April 30, 2019
Stepping into the renewal of spring brings a desire to shed winter blues, the seasonal depression that comes with cold, gray skies and comforting habits we acquire through hibernation. For many of us, caring for ourselves through the practice of self-care rituals are forgotten until the warm days of spring become steadier in their occurrence.
This is how we’re welcoming the revitalizing spring sunshine and cultivating wellness, deep joy and happiness into our lives with the ultimate goal of embracing new experiences and rekindling our connection and love with our lives, ourselves, and the relationships we nurture.
Mindfulness and Meditation
We’re pretty good about being mindful of our thoughts, journaling, practicing breathwork and meditating while we’re trying to stay cozy during the cold. But as temperatures shift into warmth, we find ourselves antsy to escape outdoors and less patient to practice indoors. Instead of neglecting this important part of our self-care ritual, we take it outside! Whether it’s mindful breathing during a nature walk or finding a quiet place to meditate or sit in silence, adding a healthy dose of nature and sunshine invigorates all the senses and our mind, body, and spirit.
Gather With Friends and Be Social
After the holidays, being social and fostering relationships really starts to slow down for us. We cancel plans or never make any concrete choices because who wants to drive and gather in freezing temps? Now’s the time to rekindle the relationships we’ve put on hold, making plans to be social and connect with others.
Connecting and building relationships is key to practicing self-care, we’re not wired to function alone in the long term. Even if you tend to lean toward being an introvert, making and keeping plans with a friend a couple of times a month can greatly benefit your overall wellbeing.
Reconnect With Your Healthy Lifestyle
If you’re able to maintain your healthy lifestyle through the chilly months, we raise our glasses to you! Instead of heading to our favorite workout, more often than not, staying bundled up on the sofa with Netflix typically wins. Combined with craving all the comfort foods and skipping our well balanced meals, it’s safe to say we don’t second guess decisions to ditch what we know is best for us. Thankfully, a good dose of sunshine usually gets us back into gear and craving to treat our bodies well in every sense.
It can be tough getting back into our self-care routines, so we like to plan activities and schedule them on our calendar to help keep us accountable. Finding a fitness buddy helps, too! We get back into meal planning, eating more greens and shopping the local farmers market, overall eating lighter and more plant-based. Slowly but surely, these simple tweaks become longterm habits, helping us feel our best physically and mentally.
Clean Out The Old
Ah, yes. A good old spring cleaning! There’s no need for this to be stressful, think of purging the old as a way to aid ourselves in reawakening into spring. Whether it’s cleaning out old beauty products or donating clothes that are no longer your style, deep cleansing of our homes is a renewing process.
Instead of tackling our entire home and creating an unwanted stressful situation, we like to choose specific areas we know need to be deep cleaned. Reorganizing and donating items from our kitchens, closets, and bathrooms are the three areas we personally find the most rewarding, both in a sense of clearing the unnecessary and giving to those in need. Then after a day enjoying our self-care practices, we burn a candle and enjoy our re-energized home, imagining our lively months ahead.