All posts filed under: Wellness

Mental health, physical health, fitness, mental well being, healthy habits and healthy lifestyle maintenance

Video Journaling : Brilliant or Cringe

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There’s a “new” trend being talked about within the wellness spaces as of late. I say new with the quotes because although it’s not a new concept, it’s becoming popularized within a new niche. Video journaling, the act of setting up a camera, usually one on your phone and talking to yourself about yourself has been gaining a bit of traction as a great way to connect with yourself, potentially more so than paper journaling. In a video journal you may discuss your day, your feelings about something that happened or someone you encountered. You may talk about an issue you are having or something that makes you excited, there are no rules and no limits, you are simply documenting yourself for yourself. I am of the general understanding that the intention behind video journaling is to be able to not only express yourself, but to be able to go back at a point in time and reevaluate your video. Maybe check and see if things have changed, if you still share the same views, …

Top 4 Alternatives to Running for Heart Health

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I’m sure you’ve heard everyone talk about how running is great cardio. And, to be honest runners make it look and sound so easy. (I might be a little jealous that it’s not my gifting…just a little bit). Between the marathoners, triathletes, 5k-ers and the casual morning joggers, running looks cool. Plus it’s a great workout! And the runners, they actually enjoy it. They love the moment adrenaline takes over and it’s just them and the sound of their feet hitting the pavement, or treadmill. Sometimes, I enjoy it, kind of. It’s a really great way to raise your heart rate and get a little sweat going, plus, it’s free.  But sometimes I just can’t do it. Sometimes running hurts me. Running is what is classified as a high-impact exercise. That means that it places a high level of impact on your joints. For some people that can cause pain either during the exercise or afterward. For me, I usually feel it a day or two after in my knees, hips, and ankles…not fun.  If …

Image of a raven zz plant against a white wall for the blog post by Nicole Eva keeping self care simple

Keeping Self-Care Simple

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A big thing I find myself needing to remind myself of lately has been how truly simple it really can be to practice self-care. I think today we make it complicated. There are so many different routines and products that end up being a part of these routines promoted to us by different influencers and businesses that we start to believe that it’s not really self-care if it doesn’t involve the latest face mask, body oil or facial tool. We’ve created, and fallen into a kind of “consumerism” version of self-care. A brand of self-care where we require more and more things to do to create an image of being cared for instead of actually caring for ourselves. I’m here to tell you gently that it doesn’t have to be this way. Now, there’s nothing wrong with making purchases and building an arsenal of things to help you with your self-care journey, but these things aren’t necessary for self-care, that’s the point I’m making today. What Simple Self-Care is not Simple self care is not …

Is self care selfish self care or selfish images of selfceare

Self-Care or Self-ish?

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Is self care selfish? This is a question that has plagued me whenever people have asked me what my passions revolve around. I’ve said things like wellness, and health and people as a response, which is true. But I’m also passionate about self care, but aware of how others seem to interpret it. It’s taken me a while to figure out my thoughts on this, and maybe you have also asked yourself this question and come to your own answers, maybe ours are the same, and maybe they’re very different. I guess we shall see. My answer: Self care is not selfish. It’s actually the complete opposite, but we’ll get to that in a second. What is selfish though, is burnout. Working yourself all the way until you no longer have life in your bones for anything or anyone around you is not only selfish, but I’ll take it a step further and call prideful. To understand why burnout is selfish, you have to understand how we get there. The Miriam Websters definition of burnout …

Why Working Out Isn’t Working For You

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Working out. We know we need it.Whether it’s in the form of taking a walk, going for a bike ride, cardio at home, or lifting heavy in the gym, we all know that working out should be a decent part of our lives. But sometimes, we hate it. Fitness was a part of my life from a young age. By the age of 10, I was a competitive swimmer and a gymnast. I played soccer, did tae kwon do, ran 5ks, and whatever else I could get into. Maintaining an active lifestyle was all I knew. This lasted up until my freshman year of college, it was just something I did and never needed to think too much about…until I stopped. Once I slowed down, as people do when they get older and take on more sedentary roles at work and school, I started to gain a bit of weight here and there. That weight gain combined with “grown woman” weight, combined with the slowing of my metabolism took me for a ride emotionally and …

