Self-Care Sunday…and Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday.

Some days you go to the gym and eat salads, Sundays you eat Fruity Pebble cookies and don’t put pants on. You gotta nourish to flourish, ya know?

It’s another SMonday…that time when it stops feeling like Sunday, and starts feeling like Monday. All that weight and baggage can be heavy. And so there’s a reason we call it “Self-Care Sunday”. But what about all the others days of the week? Are we treating ourselves like sh*t day in day out? What if we practiced a little more positivity, a little more self love and care…each and every day of the week? In this week’s post, I’m sharing some of my favorite practices for adding a little more positivity to every day. Because you deserve it!

What spurred all of this yearning for a bit more self-care was a healthy dose of madness this month. Starting a new role at work, while playing double duty with my old role, annual review season and selling our house had me brimming with businessness and yearning for…less. Less noise, less negativity and less of the stuff that wasn’t adding value to my everyday. So I made a choice. To not get lost in the madness. To not get overwhelmed. And to focus on a practice of positivity. Here are my top 5 tips. I hope this helps bring a bit more joy in your day as we face a new week and new month.

Top 10 Tips for Living a Life of Positivity….Every Day of the Week

1.) Write Yourself Love Letters: Nope, not the kind that you silently passed to the boy (or girl) next to you in middle school. The kind that set the tone for a kick *ss day. Notes like, “I can do all the things” or “Everything always works out for me.” I like to put post-its at my desk as a reminder that “Hey, I got this!”. Or, you can use these little love memos as the labels for your daily alarm (as shown above). Who likes to wake up to, “Alarm”?That just gives me all the heebies jeebies. Wouldn’t it be so much better to wake up to, “I am in charge of how I feel today.”? Heck yes!

2.) Limit Social Media: It can be so easy to get lost in comparisons or feel so dang depressed when you look at everyone living their best life on social media. News alert: your friends aren’t doing exciting things 24/7. To give yourself a reality check, think about either 1.) taking a few days off social media 2.) restraining from immediately scrolling through your social media apps as soon as you get up or 3.) limiting your time spent on social media each day. The new Screen Time and App Limit features on iOS 12 are pretty cool. You can see how much time you’re spending on certain apps and also set limitations. Once your limit is reached, the app is blocked on your phone. Check out on these features here.

3.) Get Inspired Through Podcasts: There’s a reason you shower every day and a reason to practice positivity each day. All that negativity can build up and needs to be cleansed on the daily. I often find that I start a lot of books and never finish them. So I’ve turned to podcasts, which I can listen to during my daily commute rather than getting lost in emails or social media. Some of my favorites for empowerment, inspiration and entrepreneurship are: TED Talks, Courage & Clarity, She Did It Her Way, The Turnaround and How I Built This.

I also just started using Audible so that I can listen to books. I simply never get around to finding the solitude to read a book in hard copy or lose my spot because I never use bookmarks, so this has been a game changer. I just listed to “How Will You Measure Your Life?” and highly recommend. Plus, I heard you can share books with friends on Audible, so if anyone would like to listen to this book, let me know!

4.) Let Go of All That Excess Stuff: I’ll admit. I’m a hoarder. I just always think there will be a use for something down the road! Like those scrunchies from middle school that are making their way trendy again! Selling our house has been a bit of a godsend in nudging me to JUST LET GO! Physical clutter can lead to mental clutter so I’ve made a practice of picking one room each weekend to purge. And already, I’m feeling the levity. So where does all this stuff go? I’ve either donated the clothing or, I’ve been using two apps: letgo and OfferUp to make a little side cash on things that weren’t providing me much value anyway.  We literally sold a bag of rocks. There’s someone out there who will pay $5 for anything – anything!

5.) Express Gratitude: The real secret to having it all, is realizing what you already have. Each night for the past week I’ve said thanks for 3 things that brought happiness to my day. No matter how small. Like, I found a parking spot so I wasn’t late to my 6 a.m. fitness class like I was last week. Or how lucky I am that when I get home late at night, my husband has dinner waiting. It would be easy to grumble about working late. But when you frame it in a positive, it washes over the negativity. If you keep a journal, write down the 3 things that you’re grateful for each day. If that’s not your jam, say it out loud. There’s something about writing it down or saying it out loud that gives it more lasting meaning. After all, feeling gratitude and not expressing it, is liking buy a present and never giving it. Gift yourself gratitude and see just how great every day truly is.

Put yourself first today…and every day. Self love isn’t selfish. It’s necessary each and every day. Let’s do away with Self-Care Sunday and make every day a celebration.

Have additional thoughts on living with positivity? I’d love to hear them! Feel free to comment below or send me a message.