Self Care In the New Year

The other day I was having lunch with a friend and we were talking about what we want to focus on and prioritize in the New Year. We both are very driven people and put our all in work and family life, but we struggle to prioritize time for ourselves. But in reality, you have to take care of yourself to take care of others so “you” should be the top priority.

Over the years I’ve developed a pretty thorough self care routine that is my fallback when I’m not feeling great both mentally and physically or when I know I’m heading into a stressful time of the year (hello crazy busy January!).

Here are my tips for staying well during the most challenging times:

• Stay active! – this doesn’t mean you have to run a marathon or do some other extreme fitness activity, it just means getting your body moving. For me, I run a few times a week and the other days I try to take walks to get my body moving.
• Eat balanced and yummy meals – I always try to have a balance of protein and vegetables for every meal and even if I’m indulging I make sure I still have this balance because it makes me feel better and gives me the energy I need to get through my day.
• Don’t drink – I know this is challenging for most but drinking really takes a toll on your body, so I try to save it for the weekend as a nice treat yourself moment without going overboard. I’ve also been really into mocktails as a healthy substitute to alcohol, here is my latest mocktail hour recipe in honor of Dry January.
• Wear something fun! – I love the dress that I’m wearing in this picture and I put it on whenever I need to spark joy. I never got into the Marie Kondo movement, but I do believe things should bring you joy so invest in that beautiful printed dress even if it isn’t practical because joy is everything!
• Get your beauty sleep – get at least 8 hours a night and stick to a common bed time and wake up time. Every now and then I can’t turn off and fall asleep so I rely on Headspace to help disconnect and relax before bed time.

That being said, everyone has a different self care routine, for example some people like to meditate whereas exercise is my form of meditation and it’s the ultimate stress relief for me.

What is your self care routine?

xoxo,

Kristina