Mental Health - Things That Help My Anxiety, Insomnia, and Chill Me TF Out

Oct 26

Let’s talk mental health. I am so grateful to live in a place where the stigma on mental health is disappearing and it’s being talked about more openly. I realize that isn’t the case everywhere, so I try my best to speak about it as openly as possible in case my honesty, my story, a treatment or a product recommendation could potentially help someone.

I’ll save you all the details on my mental health journey (I share a lot of that on Instagram and YouTube), but in short form.. about 5 years ago I started feeling a lot of anxiety, and in 2018 after I went through a rough break up, I developed insomnia which also led to more anxiety, and on top of that had an eating disorder that also caused more anxiety and insomnia…….. :) this was a messy time in my life, however….

I can honestly say I’m grateful for it. That may sound annoying, but I really mean it. This extremely hard, messy time led me to realize so much about myself, and grow so much emotionally and mentally. It forced me to develop healthy habits, and introduce things into my daily routine to benefit my mental well-being. I have now become so passionate about these rituals, products, routines, and acts that I NEED to share it with the world because I owe these things life.

MORNING ROUTINE - Waking up to do something that’s calming, grounding, and will set me up for a successful day has been life changing. I used to jump out of bed and go straight to a workout while chugging a Celsius… my cortisol levels were INSANE.

Now, I wake up early and give myself time to journal, meditate, make coffee and breakfast and slowly finish them, take my supplements, and set up my day before I get ready to leave the house or go on with my day.

WALKING - Who knew such a simple act we do every single day could be so therapeutic when done with intention? Thanks to quarantine I started walking everyday (even if it’s just for 10 minutes) outside while listening to a PODCAST. Some of my go-to’s are:

PAUSE. BREATHE. GRATITUDE. - Anytime I feel overwhelmed, I take three deep breaths, close my eyes and focus on my breath, and think of three things I’m grateful for. I have no shame - I will do this in the middle of Erewhon market surrounded by chaos and people fighting over the last scoop of buffalo cauliflower. It’s actually incredible how powerful this is and sometimes I literally start laughing because of how dramatic I am being getting anxiety when life is so cool.. ya know? But even in very stressful situations (more intense than cauliflower drama), it really helps.

MOVEMENT - I was going to say exercise, but really it’s any form of movement.. that can be walking, stretching, yoga, boxing, dancing, bootcamp, pilates, running, weight training… whatever feels good to you! I recently listened to a podcast with Ed Mylett and he said that his number one recommendation to someone dealing with depression or anxiety is to MOVE YOUR BODY: dance, workout, laugh, get your heart rate up! I always feel a huge release after I’ve gotten my heart rate up and sweat a little. I love any form of movement and also love a good infrared sauna session to detox any energy I want to get rid of. I’ll link some of my go-to workouts below:

NIGHT ROUTINE - This one is harder for me to stick to, but when I do, wow it’s amazing. I definitely still do it every night, but a lot of the time it’s the very minimal version of what I’d ideally want it to be. However when I stick to the full one hour night routine, I sleep better.. and wake up feeling incredible.