Power of now

What if the life you want is built less by giant transformations and more by the small choices you make right now?

In this solo episode of Wellness in Every Season, Autumn Carter explores the power of the present moment and how tiny shifts in behavior can completely change the trajectory of your wellness, nervous system, habits, and future self.

Using the Stages of Change model as a framework, Autumn breaks down why people often feel stuck in cycles of avoidance, procrastination, burnout, or self-sabotage—and why motivation alone is not enough to create lasting change. She dives into neuroplasticity, nervous system regulation, chronic stress, trauma responses, habit formation, emotional resilience, and the science behind why repeated behaviors become easier over time.

This episode also explores the hidden physical cost of chronic stress, including inflammation, sleep disruption, immune dysfunction, emotional dysregulation, memory challenges, and burnout. Autumn encourages listeners to stop waiting for the “perfect time” to begin caring for themselves and instead focus on simple, sustainable shifts that build long-term wellness over time.

Listeners are invited to reflect on the habits, routines, boundaries, and patterns they have been avoiding, while learning how small actions—like walking, hydrating, reducing screen time, improving sleep routines, practicing nervous system regulation, or spending time outside—can create powerful momentum toward healing and self-trust.

This episode is a reminder that wellness is not built in dramatic overhauls. It is built in the quiet moments where you choose yourself again and again.

For more wellness tips and exclusive content, join my newsletter! Sign up now at https://wellness-in-every-season.kit.com/5-days-to-mastering-mornings-and-evenings receive a free 5-day guide called "Awaken and Unwind: 5 Days to Mastering Life's Mornings and Evenings." 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

