Sometimes, life gets hectic. Often when I’m in a season of managing lots of different things, I find myself falling into a mode of neglecting habits because I’m overwhelmed. The best thing for me in these times is to maintain simple habits, even if they’re small.
So in today’s post I’m sharing my 10 favorite simple life habits. Many of you do all of these things daily anyway. But if anyone gets overwhelmed like me, these are helpful! Comment and share what habits you enjoy or do daily to keep yourself on track!
1. Clean Teeth
Alright so perhaps this habit garners eye rolls from you. But honestly, keeping up with oral hygiene is a valuable habit! I’m not just talking about brushing though, I’m talking about the whole 9 yards.
The steps to my morning and night oral hygiene routine are as follows:
- Floss teeth (I actually do this mostly at night) I use a sustainable floss brand that doesn’t hurt my gums.
- Tongue Scrape! I realize this may be a new concept for some. But let me say, it’s amazing the gunk you can get off your tongue in the morning and at night! This helps reduce plaque build up and improve bad breath. My fav is on Amazon.
- Brush teeth. This one is pretty straight forward, but I like to use a bamboo toothbrush and Sensodyne Whitening toothpaste. * This has changed since having braces- I don’t use a whitening toothpaste but I do use a Sensodyne Gum and Tooth toothpaste!
- Mouthwash! For years I’ve tried to find a mouthwash that actually works to help reduce bad breath. Well, I’ve finally found it! I’ve seen it at most drugstores but here is the link for Amazon.
I know it seems incredibly simple. But I feel more accomplished throughout the day when I have a clean mouth! If the tongue scraping thing freaks you out, just try it. Trust me on that one! On to the next habit…
2. Make Your Bed
I’m sure I’ve talked about this one before. And Dad, if you’re reading this, I know you’re either laughing or smirking because this is a hill you would die on. Admittedly, I am not the most consistent at this habit because of the difficulty getting out of bed some days due to chronic pain. Other days, I just don’t make my bed out of rebellion. Just being honest.
That being said, experts say that the key to accomplishing things and being productive is by completing small, simple tasks. Perhaps one of the easiest of these tasks is making your bed in the morning. Below is a speech by Admiral McRaven who speaks on the benefits of making your bed. Give it a listen if you’re in the need of motivation!
One additional thing I will mention about bed making. At night, our bodies shed skin and we perspire (gross right?) so I find it beneficial to let my bed “breathe” before making it. Meaning, when I wake up in the morning, I pull all my bedding back and leave it unmade while I get ready. Then, after 30 minutes to an hour, I’ll go back and make it. This is in an effort to let the sheets get some airflow before I trap bacteria underneath the covers. *Just don’t forget to go back and make your bed after you let it breathe!
Alright, enough about the gross germs. Let’s move on.
3. Simple Habits for Sleep
Ah yes. Slumber. Sound sleep can be quite elusive for many of us- especially those of us dealing with chronic illnesses because constant fatigue is real. I mentioned the importance of getting quality sleep in another post about resting well. You can check it out here if you’re in need of less stress and increased rest!
But here are a few things to keep in mind for getting sleep:
- Figure out how much sleep you need and try to get it consistently. Can you operate on 6 hours? Or do you need 9.5 to function normally? Allow yourself the time to get the amount of rest you need!
- Try your level best to not be on media or screens 30-60 minutes before you sleep. I think the actual recommended time is 2 hours before, but honestly, I know that’s tough. If you can just stop being on screens a little while before you roll over and go to sleep, it’s better for your brain!
- Take comfort into account. Are you using the right pillow and mattress? Is the temperature in your room hotter or colder than is comfortable? Comfort may seem excessive but when it comes to quality sleep, it’s pretty important!
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Water! Woooo! So exciting!!
Nope. Not really. For years I feel like we’ve heard the value and importance of staying adequately hydrated. Normal people and people with chronic illnesses or health issues alike are likely in need of improved hydration.
