chapter 9
PERSONAL WELLNESS
Working out, feeling like I’m in a positive mental state, keeping healthy, sleeping, and (most important) relaxing have been key in getting it together. Prioritizing personal wellness is something I’m ashamed to admit I didn’t take seriously until this year. And sometimes it’s difficult, because it means planning, sacrificing, and choosing the long-term result over the desire of the moment (like eating the big piece of chocolate cake in front of me).
Before this year, I spent more time thinking about work and people-pleasing than paying attention to my own personal wellness, and looking back, I think I suffered because of it. Since there’s so much information to cover in this section, I’ve divided it into four sections: mental health, diet and exercise, power sleeping, and relaxation.
MENTAL HEALTH
Merriam-Webster defines mental health as “the general condition of one’s mental and emotional state.” Mental health may include an individual’s ability to enjoy life and create a balance between life activities and efforts.
I like to look at mental health as a goal. We all want to be satisfied with ourselves, enjoy life, and most important, create balance. But, in a world full of distraction, confusion, jealousy, and anger, how do we stay mentally strong?
Here are some of the ways you can master your mental health:
• Get help. Approximately one in five adults in the United States experience mental illness each year.1 That number is jaw-dropping. First and foremost, if you are constantly battling negative thoughts, depression, or anxiety, please seek help from a trained medical professional. Therapists, psychiatrics, and psychologists are available and will give you the proper tools you need. Don’t wait. Get help right away.
• Give yourself pep talks. I can’t stress the importance of self-encouragement and positive reinforcement enough. Be nice to yourself, take care of yourself, and put yourself and your needs first. Tell yourself you did a great job today. Be proud of everything you’ve accomplished. Smile and remind yourself that you’re a good person, son or daughter, parent, husband or wife, employee, boss, and friend.
• Identify feelings and call them out. We’ve all felt down before, it’s inevitable. But if you begin to pay attention to when or why you feel this way, you’ll begin to recognize similarities. Take the time to think about what you are feeling as well as when and why you are feeling it. Not only will this be effective in the future, but it will also serve as a reminder that you’ve been here before and you can and will get through this.
• Name the cause. What is causing this instance? Say it aloud. Once I identify the cause, I remind myself that I am in control of my feelings. Then I examine my own actions and identify what got me to where I am.
• Focus on accomplishments. As I mentioned earlier, accomplishing something makes me feel better when I’m down. Figure out what makes you feel accomplished and do it!
• Remind yourself of what makes you happy. Remember the happiness page in your bullet journal? Use that list to refresh your memory and do something that you already know you enjoy.
• Regulate social media. We just had an entire chapter about social media, but I want to reiterate that if you don’t watch how you spend your time on social, it can become an unhealthy habit.
• Meditate. Meditation was certainly a common theme among the experts that I interviewed. Adam Braun says he’s been meditating for 13 years, and he says that when he doesn’t practice meditation consistently, he doesn’t feel peaceful. He explains, “Everything just feels too rushed.” For beginners who want to start meditating, he recommends the apps Headspace, Calm, and Oak.
• Get to know yourself better. Identify what helps you relax, what motivates you, and what makes you feel better. At the end of this chapter, I call out 40 different ways that you can relax and even encourage you to start your own list to turn to at any time.
• Consult someone with similar experience. Speaking to other people in similar situations is a great way to feel heard and to find a productive solution to a problem you’re facing. For example, if you’re experiencing depression and know that family members have dealt with the same thing, give them a call. Talk with them about their journey, experiences, and resources. Remember, you are never alone.
• • •
Today, phrases including “meltdown,” “panic attack,” “anxious,” and “stressed” are being used more and more to describe how we are feeling. We experience this because we don’t have it together, and when you’re running a hundred miles a minute in every different direction, how can you?
By changing the way we look at our struggles and focusing on the positive solutions instead of the negative feelings we are experiencing, we will walk away happier, healthier, and more effective in our work and relationships.
DIET AND EXERCISE
We all have different reasons to take care of our bodies and maintain our physical health. No matter your reason, your body is your most important tool. If it’s not in the best shape possible, you’re not going to be able to perform at your best in all parts of your life.
So, how can we fine-tune our bodies and take care of ourselves to get the best results and performance possible?
The answer is twofold:
1. Take fitness seriously.
2. Eat clean.
And to clarify, you can’t do one without the other. To maximize results, you must focus on both.
