Had a bad day? Feeling lost within yourself, or having trouble describing your own feelings? I did too, until I FINALLY buckled down and created my own self-care routine. I’ve always considered myself an organized person, as I’ve spent most of my adult life scheduling my own class and work schedule. HOWEVER, once I moved to New York City, I fell off the deep end. It was like this: moving to a new city by myself, new people (millions of new people, that is), what felt like no free-time, and school constantly being shoved in my face. I felt so down ALL THE TIME. But, it was also partially my fault because I spent no time taking care of myself and spent more of it wasting good production time.
So, when quarantine fell upon us, I was basically shoved into a corner. A corner that I could either get myself out of or I could crouch into the fetal position and cry about it. If you know me, you’ll know that I’m a go-getter and I like to work hard to get what I want ALWAYS. However, here, I really felt helpless and it took me the better part of a month to get up off my ass and start working again. It’s almost like I forgot what I was working for because Broadway was dark (and still is), I was trapped in a home where I felt invisible, and all of my close friends/motivators were all around the world.
One night, I decided that it was time to make the decision to quit, or keep working. Obviously, I chose to keep working but that also meant that I had to get my schedule on the right track. There was no more sleeping until 3pm and staying up until 5am. I started hydrating way more often, and I would wake up at 8am to meditate and do a 30 minutes yoga course for flexibility just to get my muscles to loosen up from sleeping all night.
As said in this latest episode, I began my self-schedule process with making to-do lists everyday (as created on each Sunday) and I color coded assignments and rehearsals with my favorite pens (Pentel Sparkle POP, you can find them on Amazon for 15$ I LOVE THEM!). I’m also a big fan of Bullet Journaling as a planner, BUT if you aren’t like me, I recommend the new Lilly Pulitzer Planners (they just released the new patterns!) OR the Erin Condren Planners (They are more custom than Lilly, and a little more expensive). I’ve had both, and love them both dearly. Target also has GREAT planners that are $20 or LESS, so that’s a nice cheap option.
With a schedule in tact, I started to flush out the negativity in my life and started getting my motivation back for dance and working out. So, I did it everyday and I felt much more disciplined. However, there were times where I would feel so stressed, like there wasn’t enough time in the day even though I wasn’t overloaded with work. So, that’s when I started to take that fancy 24 hour break that I discuss in this episode! I’m a big dan of taking a step back when you feel overwhelmed and frustrated because sometimes you just need a new outlook on something. For me, I like to use retail therapy and a lunch by myself to make me feel better, but there are so many things that one can do for their mental health, you just have to find what works for you!
Needless to say, this episode is stocked FULL of tips and tricks on things that I’ve researched about taking care of yourself. I’ve added some short tricks, as well as some longer ones that I’ve tried myself!
OBC Album of the WEEK!: “Next Thing You Know” by Joshua Salzman and Ryan Cunningham (LITERALLY SO GOOD!!!!!)
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I can’t wait for next week’s episode, there will be a VERY special guest on :)
Until then,
Namaste MotherF*ckers