Hello Friends!
Welcome to Claireabeth’s Corner!
June has finally come and summer vacation is officially underway! As we all know, summer time is when we probably have the most holidays celebrating our country, and the most days out of the entire year to rest and recharge, especially if you are a student in school! As Memorial Day Weekend approached, I decided to experiment with different ways that I could experiment with taking on one of my biggest struggles, relaxing.
I know this sounds really weird, but sometimes, it’s really hard to know what rests you and how to go about destressing yourself. I know that I’ve personally struggled to reduce stress. I’m almost perpetually stressed, and when I’m thinking about how stressed I am and how much I need to destress, I end up stressing myself out more. It’s a vicious and complicated cycle. ANYWAYS!
Once I discovered this poisonous cycle, I decided to sit down and start making a list of things that destressed me, but there was a catch. Whatever I put on the list had to be engaging and relaxing enough to take my mind off of whatever is causing me anxiety. So, I spent Memorial day weekend experimenting with finding some engaging, different ways to destress!
Today, I’ll be sharing my journey over those three days of experimenting and then my final list of things that destress me, and hopefully, you all will find this helpful for the next time you are looking for ways to wind down and reset for a long upcoming week.
Saturday was definitely one of the most destressful days over Memorial Day weekend. I started out my day by hanging up my clothes and trying to get ready to go to the pool! Although the process of hanging up clothes and cleaning up messes is stressful, I feel WAY less stressed when it’s all finished. Following the satisfying clean-up, I proceeded to head over to the pool to tan.
Sitting by the pool in a swimsuit and soaking up the sun is an extremely relaxing activity for me, except when I’m not well prepared. Unfortunately I was not well prepared on Saturday and I spent a good hour and a half tanning and trying to make the most of not having a towel with me, and sweating all over the pool chair.
Despite not being prepared, I enjoyed using some new body-care product that I had ordered from Mary Kay. The product I used was a tanning lotion that came out this summer! The Subtle Tanning Lotion retails for $18 and is supposed to be used daily in the mornings. It does not contain SPF, but since I rarely wear SPF, that doesn’t bother me.(Please let me know if you are interested in this product! I would love to get some for you!)
On Saturday night, I also went walking with my sister to see the sunset. Many people out here in the plains will say that our sunsets are closely ranked with those in Hawaii, which makes a lot of sense to me. One state is looking over an ocean of water, the other over an ocean of amber grains and a vast variety of grasses.
During all my time outside, I realized why I love heat so much! Heat and strong rays of relentless sunshine are very relaxing to my body, physically. The more I am in the heat, usually the less stressed I am.
After a full day of sunshine and heat, I decided to whip out my laptop and start working on this week’s blog post right away. I found it very surprising how much working on the blog post destressed me! Typically, when I know something has a due date, I stress out everytime I start to work on it, however, this blog is nothing like that, which is very exciting! I’ve finally found a social outlet that doesn’t stress me out and gives me room to express my ideas! (Blog party! Comment cakes to celebrate!)
Speaking of social - this leads directly into the events of Sunday - I went to church in the morning and had the opportunity to visit with a close friend of mine. For several years now, church has been an environment of immense relaxation for me. Part of the reason that it is my social place, and has been for many years. After service on Sunday morning, I went to lunch with my friend of and an acquaintance of ours. The social time wasn’t terribly relaxing because I was focused on trying to get to know someone new, but it did help me realize that I need to be hanging out with friends, with whom I am comfortable, on a regular basis in order to keep myself from having a stress overload. Unfortunately, the last half of Sunday did not bring me the relaxation that I hoped.
I ended up babysitting a couple of little boys at the end of the day that belong to a friend of ours in the area. As much as I love children, childcare is not at all how I destress.
Needless to say, Sunday was not a restful day at all for me. As a result, I was determined to make Monday (memorial Day) as absolutely restful as possible.
Interestingly enough, relaxing doesn’t come naturally to me, and if I spend time thinking about needing to relax or checking up on myself to make sure I’m relaxing, I end up stressing myself out! (I know. Weird, right?) So, over the course of the day I made several conscious decisions to ensure I had the most relaxing day possible and enjoy the freedom that was won for my by the countless lives who died so that I could live free.
I woke up late and spent most of the day trying to decide what to do and making careful decisions. I found the process of deciding what to do very stressful, which is one of the reasons that I am someone who very much prefers routine. (A relaxing routine would've been very helpful, because then I would've known exactly what I could've done to relax and should've avoided to continue destressing.) However, I also hate the process of initially implementing a routine. No one on this earth will ever tell you that they love every second of learning self discipline. Self discipline is hard, and that’s okay.
I ended up spending a lot of the day making lists in a journal that I have, in which I keep several lists of a wide variety of topics. After making a few lists, I gathered my stuff and made my way over to the pool for another afternoon of tanning. Before I left to tan, I made sure I had all my necessities, so that my experience this time around would be far superior to my previous experience on Saturday.
I also tried reading a book while I was out in the sun. Normally, I never read books while I’m at the pool, but Memorial Day Weekend was a weekend of experiments and discovery. I couldn’t let the opportunity go to waste! Reading a book in the sun is surprisingly relaxing! After trying it, I decided that I needed to make it a habit for the summer!
Following my sun-filled afternoon, I took time to have an extra “Self-Pamper-Night.” I tried using a brand new facemask during this time and was sorely disappointed. However, I did not let the disappointment ruin my spa night, and proceeded with my Mary Kay Skincare routine.
Following my skincare routine, I asked several friends over Snapchat and Instagram to pick a few colors of string, which I then proceeded to create my fifth hair wrap with! DIYing just about anything is a huge hobby of mine, and I've done hair wraps for years! It has been exciting to restart an old art that I hadn't practiced for several years, this spring.
Overall, I definitely got the relaxation that I needed over Memorial Day Weekend. To wrap up my adventure, I’m going to condense my latest and greatest relaxation tips into a short list for you all!
- Go sit in the sun and enjoy some vitamin D
- Always make sure you have everything you need to be decently comfortable. (Outdoor or event necessities)
- Choose to do things that relax you, but then don’t worry about whether or not you are relaxing. Your worry will defeat the purpose of your activity.
- Don’t do work when you’re trying to relax.
- Do something lightly physical like going for a walk. Get your endorphins moving!
- Eat chocolate.
- Be in an environment which has a temperature that relaxes your body.
- Be with people who relax you and let you be yourself.
- Write in a journal, on a blog, or even on a stickey note!
- Spoil yourself with a few facemasks every now and then, and keep your skin clear with a good routine
- Do your hair! Add something or take something away from your current look to switch things up!
Weekly Wisdom: Make a batch of cookies and then make someone’s day with a special treat!
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