I'm excited to share that each month I'll be profiling inspiring women about their feel-good self-care habits and also sharing some of my own feel-good habits and rituals. The goal is to share, learn and get inspired to take the time and space to take care of ourselves - something we are all worthly of. I'm hoping that you and I will discover some new things that help support our overall well-being. The first profile will come out in February. Today, I'm sharing a few of my feel-good faves.
There will never be any affiliate links in the Feel Good Project. I will be happy to share products or businesses that have made an impact on me or the women being profiled.
It's my turn today, and I'm sharing one mindset, one product that I use every day, and one habit.
Feel Good Mindset: Recently on a survey, a community member shared that she would like to feel more excited to exercise. She said that getting started is tough, but she always feels better after. This is totally normal - I'm not excited to get up and exercise either most days. Here's a mindset shift: It's okay to not be excited and to do it anyways.
I don't love brushing my teeth, I don't even really like taking showers or paying my electricity bill, but I do it anyways. I appreciate having a healthy smile. I appreciate being clean and smelling good. I appreciate my warm, bright home. We can't rely on our excitement or motivation all the time - show up anyways knowing that you can appreciate the end result: feeling strong, calm, confident and energized. Just. keep. going.
Aside from this, it's really important to get some solid sleep if you're waking up early for your workout. For my early morning strength clients who wake up at 6AM to move, setting yourself up for a good night's sleep is a must. We can't control how much sleep we get, and we can't even control the quality of our sleep, but there are many factors that can we can influence that set us up for the best possible sleep including a night time routine.
Feel Good Product: My husband always jokes that I'm the best at falling asleep. I say, all I do is pretend to sleep, and eventually I fall asleep. It's not true that I fall asleep quickly every night, but one tool that has really improved my sleep is a simple, silk sleep mask - yes, like the kind you see people wearing on an airplane. I wear it every night, and take it with me if I'm sleeping away from home. I've found that as I've gotten older that I'm more sensitive to light. I can sense the light from the street lamps through the cracks of my blackout blinds. I can definitely sense the dim hallway light that my kids insist on leaving turned on. Wearing it also helps eliminate other distractions, like my phone. While I can't know how long I'll sleep, what I can do is set up the conditions for better sleep, and a simple sleep mask is a go-to that I use daily.
Feel Good Habit - Sleep Routine: Having a solid sleep routine tells your brain that it's time to calm down and prepare for sleep. Sleep helps restore our bodies, regulate our metabolism, helps our memory and leads to better habit consistency.
My sleep routine looks something like this. Shower at 9PMish, and get dressed in whatever clothing I intend to workout in the next morning. That's right, if you see me on zoom at 630AM, I certainly slept in those clothes. From there, I wrangle kids into bed - they're supposed to be in bed at 9, but never are. We dim or turn out all of the regular lights upstairs and rely on salt lamps. The dim light is warm, soothing and helps set the tone for bed. Next, I go downstairs, make tea, take supplements, eat a couple of squares of dark chocolate (with sea salt and caramel). Chill with tea and husband while watching TV - not a recommended sleep habit, and also, I want to get to unwind for 30 minutes before I head to bed. On weeknights I like to get into bed by 10:20 at the latest: brush teeth, retainer in mouth, mask on face and turn on a bedside fan for white noise - it's all very sexy (just ask Aaron).
Your routine doesn't need to be the same as mine, the point is to find the habits and rituals that work well for you. If you want to chat sleep routines, comment below. I can't wait to share a different perspective on self-care in February's Feel Good Project Volume 2.
Talk Soon,
Justine