But honestly I get so tired of drinking water. It’s boring. I also hate lugging around a water bottle I don’t like. So, my first time is to find a water bottle you actually enjoy drinking from. I personally love my HydroFlasks and my HydroJug if I need loads of water!
Here’s the link for the HydroFlask I have along with the HydroJug. I’ve also recently gotten into my Owala water bottle when I don’t want to carry around anything heavy.
Recently my doctors have emphasized the value of increasing electrolyte consumption along with normal water. That being said, I can’t have a ton of sugar so I don’t drink sports drinks. You may have seen electrolyte packets but those also have sugar in them. The one solution I’ve just found and am trying are NUUN tablets! Low in sugar and high in electrolytes, these are great for increased hydration and they actually taste good! Like really really good!
They have a few kinds for different purposes like sports, rest/recovery, energy, etc. Here are the ones I like best!
5. Get Outside
Wander. Get lost. Spend time in the sunshine!
If you know me well you know me spending time in the sun involves copious amounts of sunscreen and layers of UPF treated clothing. Skin cancer runs in both sides of my family and I am quite fair skinned and burn VERY easily so, I wear sunscreen (on my face at the least) 365 days of the year.
Here is my all time favorite daily moisturizer with SPF!
But this isn’t a call to wear sunscreen- though, for the record, I will die on my own hill saying everyone should wear it. Life is too short to get sunburned and damage your skin. Don’t forget, skin is our body’s biggest organ! Take care of it!
This is a call to get outside and breathe in the fresh air. Go for a walk or drive somewhere pretty and have a picnic. Or, if that feels unattainable, sit inside near a window that gets sunlight and open it to breathe in deeply and get some rays. Do what you can do, however little it is, to get your body out in to nature.
P.S. One of my favorite ways to do this is to go camping. Spend buckets of time outside and disconnect from the world. Which leads to my next habit!
6. Simple Habits for Your Brain
We are hyper connected today and spend, in my opinion, WAY too much time scrolling. I too am prone to spend hours throughout my day checking social media, watching Youtube videos, listening to podcasts and even music.
I’m not sitting here saying all of those things are inherently bad. However, I am saying that those things in excess tend to leave our brains “on.” Sometimes simple habits look like not doing something rather than doing something new.
Perhaps it’s time for you to listen to one less podcast, shuffle through one less playlist, watch less Youtube and take a break from Instagram. Thing about your day- do you have any time where you aren’t listening to or watching anything? If we are constantly filling our mental white space with noise we rarely give ourselves times to think and process.
May I encourage you to try and lean into the quiet? I make an effort to daily spend time with the Lord in a quiet time and I try to always have a few moments of silence. I don’t listen to anything or say anything. Instead, I let my thoughts take over the silence.
Give your brain a break!
7. Simple Habits for Your Body
When my parents read this part of the post, they’ll likely tell me I should take my own advice. They’d be correct. I’ve been told more than once that a key to living well and taking care of yourself is to exercise consistently.
Unfortunately, chronic health issues make it difficult to exercise. Specifically, POTS makes me slightly intolerant to exercise- meaning I get heightened symptoms when I exercise. Ironically, exercise is one of the best ways to help POTS. It’s a cycle. If you’re interested in hearing more about my health journey, click here.
Knowing that I don’t do it myself, I’m not going to tell you to exercise every single day. I am, however, going to tell you to move your body daily. Even if it looks like doing a stretching routine from bed (100% have done this on hard days), some movement is better than none!
If you’re into the whole overachieving thing, you could check a few of these habits off your list at once by taking a walk outside, as mentioned earlier. Take your water bottle with you, enjoy a few swigs and check off three at a time. You get the idea.
As you’re able, you can create a workout plan or exercise routine to keep yourself accountable. The benefits that movement will give your body now will help you retain the ability to move later. If you’re sitting right now, I dare you to stand up and touch your toes. Do it- you won’t. 😉
8. Practice Mindfulness
To be completely honest with you, I used to scoff at anyone that would tell me to practice mindfulness. I don’t even think I knew exactly what it was. But after doing some digging and actually trying it, I discovered its benefits. A calmer mind, slower heart rate, clearer thoughts, peaceful feelings… what’s not to like?
