If you struggle with low energy, fatigue, adrenal or chronic fatigue, depression, or can identify as a “spoonie” in any way, this tip might be for you.
Phone a friend.
Literally can’t get off the couch but need to do something wild like: cook food (let’s not get too fancy and try to wash dishes or anything), try calling a friend!
Or even texting sometimes works but there’s something about having someone who loves you on the other end of the line that can give you that little push of motivation that you need.
Call them when you’ve gotten up or have them call you and walk you through whatever task you’re attempting.
Try it.
Recipe:
Brain fog and low on spoons? Hormonal and craving chocolate but allergic to chocolate? Looking for a tasty treat that’s healthy?
Bananas dipped in cacao powder.
Coat each banana bite thoroughly and it will taste like you’re eating truffles.
Ever feel like you can’t get out of bed or off the couch?
There’s so much to get done but you just feel so overwhelmed or exhausted thinking about it.
And I don’t mean big things, necessarily! I mean: doing the dishes, taking the trash out, taking a shower, drinking water….little things like that.
If you have chronic fatigue or depression or anxiety or even just a bit of jet lag daily things can feel so tiring. And you can lie there thinking:
“Why am not like other functioning humans? They do normal daily things all the time. What is wrong with me?”
Which actually makes it even harder to get up and do what needs to be done.
I am there a lot. I have chronically low energy and I’m also a perfectionist with high expectations of myself. (Not a great combination) I tend to find my worth in what I can get accomplished in the day (God says I can just BE and He will love me but I just want to DO!)
So, here’s my tip:
Turn on some music and set a timer for up to 7 minutes (on a good day i set it for 7 minutes, on a really low energy day I just set it for 3)
On an iPhone there’s an alarm setting that says “stop playing” which actually stops whatever you’re doing when the timer goes off (but it doesn’t lose any of your work or lose your place! It’s kind of the best!!)
So, turn on the music and work until the timer goes off
Setting small goals is so good for your brain!
You might have been on the couch for 4 hours trying to summon courage to get up but then you set a timer for 3 minutes and you know you can do 3 minutes (and you know, if you can’t: set that timer for ONE minute— no shame at all, seriously)
The trick here is to set the alarm for an amount of time which feels manageable.
Then, when I’m up, I find that I tend to be able to keep going for awhile longer. I get into a groove. And when I’m tired I rest again. And I feel a sense of accomplishment. And because I met my 3 minutes goal and surpassed it I feel really good! Anything I do over the 3 minutes makes me feel extra productive!
Yesterday I set timers for 3 minutes and ended up working for a little under an hour each time.
But then I set a timer for 5 minutes and couldn’t do it so I turned the timer off. #realtalk
This little brain hack works for so many things. Make the goal so small you can’t fail. If you are still failing: make the goal smaller!
I first read this tip in reference to writing habits. If you want to write a book but can’t write a chapter: have a goal to write a paragraph. Can’t do that? Make it a sentence. Still not getting there? Goal: get out your pencil!
Keep making the goal so small until you cannot fail. Your brain wants to succeed! It’s so defeating to feel like you’re failing all the time.
I used this tip first with getting into running. My friend and I first made a goal of just getting together to walk every morning. Then when we were consistent at that for a few days we said we would run past 4 houses (all right next to each other), after a few days of that we ran to the end of the block. Inevitably because each goal was so small we surpassed it every time. In just a couple months we ran our first 5K!
Besides using the tiny goal hack in daily life, I am actually going to try to apply in a way to my new life with my guy here in Ireland.
I want to spend a lot of time with him but he needs a lot of space so weirdly enough this hack can work here, too. If I want to spend a bunch of hours with him I can set a tiny goal for the amount of time we spend together and I will feel satisfied.
Example: I can have a goal to spend only 1 hour a day with him during the week instead of expecting to spend the entire evening with him. (And when we have kids the amount of time might go down to like 15 minutes, haha.)
Small goals are manageable, they lower your expectations (so you can then surpass them and feel like you’re winning at life) and they help you feel more satisfied!
And little goals can be applied to habits you want to form, areas where you often feel defeated, and even just help you get up off the couch.
