We'll soon be welcoming in the "quiet month" as my friends often refer to January. It's the month when all the festivities are past and you no longer have to think about parties, food preparation, circling parking lots for a space, sending your cards on time, driving your kids from one activity to the next and frosting dozens of cookies. In other words, life returns to business as usual. Or does it? After the holidays many report feeling sluggish, notice some weight gain, and others feel like they've caught a cold or flu. If you want to de-stress after the holidays so that you can get back to "normal", I have 6 tips that I found, in a decorating book of all places, that can certainly help you!
The book is called, "Life's Little Pleasures: A Perfect Day", and I've had this little gem for several years and refer to it often, it's one of my favorite books because it combines decorating ideas with tips on how to make your life more meaningful — teaching you to seek out and then delight in life's little pleasures. Here are a few of these pleasures that I think may help all of us to de-stress and prepare for the new year ahead – I've mixed in some of my own tips, too.
1. Add 8 drops of rosemary pure essential oil in the shower, turn on the water, and step in. The burst of freshness will invigorate your body from top to toe.
2. Find a recipe for a good healthy granola and make it yourself, then add some freshly sliced fruit and enjoy a bowl for breakfast. Try to eat simple and light for a week or two and drink lots of water. (tip: this website has some nice recipes.)
3. Organize your closet. The sight of a messy closet first thing in the morning can be stressful. Arrange your clothes by type (trousers, blouses, skirts, etc.) and within that category, by color. Store or donate what you do not wear or that may be too tight on you due to all those second and third helpings of ham and cookies! Don't worry, you'll spring back to your old size soon enough, but for now, only display clothes that you can fit into or else your closet will be a very depressing place to visit if your pre-weight gain clothes are hanging there unable to be enjoyed.
4. Arrange your desk so that it is tidy and gives you a sense of well-being. Add a small flower arrangement to your desk for a calm, attractive space.
5. Enjoy weekend breakfast in bed, smoked-salmon bagels with cream cream and poached eggs is a personal favorite. It is light and a lovely way to begin a weekend either alone or with a partner.
6. Soak in a warm tub at the end of the day. Think of your bathroom as a haven of pure relaxation and set the scene by dimming or turning off all of the lights, put on your favorite relaxing tunes, and light some candles. Soak for a full 20 minutes.
Don't you feel more relaxed already?
What do you do to de-stress after the holidays?
(image: holly becker)
I dont think i even had a relaxing day,,but if i had to say it would be when my last daughter turn 18,
but the thought of that and just reading that was relaxing already, lol
Just what I need, what perfect timing
! seriously.
My first day home again after Christmas madness I spent all day on the couch and read a new book cover to cover.
Great tips that I could seriously use about now!!! Thank you!!!
Much as I love my Christmas cookies, I’m back to baking whole wheat bread (kneading is very therapeutic) and enjoying a magazine and a cup of tea while it’s in the oven.
Hey Holly,
This may be a semi-stupid question, but, where is the best place to get rosemary essential oil?
Just came into the office – where it is a ghost town – and I’m listening to music and cleaning/organizing. That way it will be clean for the first day of work in 2010! That makes work a bit more relaxing
I definitely need to organize my closet!! Yikes ~~
Holly,
Thank you for posting this! What an ideal day and I am going to get more
organized! The difference is unbelievable in how much better I feel as human being and as a woman when things are in their place!
Even if we need to hire help to accomplish this it is worth doing. Any time of the year.
I also appreciated your info on aromatherapy and soaking in the tub! Many people still do not realize the benefits of soaking in a mineral or aromatherapy bath!
I am so pleased to offer products designed just for this purpose: to bring beauty, fragrance, and inspiration to their souls and ambience and clean living to their bodies and their homes.
Happy New Year!
Kelly Ann Taylor
http://www.CassiasGarden.etsy.com
http://www.CassiasKitchen.etsy.com
http://CassiasKitchen.blogspot.com
Once a week after work when I get home I have what’s called “Spa Night” I turn my phone off, have the lights dimmed, light some aromatherapy candles, boil cucumber slices (cucumbers are a aromatherapy and help you relax), make a delouses meal, have some dark chocolate (DARK chocolate also helps you relax and isn’t as bad as milk chocolate) for desert and watch TV or read a good book. Then before bed I have a cup of caffeine free tea. By bed time I’m so unwound and relaxed that I am able to get a full nights rest and by the next day I feel refreshed and almost like I came back from the spa. Its simple things but it does wonders for your mood.
I run/walk every morning for an hour and find that clears out any cobwebs!
I have enjoyed the new layout of the magazine. The only suggestion that I would make is to put the nutrition information for the recipe with the reciepe. I often times keep the reciepe but would like to also have the nutrition info with it. I have resorted to handwriting the info on the reciepe before I tear it out of the magazine. Thanks.