I've been trying a lot of new things this summer, most of them perfectly aligned with my homebody tendencies (hooray). So far I'm feeling a lot more level and content, which is fantastic. Here's what I've been up to lately:
Meditation. People have suggested this to me for years to deal with my anxiety and insomnia, and I always had a mental block against starting. "It'll be such a slog to get started! My mind doesn't turn off, I'll just get frustrated. It'll be ages before I see benefits!" But - I got this app at the recommendation of a friend and tried out the free 10 day starter pack - and I'm hooked. I seriously had better sleep starting immediately, and I've had a much easier time than I expected with clearing my mind during parts of it. I just signed up for a whole year (as with exercise, I see myself doing much better with a guided approach). I'm hoping to really keep this up!!
Yoga. I forget whether I every really talked about ballet on here, but a year ago I was doing it three times a week and taking my first ever pointe class. I adored it. But a gradual knee injury due to ballet + tons of hilly SF walking, combined with raising baby Tumbles, meant I had to stop for awhile. In the last few months, I've started doing yoga - it's easier on my knees and doesn't involve rushing Tumbles home from work like ballet did. I really enjoy the achievements, working my way up to handstands and building my strength and flexibility. As a bonus, most of the classes I take are at 7am, and that is finally starting to get a little easier. I'm a reluctant morning person when my alarm goes off, but I feel so good when I make it happen!
Sewing. I bought a sewing machine 4 years ago but didn't do much with it. Recently I've been getting frustrated with my wardrobe - it doesn't feel very me, but I also have trouble finding exactly what I want in stores. So, a few months ago I came across this dressmaking book and took the leap, and it has become a serious hobby since then. I'm hoping to write up a few posts about how that process is going. I've added 3 skirts and a dress to my closet since May, and I'm excited to make more.
Avoiding the internet. Several weeks ago I logged out of twitter and stopped checking facebook, and honestly it changed my day to day life a lot. I've since logged back in but only rarely check. There is only so much terrible tech/world news I can take in, and for the most part I've realized I'm happier not knowing. My one frustration is feeling like I don't know as much about what's going on in my friends' lives, but I have yet to find a way to use social media for that without also getting all of the exhausting, depressing content, too. I do, however, still use instagram - it's my happy place on social media. And as a bonus, when I don't spend my workdays/evenings at home/weekends reading a never-ending stream of tweets, I am able to get so much more done!
And the photos:
Tumbles turned 1! I threw a little (but still over the top) birthday party and it was cute as heck, if I do say so myself.
(thank you, Haley, for the perfect card!)
Work feeds me real well:
I'm trying to grow some little plants again (I have killed pretty much everything I've grown in the past, including cacti and succulents). So far it's going ok?
Thank you for this article. For me summer is most irritating season, due to hot weather i get rashes on my body and also being at home always makes my mood annoying. To tackle this problem I have started using SOS method(https://sosmethod.co/), a meditation tool which helped me to feel relaxed and kept me energetic .
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