Author: Christine Hennebury

I'm a writer/storyteller/director/creativity & lifestory coach with a black belt in ITF Taekwon-do. I read voraciously and I write like my fingers are on fire. I'm the founder and Chair of the Association for the Arts in Mount Pearl and I'm a former president of the St. John's Storytelling Festival. I bake a mean chocolate chip cookie.
a small painting of a gold star against a black background with gold highlights Go Team 2026: Done Beats Perfect
ADHD · advice · Go Team · goals · habits · motivation · self care

Go Team 2026: Done Beats Perfect

Christine HenneburyLeave a comment

Hey Team,

I spent a lot of time trying to draw today’s star.

I started drawing a background last night, creating something with circles of different colours but I couldn’t seem to bring it together – it just looked like random circles. So, I partially covered it with black and was trying to cover the remaining parts with white to make a striped pattern but it just came out looking weird. I actually liked the effect but it didn’t work as the background for a star.

So I did a new one this morning and even after adding the star I couldn’t get this one to look the way I wanted either. It looked fine but it wasn’t quite right so I started tinkering with it, adding bits of gold here and there and trying to figure out what I needed in order to make the drawing work.

And, in the course of tinkering, I realized a few things:

  1. I was running out of time to write today
  2. The star is only part of my project and I can’t spend all my time on just that part
  3. Done beats perfect every time and I can just declare myself done.

So, I promptly decided that my drawing was done and it was time to write.

My writing will also be imperfect but I’m just going to live with that, too.

Why am I telling you all of this?

Because Done Beats Perfect works just as well for your practices as it does for my drawing (and writing.)

You can do what you can and declare your imperfect practice done for the day.

I have spent an awful a lot of time in my life not doing things at all because I didn’t have time/energy/information to do them right – whatever “right” meant for me in that moment.

When it came to a workout or a well-being practice, “right” usually meant exactly as I had planned or exactly as I had been instructed. If I didn’t have enough time or if I couldn’t do one of the exercises, I wouldn’t do any of them because that would be doing them wrong or taking the easy way out.

And somehow my brain convinced me that if I couldn’t do it “right” then it was better not to exercise/journal/meditate at all

Which is, of course, complete crap

I’m not a surgeon or a pilot, my practices were never precision tasks.

In fact, I have always had a very, very, very, very wide range of good enough. I didn’t even to get within shouting distance of perfect.

And that’s why, now that I am more aware of that thinking trap, I spend a lot of my time reminding myself that Done Beats Perfect.

(In fact, for the sake of catchiness, I usually say Done Beats Perfect Every Time but I do know that there are exceptions!)

Yes, there are definitely procedures and safety protocols and proper form for various exercises and practices and you may need to take those into account.

But even including those things you will still have a wide range of ‘good enough’ for any practice you are undertaking.

And a work out that is done imperfectly is much more useful that a workout you didn’t do at all.*

If today’s workout only includes 20 squats instead of 30 or if you only journal for 5 mins instead of 15 or if you can’t face meditation and you colour instead, you are still better off than if you skipped your practice entirely.

To summarize: Do it imperfectly. Declare yourself done. Get on with your day.

So, Team, today I would like to invite you to join me in imperfection in our practices (and our drawing, our writing, and our lives in general.)

Very few things need to be done perfectly and we can really benefit from the things we do imperfectly.

Or to be short and snappy – Done Beats Perfect. Every Time.

It’s really worth giving imperfection a try.

And in celebration of our imperfect efforts, I offer you this imperfect gold star.

Go Team Us!

a small painting of a gold star against a black background with gold highlights
A small imperfect painting of a gold star. I’m not putting myself down but, for reasons explained in the text, I haven’t tidied up this painting and I haven’t added some finishing touches. I don’t dislike it but it doesn’t feel quite ready to share. Image description: a small painting of a gold star with obvious, slightly swirly brush strokes against a black background that is divided into horizontal stripes by gold lines. Every second stripe is filled with irregularly-sized gold dots/shapes and the drawing is trimmed in gold lines that are somewhat uneven in colour and shape.

* If you find yourself avoiding or adapting your practices again and again, it may signal that you need to change your plans over all. Or if you are mostly ok with your plan but you have to change it fairly regularly, you may want to adjust your expectations a little so you don’t get stressed out about your results.

A drawing of gold stars that are placed at the intersections of thin black lines. Go Team 2026: Easy Tasks, Hard Tasks, You Still Rock
advice · Go Team · goals · habits · motivation · self care

Go Team 2026: Easy Tasks, Hard Tasks, You Still Rock

Christine HenneburyLeave a comment

Hey Team,

In the process of considering, developing, planning, and working on your new practices, you have probably (DEFINITELY!) noticed that some parts of the process are easy, some are hard, and some fall somewhere in between.

And when I mention it like that, you probably thought something like, “Of course, Christine. That’s kind of obvious.” *

Ok, so that brings to me to a question:

If we all know that, in the abstract, some parts of any given practice will feel easy, some parts will feel hard, and some will feel somewhere in between, why do so many of us default to dismissing our efforts when it comes to the easy tasks, blaming ourselves when we struggle with the hard tasks, and barely noticing how much work we put into most of the tasks?

