Stay Calm and Maintain Momentum in Your Busy Season

Feeling like you are more busy than ever? Here are a few ways to maintain your cool in the chaos!

I was talking to another mom the other day, and she said something that I thought only I was thinking:

"It feels like I'm more busy now than I was before March 2020!" Now, at first, it felt SO GOOD to have that feeling validated. I've been noticing it a lot as we see more practices, games, parties, dinners, school activities and opportunities for socializing filling up the calendar. "I feel so busy."

Since we all do out best when we incorporate self care into our lives, here are a few tips to help you maintain some calm as your schedule gets more full and we get back out into the world.

Reconnect and Recharge

Meditation

Did you know that just 20 minutes of meditation has been shown to have the same restorative benefits of a

full HOUR of sleep? If you feel like you're running more and resting less, incorporating a quick meditation session into your day can help recharge your mind and body.

You don't need a special place to practice meditation - try reclining the seat in your car while you're waiting outside a sports practice and putting on some calming music.

Earth's Restorative Energy

Better yet, bring a blanket and find a place to connect with the Earth. The Earth has a natural energy and vibration that has been shown to provide restoration and balance in times of stress. Try laying on a blanket, but allowing your hands and feet to touch the actual earth beneath you to get the full benefits!

Sunshine!

The sun provides our bodies with natural benefits that are almost too numerous to count. The most well known benefit is that it helps our bodies to synthesize Vitamin D, to create balance, calm, improve energy and absorption of other vital nutrients. But a lesser known benefit is that being exposed to natural, unfiltered sunlight can also help to improve your gut ecology! The beneficial microbes in our bodies have their own circadian rhythm that helps to regulate our overall sleep-wake cycles, which can improve the restful quality of your sleep, and increase natural melatonin production, and increase happy hormone production!

Note: “For those who do not fear the sun, judiciously expose as much skin as possible to direct midday sunlight for 1/4 the time it takes for one’s skin to turn red ... Do not get sunburned. Vitamin D production is already maximized before your skin turns pink and further exposure does not increase levels of vitamin D but may increase your risk of skin cancer.” - Vitamin D Council (For me, this is honestly about 15 minutes before I start to turn pink without a mineral sunscreen.)

Refuel

Incorporate healthy snacks at home and on the go to give your body sustainable energy without a crash. Try celery and hummus, a banana with a handful of nuts, a string cheese with an apple, a cup of blueberries with some yogurt and granola.

If you will be out for longer than a few hours, pack your own lunch box with an ice pack and you can bring just about anything along for the ride! With a little bit of planning, you can make a quick veggie-forward pasta salad (try chickpea pasta or red lentil pasta for an extra punch of fiber!) that you can easily take on the go!

Re-Energize

It seems counterintuitive, but one of the best ways to boost your energy if you are feeling low in the mid-day or afternoon is to add some quick movement! Try a few jumping jacks, some walking lunges, or even some old school hip circles that your first grade teacher used to do during extra gym! (No? Just me?)

It will get your heart pumping, and release a little hit of endorphins to boost motivation.

Does it feel like you're spending hours waiting around for kids to finish sport practices? Once you've finished reading all the articles in this newsletter (obviously), take a little walk around the fields to get some purposeful movement in. If you don't have your sneakers in the car today, try setting a reminder on your phone to put a pair into the back for tomorrow and you'll have them ready to go when you are!

Remember: You can do more for others when you take care of yourself!

It can often seem like we're spending a lot of our time doing things that are actually someone else's priority. And we don't always mind -it feels good to do for others! But, it's important to remember that you can show up better for the people you love when you are also taking care of yourself.

If you know someone else who is always giving, share this article with them!

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