Forming Healthy Habits and Routines

Breathing. Exercise. Movement. Self Love. All simple tasks, but not always easy ones.

Working full time, being your own boss, teaching part time, being a dog mama of two puppies while trying to have a social life in your 20s (or at any age!) takes work, and a hell of a lot of conscious breathing while building, (sometimes re-building) a routine. While I love the work that I do, the burnout can be oh so real. Here are some things that I do to maintain a sustainable practice and keep your candle burning bright. (-:

Meditate with intention - When you sit down and breathe consciously, you activate a different part of your brain. Unconscious breathing is controlled by the medulla oblongata in the brain stem, which controls respiration and circulation. This sets the foundations for breathing, muscle memories and the body’s primitive behaviors, acting from the subconscious. The cerebral cortex is known as the most important part of our brain, because it’s what makes us human. It is also sometimes referred to as “gray matter” We are actually born with more neurons in our cerebral cortex than we have now, but they are young and inexperienced. As you get older the neurons learn to work together forming what we call neural networks in the cerebral cortex. I like to think of the neurons as people who make connections with each other and learn to work together as time goes on. Repeat.

Forming a Routine - Let’s go back to when you were just starting a new routine, activity or a habit. You probably felt like concentration was everywhere, meanwhile the neurons in your cerebral cortex were firing up every time you would try this new thing. Pretty soon the neurons firing up every time would form a connection between this activity and action and make a neural network. After a few weeks, it becomes a habit and you don’t even have to think about it because your neural network has formed a cohesive team! Yay you! Repeat.

Develop Healthy Habits - These habits give us something to come back to when life feels all over the place. I try to make foundational habits things that I can pretty much find and take anywhere, wherever I am in the world. One of them being journaling. When I first wake up, I’ll find some light, open up my journal and pen and write anything that comes to mind. Uncensored, unfiltered, completely raw. This is essentially my way of warming up my medulla oblongata for the rest of the day, creating that stem of support. Next, I move on to movement or exercise, some days it’s yoga, some days it’s climbing, walking my dogs, or going for a run. Whatever the activity may be, I make a conscious effort to focus on my breath, giving the neurons space to make connections and work together. Repeat.

Now it’s your turn! What are some of your habits and routines that help you maintain a sustainable lifestyle? Comment down below!