Where Do You Fall?
Let’s begin by determining where you are with our physical health right now.
On a scale of 1 to 10, how physically fit are you? To help with the scale, I’d say that if you work out religiously five to seven days a week and feel very confident about your strength and abilities, you are probably a 10. When I interviewed Laura Vanderkam (author of Off the Clock), she said she runs seven days a week, no matter what. I’d rank Laura a 10 on the physically fit level. If you never work out, it’s not a focus or a priority; I’d rank yourself at a 1.
So, where do you fit on the scale?
• • •
Next, let’s look at eating clean. To rank yourself a 10 in the eating category, you eat clean every single meal of the day, every day of the week (with a possible small exception here and there). If you are a 1, most of your meals aren’t healthy—probably the opposite of healthy.
Where do you fall on the scale?
Setting Reasonable Goals
Now that we know where we are, we need to establish some reasonable goals. My recommendation is to increase your ranking for both clean eating and physical fitness by two points. Once we decide where we are and where we need to be, we need a three-step Action Plan (see Chapter 4). Here is my three-step Action Plan for each of the categories (and I even included room for you to design your own plan).
All right, so we’ve reviewed where you are, where you want to be, and your plan for how to get there. Write these Action Plans in your bullet journal so you have everything in one place. For me, planning is usually the easy part and, frankly, the part I enjoy the most. Actually implementing and consistently following through with the plan is where I have trouble. The number one reason I didn’t get to the gym in the past wasn’t because of work, friends, my husband, or even time—it was me. One of the biggest challenges when it came to working out was taking myself seriously, not settling for my own excuses, and learning how to push myself (something that I’m still in the process of learning).
Exercise
Here are some tips that have helped me workout consistently:
• Get more sleep. Later in this chapter, I’ll talk about sleep habits and the power of good rest. If you’re planning a morning workout, get to bed early enough that you don’t feel stressed or tired.
• Plan ahead. Plan when you will be going to the gym or a class and put it in your calendar. When I interviewed Lauryn Hock (www.lauryncakes.com), she said she finds that when she puts exercise in her calendar appointment, she’s more likely to go!
• Pack your gym bag the night before. Or, better yet, pack it on a Sunday for the entire week. I always pack as many outfits as days I plan to go to the gym that week. I also include one or two pairs of sneakers, my headphones, and extra hair ties. If you live in a city where you commute to work without a car, I recommend laying out four or five sets of gym clothes on Monday. Put them somewhere you can easily switch out your work clothes with a clean set of gym clothes for the following day.
• Charge headphones! I can’t go to the gym without my headphones, so I always make sure they are ready to go in the morning. It’s helpful to put your bag near these headphones so you can pick them both up when you leave.
• Have a water bottle ready. Make sure you have water ready to go in the refrigerator the night before. Or, treat yourself to an insulated water bottle that keeps your drinks cold overnight so you have one less thing to remember in the morning.
• Use apps when you can’t get to the gym. Sarah Boyd, founder of Simply, says she uses the Sweat App for a 28-minute workout in the morning before heading into the office. We all have days when we can’t get to the gym for one reason or another, so using an app (personal favorites include Studio Tone It Up or Body Love by Anna Victoria) makes quick workouts at home possible.
• Don’t break the streak. Try to keep up your gym routine because once you break it, it’s always harder to go back. Even when you travel. Use the hotel fitness center, a gym you are a part of, or try a class nearby. Whatever you do, keep up with your workouts!
• Go to classes. The nice thing about classes is that you keep moving because the class is moving. When I’m with the trainer one-on-one, it’s easier for me to stop and chitchat. I always work up a sweat in a gym class.
• Ask questions at the gym. Take advantage of the trainers at the gym, especially the free intro sessions that you get when you join a new gym. Ask questions about what your daily routine should look like. Even if you work out with a trainer (as I do), I’m always asking him questions so that when I come to the gym alone (or any other gym in the country), I know what to do with the equipment.
• Challenge yourself and switch it up. What can you do today that is a little bit harder than yesterday? Challenge yourself and keep things fun by switching it up. OUR bodies get used to routines, so doing the same workouts or classes every day may get stale.
• Emphasize stretching. Make sure to stretch at the beginning and end of your workouts. Ask your trainers at your local gym to help guide you through proper stretches and how you can use the foam rollers (my favorite!) the right way.
