Tag: how to

Categories
love: self-care

How To Stay Healthy This Winter Season

photo of crying woman in red long sleeve shirt blowing her nose
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com

It’s that time of year. The season of stuffy noses, sore throats, head colds, and the flu has arrived and it’s ready to hit us all full force.

It’s also that time of year when we are typically the busiest. Let’s be real – We have busy lives and have no time to be sick.

There are many little tricks to help keep us healthy and tackle gross colds and flus head on – but, let’s not overwhelm ourselves and go in total health-freak mode…

Here is a handful of the easiest and most effective tricks for you to put into practice starting right now.

Good Hygiene

This one should be a no-brainer, but it really is one of the most important. Washing your hands often throughout the day is critical. When you’re at work, when you get back from the grocery store, after pumping gas, handling cash, and basically after being anywhere out in public.

Keep a hand sanitizer in your vehicle to kill the germs and potential viruses when you’re out and about.

Drink More Water

Maybe you already think you drink enough water – challenge yourself and drink more. Not only does water help to flush out toxins and cleanse our body system, but it also carries essential nutrients to our body cells.

Check out my post Hydration IS Happiness for more info on why staying hydrated can literally change your life and make you happier and healthier than you’ve ever been. Plus, cheats on how to follow through and make drinking more water the simplest habit.

Vitamin D

If you’re luckier than I am, you live in a place where the sun still often shines in the winter. I however am from Wisconsin, where during the winter months, gray and white snowy skies are all I get on a daily basis.

If you can, get out and enjoy sunshine whenever you can. Vitamin D is essential for our immune system. Aside from being a physical savior for our bodies, Vitamin D can help keep our mental in check during what is usually the most stressful and depressing time of the year. Vitamin D is actually required to regulate our mood.

Not able to see the sunshine as often as you’d like? There are Vitamin D nutritional supplements that can be taken daily to make sure you are getting enough Vitamin D that your body and mind need to help keep you healthy and happy.

Sleep

This is my favorite because I love any excuse for me to take a little power nap during the day or hit the hay early. Sleep is a non-negotiable for staying healthy; studies prove that those who do not get enough rest catch more illnesses and viruses. Bonus: Not only does sleep keep your immune system healthy, sleeping also burns calories and eliminates stress hormones.

Exercise

I’ve shared with you my most favorite trick, I might as well share my least favorite.

I’ll be honest, I definitely don’t love exercise. I wish I was a gym rat lol. But there are simpler ways to stay active that I actually do enjoy… exercises such as yoga on my living room floor, jumping jacks and squats while I binge my favorite TV show, and a walk around the block are all things that help to boost my immune system from winter sicknesses.

There you have it – a handful of simple tricks to help keep seasonal colds and flus away during these next few months.

If you haven’t already, I really recommend checking out Hydration IS Happiness to quite literally change your life with the easiest and healthiest habit you can form for yourself.

That’s all for now. Stay warm and healthy my friends!

Categories
love: inspiration love: personal growth love: self-care

You Are Worthy of Your Dreams

photo of an elderly woman sitting on a sofa
Photo by Ron Lach on Pexels.com



Everyone has a dream.

Not a dream like you have when you’re sound asleep – but a dream that you feel deep inside your bones that you long for.

The majority of us think of our dreams as something unattainable, something too good to come true.

FALSE

Your dreams are important and quite frankly, too good NOT to come true.

We live on this earth, dealing with chaos and stressors related to family, work, school, politics, health, friends, relationships… the list goes on.

We work our butts off in hopes to retire when we turn 65 or 70 years old.

But WHY are we doing this??

Why are we waiting until our life is more than half over to start doing what we love and start living our DREAMS??

Many self-limiting reasons come to mind when we think about the why.

Time, money, responsibilities… But one reason that might not come to you right away, the one reason that might actually be the most important, is self-worth.

The #1 reason why people aren’t out there pursuing their dreams is because they lack a sense of self-worth and self-confidence.

What is self-worth?

Self-worth is defined as an internal state of being that comes from self-understanding, self-love, and self-acceptance.

Self-worth is unshakeable and steady, because of that it holds the power to completely transform your life for the better.

When you have a high level of self-worth, you have faith in yourself. You believe that you are worthy of your dreams – whether that be happiness, wealth, freedom, success, or love.

Okay, you get it. Having self-worth is amazing and pretty much necessary to go after your dreams and everything you desire for yourself.

Soooo how do we gain a sense of self-worth?

It’s simple really. The key is that you need to get to know yourself on a deeper level. Understand who you are and how you see yourself.

To do this, ask yourself these 4 questions:

  1. What are your 3 favorite qualities about yourself?
    This can be anything about yourself that you like. It can be your personality, your drive for success, the way you look, the way you dance… Just think of 3 qualities you possess that you love. Now consider how each of these qualities can help lead you to personal or professional growth.

  2. What are 3 qualities that you wish you had?
    Okay, now on the other hand, think of 3 qualities that you don’t see in yourself but wish you did. Think about why these qualities are important to you. It is now a goal of yours to develop these qualities; come up with a plan to attain them.

  3. What is a fear that you overcame and how did you do it?
    Overcoming a fear of yours shows true growth. This fear of yours can be anything from going to the doctor, to speaking up to your boss about a concern, to interviewing for a job that feels above your pay grade. Regardless of the outcome, you did it. Remind yourself of what steps you took to help yourself be so courageous and confident.

  4. How do you define success for yourself?
    It can be helpful for you to define your own success and what you wish to attain for yourself. Once you spend some time to reflect on this, it will be easier for you to create an environment that encourages you to meet those goals.

