G’day my friends and welcome to another week and another blog!
Last month was certainly a roller coaster, from falling off a horse, to the loss of friendships, study overwhelm and several light bulb moments.
It doesn’t matter if you are disabled or not, but we all feel the pressure to never fail and to be super productive. If we don’t have a corporate job, a multi-million dollar house, infinite degrees or even access to the lounges at airports, then we simply aren’t good enough. Not only that, but we always seem to be running from place to place in a rush with barley time to relax! We are always in this ‘do-more’ attitude that can have a lot of serious health consequences for us!
Lately, being injured and uni being on a break, it has forced me to do absolutely nothing. I wouldn’t say I am constantly on the go, but before my accident and semester break, I was training regularly and was always at my computer with uni work to do, meetings to attend and blogs to write.
So these three weeks have been super testing, so I thought I would share ideas around productivity, my go-to for self care and what I have learnt.
Why you need to just do nothing: extreme stress
You may be wondering what is so wrong about being super stressed all the time? Well I am no doctor or health professional, but upon consulting Dr Google, I have found out some scary facts!
When you run on fight or flight constantly aka stress, you risk having some horrid impacts to your health. These include increased risk of anxiety, depression, weight gain, sleep problems, and even worse, heart disease and heart attack! (Mayo Clinic). And those are just some of the issues talked about by the pros.
you can read more about all of that here https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/stress/art-20046037
If those side affects don’t scare you enough into just taking some time out then i don’t know what will!
What we crave most
Now I know what you are thinking and if you are thinking junk food then you are partly right… I may or may not be tucking into a bowl of risotto as I write this…. However in this context I am talking productivity.
I feel like there are hundreds of videos on Youtube talking about productivity. Vlogs, tips and tricks, how-to’s, Ted-X talks and anything and everything in between.
Now don’t get me wrong I absolutely love watching these videos! They helped me get my butt into gear at Uni and the ‘study-with-me’ videos were also a life saver!
And I am not alone there. For example, most of Ali Abdaal’s productivity videos have been viewed up to almost 1 million times, and his productivity set up video has reached over 2 million views! Kharma Medic averages around 400k views of his productivity videos (which I absolutely love), Thomas Frank’s videos entitled ‘How to be as productive as Elon Musk- 5 essential practices’ has around 1.7 million views.
Lavendaire has done a video talking about healthy productivity which has reached just under 500k views.
Now don’t get me wrong, I am not bashing any of these content creators. They are all amazing and I watch them all the time. I get a lot of ideas off of them and they certainly have amazing content that is for sure.
So it is clear that people are eager to increase their productivity but my worry is that we are over committing ourselves in order to meet unrealistic expectations we put on ourselves and also what society and those around us put on us.
It’s okay to take a step back and take time for you!
So with that being said, I have really had to focus on my self care at the moment and have compiled a list of my go-to self care things! That may help you!
- a good face mask and skin care products!
my go-to for the last few years now has been Kora Organics. I absolutely love their products and the fact that it is natural is a bonus. If I am really having a self-care day I will do a mask or two. I have their Tumeric Mask and Moisturising mask. I literally will put the Tumeric one on before my shower and wash off in the shower before applying my moisturising mask on for the last minute or two.
2. Bath bombs!
Now having a bath isn’t as easy as running the water for me. It takes a little extra planning as I need to have someone help me in and out of the bath. However, that doesn’t stop me from enjoying a nice soak! I absolutely love bath bombs and bubble bars from Lush! They smell amazing, and if you get the bubble bars they last you a while! So value for money is a win!!
Have I been a boujee person and done the bath bomb, face mask, book and glass of wine combo? I sure have!! And it was absolutely amazing and I have no guilt what so ever! Just need to stock up on my wine and bath bombs and I am good to go!
https://www.lush.com/au/en/c/bath-bomb
3. Diffuser
I have only just added a diffuser to my room and oh my goodness is it the best thing ever!! I absolutely love adding some nice blended essential oils or even just a Lavender oil to it. My room or house smells incredible! In summer I will often turn on the diffuser before I go for an early shower. I will then go make myself a chai latte, go back to my room, open my windows and read a book with some chilled music as the sun sets. It is absolutely heaven!
Diffuser: Asakuki diffuser from Amazon
Essential oils: Karma Living https://www.karma-living.com.au/life/essential-oils
4. A good book!
Now I couldn’t do a self-care list without including books! I absolutely love reading, perhaps too much. I have over 60 books on my bookshelf I haven’t read yet, and still buy more! It just nice to have a wide selection across multiple genres to choose from! The best place to go is visit Good Reads online to read reviews of books. Some of the best books I have purchased have been because I read the reviews on Good Reads!
5. Other notable mentions.
My list could go on for days however some other self-care things I love is Yoga, Paint By Numbers, A good movie, mindfulness practice, good food (healthy or un-healthy it depends), good music playing throughout the house, and journaling.
My go to Yin Yoga Practice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgvz9Uza4d8&t=2380s
Other Yoga: https://www.youtube.com/c/yogawithadriene
My Last little bit of advice
Before I part with you for another week my friends, please remember that it is completely okay to press pause for a day or maybe even a week if you need it to just reset!
If we keep living in constant stress, it isn’t good for us. We deserve to treat our bodies and our mind calmly. So even though things make not be going to plan or things get too much, take a step back and just take some time to relax, re-evaluate and re-start.
Till next week!
Rhi.