Taking care of yourself

​This past weekend, I attended a convention with about 30,000 other people. That number is seriously hard to wrap my brain around. That’s enough people to almost fill Wrigley. That’s as many people as the number of days you will live on this earth on average. It’s A LOT. And it feels like even more when you are really not a people person.
Don’t get me wrong, I am very sociable and I love spending time with my friends and even meeting new people. But, wow, was I overwhelmed. I came to the realization that I am still recovering almost a week later for that very reason.
I need to have time alone in order to be myself. I need to not be around other people to feel like a normal human. And I really don’t think that I’m alone in that. It is so important, though, to take care of ourselves and enough people don’t know how to do that. So I want to share with you some of my favorite ways to unplug, take a break, slow down, whatever you need to call it, when I am overwhelmed

Take a nap
Pretty self-explanatory but sometimes you feel a little silly saying that you need it. When you aren’t getting enough sleep, though, it affects so many areas of your life. You are more likely to get sick, to be forgetful and can even cause you to gain weight when you don’t get enough rest. Of course it’s better to get a good night’s sleep, but sometimes that is just not an option. 

​Oil up
Some of my favorite oils for chilling out are Valor, Lavender or Frankincense. Add a couple drops to your favorite diffuser necklace, your diffuser, or even directly inhale out of the bottle. 

Write it out
Sometimes I feel like I just need to express myself and clear everything out of my mind. The easiest way that I find to do that is to break out a pen and paper. It can be helpful to have a conversation with someone at times, but I like being able to just have an uninterrupted flow of words. It doesn’t even have to make sense! Some people like to call this a “brain dump,” where you just write every single thing down that comes across your mind. You can set a timer for 20 minutes or keep writing until you can’t think of another word
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​Read a book
I like to read for personal development, but when I want to mellow out, I really like a good book that I don’t have to think too hard about. Whether it’s a trashy romance novel or a good mystery, find something you can get lost in for a little while. It helps to discover a new world to get out of your own head. Audiobooks are great as well!

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Turn on some music
I almost constantly have music on throughout my day. I have different playlists for different moods and have a couple for just chilling out. 

​Of course you can combine these as well, but the main thing is to find what works for you. I know this weekend I am going to be spending some time doing all of the above. Life is really all about balance and it takes some self-discovery to find what that balance can be for you. What are some of the ways that you like to take time for yourself? I’d love to hear them!
xo
SJ