Water. When I first wrote this post, my #1 was “caffeine.” I had convinced myself it was necessary for mental acuity and basic survival. Not true! A big glass of ice water in the morning together with some stretching, and lots of water all day long….so much better for maintaining a state of Zen.
Sleep. Turn the screen off and hit the hay at a decent hour. Email can wait.
Meditation + Mantra.
Exercise. Everything that I write on this post is really a reminder list for me — not something I’m proudly doing every day and advising others to do. I continue to struggle with this one in particular, having convinced myself it was impossible to fit exercise into my work+family care schedule. And the negative impact to my body, mind, and spirit has reached a point of badness I can no longer ignore. I’m starting with baby steps — daily early AM exercises at home and physical therapy 2x a week to heal my back, wrecked from hours and hours of hunching over a computer and a few rear-end car accidents last year.
Daily Greens for the Family. For breakfast: smoothies with frozen kale, frozen berries, coconut water or milk, or milk of choice, nut butter. For dinner: spinach can be added to or made a side for just about anything.
A digital family calendar. We’re all about the shared Google calendar. I’ve been a fan of the Cozi app for scheduling family events and scheduling text and email alerts. Though I haven’t tried it yet, I’ve also heard that AboutOne is great.
Weekly personal time and date nights. If you’re an introvert like me, alone time is critical to recharge from people-interaction overload. And marriages always seem to come last in families with two working parents. Weekly date nights can do wonders — especially if you can avoid talking about anything that feels like a family to-do list or an issue to solve at work.
Remember to breathe. If you haven’t heard this song already – check out Alexi Murdoch’s Breathe. So good….
All excellent suggestions.