You see, the easy tasks still take work even if that work is familiar, enjoyable, straightforward, or quick. We often find tasks easy because they fall within our existing skillset, because we have had a lot of practice at that sort of thing, or because they are the kind of task we enjoy. That doesn’t mean we should dismiss the effort involved.

In fact, we should make sure to take the time to celebrate that effort, to notice how we built, shaped, or chose to apply the skills that made it feel easy. We should notice how much we rock for being able to do those tasks with ease.

When it comes to the hard tasks, we can often default to assuming something is wrong with us, that we aren’t trying hard enough, while not even noticing that we are in the process of figuring out how to do this thing. We may even start dredging up past examples of things we were unable to do just because…wait, why on earth do we do that to ourselves? Does our brain think that is helping us somehow? Brains can be such jerks!

Sometimes tasks are hard because we don’t have the skills yet, sometimes they are hard because we don’t understand them or because we need a different system, sometimes they feel hard because they involve stuff we don’t enjoy doing, and sometimes tasks are just inherently hard.

It’s ok to have to put a lot of effort into something, it’s ok to need help, it’s ok to have to make adjustments or to have to work up to being able to complete a task or learn a practice. It’s ok to struggle more than someone else who is trying this same task (they probably struggle with something else that you find easy.)

Even amidst all of those struggles, even though the task feels SO hard, we still rock. Even if it takes us many, many tries, all of our efforts matter. They all count. They are part of the process of completing that task.

Our struggles don’t say anything negative about us, they speak to our persistence, our tenacity, our willingness to do the work. Those qualities are a great demonstration of how much we rock.

And, when it comes to the routine tasks that aren’t easy but aren’t hard?

We rock for doing those, too. I mean, think about it – trudging our way through tasks that don’t have an immediate payoff like an easy one does and that don’t provide the interesting challenge of an hard task? We should give ourselves extra credit for those things.

Besides, even though a given task FEELS easy, hard, or routine, it still requires effort. Our feelings about it may change our perception of the work but it doesn’t change the fact that there is work involved.

Reminding ourselves to notice the work, to commend ourselves for doing it, to accept our gold star for our efforts, can help us to see how far we have come, to stick with our practices, and to pay attention to how awesome we are for finding ways to move toward the lives we want.

So, Team, whether today’s tasks are easy, hard, or routine, I hope you will take the time to celebrate your efforts and remember how much you rock.

Here are today’s gold stars in honour of your efforts to move toward the life you want AND in honour of your efforts to notice how much you rock.

Be kind to yourself out there!

Go Team Us!

A drawing of gold stars that are placed at the intersections of thin black lines.
Image description: a drawing of 12 gold stars of various sizes against a background of thin intersecting lines. I have placed a star at each point where lines intersect.

*Your tone and degree of snarkiness probably varied but that’s your business. Luckily, I am not cursed with the ability to read people’s thoughts. Can you even imagine what a burden that would be? How would you ever rest?

A drawing of a large gold star against a colourful background. Go Team 2026: Give Yourself A Break
220 in 2020 · ADHD · advice · fitness · Go Team · goals · habits · motivation · self care

Go Team 2026: Give Yourself A Break

Christine HenneburyLeave a comment

Hey Team,

Your new habits and practices will be stronger if they are built on reality rather than on an attempt at perfection.

Some days are going to be challenging, some days are going to go sideways, some days you’ll be sick, or you’ll have an injury, sometimes you’ll sleep so poorly that it will feel like your ADHD meds aren’t working at all and you’ll feel like you are dragging yourself through mud just to get your basic tasks done.*

When those things happen, please give yourself a break.

That may mean doing your practice without your usual enthusiasm, it may mean modifying your practice or doing the bare minimum, it may mean opting out of your practice entirely and it definitely means being kind to yourself about the whole thing.

If today is too complicated, too hard, or too unmedicated-feeling, practicing self-compassion is the only sensible way forward.

In case the specificity of that last example didn’t give me away, I didn’t sleep well last night and I feel unmedicated and I have been dragging myself through metaphorical mud to do necessary tasks.

At first, I was trying to write the post I had planned but when I couldn’t get my ideas to weave together I decided to take the advice I would give to someone else:

Give Yourself A Break

And I did.

So, as so often happens, this post is not just advice for you – it’s also advice for me.

I hope I’m being a good example of how to dial things back on more challenging days.

As always, here is your gold star for your efforts today. Those efforts may be working towards your new practice or they may be directed towards giving yourself a break and practising self-kindness.

Either way, you get a gold star for your hard work.

Go Team Us!

A drawing of a large gold star against a colourful background.
A drawing of a large shiny gold star with black trim. The background of the image has been divided into 8 triangular sections that meet in a point behind the star. The sections are coloured in purple, blue, orange, and green – one section of a lighter shade and one of a darker one for each colour. Each section is decorated with gold dots outlined in black. Each section is divided by a black line.

A drawing of a gold star against a patterned background Go Team 2026: Ditch The Should And Ask Some Questions
advice · fitness · Go Team · goals · motivation · self care

Go Team 2026: Ditch The Should And Ask Some Questions

Christine HenneburyLeave a comment

Hey Team,

I hate the word should and I am not friends with the word shouldn’t.

