I shared why I chose a wellness tracker over a symptom tracker. So if you haven't yet listened to that episode, go back and check it out.

Alenebrennan.com/tracker. Go download a copy, print it, use it, learn from it, heal from it. Okay. So I'm going to do my best to walk you through the visual layout of this one-page tracker, but it's just because it's a one-page tracker that you can fill out in five minutes or less. Keep that in mind as I go through all these things, five minutes or less, because as I break them down, it might seem like a lot, but it can be simplified.

We're working towards and something other than just being healthy, because being healthy isn't really motivating. It's what you want to do with your health. Now, this goal can be something that you're looking to achieve in the next month, in the next year, or 10 years from now. It doesn't matter. It's knowing that this is something that's meaningful to you and also something that is realistic for you to achieve.

Most meaningful for you. It can be big, it can be small. I just want to encourage you to pick something that feels like a stretch for you, but also feels possible to achieve. So every single day I write down this one goal at the top of my tracker. I can be working on other things in my life, but this is the one goal that is my main focus right now. I share this stat all the time, but it's because I think it's so important for us to know. When you focus on one goal at a time, you are 85% likely to be successful. When you focus on two goals at once, your success rate drops to 35%. And when you focus on three goals at once, your success rate plummets to 10%. Pick one. Pick one goal and write it down. And here's another fun stat for you. People who write down their goals are 20% more successful in accomplishing their goals than those who did not write them down. So talk about stacking the odds in your favor. One goal makes you 85% likely to be successful. Writing it down makes you 20% more likely to be successful. And if we're putting the icing on the cake here, let's identify

putting a time to that action step makes you far more likely to follow through on it. So let's say that your goal is to dance at your daughter's wedding. You want to be on the dance floor enjoying the celebration with your family, but right now you're dealing with a lot of fatigue and some mobility issues. So your action step today may be to call physical therapy to schedule your first appointment,

That's at the top of the list. Next is the affirmation. Just below this goal is a space to write your affirmation. Your thoughts and words are powerful in creating your experience in life. The very first module of my online course is all about mindset because it's a critical step to a wellness plan. But in this section on the wellness tracker, you write a personal statement about the person you are becoming or a belief that you are affirming. Now, there are a lot of recommendations out there about affirmations. I personally am not of a belief in just repeating a phrase that isn't true. I can say that I love eating kale until I'm blue in the face, but the reality is I don't love eating kale. I'll eat it.

I like it, but I don't love it. It has to be something that makes sense to you that you believe and that your brain believes. Otherwise, it'll resist it. So I think it's helpful to find something that acknowledges your reality while affirming the positive changes you want to experience. So an example could be, each day I'm doing my best and that is enough. Or I listen to my body and I honor its needs. I decide when to rest and when to rally. I celebrate the small victories and find joy in everyday moments. I am more than my diagnosis. My perspective is valuable Every day brings new opportunities for healing and happiness, and I am open to them. I focus on what I can control and find peace in letting go of what I can't.

I am surrounded by love and support, and I allow myself to lean on them when needed. These are just examples to spark some inspiration for you, but find one that resonates with you. You can write a new statement each day, or you can repeat the same affirmation each day. It's up to you. You get to personalize this tracker. The next section tracks food. There are simple checkboxes for leafy greens, deeply colored, sulfur-rich, supplements, and water. If you want to track your meals, like what you're eating in each meal, there's a notes section at the bottom where you can write that down. But for me, just tracking my veggies is what's most important for me to have perspective on. Am I getting in my veggies? A quick checkbox. Same with supplements, same with water. Check, check, done, and done. Five minutes or less, my friends. The next section, lifestyle.

It's for. So for example, walk for 20 minutes, Pilates, 10 minutes, yoga, five minutes. Short and sweet. What did I do and for how long did I do it for? The next icon is a smiley face for self-care. Self-care is vital, but we often don't prioritize it because it feels too self-indulgent. But we need to start looking at it as part of our healing plan. This can be anything from practicing breath work to taking a nap to enjoying a dance. It's what makes you feel good and cared for. One of my favorite forms of self-care is simply using my favorite skincare products,

or making a fun little DIY thing. It's fun. That's self-care to me. So what is self-care for you? What allows you to feel cared for and nourished? The next icon are two hands holding a heart. This is representing connection. Who did you connect with today? Maintaining social connections is crucial for emotional wellbeing. And yet the catch 22 is that MS fatigue and brain fog can often prevent you or discourage you from making plans. Maybe the brain fog is making you feel self-conscious because you can't remember,

