a week of following my own advice

integrating recommendations for patients into my weekly routine

The impetus for this post started last Saturday around 2pm.

“So anyways, yeah, I guess the weekend’s over!!!!!,” I said to Mike on our walk.

We were coming back from a colder-than-expected stroll from one of our favorite bakeries that was essentially out of everything by the time we got there. This could have added a dense cloud over the rest of the weekend’s social forecast. But it already felt like the weekend had slipped away despite it just getting started.

We’ve kept a pretty bustling social calendar the last few weeks, and I’ve been working a bit more. This combination is a fast track to a scarcity mindset - feeling like there’s never enough time and therefore like I’m not doing enough. That I should just keep stretching thin until I feel translucent.

I felt tempted to cancel plans, but the plans we had were things I was genuinely looking forward to - visiting Mike’s friend’s new baby with his big group of high school friends on Saturday evening, and driving to see my grandparents for a family party on Sunday. When factoring in cleaning, grocery shopping, driving, meal prepping, losing an hour from daylight savings, and newsletter editing, there wouldn’t be much time for anything else or extra.

As is what always happens, I was glad I attended each. And while I found myself craving big stretches of calendar plains with no plans, I found energy and reprieve in both social events.

I have a tendency to only feeling refreshed if all my work is done and complete. (You would think nearly 5 years in this line of work that I’d be able to shed this layer, though alas I have not.)

Last weekend, I didn’t complete everything I wanted, and I went into the week with most of my notes open from Friday (a feeling I’ll never get used to). And yet I was determined to have a good week. To not bring my Friday energy in to Monday with me.

This is something I highlight a lot in much of my nutrition and preventative health counseling - how can you make it work, and how to make it feel good, even when it’s not perfect or there isn’t a lot of time. And how to shake off stress so that it doesn’t inevitably impact all other health promoting behaviors.

For this reason, I set a goal to taste my own medicine - to actually do the things I recommend to others.

It was imperfect and didn’t always feel good, though was a lovely opportunity to circle back to this newsletter’s original mission and thesis - finding moments of reprieve when the burnout comes knocking and getting still to listen and respond to subtle cues for nourishment and hydration. All without a big vacation or break anywhere near on the horizon.

This is most pivotal this week because I’m anticipating starting the egg freezing process soon, which adds another layer of real uncertainty and discomfort amidst an already very busy time.

Here goes!

Mentioned in this post:

Monday

I started the day with water and a meditation. This is a fairly big shift within the last 6 months, as I was previously a coffee, phone, social media, and NYT word games first thing in the morning person.

It essentially guaranteed I’d start the day feeling activated - sometimes this felt energizing, and other times it felt anxiety-provoking.

On this morning, I did still check my email, though I then grabbed a glass of water and headphones and started a new course on Insight Timer called Powerful Mini Relaxations Can Bring Your Nervous System Into Balance (LOL yes, it was actually called this).