Ok, maybe it’s not about the words themselves, it might be about the ways that those words are often used.

Should/shouldn’t seem to be the go-to words for judging/shaming people and/or judging/shaming ourselves and I don’t think that they actually do much good.

Instead, I think that those words often end up not only making us feel bad but also limiting our options and keeping us stuck.

You know how these things usually play out…

“I should be more disciplined about this.”

“I should be able to get up earlier.”

“You should just try harder.”

“I shouldn’t need a reminder to do my workout.”

“You shouldn’t need a break yet.”

Each of those statements – yes, the ones that I wrote – made me cringe and feel badly for the person on the receiving end.

Yes, I feel bad for imaginary people hearing the sentences that I made up as examples and I want to rush to help them. Can you even imagine what I am like when I hear a should/shouldn’t statement in real life?

The weight of judgement and recrimination in those statements is painful, weighty, and pointless.

I would love to be able to banish that type of judgement from our brains (and our statements) entirely but seeing as that’s not possible, let’s do a work-around and see if we can prevent ourselves from getting stuck.

What about if, instead of letting the words should or shouldn’t lead us into judgement and blame, we decided that they are cues for asking ourselves some questions?

Let’s practice with the statements I listed above:

  • “I should be more disciplined about this.” Why is it hard for me to be disciplined about this? How can I make it easier for me to get to this task? Is there something I can change about the task or my environment to make it less challenging to start?
  • “I should be able to get up earlier.” What is making it difficult for me to get up earlier? Do I need to go to bed earlier? Do I need to change the time I planned to do my practice? Do I need a better alarm clock? Do I need to plan something to look forward to first thing in the morning?
  • “You should just try harder.” Is someone judging me unfairly for not having the same results as someone else? How can I distance myself from their opinion? If you are actually struggling with the task, then ask what is making this task so difficult for me? Do I have obstacles that I need to address? (Please note that an obstacle is an obstacle whether or not it “should” be a problem for you. It’s better to deal with the obstacle, to find a solution, than to try to convince yourself that it’s not there.) It’s possible that you may need to put in more effort but it is more likely that you need a different system/approach to the issue. My ADHD brain has a lot of resentment built up about being told to try harder when I was already working ridiculously hard in systems that were never going to work for me.
  • “I shouldn’t need a reminder to do my workout.” What’s wrong with needing a reminder for a workout? Is this ‘should’ connected to other events or other needs that I have been judged or I have judged myself for? Is there a way to help myself accept that if a reminder makes it easier to workout then it is a valuable tool, not a problem.
  • “You shouldn’t need a break yet.” If you need a break, you need a break no matter how someone shoulds you but you can ask yourself things like – Is there a reason I can’t take a break now? If this isn’t the usual time people take breaks then are they suffering or has something gone awry for me? What is leading to me needing a break right now? Is it a big deal if I just take it? Is there something I need to do differently to make it easier to wait for a break?

Once you have asked yourself some questions and identified different ways of thinking about things or different ways of doing things, then you can figure out how to proceed.

It will take practice to get out of the should/shouldn’t habit but you really don’t have to get stuck in the should/blame/shame cycle.

Instead, when a ‘should’ moment arrives, you can take it as a sign that it is time to look deeper and figure out what is going on for you in this situation.

And I hope it will look a little something like this:

“Journaling should be easy by now!” “Oh, a should just came up. I wonder what my brain is up to now?” “Oh, trying to journal in the morning is frustrating for me because I can feel my to do list hovering. Maybe I should try journaling at a different time of day.”

Instead of this:

“Journaling should be easy by now.” “I should try harder.” “Why can’t I ever just stick to things?” “Why don’t I have more discipline?” (I’ll stop there, you know how this lousy routine goes.)

Anyway, Team, today I am inviting you to notice if you are employing ‘should’ or ‘shouldn’t’ as a way to shame yourself into getting stuff done. And if you are, then I invite you to turn those should statements into questions so you can help yourself forge ahead.

And, as always, here is your gold star for your efforts – your efforts to work on your practices, your efforts to figure out your next steps, your efforts to ask questions instead of accepting ‘shoulds’, and your efforts to to take good care of yourself.

I wish you ease and self-kindness.

Go Team Us!

A drawing of a gold star against a patterned background
I feel like this background is decorated in 80s/90s tracksuit colours 🙂 image description: a drawing of a gold star against a patterned background. The gold star is sort of in the centre of the drawing, but also to the lower right because I am not always great at lining things up on the page and it’s not a very even star two of the points are longer and larger than the others would not have been a fancy design way in a oh look I didn’t quite get that right way. The star is coloured with a golden yellow marker and trimmed in black. The background is a diagonal grid with large blocks. The blocks are coloured either pink purple light, blue or green and there’s no particular pattern to the order of the colours in each line. Each colour has a different pattern drawn in black on it. Pink blocks have large black polkadots. Purple blocks have a grid with each second block within the grid having a black polkadot. Green blocks have vertical black pinstripes. And light blue blocks are decorated with lines that have a break in them and in the middle of the break is a black dot.

