How to Survive this Month… A Resource Not Just for Mamas

Has it been one hell of a year, or what?! … literally one for the books. We’ve been reflecting a lot about what has changed during this year — for the better and for the worse — and we came up with a list of “stuff” that we hope helps you or a friend during this time!

Recognize when to say when.

For many of us, we take on our to-do’s… and then some. It may be natural to constantly help or do things for others without realizing how much energy (physical, mental, emotional) it takes up. Recognizing when to say when may help you from burn out or losing your patience with your loved ones. Especially during this time where we may find ourselves with our loved ones more often than we used to be as we work from home, do virtual learning or stay home to remain safe.

Here are a few ways to help recognize when to say when:

• We have natural highlighters in our life telling us when to say when — for some it may be back pain, not sleeping well or finding your calendar is full, with no breaks to eat or re-set your mind
• Take time to reflect on your habits. Ask yourself “How am I with the people in my life?” Do you have space to show up and be present with them? Also ask yourself “How do I feel at the end of the day?” If you’re cutting out priorities like eating, meditating, working out, reading, transition time — if the time spent on things you love or things that help you stay balanced is getting shorter, recognize that and adjust.
• Have space for life to go wrong. If you are structured in your schedule, allow there to be room in your week for things to go wrong or not according to plan. This will allow space for positive transitions vs what could have felt like a setback.

“Daring to set boundaries is about having the courage to love ourselves, even when we risk disappointing others.”

Brené Brown

Groceries and meal prep.

We talk about this a lot — grocery delivery and curbside pick-up! This has been a life saver, not just during the pandemic, but for pre-pandemic life! Think about what you can do with that extra hour… or the money you save from the lack of impulse buys — especially if you’ve got the kiddos with you!

If you haven’t tried this yet — do it! You won’t be disappointed. 😉

Another thing that may cause daily frustration or anxiety is cooking, or worse, thinking about what to cook… and we’re not talking about just thinking or cooking dinner, but E V E R Y meal of the day… and snacks.

Here are a few ways to help with this daunting task:

• Make double! If you are cooking lunch or dinner, make 2x the amount so you don’t have to cook dinner that night or lunch the next day.
• Include pre-made meals on your grocery list — these are ready to pop in the oven AND are a reasonable portion.
• Use a meal delivery services like Sun Basket or Hello Fresh — they help take the thinking out of “what’s for dinner?” and offer very reasonable portion sizes.
• And there is always the tried and true — order take-out or delivery from your favorite local spot to support their business even if you can’t or don’t want to dine-in just yet!

Screen time.

Do you feel completely consumed by your phone or laptop these days? Screen time… this one is a challenge for us because while we understand the importance of limitation here, we also realize much of our work is done through our phones and our laptops. I guess then the question comes in — are we abusing screen time? Are we up at night scrolling social media? Or diving into games for hours on end?

Here are a few ways to help balance screen time:

• Many social media apps include the ability to see “Your Activity” the average use per day or week of the app. Look into this and see if this is a number you feel good about. If not, use the “Set Daily Reminder” function to get a reminder of when you have hit the amount of time you have set for yourself.
• Leave your phone in another room when you go to bed. If you use it as an alarm clock or to play white noise to help you fall asleep, buy a device solely for that purpose, if you are also tempted to use your phone to game or scroll and it’s keeping you from getting a full night’s sleep.

Mental & physical health.

Breath and movement — two very powerful words. Bringing attention to these actions can help ease anxiety and ground us by bringing us back to the present moment. For many of us, anxiety has built up tremendously throughout these past few months and finding ways to ease this discomfort may have become more challenging than normal.

Here are a few ways to increase awareness to breath and movement:

• Do you have time set aside each day to practice meditation? Even if you have to sit outside or go to the bathroom, lock the door and lay on the floor for 5 minutes of breath work — are you able to do that?
• Phone a friend! Have a socially distanced happy hour 1 or 2x a month to connect with friends and be reminded that you have a support structure outside of your home and work that help the balance of your wellness state, to know you are not alone!
• Have you found the movement that makes your body feel most alive? It could be taking a walk around the block. Riding a bike. Buying a pair or roller-skates and reliving your youth. Whatever it is — just get moving!
• There are various apps available to help guide meditations or workouts, like calm or peloton (it’s not just for people who own the bike or tread!)
• Support your local instructors! Many instructors are providing virtual sessions — use them as a resource and a way to stay connected to your community during this time!
• If you don’t know where to begin — we have a few AWESOME instructors in the hww studio!

Tiffany — Mediation & Yoga @tiffanylangdon

Ashley — Strength & Pilates @awal_fitness

Hannah — Pilates & Dance @hannahlkearney

Dom — Athlete & Performance Coach @domfinkley

Bree — Strength & Yoga @bree.t.frazier

Mell — Strength & Pre/Post Natal and Parkinson’s @luckymell

We close by offering a gift to you — a compass to “her”. Something you can come back to when you feel lost or alone… at her well-wisher:

✨ We cheer her on and remind her of her unknown strength.

✨ We challenge her to be fearless.

✨ We help her push through judgement; see truth, love and success within herself.