Take Care — The Ellery

Mar 23

Mar 23 Take Care

Meditating and contemplating in Cabo de Roca, Portugal

Raise your hand if you feel personally victimized by the Monday to Friday 9-5 grind? Raises both hands. If you haven’t noticed by now, college may have left you a bit spoiled. It’s a well-known fact of life that college is a stressful and transitional time so most schools build self-care into their culture to lessen the burden. (Shout out to the finals week petting zoo!) But now you’ve graduated and realized plot twist: life actually can get more stressful and transitional. Everyone is honestly, truly, going through it but there is something you can do about it. Taking care of your mind, body, and soul or self-care is where you can start.

Life comes at you fast and before you know it, 3 months into the new job you were so excited about and you’re sick, tired, and on the express train to Burnout City. Work and responsibilities just take and take and take so giving yourself a little TLC is the best way to restore your sanity. The most common self-care tip is exercise because as the great Elle Woods once said “Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Happy people just don't shoot their husbands” but if getting on a treadmill sounds more like torture than leisure, here are some easy ways to avoid burnout and stay healthy.

8 hours of sleep, every damn day. Gone are the days when you can recoup your lost zzz’s by taking a 3pm nap. Cool kids have bed times.
Detox baths- Epsom salt has been unfairly forgotten in lieu of rainbow colored bath bombs. Epsom salt, or magnesium sulfate, helps lower the cortisol (stress hormone) in your body and flushes out the body’s toxins. It can’t turn your bath into a glitter explosion but it will definitely mellow you way out.
Exercise- I hate the treadmill just as much as the next person (and then some), but fitness is still having its moment and there are more fun workout classes available than ever before. Find a class that takes the work out of workout and get sweating. *Pro Tip: Most companies will give you a fitness credit, go ask Sharon in HR.*
Schedule your selfie- Just like you wouldn’t cancel a meeting with the CEO of your company, make an appointment with yourself and do not change it. You can beat the Sunday Scaries with a ritual that recharges you for Monday.
Keep up with the Kardashians- Take your favorite trash TV show and make it a weekly social event. Doing something mindless and casual with friends is a perfect way to turn off your brain, unwind, and recharge.

If Kris & Ko. don’t do it for you, you can try board games, weekend road trips, coloring books, treasure hunting, parkour, wine tasting, finger painting, baking… the options are actually endless. The only requirement is that it’s you, doing something you like because you like it. Start by devoting one hour to self-care this week and see how it makes you feel!

Most Recent Post

Featured

Jun 5, 2020

Self Care in the Time of Revolution (& Pandemic)

Jun 5, 2020

Instagram

@TheEllery

My face when my coworker says he’s feeling ‘so ADD right now’.🙄 This happened a month ago but I see a lot of people saying it now that they’re working from home. Having ADHD means SO much more than not being able to concentrate. 💩, I wish that was my only problem 😭. Fun Fact: There is a movement to rename ADHD/ADD to Executive Function Disorder which encompasses way more symptoms of ADHD that people forget about. Like low impulse control, disorganization, trouble planning and prioritizing, low frustration tolerance, rejection sensitivity, hyper focus, etc etc. So if you’re struggling with #WFH consider its because you’ve thrown out of your normal schedule and are dealing with a lot of fear and uncertainty that’s making it hard to concentrate on the work in front of you! It’s a huge adjustment and we’re all understandably struggling with it (but it’s prob not ADD) #theellery #mentalhealthmatters #adhd

This post felt impossible to write. Grief is hard to talk about and no one wants to say the wrong thing, which usually means we say nothing at all. I don’t know if these were the right words to say but I hope this attempt starts conversations for those who feel like they don’t have the language to talk about #grief and #loss Link in bio ✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨ #theellery #mentalhealthmatters

How I plan to spend #blackhistorymonth Reading black books and black books only. And Heavy by @kieselaymon is a perfect way to start. And it is ‘heavy’ to say the least. His memoir runs the gamut of the types of pain that black people and black bodies endure but I think this is the first book I’ve read that includes a black man exhibiting disordered eating. These narratives are SO important because when we talk #eatingdisorders we tend to default to anorexia and the obsessive ballerina. Meanwhile #ednos is SO much more than that. BED or binge eating disorder is the most common #eatingdisorder and characterized by not being able to control eating large amounts of food at once. Up to 40% of people seeking weight loss treatment can be clinically dx’d with BED. Thank you for your narrative @kieselaymon and for helping fight the stigma around mental health. #theellery #noshamenostigma #mentalhealthmatters #ednos #blackbooks #blackauthors #blackwriting #blacknarratives