A drawing of lots of gold stars of various sizes Go Team 2026: Rest Is A Key Ingredient
advice · fitness · Go Team · goals · habits · motivation · rest · self care

Go Team 2026: Rest Is A Key Ingredient

Christine HenneburyLeave a comment

Rest is one of the most important and most overlooked components of any efforts we are making to move towards the life we want.

Your rest doesn’t have to wait until all the work is done or until everything is figured out. It’s not extra or a ‘nice-to-have-if-you-have-time’ – it’s actually part of the process of doing things and figuring things out.

No matter what practice you are currently developing, the underlying goal is going to be similar – everyone’s goals in this area are about feeling good and inhabiting all of the corners of their lives.

The connection between your actions and the practice you are developing is generally pretty clear but the connection between rest and success may be a bit more murky.

Basically, in your quest to improve your well-being rest is vital. 

Resting is not ‘taking a break’ from your practice, it is PART of your practice, part of your routine, part of your process.

Not only is rest valuable in itself but with all of the effort you are putting in, you need to rest your body, your mind, and your spirit or you will struggle to do the other things you want to do.

You need periods of action and periods of rest in order for your practice to work.

If you constantly try to push yourself forward without rest, you may be able to keep up your practice but your tasks (and your enjoyment of them) will suffer because of your lack of rest.

Now, I know that not everyone has the same amount of time to rest in a given day, a given week, or a given month.

I’m not suggesting that everybody can just drop everything and rest on a whim.

BUT

Given that rest is so important to your practice and to your well-being in general, it’s worth reconsidering what rest *can* look like for you.

Maybe you can’t take long periods of rest but maybe you can take short periods of rest here and there.

Maybe you can batch your tasks so you can create time to breathe before switching to a new set of activities.

Maybe you can choose not to do certain activities on certain days so you have a little room to rest. (Your practices won’t be ruined if you structure them to include downtime.)

You can reduce the nature, scope, or details of some of your activities and practices to free up some time and energy.

Like so many other areas of our lives, rest is not an all or nothing situation.

You don’t have to choose between perfect rest and not resting at all.

Just like you can benefit from short bursts of activities, you can benefit from even small amounts of rest. (Here are some ideas from PHE Canada)

So, Team, today I invite you to remember the value of rest in developing your practices (and in enjoying your life more!) AND I invite you to consider how to add at least some small rest periods to your schedule.

And here are your gold stars for your efforts today whether you are trying to rest or in an active phase of moving toward the life you want.

Be kind to yourself out there.

And, always…

Go Team Us!

A drawing of lots of gold stars of various sizes
Lots of stars of all different sizes to reward all kinds of rest or all kinds of effort. Image description: a drawing of over 60 stars in various sizes (but most are small), each outlined in black. The background is filled with thin, diagonal black lines that extend downwards towards the right. The lines sort of give the impression of connecting some of the stars. The edges of the drawing are trimmed in black.
A drawing of a shiny gold star against a black round of metallic green shapes Go Team 2026: You Are A Proven Success
ADHD · advice · fitness · Go Team · goals · motivation · self care

Go Team 2026: You Are A Proven Success

Christine HenneburyLeave a comment

Hey Team,

Today, I would like to remind you that you have already succeeded at lots of things in your life and that you can borrow from those successes to fuel your current efforts.

Please note: There are a LOT of different ways to succeed. You can follow your initial plans, you can follow a modified plan, you can change your mind and pick a different goal (and a different plan), and you can choose your own definition of success along the way. The goal here is for you to move closer to the life you want to live and your understanding of how to get there is going to change and expand as you proceed.

Ok, with that note in mind, let’s carry on…

So, you have succeed at all kinds of things throughout your life.

Some of those things were HUGE and some were small but they all took effort on your part.

Your success depended on you making plans, figuring things out, adapting to new circumstances, adjusting your plans, taking a break, starting again, getting help, dealing with various levels of motivation, dealing with interruptions, and, basically, developing a wide range of new skills.

Even if your previous successes were in a whole different area of your life, you can apply the skills you learned to your current practices.

Imagine, for example, that you once learned how to bake cookies and now you are pretty good at whipping out a delicious batch of shortbread at a moment’s notice.

On the surface, your shortbread success may seem like it has nothing to do with your current attempts at building a yoga practice but when you look at baking in terms of skills, there are all kinds of parallels.

Before you made that first batch of shortbread, you did some research and picked out which recipe seemed most doable…kind of like how you could do some research on different types (and teaching styles) of yoga and figure out which one resonates with you.

And when you shopped for ingredients, you probably sought other people’s advice at first and then developed your own preferences over time…just like you could do with yoga.

And you probably took things very slowly and paid very close attention at first but, over time, as you learned how the ingredients came together, you could relax and enjoy the process more. Doesn’t that sound a bit like how you first struggle to follow yoga instructors and then learn to trust your body and move in the way you need to move?

Your first batch of shortbread might have turned out pretty good but I’ll bet that your most recent batch is way better. I’ll bet you still celebrated and enjoyed those early batches though. You didn’t wait until you had your baking perfected before having a cookie and sharing them with others. You can also enjoy your early yoga practices now and enjoy future sessions even more.

