Mercury retrograde is in full swing and my goodness I am FEELING the pressure. Lately life has started pulling me in a million different directions and it’s starting to feel like I’m walking wobbly along a tight rope.
I’m doing the whole “eat lots of greens and move your body once a day”, trying my best to spend as much time as possible with my darling 4 grandparents, be the most thoughtful and caring friend, a one woman show boss lady that’s consistent with helpful and interesting content for you guys, a supportive, attentive and loving girlfriend, maintain a social life, read as much as I can, do all the ‘me-time’ things I need to do to look after my mental health, keep the house clean, cook great healthy meals, stay on top of my finances, save for a house, spend time with my mum, walk my dog every day, avoid takeaways, shave my legs, look after my skin, the list goes on.
The funny part is that all of the above isn’t even really considered “full on”. I’m blessed with my health, the people I love, I live an incredibly privileged and wonderful lifestyle, yet I would be lying if I didn’t say that I go through phases where everything just feels like a lot. Is it possibly my age? I’m 24 and those of you older than me can probably relate, but you’d also know that like I mentioned, all of this is just normal life.
AND..
I’m not even a mum yet. God help me.
If you’re feeling a little bit off, a little unbalanced, a little guilty because you know that some areas of your life are getting neglected, I’ve done all of the self reflection time and come up with the answers myself so you don’t have to. Here are the things I’m working with right now to try and gain a little more of a balanced lifestyle.
Go to bed early
It’s only recently that I’ve discovered the true benefits of getting to sleep early. Once you’ve experienced enough 5 hour sleeps to compare with an 8 hour, you realise how much a full nights sleep impacts your entire ability to function throughout the day. If you struggle to keep your evening routine compacted, here’s what I’ve been doing. We try to have an early dinner around 6.40 ish, then we’ll sit down for our evening Netflix show, watch a couple of episodes until 9 PM. That’s when we get into bed, have a chat, I’ll do a bit of reading and we’ll have lights off around 9.40, ideally to be asleep by 10. When we achieve that type of structure I normally bounce out of bed at 6 AM feeling fresh, ready to go and positive about the day ahead.
11 PM bed time? No chance of me feeling positive in the morning. Set yourself up for success!
Sometimes over-smoking also affects sleep, then it is mandatory to quit smoking. Find smoking-alternative like, vape juice with nicotine (with small amount). It will help to get rid of smoking and further will help have good sleep at night.