This is episode 214, and today we're talking about the power of right now in this moment. Welcome to Wellness in Every Season. We talk all things wellness to help you align yourself, align with your goals, find balance in your life, and recalibrate yourself. If you are listening for the first time, welcome, welcome. I'm so glad you're here. And let's get started in the rest of the podcast. So let's talk about this for a second. What are things that you are putting off? What's coming to mind right now? Why are you putting them off? Get all those excuses out there. What's happening? What's coming up for you? And then think about it with this toaster that's above me that's hard to read. And I'm gonna go over it. It's called The Stages of Change. And when I heard about this in my undergrad, just was this light bulb moment for me of oh, okay, this is why people that I've tried to help through things before my coaching certification and figured out how to become a coach. This is why people get stuck. And then separate from that, this is why I've been stuck on things. So let's think about things that you've put off, things that maybe you're gonna try and do again during your New Year's resolutions, whether that's when school starts or when something changes, or when you lose some weight, or you are no longer in pain, or whatever the typical things are that we go through. Why are you putting it off? Or why are you not stopping doing things that you should be? And we're going through the shoulds here. But how many things are you do you know you need to change, but you're not really ready to? Maybe that's where you're in the pre-contemplation, which means you have no intention of changing your behavior. Or are you in the contemplation, you're aware of the problem, but you don't plan to change it yet. So one, the first one, you might not be aware of the problem yet. Other people might be starting to tell you things, and you're like, oh, there's something there, but I'm just not ready yet. Don't even talk to me about that. I've been there. And contemplation, you're aware, right? Preparation, you're planning to take action. So I'm talking to people who are in the contemplation. You're aware that there's a problem, but you don't plan to change yet. But I'm talking even more to those of you who are preparing, you're planning to take the action. Maybe you set a date for later. Why don't you do it right now? Why don't you go to sleep a little bit earlier right now? Today, why don't you set up your morning routine that you're going to have the night before? So the rest of this for the stages of change, you might be wondering, it would be action. You're actively making new habits, maintenance, sustained change with new behaviors, and relapse, which is my favorite one because this is where you're actually making the change. And this is where you're falling back into old habits when triggered. So it's you're falling off the bandwagon and then you're getting back up. This is where you're really deciding to grit through and make that change. And this is the hardest time. This is where you're going to make that change, make it permanent, or you're just going to decide you're not going to do it anymore and work on something else. And we've all had these stages, and it has led us in the trajectory that we're at right now. Is that where you want to be? Think about this with your own life experiences, life experiences of others, if you need it. Your brain builds momentum through action, not intention. The intention is what can mess up our nervous system. If we have all these shoulds going on, if we know we should be doing something else, or we want to do better in this area, but we're not for whatever reason. So our brain really wants to find the easiest way through things. And I was learning this while learning piano. And this is one of those things I gave up on piano. I realized that it was wreaking havoc on my nervous system because I tried to add too many things that one time. Does anybody else do this? It becomes that pendulum where you add too much and then you decide I'm gonna take it all away. So you go here. So I'm now here at the middle of the plug of the pendulum. It's no longer swinging back and forth. I decided that piano was not where I wanted to be right now. Decided pickleball is gonna be my new thing. When I feel like I've mastered that a little bit more, I'm gonna circle back for piano. So think about that. We add too much on. But with learning piano, what the piano teacher is telling me is that the brain learns through repetition and then reinforces that. So the small actions strengthen pathways. So think of your brain all those pathways. It's a process called neuroplasticity. And science originally was telling us that after a certain point, our brain no longer creates new pathways and it starts to atrophy. But this is the great thing about science, it's constantly evolving. We have more studies coming through. Well, we've had more studies come through that show us that's actually false. Our brain does start to atrophy, but we can counteract that by learning new things. So, like me learning piano, I have no musical expertise, experience. Besides, I'm really great at listening to music and saying that sounds good and that does that. Singing ability, reading notes, that's not my thing. That's something that I do want to learn. So, what do you want to learn that you know nothing about that is really beneficial to your brain? We can become very stuck and stagnant in our lives. So, what's something new and exciting you can put in? Or what's something that you've always wanted to do that you've told yourself you can't do it for whatever reason? This is where the power of now comes in. Why not? What is holding you back? And what if it's even better than you expected? So, for me, going back to pickleball, and you've heard about this in so many episodes. I'm sorry for you that don't like pickleball. Think about this as like for me, this is something that I chose that's very difficult because I played soccer before. So iFug coordination, yep, I'm on it. When the ball comes quickly, I want to use my feet. So my hands looks very awkward. So, what is something that you've always told yourself you're not good at? Maybe it's drawing. Do you need to take some drawing classes? Maybe do some YouTube videos and follow along, get some of those books where you draw along with it. They have apps. Maybe you have bad handwriting. Do you want to do something about that? Or do you want to just keep telling yourself you're bad at it and keep the negative talk coming? Do you see where I'm coming from here? What if you start it now? And what if you choose something that is challenging, whatever level that you are at? For some people, they want high-level challenging because they already have positive self-talk. For somebody who has a lot of negative self-talk, choose something that's a little lower level so you can build that trust in yourself and that positive those positive experiences. But along with this, you can choose something tiny, like taking a five-minute walk, drinking more water, journaling, going to bed earlier, waking up earlier, having a better bedtime routine, wake-up routine? What's something that would affect your overall wellness? New job, change in relationships. By changing the relationships, it could be working on them or deciding to exit or enter a relationship, and this could be friendships, whatever. So think about it. What is something that you desperately need? And maybe dig into that a little bit further. Think of that iceberg moment and like here's what you're seeing at the surface level, but why? Why do you feel that you need that? Ask yourself that three times and really dig under that and what's going on. And while you're thinking about that, I'm gonna move on, and you can listen to me or let your mind wander and then hit reverse a few more times, hit the 30 seconds back. Let's talk about stress, specifically chronic stress, and that is a stress that is continually happening. And it doesn't just stay emotional, so interesting to think about. It affects inflammation, sleep, digestion, hormones, immune function, blood, sugar regulation. And that's something new that I've learned. Very interesting. But it also affects memory. Isn't that interesting? And there are so many studies on trauma that talk about these things, and trauma is also stress. Shows up similar, not exact same in the brain, but trauma is stress in the body for those who have trauma in your past. Research shows prolonged stress can contribute to higher cortisol dysregulation, increased inflammation markers, greater cardiovascular risk, reduced immune resistance or resilience, reduced immune resilience, and more difficulty regulating emotions. So think about this. If you are living in chronic stress, you are dealing with all of this stuff, you're aging yourself. It's harder for you to bounce back after stress. If you are dealing with this, you need to make sure you have more buffers in your day of where you're unplugging. Go for a walk. Go and look at clouds. Do they look like different animals or whatever? Look at the stars. Find ways to unplug. Nature is the best medicine for this. Maybe mindful eating along with this. Listen to some relaxing music. Spend time in a hammock or a zero gravity chair, massage chair. Think about taking a bath, different things that can help you unplug and relax and focus on more exhales, like more of that relaxation, unwinding your body, unwinding your brain, spend time literally doing nothing, and let your brain just go on different tangents. We tend to be go, go, go, go, go. And then we decide we're gonna quickly get to bed, and then we're laying in bed, and we're for the first time ever in the day letting our brain unwind and go in any different direction it wants to, and then you find that it takes an hour and a half to fall asleep. There's a reason why, it's because you're not unplugging during the day, you're not scheduling breaks for your brain. So, thinking about that, does that give you any ideas of something that you should be adding to your life for your own wellness? Start it now. Goes with the power of now. And let's talk about habits and how they can be harder to change the longer they're repeated. Does that make sense for any of you who maybe are soda drinkers, drink high levels of caffeine, smoke, vape, any of these things that are unhealthy, maybe drinking alcohol in excess, gambling, pornography addiction? Think about habits that you have. Maybe you have too much sugar throughout the day, you don't have enough fiber, and instead of having fiber, you're having empty calories. What habits do you have that you want to change? The more you do it, the harder it is to change. And it makes sense because going back to when I was learning piano, what I was being told was my brain would get more tired when I was learning new notes and different things because my brain needed to then form that pathway. And then once that pathway was formed, it would come up with shortcuts to it to make it easier. So when you are repeating something, you've created that pathway, it's kind of writing over it over and over, making it deeper, and then it's going to come up with shortcuts for it. So we can go to media scrolling using our phone. It becomes easier the more we're doing it. And the chronic stress can become automatic, the responses to it because it is repeated over and over again. Sitting down can become easier because we're doing it more often. Poor sleep routines become easier because we're continuing down that path. So the reverse can also be true. Walking becomes easier the more we do it. Hydration becomes easier the more we do it. Boundaries become more comfortable the more that we reinforce them and remind other people of what our boundaries are. Remind ourselves, most of all, of what our boundaries are. Nervous system regulation becomes easier the more that we are practicing it. This is something that I've been diving into really deep for myself to help with all the inflammation from the car accident. And it's been so amazing to practice it and find that I am showing up better for my podcast interviews, showing up better when I'm out and about, and I happen to talk to other people about what I do, when I have coaching conversations. Because I'm regulated, I show up that way.