I’ll also bet that all of your batches didn’t turn out perfectly. And I’m sure that you have had to substitute ingredients, you’ve had to make a batch in advance and freeze them, you’ve had to keep a roll of cookie dough in the fridge because you didn’t have time to do the baking part in the moment, and you have probably cut them into different shapes, added different decorations, tried some new things, all without being hard on yourself about your skills as a baker.

Just as all of those things can be part of being a shortbread baker with competing priorities in their life, making changes, adapting your movements, trying new things, and working in short bursts of time can all be part of developing your yoga practice.

Your skills as a baker have actually taught you a lot about how to add yoga into your life and if you consciously apply those skills, your baking success can help support you as you learn to practice yoga regularly.

And, of course, that was just one example.

You have been successful at hundreds of things during your lifetime and you can bring the skills from any or all of those victories to help you succeed in your current goals.

So, Team, today I invite you to consider some of your successes – yes, even the smallest ones count – and think about how to apply them to your current project.

What skills did you learn?

What qualities did you need to build or strengthen?

What did you learn about what helps you persevere?

What did you figure out about how to deal with setbacks?

How does your previous success support your current efforts?

Now that you are considering previous successes, can you reframe any of the challenges you are facing in your current practice?*

Whether you are considering past successes, planning future successes, or you are doing whatever else you need to in order to move towards the life you want, I wish you ease and self-kindness today.

And, of course, I offer you this gold star for your efforts. (Notice all the shiny green successes in the background that are supporting that star!)

A hand-drawn golden star outlined in black, set against a textured background featuring green geometric shapes and dotted patterns.

*Take the baking example above – During a busy time, making the dough one day and baking the cookies on another would just be good planning but somehow breaking down your yoga practice to do some poses today and different ones tomorrow can lead to feeling like you ‘aren’t doing yoga right.’ Reframing your thoughts on yoga in light of your well-planned cookies might make a big difference.

a dog on a leash looking into some trees with houses in behind them January 20 is Take A Walk Outdoors Day
fitness · health · mindfulness · nature · walking

January 20 is Take A Walk Outdoors Day

Christine HenneburyLeave a comment

Today is Take A Walk Outdoors Day and I plan to celebrate by, you guessed it, taking a walk outdoors!

This isn’t a new thing for me, of course, I take a walk outdoors with Khalee most days, but I am making a point to get a good walk in today.

For the record, I also took a walk outdoors on Monday, even though it was just Take A Walk Outdoors Eve. It was a very drizzly day and Khalee was not a fan. She insisted on turning around to head home after just a few minutes but I’m still counting it as a walk outdoors.

A tan and white dog standing in snow, wearing a harness and leash.
Poor Khalee Pup looks so fed up with me. I’m sorry for dragging you out into the drizzle, KP! Image description: Khalee, a light-haired, medium-sized dog is standing in the middle of some snow facing towards the right. She has turned her head towards the camera. Her fur looks damp and she does not seem delighted to be outdoors, despite the mental health benefits.

Note: Are there entirely too many ‘official’ days for ordinary things? Maybe. Do I enjoy choosing to celebrate some of them all the same? Hells, yes! If it adds fun to my life and does no harm? I am IN.

As I was writing this post I did a quick search to see how many of my posts mention walking. It turns out that I have written 668 posts for Fit is a Feminist Issue and at least 192 of them mention walking. That includes posts for Making Space and Go Team so some of them may not be about my own walks but I still find it interesting that there are that many. Also, that 192 doesn’t include some posts that are about walking but that didn’t get picked up by the search function for some reason – like the poem one linked below.

Here are a few of my favourite posts about getting out for a walk:

Seven Things Christine Noticed On Her Sunday Walk

Khalee Solves Christine’s Problem (a poem?)

Christine and Khalee Try Walking Meditation

Just For Fun With Christine and Khalee

The health benefits of being outdoors is one of those things that I “know” but I realized I had never actually looked it up before so I did and I found this article from the Canadian Psychological Association that you may want to have a look at:

“Psychology Works” Fact Sheet: Benefits of Nature Exposure
This image is a link to a 2024 “Psychology Works”Fact Sheet entitled Benefits of Nature Exposure from the Canadian Psychological Association. The credits below are copied directly from the document:
This fact sheet has been prepared for the Canadian Psychological Association by Yasmeen Ibrahim, Clinical Psychology Ph.D. Student, and Shannon Johnson, Ph.D., Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at Dalhousie University.

Another thing that sprang to mind while I was writing this was the Latin phrase Solvitur Ambulando which means “It is solved by walking.” I don’t speak or read Latin but I came across that phrase years ago and I love how it landed with me.

I took it literally when I first heard it – that walking around can help you figure things out – but I have since found out that it is also about solving complicated abstract problems by taking practical action. It works in all directions, really.

