All posts tagged: featured wellness

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 …

3 Helpful, Healthy Habits to Begin This New Year

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Hey everyone!  Welcome to 2022! While waiting for the new year to come, it seemed like time couldn’t move fast enough, but now that it’s here I feel like 2021 kind of flew by.  I’m sure that as you’ve thought about what you wanted for yourself out of this year, you may have created some sort of list of ways to achieve those goals. Maybe, you want to rest more and spend less time focused on  things you can’t change. Maybe you want to change jobs this year or start a new habit. Whatever your goals may be, I hope you get all that you can out of this year, you deserve it.  To kick off the new year here at Nicole-Eva.com, I wanted to talk about 3 helpful, healthy habits I belive everyone should start this year. These are healthy habits that are important to make a part of your everyday life regardless of what your big goals are. These are things that will help you to feel better on the inside, and therefore …

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 …

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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 …

Rebuilding Your Self-Confidence

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I don’t know if this is apparent, but I am a highly sensitive person. I do a pretty good job at pretending I’m not simply because the world can be a bit harsh, but, it’s who I am.  Like most people who are highly sensitive, I’ve grown up always assuming this to be a bad thing. I grew up around labels such as “too sensitive”  or “too quiet” which to me, indicated that this trait was a negative one.  As I grew into adulthood I went through phases of acceptance of myself and my sensitive nature; it made me exceptionally good at the personal aspects of my work in every job I’ve ever held and it made me a pretty good friend. But along with the phases of acceptance, I also went through phases of rejection of this part of me; it made me a target for ridicule in spaces where this trait was viewed as a weakness.  Recently, I had an encounter that sent me spiraling. My “me” was again under scrutiny and I …

Spending Time Alone and Why it’s Important

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Alone time is good for the soul.  Whether you’re naturally introverted or naturally extroverted, setting aside sometime for you to sit and enjoy your own presence is a very important part of existence.  For some, alone time is a refreshing and natural part of our lives. For others, the idea of spending time alone intentionally is actually quite intimidating. If that’s you, no worries! Right below is a guide of some small ways to set up intentional alone time and simple things you can do with that time.  What is Intentional Alone Time? Taking time to be alone intentionally doesn’t always mean simply not hanging out with friends. Intentional alone time can be any time where you are taking time away from socialization on purpose. Maybe that’s you removing yourself from social media for a set amount of time, stepping away from the group chat for a little bit or turning off snapchat notifications for a while. The goal is to have uninterrupted time with you and yourself.  How to Set up Intentional Alone Time …

self care when you just don't care - self care for depression mental wellness

Self Care for When you Just Don’t Care

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There are times when life is rainbows and sunshine. Times when breathing is easy and laughter is plentiful But then there are times when sometimes getting out of bed and choosing to engage with the day feels like climbing the highest mountain and the simple act of faking a smile robs you of every bit of your energy. These days it’s just as important, if not more so important to care for yourself. Self-care has been illustrated as sitting in a tub filled to the brim with bubbles with lit candles, sipping wine, and reading a book before bed. I mean there’s nothing inherently wrong about indulging in self-care in this way. It will definitely leave you feeling pampered, but I believe that fixating on only that physical side of self-care inadvertently cheapens the goal of self-care. And on those days when it’s hard to even convince yourself to eat and take a shower…a bubble bath and candles just aren’t going to cut it. So. When you don’t feel like it, when you can’t be …