The human body can endure so much more than we think that it can. I modeled for an art workshop this weekend for 12 hours. I thought I was going to die. It was hyperbole but I totally thought it was going to wreck my body. At the end of the first 6 hour day I came home and slept 12 hours. Day 2 I did not sleep, I just vegetated in front of my iPad and did NOTHING productive.
Confession, I am driven but I am not self-motivated. Productivity is a big thing for me. So big that my therapist and I are actively working on it. The first step is to stop using the word PRODUCTIVE. Instead I want to measure my days on whether I felt SATISFIED and CONTENT and HEALTHY at the end of the day.
Because after modeling for 12 hours I still wanted to be productive. I felt like sleep was “productive” and iPad-zoning was not. I didn’t think, “I need to recover. What are some healthy ways I could recover?”
What are some ways you recover? Please share them! Self care is so important but it doesn’t always feel productive. Nor is self care always easy to do–it’s easier to zone out in bed like a sweet potato.
I’m learning how to talk to myself like a friend. A friend who I’d ask, “what’s something easy and healthy you could do right now to feel satisfied with this morning/afternoon/evening?”
I’m learning how to be accountable to myself. My therapist had me write out everything I like to do during the day (in order) as a checklist ((because I LOVE ROUTINE and my life always feels like it’s falling apart when I lose my routine)) and I’ve gone back to pomodoro tracking.
Pomodoro tracking is working for a set amount of time and then taking a scheduled break and switching tasks. I’m able to get so much more done. I just listened to a podcast last night and it talked about how important it is to give your brain a break so that you can be fully present. Without the pomodoro method and my checklist, I usually focus on something all day long and then feel like I got nothing done.
I went back to the pomodoro method because that is how I survived modeling for 12 hours. The teacher made sure to schedule breaks for me. I used every break to stretch, drink water, and go to the bathroom. Breaks are important. For your mind, and body, and soul.
How do you get things done? How do you recover? Are you taking breaks? Are you a recovering productivity addict?
#WorldMentalHealth
Im the daughter of a single parent who struggles with bipolar tendencies and PTSD. My family is dysfunctional. I struggle with SAD, some anxiety issues, and a compulsive eating disorder. I’m a 6 on the ACE scale and I relate with an anxious-avoidant attachment style…. But NONE of those things completely define me. They help me understand my subconscious reactions but they do not determine my actions.
Seek to understand yourself, not to define yourself.
Embrace your shadow to allow your light to shine brighter.
Be transparent.
Tell your story and help others who are struggling.
I just recently started mediation again. My eating disorder was resurfacing and a friend of mine who has battled ED for a long time reminded me that meditation can help.
Even in yoga I still don’t always give myself a chance to just shut my brain off for a second and be still and really feel things. It’s so important for your mental health.
It’s not about shutting your mind up completely. It’s more about pausing for a second to see what bubbles to the surface….
We spend a lot of subconscious effort suppressing thoughts and feelings so that we can DO stuff. So when we actually take time to stop DOING for a few seconds, we are able to finallythink those thoughts and feel those feelings.
I have 3 meditation apps that I use:
Headspace (love the guy’s British accent and the adorable illustrations)
Smiling Mind (from Australia for all age ranges)
Breathe (helps you check in with what emotions you are experiencing)
Kapha is cold and wet which dampens digestive fire referred to in Ayurveda as “Agni“. Low digestive fire is a big problem. Agni is the fire of transformation, the mechanism of digestion and understanding in our mind and body. In Ayurveda strong Agni builds wellness and opportunity.
Sama Agni means “Strong Even Digestion”
Stoke your Digestive Fire with your food choices:
Redefine satisfied. No food coma or discomfort at all. On a scale of 1 being starving and 10 aim for 5 to 7.
Find a way to feel deeper hunger once in awhile and befriend it. Historically it was normal to feel hunger and be hungry. Every so often my body needs to burn accumulated fat, not just carbohydrates. Consider doing a fast or juice fast one day a month or so.
Lighten up on the starches and add growing green stuff to your plate.
Probiotics are living foods. 70 to 80% of your immune system lives in your gut. Probiotic organisms in your gut biome are the front line Agni decision makers.
Detox for stronger Agni:
Sweat. Sweating through the skin is often a completely underutilized detox pathway. Get moving every day as your muscle movement pumps moves toxins out of your lymphatic system.
Breathe with awareness. They don’t say take a deep cleansing breath for nothing you know. Every exhale releases ama we don’t want or need.
