So the last few months have really had me evaluate my routine – from seeing what feels good and also is the most productive. I guess those two things kind of go hand in hand because I do feel better overall when my days are more efficient. I mean, at the end of the day no one loves feeling like they got nothing done haha. It really started though because my Prozac was making me super sleepy (as many of you know) to the point where I literally couldn’t keep my eyes open past 3pm lol. I started taking it at night, and overall that intense sleepiness has now subsided #bless. Regardless though, it made me think about my routine and what habits were working well for me and helping me feel better during the day. All that to say – I figured I’d share with you as you may want to incorporate some of these yourself or it may just help jump-start you into thinking about what habits you could include more of, which ones you could get rid of if they aren’t serving you, etc.

Daily Workouts When I say daily I mean about 5x a week but basically getting in a workout the majority of my days. Recently I’ve been focusing on FightCamp and it’s been such a good way to destress plus I just have a lot of fun doing the workouts – I definitely look forward to them! I had gotten into the habit of only working out 2-3 days a week, and sometimes in life that’s all you have time for and that’s okay (it’s not always going to be the top priority). But I was honestly just being lazy the majority of the time when it came to my workouts, and now that I’ve gotten into a good rhythm again, I remember how much they impact my day for the better.

Meditation in the AM I used to meditate pretty frequently a couple of years back but for whatever reason, I ended up stopping – I think it’s because I didn’t feel like I was getting a lot out of it but that’s probably a “me” problem lol. But recently, in the mornings I’ve been listening to the “Daily Jay” sessions in the Calm app and have found them to be really helpful and centering. I think I prefer these because there is some meditation and mindfulness but it’s only a small part of the 7-8 minute session. The rest of the session is more of a mini-lesson related to personal development, and visualization/manifestation, etc. and that is something that I really take away a lot from.

Reading At Least One Chapter During the pandemic, I remembered how much I love reading and how I wanted to devote more time to it in the future (I don’t think I’m necessarily unique in this, I think a lot of us were picking back up reading in 2020 LOL). While I don’t read as much now as I did during the pandemic, it’s a habit that has stuck with me since then. While I love my psychological thrillers, I’ve found that reading something related to business or personal development first thing in the morning helps start my day off on the right foot. It’s something proactive (vs. reactive) and helps me get in the right headspace going into the day vs. using the first 20 minutes to sit and scroll through social media haha.

Using Sleep Stories You all probably know by now how I feel about my sleep stories! These are also in the Calm App and I listen to them every night when I fall asleep. I’ve been using them for the last couple of months and they have been life-changing. Before these, I had such a hard time turning off my brain at night – you know the feeling when you lay in bed and all of a sudden you remember those 5 random things you should have done last week or earlier that day?! Yeah, that was me. I just couldn’t quiet my thoughts and I would literally lie in bed for hours before finally falling asleep. Someone recommended that I try sleep stories and I’ll be honest, I didn’t have a lot of hope they would work. However, there wasn’t any hurt in trying. Let’s just say, when night three rolled around of using them and I had fallen asleep within minutes I was hooked. I mean now, I can’t sleep without them (and I don’t try to either haha). I would say that 9/10 times I’m asleep within 5 minutes of starting the story. Occasionally, I’ll listen for 20 minutes before falling asleep but even then, 20 minutes is way better than 2 hours. All that to say, if you have trouble falling asleep for whatever reason, highly recommend giving these a try!