And in confirming the Latin spelling, I came across this delightful ‘sketchplanation’ of the literal interpretation of the phrase by Jono Hey

A simple illustration depicting three stick figures walking on a path through green hills. One figure has a light bulb above them, symbolizing an idea or realization. The text 'SOLVITUR AMBULANDO' and 'it is solved by walking' is displayed at the top.
Image: Jono Hey, Sketchplanations Image description: this image shows three stick figures walking along a hilly field in shades of green. The first one on the left has a cloud made of dark scribbles above their head that indicates some confusion, they are walking towards the right and towards the back of the image. Then we see a later version of the same person walking from the back of the image towards us, and the cloud of confusion is a lighter colour. Finally, we see the same person closest to us on the right, and above their head is a light bulb symbolizing an idea and the light bulb is surrounded by green lines indicating a sort of brightness. Text at the top of the image reads, in Latin, Solvitur Ambulando and (the translation) it is solved by walking. This image is representing the idea that taking action, moving forward, literally or figuratively can help you to organize your thoughts and plans.

And seeing as I am pretending to be all sophisticated by sharing a Latin phrase, I’ll lean into that and share a quote (that is about walking and not about walking) from a poem that I love called [Traveler, your footprints] by Antonio Machado.

Traveler, there is no road;

you make your own path as you walk.

~Antonio Machado

Now, as good as it is to take a walk outdoors and to recommend walking outdoors, I know that that’s not always possible for everyone. and from what I understand, you can get some of the benefits of walking outdoors, of being in nature, and the like from looking at pictures of nature and, I assume, watching videos of people’s nature hikes.

So, in the spirit of focusing on things we can do instead of getting all caught up in the things we can’t do: If you are not able to get out outside today to take a walk (or to propel yourself by whatever means you usually do) then here are a few nature walking videos that I thought you might enjoy watching at home – whether or not you are walking/moving at the same time.

Have fun!

Image Description: The still image for this video shows a path leading forward through a wintery forest scene. the trees on both sides have snow on their branches and all of the undergrowth is laden with snow. There’s also snow on the path leading ahead. In the centre of the image is text reading “Winter Walk” and it is in a handwritten sort of font.
Image Description The still image shows a path through tall green trees on a spring or summer day. The path is clear and flat and has a wooden fence on both sides. Tt’s a sunny day and even though you can’t see the sky you can see the the light from the sun making all of the needles on the trees and the moss and plants in the undergrowth glow in the soft light. The trees are large and we’re mostly just seeing trunks and lower branches. There is a large tree to the left that has fallen so we’re seeing its roots and the tree trunk, which has moss on it, extending towards the left and backwards.
Image description: The still image of this video shows waves lapping on a yellow-brown beach on a sunny day with a bright blue sky. There are evergreens and other trees and some grass on the upper left far above the wet part of the beach. The beach extends forward for a long ways.
Image description: The still image for this video shows a fall scene in the woods with a path that extends into the distance with trees on either side. The path is strewn with orange leaves and some of the tress have orange leaves left on them. There are also a few evergreen trees here and there among the other trees.
Image description: The still image for this video shows a green field with hundreds of dandelion flowers growing in it. In the distance you can see farm houses, and structures for electrical lines, and a strip of blue/grey sky.
I had to include this video because this trail is about 15 minutes from my house and I thought you might enjoy seeing the rocky terrain and the ocean views on this hike. Image description: The still image for this video shows a collection of houses in a variety of colours in a part of St. John’s, NL called The Battery. The streets in this area are narrow and winding so the photo kind of looks like the houses are clustered haphazardly. There is a mix of old, weather-beaten structures and brightly-coloured newly painted houses. There is a rocky area in the foreground of the photo. This photo was taken on a sunny fall day so while the picture is bright.
A drawing of a green striped door with a gold star in the middle with yellow sections, curving around the outside door Go Team 2026: Measure Something That Matters To You
advice · fitness · Go Team · goals · habits · motivation · self care

Go Team 2026: Measure Something That Matters To You

Christine HenneburyLeave a comment

Hey Team,

Today, I’m wondering what meaningful things you are measuring as you move towards the life you want.

Whenever we start something new we have always have layers of reasons for choosing that practice.

And some of those reasons provide obvious things to measure while the measurements for other layers may take more thought.

But I think the layers that require more thought may just be more meaningful for us overall. They can help us dig into our most important motivations and inspire us to continue even when things get challenging.

Let me illustrate this with an example: imagine that you have decided to journal one page each day.

You may start because you like the idea of journaling, of documenting your life, or of working out some of your feelings on paper.

Your first layer reason for taking on this practice might just be ‘I want to try this.’ and the obvious measurement is whether or not you do the thing. You can check that off on your tracker or on a list or even just in your mind – ‘Yes, I wrote one page today.’

But any practice we take on for our own well-being is not just about the practice itself.

It’s always about how the practice is going to improve our lives and make us feel better .

So, when it comes to journaling, you’re not just trying to fill pages. You’re also seeking something else.

Perhaps you’re also hoping for some peace of mind, to have fewer unfinished thoughts bumping around in your head, or to notice your thought patterns.

Since those changes would be meaningful and would improve your well-being, it would be worthwhile to figure out how to measure whether your practice is leading you towards those things.

Perhaps you could do that by taking a moment every now and then to notice if you feel more peaceful or if your brain feels more at ease and make a note of any differences your find. You could do this whenever it occurs you or you could create regular check-in points.

Measuring these changes over time might look like colour-coding a circle on a chart each day, checking in with yourself one morning a week, or anything else that makes you feel good about paying attention to this element of your life.

