Mental Health is Key to Actual Health

This is not the first blog about this you've seen lately, to be honest, it's not the first blog from me you've seen about this but it's mental health month so your girl is writing about it again.

I know we're all at home right now (thanks COVID) and some of you, like me, are isolating all alone. You guys I'm a girl who values her me-time, values her home life and is generally a homebody but something in me changed when I was told I had no choice but to be all those things. Choices are powerful! I didn't really realize how much of an impact this situation would have on me since realistically my day to day life isn't all that different. 

But about a month and a half into quarantining with only my cat for company I hit a wall and my brain just checked out. I was emotional, drained and quick to anger and frustration...something that I usually only reserve for merging on 4 lane highways...simply put my brain was telling me that something was seriously wrong. Now I'm incredibly lucky, I work for a company that is doing quite well during this time and not only that but they have put a focus on our wellbeing and health as employees. They encouraged me to take a few days off so I could just feel what I needed to feel and work through it so I could reset and come back to being my usual self. 

So I did. I spent a couple of days doing nothing...literally nothing. I stayed in my bed, talked to family on the phone and watched way more Netflix than was strictly healthy but I let myself feel what I was feeling and work through it. I cried, I laughed, I journaled, I slept (a lot), and honestly, by the end of those couple of days I felt more aware of what had triggered me and started to figure out a plan so I could move forward. 

Here's a few tips and tricks I've found really helped me:

• Let yourself be a miserable bitch if you need to be. 
• I'm a fairly cheerful positive person by nature but this is not a normal circumstance and my reaction to it wasn't normal for me. So letting myself just say nope don't have the mental capacity to deal with that right now was really really helpful.
• try saying no and just working through your feelings - it helps I promise
• Do something special that's just for you, aka TREAT. YO. SELF.
• I decided that quarantine was the perfect time to treat myself to something a little bit extra. I subscribed to a lingerie box (https://aureliabox.com/) because why not get something a little cute. Then I decided to stage my own at home boudoir shoot, with my iPhone and some precariously piled stacks of things to lean it on. By the end of it I felt pretty damn hot and great about myself and my body. You don't have to share the pictures it's just good fun to take them and get a little silly
• Make yourself a beautiful zen space. 

• When I moved into my apartment I was stoked to have a balcony space so I could get outside a bit. So I took quarantine as the chance to really go all in and make it a functional and fun space to work in. It's now my own personal Eden and you better believe I'm out there right now as I type this. 
• Find a way to make your space your own, if you need inspo I recommend the Sorry Girls, Alexandra Gater and Mr Kate on YouTube

Stay safe, stay healthy, stay you and as always stay sassy!