Once you can fully understand and answer these questions, you will be able to carve a path for yourself to continue to work on your confidence and grow your sense of self-worth.

Need a little motivation to start really working towards your dreams?

Check out my pep-talk: Start Living Your Dream Life

Categories
love: personal growth

Pep Talk: Start Living Your Dream Life

Your dream life… Can you picture it?

Take a moment and think about what your dream life is to you…

What do you wish you could be doing every day to make you your happiest self?

Are you by yourself? Are you with the love of your life? Your friends? Your kids?

Do you go to work in an office every day? Do you work outside? Working from home and setting your own schedule?

Maybe you’re a stay-at-home mama, or maybe you’re traveling the world?

I’m working on my dream life right now, and I have a vision for my end goal.

Myself, my husband, and my babies are outside enjoying the sunshine on the weekends. I can feel the ocean breeze while we’re in the backyard of our beach-front house.

During the week, I set my own schedule and I work from home. I’m finally happy with my career and love what I do for a living.

Whatever your dream life is, now is the time to get started on it.

I’m going to sound super cliche right now… but you only live once.

What are you waiting for??

Live your life for you. Do what makes you happy and get started on that dream life of yours.

Feeling motivated yet?

Click here to learn how to start living your dream life.

Categories
love: personal growth love: self-care

How To Be Your Happiest Self

close up photography of person wearing pink house slippers
Photo by Lisa Fotios on Pexels.com

Hey lovely!

Maybe you’re reading this because you’ve been feeling kinda low lately… maybe you feel pretty happy already but have that gut feeling that something in your life is missing.

Either way, keep on reading and you’ll learn how to be your happiest self and feel completely fulfilled within your life.

First things first… you need you think of everything in your life that is not bringing you joy or purpose and let it go.

I want you to grab a pen and paper and list everything in your life that is making you feel: down, angry, scared, jealous, tired, or any other negative emotion.

Got your list?

Now cross off everything on your list that you can erase out of existence.

Not everything on your list will be something you can cross off… for example, struggling with money to pay the bills isn’t something you can just toss away and ignore.

For these things, I want you to list an action that you can take to change that thing from a negative emotion to a positive emotion.

Basically, set a goal that will eventually make it so that you are able to cross that thing off of your list.

An example of this could be: If you’re struggling with money to pay the bills, an action to take would be saving money by not getting that $9 coffee on the way to work every morning… another action could be starting a money jar and putting aside any extra change you have to begin saving.

Work towards these goals.

It can be easy to fall off and lose motivation – look back at this list and remember the reason you started it in the first place.

Next, I want you to define your true happiness.

Write down what you want in your dream life. Write down what makes you happy, what makes you feel fulfilled.

  • Is it a sense of belonging that makes you feel happy?
  • Is it the feeling of having a purpose or making an impact that makes you feel happy?
  • Is it having absolute freedom in your daily life that makes you happy?

Whatever it is, write it down. How are you supposed to be your happiest self if you can’t define what it is that will make you truly happy?

Now just like we did before, we are going to list actions that you can take to help you get to the bottom of those things that would make you happy.

Don’t think too big here, think realistic. Think of the small steps that you can take that will eventually lead to larger steps. Don’t stress yourself out by setting extreme goals – you need to take it one step at a time.

Now that you have your actions or goals that you need to take to get those things that will make you happy, you need to turn these actions into habits. Make these actions a routine in your day to day life. Make them something that you look forward to GET to do each day rather than something you’re dreading that you HAVE to do.

Here are some key tips to help you turn these actions into habits:

1. Make an appointment with yourself.

Think about it like a doctor appointment – you might not want to go but you’re still going to. You’re not just going to skip your appointment.

Set a reminder on your phone or write your action on your calendar (if you’re still old school like me and have a wall calendar on your fridge) and don’t let yourself skip this appointment for yourself.

2. Make it fun, make it relaxing.

Create a happy place, or a safe place to take your actions. Maybe you have an office that you like to do work in, maybe you like to sit on the couch with a candle and a blanket, maybe you like to go to a nearby cafe and put your headphones in. Whatever works for you and makes you excited to work on your actions.

Along with a happy place, consider the best time to take your actions. Are you most motivated in the morning when everything is still and quiet? Are you most motivated after dinner time? Be consistent and make it a routine.

3. Reward yourself!

Remember when I said to take small steps instead of setting one huge action goal?

Each time you complete one small step, cross it off. It will feel so good to see that you’re getting closer to your end goal. Each time you cross off an action, treat yourself a little.

Now we need to talk a little bit about your well-being: health and self-care

Exercising sucks (I think so at least) but let’s be honest, exercising can really help improve your mood and overall thought on life, not just your body.

Yes – exercising obviously has its physical advantages. But it also increases your mood and your energy. If you’re someone who is never active, you’re going to feel lazy and tired more often. And I have to say it… Lazy and tired people are generally not the happiest of people.

Eating right – I am a sucker for chips and salsa, popcorn, noodles, and all things unhealthy. But you need to find balance.

Eating superfoods will help your body to feel better, to look better, and be more energized. Also, the benefits that eating healthy foods has on your skin is huge. Clear skin. That right there is enough to make me happy (almost, lol).

My favorite part of this entire post… take care of yourself. Practice self-care.

Practicing self-care is no joke. It makes all the difference in your mind, body, and soul. Do things for you, things that you like, things that make you happy, things that expand your mind.

Check out this list of self-care activities you can do alone.

Okay girl. Do you have the recipe for your happiest self?

Let’s review real quick…

  • Let go of all things not bringing you joy
  • Define your true happiness
  • Set small actions to get to your big end goal
  • Turn actions into habits
  • Stay healthy
  • Practice self-care