Then, on yet another layer, you may be hoping that your journalling gives you some space to react differently in certain situations.

If you always find the drive to work quite stressful but you have been working out your feelings around that in your journal then you may want to measure if your stress level changes overtime. That may involve taking specific time for a different type of reflection or it may just involve asking yourself to occasionally rate your stress levels while driving.

When it comes to your own practices for well-being, it’s worth considering the different layers of change that you are hoping this practice will bring to your life.

(Note: Not every practice will have deep layers but they will all have at least one layer below ‘I’m going to try this.’)

And once you have figured some of those other layers out, it’s definitely worth finding a way to measure them.

That doesn’t mean you have to keep a checklist or add a lot of other tasks to your life, it can be a simple mental check-in at whatever interval makes sense for you and for your new practice.

And remember that when it comes to your well-being qualitative measurements matter as much, if not more, as quantitative ones.

You don’t need to mathematically prove that your practice made you feel better, all you need is to know that it did.* And any measurement that allows you to notice that change is a valid one.

So, Team, whether today finds you measuring something, figuring out how to measure something, exploring what else you are trying to get out of your practice, or doing anything else that helps you move towards the life you want to have, I wish you ease.

And, of course, I offer you this gold star for your efforts.

Go Team Us!

Be kind to yourself out there, pretty please!

A drawing of a green striped door with a gold star in the middle with yellow sections, curving around the outside door
I’m not sure if the yellow parts are leading you towards the door or if it’s light emanating from behind the door but either way this gold star is in celebration of your efforts today. Image description: a gold star on a door with a curved top. The door is surrounded by curved. Lines are King away from the door in all directions. The large gold star is in the middle of the top part of the door. The door itself is decorated with alternating lines in four different shades of green. I’m just noticing that I didn’t draw a door knob so it’s clearly a magic door. The curved lines curved down from the door on either side and up and away from the door at the top. Each section created by those black curved lines is coloured with one of four alternating shades of yellow and each section has different sized small black dots.

* Alternatively, it may help you notice that you’re not feeling much of a difference. And if that’s the case, then you can look at your system, your approach, and see if something needs to be adjusted.

A painting of a shiny gold star against a background of thin lines and layered circles. Go Team 2026: What CAN You Do Today?
ADHD · advice · Go Team · goals · habits · motivation · self care

Go Team 2026: What CAN You Do Today?

Christine HenneburyLeave a comment

Hey Team,

My ADHD has been especially tricky about time lately.

I mean, I always have trouble judging how much time I have, how much time I need, how long things will take, and how my tasks will best fit into the time available, but all of these challenges have been amplified lately.

And, as a result, my time feels tight and compressed and so does my brain.

And, as a result of that, I don’t feel like I have the time to do the kind of planning and thinking I like to do before getting started on anything.

And, as a result of that, I feel like I need to set aside hours and hours to get things in order before I actually do anything and my brain compiles a long list of ‘work before I can work’ that it insists must be done before anything else.

And, as a result of THAT, when I do clear a couple of hours to get things in order, I end up sitting there with a ton of ideas and must-do items in my head.

And, as a result of THAT, I end up in a situation where my brain decides that because I can’t do EVERYTHING then it will do nothing.*

Yes, this process is just as much fun as it sounds.

At this point, you may be thinking, “Well, that sucks, Christine, but what does it have to do with encouraging me to keep up my practices?”

Good news! I am indeed heading towards some advice and encouragement for you, I am just taking the long way.

You see, as much as my current process loop sucks, I also know that there is a way out of it.

I have to move my attention from all of the things that feel overwhelming and impossible and direct it towards the things that I CAN do right now.

I CAN make a list of the stuff that is bouncing around in my head.

I CAN put stuff on my calendar.

I CAN choose to work on one thing for a short period of time.** Some people might like to choose one task to do but I frame this way because it lets my brain know that the task can only go on for so long right now. That makes it easier to start.

And moving through those things I CAN do helps me start moving out of the loop and back towards my normal level of time-weirdness.

Of course, this all hinges on me becoming conscious of the fact that I am in the loop in the first place.

And HERE’S where my time issues can dovetail with your practices.

If you are finding it hard to get started on your practice (today or in general), to keep your actions going, to keep working towards the life you want, your attention may accidentally be focused on all of the things you can’t do.

You know the kind of thing I mean…

You don’t have time for a workout.

You don’t have time for a shower after your workout.

You can’t think of anything to journal about.

You are in the middle of decluttering and you don’t have room to roll out your yoga mat.

It’s loud at your house and you can’t focus on your meditation.

All of those things are totally valid and they may be a good reason to give yourself a break today.

BUT, if you don’t really want or need a break, you brain might be so focused on what you CAN’T do that it won’t let you see what you CAN do.

Perhaps you can do a shorter version of your workout or you can add in a walk or dance a little.

Perhaps you can do a workout that is less sweaty or do a bit of a sponge bath instead of taking a shower.

Perhaps you can write about not having anything to write about – this almost always leads me to finding something interesting to put on paper.

Perhaps you can do a standing yoga session or a yoga practice that can be done in bed.

