Show up as your best self by taking care of yourself first.

Back to the Basics...

Does your world ever feel overwhelming and chaotic? In conversation with other business owners, friends, and collogues I realize most of us are seeking to find that ever illusive balance. It’s amazing how revisiting the basics of nutrition, sleep, and downtime can bring a flow and balance back into life.

Many of us are showing up in various roles as professionals, family, friends and so on. Life gets a certain flow to it, an ease, then something happens and everything changes. There’s a consistent ebb & flow and sometimes we just need to get back to the basics of self-care. If that’s you, take this as your sign to get back to the basics with me.

Nutrition

We know it’s important to regularly provide our bodies and brains with good nutrition; it keeps us functioning at our best. Harvard Health published, “Put simply, what you eat directly affects the structure and function of your brain and, ultimately, your mood.”

What does good nutrition look like for you? For me, it looks like keeping water with me at my desk and at meetings, eating regular meals (it’s easy to get caught up in work and miss meals), taking daily vitamins, and having fruit smoothies in the mornings to get my fruits & veggies in first thing.

Sleep

The amount of sleep each person needs varies. Some people can function at an optimal level with only 5-6 hours; others need at least 8-9 hours of sleep. 7.5 hours is my lucky number.

Forbes magazine says, “According to neuroscientists, sleep is restorative, whereas sleep deprivation lowers your resistance to stress and harms your brain. Lack of sleep interferes with memory and learning. Your brain moves slower. You’re more forgetful, and your attention is short-circuited.”

Establishing regular sleep habits means that sometimes you have to say no to staying out late. Don’t let the fear of missing out compromise the benefits of sleep your brain needs. Prioritizing sleep is essential to showing up as your best self.

Downtime

It’s easy to get caught up in the daily to-dos of work, home life and forget about downtime. The truth is that our brains need a break; it needs rest to function at its best.

Harvard Business Review states, “For one, creating the space for downtime increases productivity. Subject to heavy workloads and never-ending to-do lists, it’s easy to put our heads down and charge through tasks, thinking we have no time for days off, free evenings, or weeklong vacations. But driving too hard without breaks can make us less productive and less focused… As Tony Schwartz has written, ‘human beings perform best and are most productive when they alternate between periods of intense focus and intermittent renewal.’”

Downtime can look a lot different for each person. Plan downtime in your schedule and honor it to increase your level of productivity.

Let go of any self-imposed beliefs of perfection and let’s get back to the basics together!

Onward & upwards,

Shannon