Now mindfulness can look different for different people. Some enjoy a meditative kind of mindfulness where someone guides the time, others prefer thinking for themselves, some like meditating in silence or with music. Among the benefits of mindfulness is you enable yourself the opportunity to draw attention away from everything and focus instead on your thoughts and emotions.
I have a tendency to shove aside my feelings and thoughts in an effort to just “get through the day”. The downside to that is a lack of quietness and processing what I’m feeling on a day to day basis. So, I tend to do two things to practice mindfulness.
The first is intentional breathing exercises. I’ll use the guided breathing on my Apple Watch or through smartphone apps or even just counting in my head. The box breathing method is great too and is super easy to remember.
The second thing I do is spend time in the morning and the evening using a guided prayer meditation. There is an app called Lectio 365. Created by prayer warriors, the app takes similar steps from Lectio Divina and the Prayer of Examen to make daily prayers. I love these moments (usually about 8-10 minutes in the am and pm) because I get distracted easily and the guided prayer and structured moments of reflection are super helpful to stay focused!
9. Eat Frequently
For many of us, we orient our days around three key meals- breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Some people are able to just eat at those times and remain satiated throughout the day. I however, need to eat much more frequently. I’m talking every 2-3 hours. I’ll usually have a coffee in the morning followed by breakfast. Then, a few hours later I’ll eat a snack. Then maybe another snack before having lunch. Followed by a few more snacks before dinner. You get the idea.
That being said, I’m not eating typical “snack” food like Oreos, potato chips, and candy. Due to my health issues, I have to eat a pretty strict diet which makes snacking on normal food close to impossible. Most often I’ll have a piece of fruit and some nuts, veggies and avocado dip, specific protein bars or meat sticks as snacks. I’ll pair those things with the aforementioned hydration tablets to keep myself hunger free.
You know what I’ve noticed? When I eat more frequently I experience less of a crash in the afternoon or evening. I think (please remember I am not a medical professional so I’m just speaking from my own experience) this is because my blood sugar stays stabilized. I also benefit from eating smaller meals/snacks versus eating fewer, larger meals because I don’t feel as weighed down.
Do you ever feel lethargic throughout the day? Ever get Hangry? If you want to keep your hunger monster at bay, perhaps you need to eat more frequently! Hunger can get the best of us, but it doesn’t have to if you manage it well. If you want to read more about this concept, check out my blog post on how to HALT…
Here are some of my favorite snacks!
10. Simple Habits for Your Soul
The last simple habit that I feel is perhaps the easiest, could very well be the most important. One of the best ways to feed a downtrodden soul is through laughter! They don’t call laughter the best medicine for nothing. My favorite way to laugh is in conversation with other people. Infectious laughter is fun and engaging! You know it’s hardy when your stomach aches and your eyes tear up.
Another way I enjoy laughing is listening to comedians or watching funny shows. Or, on occasion, I listen to my dad tell horrible dad jokes. But hey, if they make you laugh, are they really that bad? I think laughter is one of the greatest reminders of the joy we have in this life. Make it a point to laugh every day!!
Check out one of my favorite comedians, Tim Hawkins. I can always rely on this guy to get me giggling! I’ve linked one of his shows below.
In Closing…
Well, there you have it. There are 10 simple habits to practice when life feels overwhelming. This isn’t an exhaustive list by any means, but it’s helpful when you need something small to try. It’s amazing how keeping up with the small things in life can help stabilize things when big stuff is happening. I know upholding small habits has been one of the biggest helps for me personally in this time of change and difficulty. If you try it, let me know how it goes! Or better yet, comment and tell me what your favorite simple habits are in your daily life.
Until next post,
Hugs!