Drink clean water. Sip it regularly over the course of your day. Water is the medium for communication and transportation in the body. Water saturates and flushes tissues and releases toxins for disposal out through the kidneys.
Add Antioxidants. The key antioxidants; Vitamin C, E, Co Q 10 and Glutathione give your body a detox boost. A plant rich diet full of color gives all the nutrients you need to stoke your fire.
Add essential oils and spices to your life:
When your digestion gets sluggish you can use essential oils like Thieves, juniper, eucalyptus, ginger, and clove. Always make sure you use 100% pure, therapeutic-grade essential oils.
And you can also add ginger and clove spices to your dishes.
With a little support your Agni can be sturdy and resilient. Healthy Agni means you can eat and assimilate a wider variety of information and foods.
1. Listen to relaxing music to slow your heart rate, lower stress, and steady your systolic blood pressure. (Try out my massage music playlist that I play when my clients come in for a massage.)
2. Increase your intake of omega-3 rich foods to protect yourself from heart disease. Omega-3s may provide blood-thinning benefits without side effects.
3. Use neroli essential oil (aka orange blossom). The oil helps many heart-related conditions, from palpitations to lovesickness. (Always use 100% pure, therapeutic-grade oils)
4. Take a B-complex supplement to ensure that your body doesn’t carry too much of the amino acid homocysteine which can put you at a greater risk for heart disease.
5. Limit your daily salt intake to 1 teaspoon to keep your blood pressure from rising. I also recommend switching to Himalayan crystal salt. The herb oregano can help reduce salt cravings.
6. Use rose oil and rose water to lower stress. The natural scent lifts mood, calms the fight-or-flight stress response, and tames tension. It’s also excellent for your skin. (Again always use 100% pure, therapeutic-grade oils)
7. Gum disease can lead to an increase of pro-inflammatory bacteria in the blood leading to cardiovascular disease and plaque around the heart.
8. Two out of three people with diabetes succumb to heart disease or stroke, according to the American Diabetes Association. Avoid foods that spike blood sugar levels.
9. Ylang-ylang essential oil quiets heart palpitations, reduces anxiety, and puts you in the mood for love.
10. Garlic can help lower your total cholesterol which can lower your risk of heart attack or stroke.
Massages are not only relaxing and pampering. Massage decreases symptoms of pregnancy and decreases the pain and length of labor.
2 Common myths and preconceptions of pregnancy and massage:
1. Massage during 1st trimester causes miscarriages
*Reality: Only extremely deep and vigorous lower abdominal massage could possibly cause a miscarriage. If a woman experiences a miscarriage after a massage, it is not the massage that is the cause.
2. Massaging the feet and ankles will cause a pregnant woman to go into labor.
*Reality: There ARE acupressure and reflexology points on the feet and ankles that are contraindicated (should avoid stimulating). However it takes prolonged specific pressure directly on those points to activate them. A general foot and ankle massage does not do this and is safe to perform.
Benefits of Prenatal and Post-Partum Massage:
Prenatal
Helps mother cope with emotional and physiological changes in her body
Reduces morning sickness
Relieves headaches
Reduces insomnia and fatigue, promotes deeper and better sleep
Reduces musculoskeletal pain and postural imbalances
Reduces sciatic paining hips, low back, and legs
Relieves cramps, spasm, and myofascial pain
Improved flexibility, releases tight muscles
Promotes blood and lymph circulation, reducing toxins in system
Reduces edema (swelling) in hands, feet, face, and ankles
Reduces blood pressure due to improved circulation
Reduces varicose vein development and pain
Helps maintain efficient breathing patterns
Promotes secretion of hormones that are beneficial to mother and fetus
Helps prepare mother for labor
Release endorphins which helps with pain management
Reduces stress, anxiety, depression, and emotional swings
Increases mothering instincts
Post-Partum
Speeds up physiological recovery
Helps balance physical and emotional challenges of motherhood
Reduces post-partum depression
Lightens stretch marks
Relieves stress
Reduces fluid retention
Exfoliates skin
Improves sleep
Boosts milk production
Improves circulation
Improves tone and flexibility of muscles and stretched nerves
PlanetJoy: Otherworldly Massages for Women & Planet-Friendly Collages for Everyone 