• Weigh in and measure frequently. Weighing in all the time can be frustrating, so I suggest tracking your measurements, too. Check your progress as it makes sense for you.
• Morning pep talk. I like to remind myself of my goals in the morning and ask myself, “What’s one thing you can do today to hit your fitness goal?” It may be small that day, but I pick one thing and make sure to do at least that.
• Tell friends your goals. Often friends get competitive about goals and losing weight, but this is unnecessary. My solution? Be honest and up front with your friends about your personal goals. Usually, it’s easier to make people feel like they are included in your journey instead of on the outside of it.
• Log calories. I use MyFitnessPal (the free version) to log calories, or I write down what I eat on my iPhone notepad to review with my trainer while we’re working out. When you take the time to write down what you eat, you start noticing patterns you might not otherwise see.
• Food accountability group. My friend Rachel (CEO and founder of GlamourGals) was in town the other night, and at dinner, she kept taking photos of her food. She showed me how she and a handful of friends were in a chat group on WhatsApp called Food Group, and they would show everything they ate to one another. The goal of the group was to be aware of what they were eating, choose healthy options, and get inspired by their friends’ healthy choices.
How to Look Put Together for Work, Post-Gym
Congrats! You got up early (pre-work) to go to the gym. But now you must get ready—and fast! Here are my tips to look acceptable at work quickly:
• I do my hair the night before.
• I pack an easy outfit.
• I pack shower essentials (including towels).
• I bring my makeup bag.
• I don’t forget work shoes.
When I am done working out, I dive right into the shower at the gym and give myself a max of five minutes each to get my hair and makeup done. If I can jump into my clothes quickly, I’m out of there in less than 20 minutes. I usually have a busy day ahead and can still stop at Starbucks on the way in!
Diet
Working out consistently is part of getting it together, but eating healthy is crucial if you want to see results. My eating habits have varied over the years, and now I strive for clean eating whenever I can control it—because there are certainly times when I want (and deserve) to treat myself!
I have a few tips that should help get you on your way:
• Don’t let friends throw you off. Just like you shouldn’t be scared to tell your friends about your fitness goals, you shouldn’t be scared to tell them that you’re interested in eating lighter and healthier too. They are your friends, so they will respect you.
• Remind yourself of your reason. What’s your reason for working out? Remember, you should be able to say it loud and be proud.
• Grocery shopping. It all starts at the store with healthy purchasing habits. Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to spend all your money to eat healthy. Focus on proteins for lunches and dinners and food prep. What can you cook and prep on a Sunday night so you can eat it for the rest of the week? Go crazy in the fresh produce section.
My Favorite Healthy Snacks
At Intern Queen, we made a YouTube video covering our team’s favorite snacks at work. Of course, I wanted to highlight healthy snacks and had to remove the Flamin’ Hot Cheetos from the list! Here’s our list of favorite healthy snacks:
• Veggie sticks
• Carrots and hummus
• Rice cakes and peanut butter
• Roasted seaweed
• Granola bars (pick your favorite kinds)
• Fig bars!
• Sliced apples
• Trail mix (watch out for the ones with chocolate chips!)
• Nuts
• Precut fruit
• Berries
• Protein bars
• Purse snacks
• Drink enough water. Right before I started writing this book, one of my closest friends gave me a hard-core lecture (in public) about how I need to drink more water. And she was right, because the benefits of drinking water include clearer skin, boosts in productivity, decreased fatigue, and much more. Find a cup or bottle that you can use for water every day, and start taking it with you everywhere.
• Don’t go overboard. You aren’t going to be able to eat healthy every single meal of your life, and if you take it to an extreme level, you may be setting yourself up for disappointment. Give yourself a break every so often.
• Consider the substitutes. In today’s world, there is a substitute for almost everything. Instead of eggs, get egg whites. Instead of coffee creamer, get almond milk. Instead of pizza crust, there’s cauliflower crust. The list goes on. I’m not standing by any of these substitutes, but understand your options and experiment.
• Plan ahead. I know we talk about planning ahead and preparation so much in this book, but it’s imperative when it comes to getting it together. If you know that pizza night is coming up, prep for it by eating healthy in the days leading up to it.
• Meal prep. I haven’t always been a fan of meal prepping. I didn’t understand why I should go through the trouble of prepping so much food. Our interns inspired me to give it a try. They explained that having meals ready to go saved them money and time, was a guarantee the meal was healthy, and makes the process of dealing with dietary restrictions easier. With so many positives, it was hard to ignore. This is now part of my routine!
