How’s it going, mama?
We are having some glorious weather days in New Jersey so I took an impromptu trip with my kiddos to the beach the other day.
There really is something so restorative about sand and salt water and fresh air. I think we all needed to day to just play.
I’ve been thinking about our April Open-Ended Self Care Challenge since we are just over half way through..and I want to know how you are doing?!
I feel like I’m learning some lessons this time around (or in some ways reminded of lessons I learn over and over again) and I wanted to share a few.
If you haven’t started the open-ended challenge and want to get a quick overview of what I’m talking about, click through here for all the details.
This month I’ve been focusing on (1) eating 5 servings of veggies every day, (2) drink herbal tea every day, and (3) journal every day.
Here’s some of the things I’ve been learning:
Lesson #1
My tummy can’t go from “0 to 60” easily anymore!
I didn’t realize how few veggies I had been eating in the last couple months…but jumping right into 5+ a day had me really experiencing some painful bloating!
I had to remind myself not to shock my system too quickly and be mindful of the more “gas causing” veggies at first and slowly ramp up 🙂
Lesson learned and I’m feeling more better these days (and lighter in my body, too)!
Lesson #2
I didn’t include enough one and two “petal leaves” on our flower!
I’ve been leaning heavily into the days when I only get one or two out of my three accomplished.
And every time I fill in a partial petal, I’m reminded how brilliant this open-ended challenge really is…I would have quit many times by now if I hadn’t given myself the grace to do this imperfectly.
But here we are on Day 21 and I’m still engaged and thinking about my self care goals everyday. I’m still in the game and I’ve been feeling the positive impact of these practices already.
Lesson #3
Sometimes you don’t pick the best practices right off the bat….and that’s okay!
Going into this challenge I assumed journaling would be the easiest of the three for me. But it is turning out to be much more challenging than I thought to take some quiet, reflective journaling time every day.
So I began to reflect on why.
More than anything bringing self care into our lives should serve us.
As soon as it begins to feel like an obligation I pause and reconsider.
What I’m learning about myself right now is that I’ve been pretty jammed up in my mind lately. Lots of frenetic thoughts going on and feeling “tightly” wound in my own mind.
I chose journaling because I thought it would be a tool to help me relieve some of those feelings mentally…but the flow is not there.
So I’m planning on changing my third practice from journaling to a daily walk.
Because another way I can get unstuck in my head is by moving my body…and I’m going to experiment with that tool for the remainder of the month instead of beating myself up over journaling that just isn’t working right now for me.
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The real lesson with any true self care challenge is to LEARN more about what you most need right now in life.
Being reflective and open to how your challenge is going could help you decide where you need to revise and pivot.
You get to change course- whenever you want. Remember that!
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What lessons has this challenge taught YOU?! Come share with me over on our FB page!!
Loving you up,
P.S….
Before I sign off I have a few “sticky notes” I want to share about things coming up soon!
1. Mugs for Mamas!!
You’ve waited all year for this next sale!! This Saturday I’ll be opening up our annual Mugs for Mamas buy one-gift one sale.
It will be a flash sale (4 days only) and will be open to US based residences only. (Huge love to our international mamas, but the shipping gets too difficult with this larger sale to do international mailings.)
Every mug bought will also gift a mug to a mama in the NICU or caring for a child with special needs— I’m partnering with some INCREDIBLE organizations to get these mugs to mamas who could really use some light and love right now!
If you purchase during our flash sale, your mug will be delivered in time for Mother’s Day- so it’s really a beautiful gift to yourself or another mom in your life!
Keep your eye open this Saturday (April 23) for the open-cart announcement and more details.
2. Next Class Session is Enrolling for the WGI Certification and Training Program
Our next Women’s Wellness Educator Certification and Training Program class begins late May 2016…which is right around the corner.
I’ll have more details in full as we get a bit closer, but I wanted to give everyone a head’s up who may be considering exploring wellness work as their own career path to begin learning more about our program and what we offer!
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