Wrote some words for those who need them. Linked in Bio or TheEllery.com/kobebryant #theellery #ripkobe

This means people, jobs, cities and situations. But for some reason people don’t acknowledge how difficult it is to cut off family members. Or quit. Or move. So I’ll preface this advice with this: protect yourself and your energy until you get that opportunity to extract yourself from what doesn’t serve you. Remember that it’s temporary and there’s no shame in making a plan first. Do it in your time and in your own way. #theellery #mentalhealthmatters ✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨ 📸by @blcksmth @amberruffin

I came I read I conquered 📚 ✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨ Crushed my goal of 100 books last year. What did I learn? Probably won’t look to stuff 100 books into 365 days any time soon. Too many words, too little time. As a research analyst I’m all about the #data and tracking so I’m letting my 2019 book list (link in bio!) inform my goals for 2020. This 113 book journey taught me that I want to read more #blackauthors more #fiction and more physical books. What are some titles I need to add to my must read list? 🤓 #theellery #bookstagram #goodreads

Self-advocacy•the action of representing oneself’s views or interest 🧵 by @badasscrossstitch ✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨ You’d think in being a mental health advocate I’d find it easy to advocate for myself (I wish). But just like everything else that’s important in life, they don’t teach you how to do this in school. Self advocacy is SO important to practice, because we deserve to be the one’s in the driver’s seat of our lives. In the same way that doctors, professors, and other authorities are experts in their field, remember that you’re the World’s Leading Expert in You. If you don’t feel that way, then spend some time getting to know yourself- your needs, wants, desires, dreams. Then understand the rights that you have as a human person in this world. You deserve to have your pain, safety, dreams, career, everything, taken seriously. But since that’s not the reality for most, advocate for yourself (and others!) early, and often. Maybe we can get a little more out of this life #theellery #advocacy #selfadvocacy #MLK

One of my 2020 goals is to read more physical books. Last year I read a ton, and it was achievable in part because of the convenience factor. No matter where I was I’d have easy access to e-books and audiobooks on my phone and my kindle fits in my parka pocket. But this year I want to read with intention- and get back the ability to put down my phone and justlose myself in a good story. I also want to read through all the gorgeous hardcovers that I’ve bought and haven’t read yet, meaning I’ll finally be reading @Kieslelaymon @eve.ewing @roxanegay74 @tressiemcphd and @wellreadblackgirl . But first, #queenie by @candicec_w #theellery #wellreadblackgirl #bookstagram

“People who are outed feel blindsided and forced to reveal a deeply personal part of their identity without their consent and under someone else’s terms. Coming out is a process and can be a difficult time for someone because of discrimination, homophobia, or potential marginalization from their families and community at large. People must choose for themselves how and when to come out.”- @thetaskforce ✨✨✨✨ ✨✨✨✨ @nikkietutorials was being blackmailed by someone threatening to out her by being #trans . Transphobia and homophobia is still alive and well, so not only is outing someone a MAJOR violation of their privacy, it can be incredibly dangerous. Many members of the LGBTQ community can face loss of relationships, jobs, healthcare, and overall safety when outed. So while @nikkietutorials is handling this with beauty + grace, let’s not forget that this didn’t happen on her terms and that’s pretty f*cked up #theellery #mentalhealthmatters

Happy and joyful ✨✨✨✨ Have you ever considered the difference? Happiness is caused by things and events, external stuff. Joy is something intentional and comes from within. It comes with sitting in and recognizing the little things. The things that are so easy to rush past when you’re running through life. It takes practice but you can start at anytime. And @mariekondo says ‘things’ count so this hat is my #joyoftheday #theellery #joyful

Hi!

Mar 23 Take Care

Mar 30 MMM Whatchya Say

Mar 16 Let's Talk About STATS Baby!