• • •
Self-evaluation is crucial when it comes to working out and trying to eat healthy. If something isn’t working, change it up. Keep asking yourself questions, and keep a tight watch.
SLEEP IS PART OF IT
I’m not a sleep expert and I don’t always sleep as much as I should, but I have realized (quite recently) that to get it together, I needed to get more sleep. I was both shocked and frightened when I read in her book Thrive that Ariana Huffington (whom I so admire) collapsed in 2007 due to lack of sleep. Honestly, I didn’t know that was possible! Ariana explains, “Often the first things we give up are those that nourish us the most but seem optional.” Ariana’s words are true to many, including myself. We tend to convince ourselves that getting enough sleep is optional, but this is a huge oversight that we need to address!
I mean, here we are, complaining about how we can’t seem to get it together, yet we all have a solution right in front of us: sleep!
The benefits of getting enough sleep are astounding. By getting the necessary seven to eight hours of sleep you need, you will see positive shifts in mood, improved relationships, higher quality work, lower levels of stress, weight maintenance and loss,2 as well as an increase in memory, performance, creativity, and much more.3 With a list of benefits this long, how can we afford not to prioritize sleep? I know it inspired me to make a change.
How I Changed My Sleep Habits
It was a Sunday in March, and I had made plans to wake up early on Monday and go to the gym before work. I was excited to wake up and start my day off feeling strong.
Nighttime arrived, and per usual, I stayed up late preparing for the next day in the office. I finally shut my computer and got into bed around midnight and just couldn’t fall asleep. I turned on the TV to watch a show, and by the time the episode was over, it was after 1 a.m. I looked at the clock and did the math. I growled under my breath, “Even if I fall asleep in the next 15 minutes (which doesn’t feel likely), I’d still get less than five hours of sleep.” I laid there, stressing about the next morning, mad at myself for making the goal in the first place. I finally dozed off at some point, but when I woke up the next morning, I had absolutely no desire to follow through with my workout. What was wrong with me?
I was going to bed too late to allow myself the proper time to rest and recharge for the next day. But, that wasn’t my only issue. I also wasn’t wrapping up my night early enough. I knew I needed two things: a longer transition time between working and sleeping and to get into bed earlier. I wanted to figure out exactly how long I needed to make both things happen, so I put my body to the test.
The first night I started my experiment, I stopped working at 9 p.m. I wanted to see how long it would take me to fall asleep. I wasn’t tired at all, so I looked for activities to make me feel relaxed and ready for bed. I took a hot shower, painted on a charcoal face mask, scrolled the shopping sites on my phone, looked up celebrities on Instagram, and watched hours of TV. No matter what I did, I still wasn’t tired. Finally, at 11 p.m., I poured myself half a glass of red wine (“sleepy juice” as I like to call it), and that did the trick.
It took me about three hours to transition from do mode to do nothing mode. Looking back, it was a bit ridiculous to think my body could just seamlessly transition from go mode to sleep mode.
The next night, I tried a new method. I planned to work out in the morning, which required me to be up by 6 a.m. I did some research and found that the National Sleep Foundation says that adults between the ages of 18 and 64 require seven to nine hours of sleep. So I planned accordingly.
In order to get seven to eight hours of sleep, I had to be asleep between 11 p.m. and 12 a.m. I intentionally wrapped up work by 8 p.m. and went upstairs to wind down for the night. My evening wind down routine consisted of the following:
1. Organizing my work clothes and gym bag for the next day
2. Showering with the lights off and a lit candle
3. Putting on a face mask while I cleaned my bedroom and some makeup brushes
4. Blowing out my hair for the next day
5. Watching clips of The View from earlier that day
6. Reading on my iBooks app
7. Watching one episode of a calm 30-minute show on Netflix (No Homeland before bed for me. It gets me too hyped up.)
I really enjoyed my evening routine as it felt like me time. Sure enough, it worked too. I fell asleep just after 11 p.m., woke up feeling refreshed at 6 a.m., and had a successful workout.
This new routine is now an important part of each day. Because I put getting a good night of sleep before everything else, I wake up feeling so much better than I did before. Instead of feeling groggy and that I need coffee to make it through the day, I feel energized and excited to get my day started.
