Since I know you all have been waiting with bated breath for a post, I supposed I owe some explanation for my absence. I was having fun + sorting stuff out + centering myself.
That meant gallivanting up the coast for dog beach days and picnics in Santa Cruz, coffee in the mission, beer in Dolores, GoT marathons and cover letters plus vegan dinner parties, flower shopping, and Instagram stalking.
But things have calmed down and although I don't think I'm that much closer to a zen state, I have figured out some things that have made anxiety attacks less likely, insomnia less frequent and my general demeanor far happier.
1) More phone calls with the people I love. Grant brought this to my attention bc he is a phone talker and I am a texter. Our communication style constantly clashes but I have been making a concerted effort to pick up calls when I can and hearing my friends' voices releases serotonin in a volume I didn't know was possible.
2) Detox baths. Baths are always nice and I haven't taken advantage of the glorious claw foot tub in my new house as much as I should have.
The method:
a) Run the bath with hot water: I throw in some combination of epsom salts, baking soda and/or hydrogen peroxide plus my favorite essential oils (lavender and rose at the moment).
b) Dry brush as the bath is going: take a clean, dry body brush and scrub in a circular motion all over your body, starting at your legs and moving up. This increases circulation, stimulates the lymphatic system (waste removal via blood cells), improves digestions, exfoliates, etc.
c) Jump in the bath. Soaking in there for 30 minutes with a face mask on with a glass of wine, low lights and some musica. Done and done.
d) Finish up with a rub down of coconut oil.
I never sleep as well as I do after one of these. I have been doing one a week and I wake up feeling relaxed, which like almost never happens.
3) Morning routines: I have written about this before that when work got bad, I didn't do any of my morning routines - coffee, blogging, hiking and I was suffering from anxiety. Now I have set aside a good 1.5-2 hours, even if it means waking up earlier than my normal 6:30am "call time" aka Sophie. I'll reserve another blog post for this, but it means oil pulling with coconut oil, salt water rinse, lemon water, a hike, blogging, and Sophie cuddling with a little yoga/stretching if I can squeeze it in plus more time for meal prepping, which means juicing and more whole foods - which brings me to my next thing...
4) Better eating: I love cooking. (That was my profound statement of the day.) However, the caveat is that I only realllly enjoy it when I have a house of full of hungry people and there's cheese. Bad news bears. After talking with my brother (and by talking I mean heated debates) about GMOs, organic, locally sourced, whole foods, I have realized something. I really only treat my body well with good food about 50% of the time. That means good breakfasts and good meals when I am at home. But if I'm at school or work, then that Taco Bell quesadilla or those happy hour chicken wings are really rockin my socks. This sort of end of the day/mid-afternoon slump really effs up my system. So I've gotten in the habit of making bigger summer salads (i.e. broccoli slaw) and making sure I have juice, salad, fruit, etc around to stave off desperate vending machine scavenging (let's ignore the Twix bar from yesterday - it was Evan's fault).
So on to my newest concoction: Roasted beet and chickpea salad with blue cheese. I originally thought up as part of a larger spring meal coupled with a baked salmon filet and roasted asparagus as part of a submission to my friend James' magazine. But due to unforeseen circumstances, I was not able to execute the meal, but last night decided to whip this up and see how it went. The results: Pretty effing delicious. However, I want to add some herbage, but I'm not sure what would work... mint? parsley? lemon thyme? I'm open to suggestions :)
Roasted beet and chickpea salad with blue cheese recipe:
- Two roasted beets (scrub clean, cover in olive oil, roast until soft); chopped into bite size pieces
- One can chickpeas, rinsed and drained (make sure to rinse)
- A couple of handfuls of good blue cheese/gorganzola
- Dressing: honey (w/ the blue cheese -> heaven), balsamic, olive oil, pink salt and pepper)
Mix that shit up. Eat. Boom.
