What are your rituals?

I've been struggling to be consistent with my wellness practices lately.


Way too much screen time, overwhelmed by the numerous horrors of our world, less movement, less sunshine...it's honestly been a recipe for disaster.


But it's not really been a disaster so much as it's been a slow and steady stroll away from the balance of structure and fluidity that I know is so helpful to my health.


And because I'm human, when I get off-track, it can feel really cumbersome to consider how to get back on.


Even though I know in my bones that wellness (and life!) is nuanced and is never an all-or-nothing sort of thing, I (especially when overwhelmed) can pretty easily latch onto binary thinking.


I cognitively know that I haven't failed, but my body can sometimes experience these phases differently.


Sometimes, my body can feel like "What's the point in trying to get back into our rituals when we've let them go to the wayside for far too long?"


And in these moments, I do what I can to softly speak to this part of me, offering understanding and validation of how hard it can feel to return to self-care practices after not doing them for a bit.


And I remind my body, and the part of my spirit that so badly wants to attach itself to black-and-white, to tenderly step back into the gray.


I have not failed.


I have not abandoned myself.


And I don't have to do it all, all at once, in a "perfect" way, in order to get back to a place that feels more supported.


This is true for you, too.


Especially when life feels overwhelming, even when we know all the practices that might help, it can feel burdensome to keep doing all the things.


You haven't failed.


You haven't lost yourself.


You don't need to "start all over" or do everything all at once.


You are human.


You are cyclical.


You are a ball of cosmic energy residing in a physical body in this particular moment in time, doing what you can to embody that strange and magical truth.


So, you don't need to make any big or overwhelming shifts to get back into a more embodied way of being.


Start small.


What is one nourishing thing you can add back into your daily routine?


It can be any shape or size...it can be an old standard or something newer to your repertoire.


It can be something you do every day, and remember that there's nothing wrong with a "most days" or "some days" approach, either.


Do the thing today. Check in with yourself and how you feel. Honor the effort you took, the time you spent with your body, the care you gave to your spirit.


I'll say it over and over so we never forget: Life is not a series of boxes to check off...and neither are our self-care rituals.


Take your time. Love yourself with depth and abandon.


And if today wasn't what you'd hoped, trust that you can try again tomorrow.