so you decline the invitations, but in the back of your mind, you're also worried that these invites might stop coming in if you don't say yes to one soon. Many people in this community here are in the same boat. But you need to find ways to stay connected. Studies show that loneliness and social isolation are associated with higher risks of health problems such as heart disease, depression, and cognitive decline. We don't need anything else impacting our cognitive abilities. So staying socially connected could be a phone call, a text, a note, any form of communication. I'm fortunate to have an amazing group of friends, but I'll admit I often have to push myself to stay connected with them, especially because in many cases, it's a group of friends. It's not just like one-on-one, but it's easy to just kind of stay in the background because

I have a group of friends that connects on Voxer and it's the only way that we've been able to stay connected because there's six of us and we couldn't find a time that everyone could get together. So now we just share messages on this messaging app. And the beauty of it is that you get to stay connected with friends without having to meet up. Now those in-person meetups are important, but something like this can help to bridge that gap, so you get a connection each day. Okay, next up, we're going to take a hard turn from social connections to elimination. What fun would it be if we didn't track poop? We talk about it and celebrate it. Poop. Are you going daily? Are you pooping pebbles or are you pooping snakes? We're friends here. We can call it what it is. Living with multiple sclerosis can make you constipated. It could be lack of hydration, poor gut health, lack of physical movement, magnesium deficiency, side effects of medications, or just one of the many joys of living with MS.

Your body starts to reabsorb the toxins it was trying to release in your poop. So we need to get your poop moving. Have I said poop enough? Poop, poop, poop. I actually include the Bristol stool chart with your wellness tracker. So you have a visual tool that categorizes poop into seven types from hard lumps to liquid consistency. Did you ever know that you could categorize your poop into seven types? Yep. It's in the tracker. And what you do is you look at that chart and then each day you circle the number of what your poop was. Did you not go at all? You don't circle anything. Did you go once? Circle one number.

I'm going for, I think it's the number four that you're aiming for on the poop chart. So if I am a number one or a number seven, I need to make some changes so that I can get closer to that number four. Okay. Last but not least, sleep. What time did you get to bed last night? And what time did you wake up today? A lot happens when you sleep. You store memories, you heal, your brain detoxifies. Yep, your brain detoxifies when you sleep. And if you're not prioritizing sleep, you're missing out on a big part of your body's ability to heal. That starts with an awareness of your sleep habits. Now I'm pretty good when it comes to sleep simply because if I don't go to bed, I'll fall asleep on the couch. But I absolutely hate falling asleep on the couch because what happens is I'll fall asleep for 20, 30, whatever minutes it is. And then I get this like little power nap in. So when I wake up, I get a second wind and then I can't fall back asleep;

and into bed instead of being likely to fall asleep on the couch. So I guess my point is that everything on this one sheet of paper can help you connect the dots a lot easier. So if I notice that my sleep is off, then I might start to notice that my symptoms are more affected. You start to be able to connect the dots with a lot of other things. Now at the bottom of the page, I have a section for notes, which as I mentioned earlier, you can write down your food for the day, something specific about your unique symptoms, or you can use it as a short journal or the top three things that you want to get done that day. That's anything that's meaningful to you. And next to the notes is a section to write down your favorite moment of the day. This is something that I love doing. I ask myself,

to you. Okay, so then what do we do with all of this information? What do we do with the information that you're tracking? As I said earlier, you start to make connections between the habits that you're doing on a daily basis and how you're feeling. So for example, you may notice a connection between, again, slacking on those leafy greens and having low energy. That's a big personal connection for me. Or again, I mentioned the supplements, forgetting to take your supplements. For me specifically, forgetting to take magnesium,

some in the beginning of your day and some at the end of your day. The key is to make it work for you. So let's do a quick recap here. This is a one-page wellness tracker that essentially gives you the dashboard view to your one big goal and the one action step that you're taking today to get you closer to achieving it. You're writing your affirmation down each day to support a growth mindset because you're

ready in your life and bring you joy. My friend, I hope you found this conversation helpful. And remember, if you want a free copy of my tracker, download it at Alenebrennan.com/tracker. Well, my friend, we've reached the end of this episode. Pick one lesson from today's discussion and put it into action now. It's time to reclaim your body, mind and life from multiple sclerosis. And for more resources, events and programs, head over to AleneBrennan.com. See you on the next episode of my MS podcast.