Caring For Yourself After A Binge

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We’ve all been there. You’re doing really well eating what you should, when you should, you feel great, and feel like you look great…then it happens. For whatever reason, you have a terrible eating day. For me, these usually look like me not eating breakfast till about 1 pm, and then instead of eating something nutritious I run to the fastest, easiest thing available and eat way too much of it, because, well, I’m hungry. This may be bread, chips, bagels, chicken nuggets…literally anything I can get my hands on. By the time I catch up to myself I’m full and bloated and bracing for the regret that’s going to come any minute. This moment is an example of binge eating. Not to be confused with binge eating disorder, an episode of binge eating is really as exampled above. A moment where you consume more food than you normally would, in a shorter period than you normally would. These days, although not great, are normal. And your reaction to such days (frustration, disappointment, and maybe …

Spring Cleaning | Wellness Style

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Spring is here! Flowers are blooming, birds are chirping and it’s finally starting to be warm enough to where we want to open our windows and let in the clean air. Spring signifies a fresh start to many people. It’s the time of the year where we like to clean out our old and make room for our new. We donate old clothes and home items, deep clean our closets, and just overall make sure that our space is nice and fresh. A clean home is great, but it’s not the only thing we should be focused on cleaning out and freshening up this season. What I’m talking about is spring cleaning for your mind and overall wellness.Just as we sweep out the dusty crevices of our homes, we need to make a habit of doing so with our minds and bodies as well. Here’s how we can do some spring cleaning of our own, wellness edition. Clean up those thought patterns What does your inner voice sound like? Is it overly critical? Is it …

The Cure | Why You Need More Water

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Groggy. Bloated. Sluggish. This was my life before I began taking my water intake seriously. This year, I made a goal that I wanted to be more intentional about my water intake. I know I don’t drink enough, and when I do drink, my preference is usually tea or something sweet, which is not the best.  I was sick of feeling gross. Sick of my skin being so dry and just knowing that my body was struggling, so I made a change.  How about you? Do you find that you don’t drink enough water? If you’ve been struggling with feeling sick, tired, bloating or even skin issues, you may simply need to drink more water. The average human needs about 8 glasses of water a day. That’s water, not juice, coffee, tea, protein drinks or energy drinks. Just pure water.  If you’re someone who doesn’t drink enough water and you know it, then going from way under 8 glasses to 8 glasses isn’t an easy transition and it also isn’t a change that should be done …

Beginners Guide to Wellness | 3 Books You Must Read

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Wellness has become quite a trending topic lately. Everyone’s into it, it’s become an aesthetic even. When you take a moment think about it, it’s not that surprising.  There’s got to be a connection between the entire world enduring the trauma of a pandemic and a lockdown, and experiencing the variety of turmoil throughout the past year, and the sudden peak in interest in all things health and wellness.   Although mental health and wellness have always been my areas of interest, the events of this past year pushed me to also take some intentional steps towards educating myself on the health of my mind and my body. I wanted to know what steps I should be taking to take better care of myself and how to be more intentional about my emotional health.   I remember those first intentional steps towards wellness being a little overwhelming. There’s a lot of information and a lot of information everywhere. There are blogs, books, podcasts, YouTube videos, and even classes. How do you know where to start?  I started …

image of crinkled bed sheets header to title of blog post called slow by Nicole Eva highlighting the importance of slow mornings for self care and mental wellness

The Secret of Slow

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Slowing down has been a goal of mine this year.  I’ve been really into slow mornings. Waking up slow, taking the time to make tea, making a nutritious breakfast, showering, being fully present in my skin care routine and taking the time to sit and soak in the quiet before diving into the tasks of the day has been so rejuvinating for me.  Deciding whether or not I was willing to try trading my few extra moments of sleep for moments of calm as opposed to rushing around the house panicked about getting work on time and starting my day at a level 10 stress before 9am was pretty much a no brainer. Although I’ve loved it, it wasn’t the easiest of adjustements at first. There were some strategies I’ve had to figure out before I was able to make this into a successful routine of mine. Now that they’re in place I don’t struggle as much to reach that happy place of quiet in the mornings. The benefits are immeasurable and if you’re down, …