Perhaps you can wear headphones or do something mindful or do a walking meditation.

By switching your focus to what you CAN do at the moment you can help yourself feel a lot better and you can do at least a placeholder version of your practice.

And that’s got to be good for you, right?

So, Team, today I invite you to consider where you are focusing your attention and how you can shift your thoughts towards what version of your practice is available to you today.

And, of course, here’s your gold star for your efforts.

Whether you are working hard, resting, figuring things out, or trying to figure out how to figure things out, I hope you will take a few minutes to celebrate what you CAN do, what you ARE doing, and, even what you are choosing NOT to do (a valuable practice in itself).

And make sure to give yourself a metaphorical pat on the back (or a literal one if you have the flexibility to do so) for everything you manage to fit into your days.

Go Team Us!

Please be kind to yourself out there.

A painting of a shiny gold star against a background of thin lines and layered circles.
This is one of my favourite star drawings I have ever made. A painting of a gold star that is trimmed in layers of black, gold, then black again. The background is decorated with thin vertical lines and clusters of circles. The lines are a repeating pattern of a slightly thicker black line, a thin gold line, a thin dark green line and a thin light green line. The circles are groups in some places and further apart in others. Each circle has a black circle with a dark or light green circle inside, and a black circle with a gold dot inside of that. The drawing is ‘framed’ with a thick black line.

*For the record, this is NOT a time to come at me with advice that starts with, “If you just…” because it will not be well-received. If ADHD could be solved by will power, I would have left it behind years ago. Also, I’m not exactly doing ‘nothing’ – that might actually be kind of restful – I am doing nothing that is actually helpful to me. I am experiencing an avalanche of thoughts while doing some tangential task that is not particularly relevant to the overall project and generally building up unpleasant feelings about the whole thing.

**I usually pick 13 minutes because my brain likes that amount of time.

A small painting of a gold star that is made up of smaller triangle shapes and other shape shapes painted different colors. Go Team 2026: Gather Support
ADHD · advice · fitness · goals · habits · motivation · self care

Go Team 2026: Gather Support

Christine HenneburyLeave a comment

Hey Team,

No matter what kind of practice you are working on at the moment, you don’t have to do it alone.

And, yes, this is just as true if you are working towards a solo adventure far away from home as it is if you are taking a solo adventure into the deepest parts of your feelings as it is if you are joining a hockey team.

You can always seek, request, and build the kind of support you need to help you move forward in your practices, your habits, and toward your goals.

Just be choosy about who you ask for support.

For example, you don’t have to seek support from the person who is always negative but claims they are just being realistic. Being realistic would include a balance of positivity and negativity and if they can’t wrap their minds around that then they aren’t going to be much use to you.* The last thing you need to ask someone for support and then end up feeling worse!

I would, however, recommend ensuring that at least some of your support comes from someone who is firmly in your corner, someone who wholeheartedly believes in you. That doesn’t mean that they think you are perfect or that they would never offer suggestions to change your approach, it just means that they want what is best for you and they will support you in getting there.

You can also find support from in-person or online friends or acquaintances who have had similar experiences. You can seek out new people who have done what you are trying to do. And/or you can find seek out people who are at the same stage in the process and you can cheer each other on.

You can ask friends who are doing different projects to be accountability partners or to do some body-doubling for you. You can support each other even if you are working on different things.

You can also ask people who have had success in other areas about how they approach their work or how they would approach the practice you are trying to develop. Even if they haven’t done anything similar, their processes from other projects might give you a new idea for your own process. (To clarify: Here’s an example of this kind of thing from a CBC article I wrote in 2020.)

And you can also seek out non-interactive support – collecting memes, posts, and photos that you find encouraging and referring to them when you need a boost. This might look like keeping them in a specific folder on your phone, in your saved items on social media, or in your browser’s bookmarks, or, if you are so inclined, you could consider making a journal that includes quotes, images, and anything else that makes you feel good about your habit-building process.

Another form of non-interactive support could be creators you follow on YouTube and on social media or whose websites/newsletters you read. If reading their work, watching their videos, or doing their practices adds to your energy, then you can consider them as part of your support team.

Really, the important thing is that you support yourself by developing the support network and resources that you need to move towards the life you want to have.

You get to decide what kinds of support you need and the best ways to find them.

Oh, and please know that I am firmly in support of your efforts and that I wholeheartedly believe in you.

As always, here is your gold star to celebrate your efforts today.

See how all of those shapes are supporting each other to create the star? Funny how that works, hey? It’s like I was putting a message in the drawing AND in the text. I am so subtle!

So, Team, no matter what your practice looks like today and no matter how much or how little support you need at the moment, please know that your efforts matter and that you matter.

Be kind to yourself out there.

Go Team Us!

A small painting of a gold star that is made up of smaller triangle shapes and other shape shapes painted different colors.
A painting of a gold star that is made up of triangles and other shapes that have been painted different colors, creating a kind of stained glass effect. Each section within the star is outlined in black, and the star itself is outlined in a line of black than a line of gold, and then another line of black. The background has been painted with watercolour pencil, and it’s sort of a brownish color. All along the outside edge of the paper there is a series of gold dots and they’ve each been trimmed in black.