SPEAKER_00 15:13

Parenting is easier. And here's a really big myth that I found to be very interesting is that you don't need to feel motivated first.

SPEAKER_01 15:31

Sometimes you need to fake it till you make it, and that can create that motivation of oh, okay, it wasn't so hard. I can do this. So science shows that progress releases dopamine. That's your reward center. So it's not having to be perfect, it's not you have to be motivated and then you do the thing. And here's something that I really practice within my own life is that you can correct things and constantly be perfecting things, and that can create that massive long-term effect is having those little recalibration moments. And you can think of this as somebody who flies a plane, they just need to be a couple degrees off and they will end up on a totally different continent. So think about that with your own life. If you're constantly self-correcting long term, you're gonna end up where you want to be or where you don't want to be. So it's having those moments to check in with yourself and remember that okay, I can do this right now, especially if it's something that's going to care for yourself and help you regulate and feel more relaxed in your own body and that rest and digest moment.

SPEAKER_00 16:51

So here's some ideas.

SPEAKER_01 16:54

Maybe going for a 10-minute walk, maybe focusing on your sleep, focusing on being awake for an hour before you touch any electronic device. That's difficult for me too. I'm immediately checking to make sure my husband made it to work okay, and checking the weather, and forgetting that I can use speaker device and ask what the weather is for the day instead of looking at a screen. Maybe going outside as soon as you wake up, checking the weather, enjoying the sunshine if you're awake after the sun is up, or enjoying the sunrise, enjoying the temperature of whatever you're drinking first thing in the morning. I highly recommend that it's water, big old glass of water first thing in the morning. Bonus points if you put electrolytes in it. Maybe it's focusing on your fiber for the day, getting enough plant fiber. Maybe it's focusing on getting 30 minutes of some kind of movement. Bonus points if you put in some weights on it, in it to make sure that you are taking care of your bone health.