• • •
When I interviewed Brooke Miccio for this book, one of the first things she said was, “Sleep is my priority. I am always aware of the time I’m going to bed. Last night, I was up late working on a project until about 2 a.m. Because of that, I let myself sleep in this morning. I’m always trying to make sure I get enough sleep.” Brooke also stresses the importance of a “wind down” plan before she goes to bed. I asked her what her routine looked like and she said, “I shower at night and have a skin care routine with lotions and face masks.” She said she loves to self-pamper and journal in bed.
Brooke also stresses the importance of turning off all devices an hour before bed, and the National Sleep Foundation has done research to prove this makes a significant difference in your sleep patterns. She also suggests putting your phone on night shift mode, which eliminates harmful blue light in our phones. In addition to negatively impacting your sleep patterns, studies show that this blue light may contribute to cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and obesity too.
Moving forward, disconnecting from technology (yes, even television) is a goal I continue to work toward as I get it together.
RELAXING
An essential part of personal wellness is self-care. You must make time for yourself and prioritize relaxation.
Oftentimes, we are so busy trying to be and look our best that we forget we all need time to relax. Relaxation, done properly, is a crucial part of all our lives.
Make Time for You
Looking at your daily schedule, do you see free time in your day? I want you to find three 20- to 60-minute timeslots each week and mark them as relax zones for yourself.
When I look at my weekly calendar, it can be hectic and filled with almost zero downtime. Since writing this book, I’ve changed, that and I now make it a priority to find time in each day for me.
Look, I know it’s hard to find time for yourself, it really is. But we must shut up and figure it out. This may be blunt, but it’s the truth. Once you find the time slots that you can own, you must determine how you want to spend this time. Here are 40 activities that help me feel more relaxed and give me more time in my day. I challenge you to start your own list of activities that you can turn to when you need to relax and take a well-deserved break. Start your own list in your new notebook and turn to it whenever you need some time for you!
My 40 Favorite Ways to Relax
1. Make two plans per weekend. Don’t overplan or let the “fear of missing out” (or FOMO) take over. Only commit to two things each weekend.
2. Stop feeling weird about spending time alone. One of my friends thinks that people who eat, travel, or go to movies or concerts alone are weird. I couldn’t disagree more. We all need time alone—and you are great company!
3. Become a tea person. Making myself some hot tea in my huge mugs that say “Think” and “Pause” helps me relax and bring my day to an end.
4. Embrace boredom. A researcher from the University of Louisville explains that “boredom gives us the push to switch goals and projects.” Being bored pushes us, so instead of fearing boredom, embrace it, I know I do.
5. Track your happy. As I suggested in Chapter 3, write down activities that make you happy so that when you are feeling bummed, you can replicate those ideas. In fact, once you try out some of the suggestions on this list, add them to your own happiness page.
6. Go on walks. Walking around the block with my husband without my phone is one of our favorite things to do each day. We unwind, chat about work, and enjoy some quality time together.
7. Travel. Making time for personal travel (even if it’s so close you can drive) is a great way to experience and discover new things.
8. Put on headphones. I talked about my new headphones a few times, and no matter what, putting on my Beats helps me go into my own bubble.
9. Morning workouts. Working out first thing in the morning makes me feel like I started my day off on the right foot and allows me to go home right after work and relax.
10. Castle day. At least one or two times a month, I have what I call a castle day where I do nothing but hang out at home (aka my castle) and relax. You can clean up, accomplish tasks, catch up on sleep, or watch some of your favorite TV shows.
11. Give yourself time to reflect. Do you ever feel like you go through life with all of these cool plans, opportunities, and memories, but you are so busy rushing through them that you never have a chance to actually sit down and reflect? I used to feel that way frequently, but relaxing gives me the opportunity to reflect and stops my brain from saying “on to the next one.”
12. Mindless tasks. Mindless tasks like laundry, cooking, or washing dishes help me unwind. There’s something nice about attacking a project that you know you can complete easily.
13. Journal. “Free write” sessions allow you to work through what’s working and what isn’t, as well as identify successes, failures, and challenges you’re facing.
14. Say no. If you don’t want to do something, just say no. Practice setting healthy personal and professional boundaries so you can make time for and enjoy time alone.
15. Treat yourself. You deserve the little things that make you happy. Whether it’s a walk during lunch, flowers at your desk, or piece of chocolate, treat yourself because you deserve it!
