Winter blues is real and often times, I feel on edge trying to find balance.
What’s helping you to function lately?
You know, the things that are keeping you together when you’re perhaps one string away from unraveling?
Maybe its exercising, reading, journeling, practicing meditation, or watching your favorite tv shows.
Guaranteed, we all need supportative tools in our lives- especially with the insane weather winter storms here in California the last few weeks. It seems to be on the brink of collapse week in and week out.
That’s when self-care and wellness comes into play. Have you heard of the idea having a “wellness house of cards” that helps you feel supported and grounded.
“Your wellness house of cards are the things, ideas, actions and products that are keeping your wellbeing together.” -Michelle Pellizzon
You can think of this as the strings that are holding everything together. Creating this kind of wellness is helpful because it means you have a list of tools to turn to when you are wanting to feel more balanced.
Today, I’m sharing with you what’s in my personal wellness house of cards tool that can help you create your own resource to rely on when you need a little extra support or a motivational push.
A wellness toolkit is a group of habits, tools and products that make you feel good..and/or accomplished. Or just gentle reminders throughout the day or given throughout the week to help you feel good.
Here’s what’s in my current wellness toolkit:
- Music/Listening to a Podcast- it heals everything right?
- Exercising/Yoga – A simple 30 minutes at some point throughout my day or 30 minutes before bed can be a simple thread of holding my life together.
- Nature- Reducing screen time and glimpses out in to the ordinary world outside can help your well-being mentally but also help alter your mood.
- Learning a new recipe- Recently, I have got into this habit twice a month, learning a new recipe; whether it be from something I saw on Pinterest, read in a magazine or something a friend has made.
- Notion- A tool that helps me organize everything in my daily habits to planning out my workouts on Tonal to weekly meal planning.
- Decluttering- Twice a month, I have set time aside to start decluttering my home and space whether it be reorganizing the the linen closet to reorganizing the kitchen pantry. Catching up on household tasks (whether it be out in the garden or or even redecorating the living room, keeping things fresh in my space and adding in a new sense of experiences like candles, flowers, re-arranging decor pieces or etc) is such a huge stress reliever for me and I can’t stress this enough that it truly helps my mood.
- Meditation- breathing is a great tool you can do for 5-10 minutes throughout your day. It helps you be mindful but focus on your breathing and connecting with yourself. This goes hand in hand when I listen to a podcast (my first wellness toolkit- practing a guided meditation while listening to a podcast is extremely benefical)
- Sunday detox- I’m going strong into this but self-care Sundays are meant to be yourself. While your husband is downstairs watching football, why not soak yourself in a much need tub. Put on a face mask and lavish yourself with body lotion.
- Trying something new- This can go hand in hand with learning a new recipe or it can be something totally different as learning a new language. Personally, I use this card to go hand in hand with learning a new recipe or visiting a new restaurant where neither my husband and I have ate at before. Food seems to be the easiest in trying something new so its best to start there but eventually you can branch out to trying a new yoga routine, reading new types of content that you usually won’t read, taking the scenic route back on your drive home from work, starting a new hobby or simply trying a new skincare product.
Brainstorm the habits, activities and tools that keep you feeling well and supported. It’s best to use things you already know work for you, rather than things you “wish” you would do. Leave out the 30-minute meditation session if you’ve never done that before. Instead think of nice to do activties (reading, practing yoga, calling a friend, putting on a face mask).
Keep a visual reminder somewhere in your space. I found it helpful to make a physical list in my phone of things that feel supportive to me. Whenever you find yourself overwhelemed, it’s hard to think of what can keep you grounded. Take a quick look at the list you have readily available and respond to whichever habit or action sounds supportive. It’s one less thing that your brain will have to think about.
When things get tough, turn to your wellness kit and see what sounds good to you. Be sure to update your list with new discoveries and remove ones that aren’t working for you anymore or when you have found yourself getting in the habit of ones you start doing on a daily basis without the need for a reminder.
The biggest challenge for me was to make a list and keep myself motivated. I started very small with supportive messages from the “I am” affirmations app. I set up reminders where automatically throughout the day, I will recieve a positive message directly from the app. (I have attached a few below as examples as well as some of my favorite affirmations I had recieved along with a few past affirmations). Whenever I recieved these messages at random, I would then close my eyes for 5 minutes and work on my breathing techniques. It was one of the best ways possible to help me focus and get on with my day.
-XOXOX