SPEAKER_00 18:14

Maybe it's focusing on how is your body feeling right now in this moment? What do I need? And here is a thought to go with this. Your future self is built from today's nervous system patterns.

SPEAKER_01 18:41

Are you ramping yourself up, stressing yourself out, or are you focusing on down regulating? Getting more into that relaxed state where you can think creatively. Have you ever noticed when you are super stressed out, it is hard to problem solve. Maybe there's a reason why that makes sense to you in your own body. Here's the biggest thing, and this goes back to the pendulum idea starting small means it's more likely to continue happening. And then if you keep perfecting it along the way, you're gonna have long-term results, and you're not going to be going from one extreme to the other. And along with that, avoidance strengthens anxiety pathways in the brain. Do you ever feel anxious for no reason? Me too. That's a trauma response. But when you are avoiding things, you're building up your anxiety, you're building up that stress within your body. So think about that with what should I be doing right now? And maybe take out that should and what can I be doing right now that will benefit myself. Does that feel different in your body? What can I be doing that will benefit me? Especially future me. And different from what should I be doing? Especially if you think about this in the way of what can I be doing? Think about it in a regulation for myself. Because there's so many times I'm a mom of four little kids. There's so many times where I am sitting down, relaxing, downgrading my regulation system, just that deeper exhale, relaxing my body and being more in the moment, away from my phone, TV, iPad, all the devices. And I feel like I should be doing something. And I forget that I am doing something that benefits me right now and also future me. And when I am doing this, I am showing my kids that they can do this for themselves too, and benefiting them. And here's something that really comes up for me is when you are waiting to do something that is something good. The waiting often increases perfectionism, anxiety, fear of failure, shame, all or nothing thinking. And you are also disconnecting from your self trust.

SPEAKER_00 21:45

So you're losing that self trust.

SPEAKER_01 21:49

And you can think about this and you can look back on your life to really help solidify this for yourself. But wellness is easier to maintain.

SPEAKER_00 22:00

Then rebuild. And it's not about being perfect with us. Choose one more vegetable throughout the day.

SPEAKER_01 22:09

Choose one more fruit throughout the day. Eat a little less sugar. Drink a little more water. When you're feeling hungry, sometimes it's because you're actually thirsty or you're tired and you're not actually hungry. So think about it this way: it's biologically easier to maintain muscle, mobility, balance, emotional regulation, cardiovascular endurance, social connection, stress resilience. It's easier to maintain than have to rebuild them from scratch. And you do not need to have a full scheduled-out wellness routine to have a calmer morning, more protein, more fiber, one boundary, five minutes outside, consistent bedtime, a walk after dinner, turning notifications off. And you can easily use your technology to help with this. You can have your phone set up to have it be in sleep mode for longer. Mine is, mine does not turn off until 9 a.m. Once the kids are totally out the door. That's when I start seeing all the notifications and all the things. And it's giving me time to breathe in between when they leave for school and when the notifications turn off because they're leaving for school at 8:30. Little bit of time. And sleep notification turns on before I'm actually ready to go to sleep. So it's setting up those boundaries within my digital world. And setting those up helped me to create more of them within my physical world. So let's go back to that question of what can you do right now that you've been putting off that will positively impact your wellness.

SPEAKER_00 24:17

Start with that one thing. And sometimes the smaller the better. And just continue adding little bits onto it. I'll see you in the next episode. Thank you so much for listening to this episode.

SPEAKER_01 24:34

I hope that you found the answers that you needed and you had some amazing aha moments. Please share this episode with others because it helps us align ourselves and then better align the world so that we can seek the healing that we really are looking for. As part of the legal language, I am a certified life coach with a bachelor's in applied health. That is what I am leaning on for this. This is general advice taken as that. See you in the next episode.