16. Watch YouTube videos. Videos clips from shows like Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Ellen, and more always make me laugh—and who doesn’t want to laugh more!
17. Read. Reading can be relaxing, fun, and informative. Whether you’re reading a book, eBook, or magazine, this is a great way to spend time with you.
18. Download a podcast. Podcasts are great because you can listen to them anywhere. Whether you’re on a plane or train or at home washing dishes, you can learn something new or listen to a fun discussion.
19. Watch TV. Whether it’s a new, old, or reality TV show, I love binge-watching shows because it makes me feel relaxed and helps me escape the real world for a bit. The West Wing, The Killing, The Good Wife, and Shameless are some favorites to check out.
20. Try something new! Whether it’s a new recipe, skill, or hobby, switch things up! YouTuber Michelle Phan told me she took an online calligraphy course because she wanted to try something different at night!
21. Take a walk or go on a hike! Going for a walk or hiking alone or with a friend can be fun. You’ll get some exercise and be outside!
22. Have a spa day. These aren’t a personal favorite for me, but so many others swear by them. Give it a try—plus, this is another treat yourself moment!
23. Turn over your tech. I talked about this during the social media and disconnection chapter (Chapter 7), but take an hour or two for yourself. If you can, take the day. Why do you need your phone, anyway?
24. Apply a face mask. There’s something about sitting with a face mask on that makes me feel like I’m literally peeling off the day and the stresses that came with it. Right now, my favorites are by SheaMoisture and Origins.
25. Turn your shower into a spa. Have you ever been in the shower at a fancy spa? It’s life-changing! Try to replicate this and make your shower a Zen zone!
26. Create a nighttime routine. Create your own routine that makes you feel relaxed. I look forward to coming home and following through with my routine.
27. Plan a full day of fun. Take your Saturday or Sunday back and plan something that has nothing to do with getting it together. Make it a day full of nothing but fun.
28. Explore new music. When the right song comes on and captures your mood, it can really transport you. Services like Apple Music, Spotify, and Pandora will introduce you to new music and artists.
29. Shopping. Shopping and looking at different outfits drives my creativity. I love walking around the mall slowly with no place to be. Resisting sales might be hard, but this can be relaxing.
30. Beach or pool. Sitting on a lounge chair by the beach or pool feels like the ultimate form of relaxation for me. Just make sure you put on your sunscreen in case you fall asleep.
31. Wear comfy clothes. Everything is better in funny sweatpants and an old sweatshirt. If I’m lucky my hair is on top of my head and tied up with a big scrunchie. Now that is relaxation.
32. Have a dance or singing party. Sometimes relaxing can mean going out with friends to dance, laugh, sing, and have fun.
33. Couching. Looking back at the past year, some of my favorite times were sitting on the couch with my family members and my husband in sweats, talking, laughing, and being silly for hours.
34. Bring on the nap. There’s nothing like taking a long nap in the middle of the day. Listen to when your body needs one, and it will be just the medicine you needed.
35. Do some heavy sweating. This isn’t my cup of tea, but a new trend is sweat lodges (sort of like saunas) where you go and sweat for a short time period to release toxins and water weight.
36. Enjoy the bubbles. Take a bubble bath or drink some champagne. Either will work for some great relaxation.
37. Meditate. Studies show that meditation not only lowers stress levels but also decreases depression, anxiety, pain, and insomnia. These same studies show that it can also increase your quality of life.4 And so many successful people start their day with meditation including Ariana Huffington, Oprah, Jeff Winer (CEO of LinkedIn), Jerry Seinfeld, and Evan Williams (Twitter founder). They can’t all be wrong!
38. Attend a concert. Opportunities to feel like a kid again can be fun and relaxing. Whatever you do, sing your heart out!
39. Go outside. Remember how you grew up outside? Get back out there. Throw the football around, go for a run, go do something outdoors. Get some fresh air!
40. Play board games or cards. If you want to play alone, solitaire or a crossword puzzle will do the trick. If you’re with a group, bring out something you can all play together.
• • •
I love this chapter because it’s not about work, social media, or other people. It’s aboutyou.
We spend so much of our daily lives focusing on other people, things, and commitments, but what about focusing on ourselves? I know this chapter includes a lot of information, but please take the time to consider it, absorb it, and maybe even try to live it a little. You can thank yourself later!