mental health — Blog — Yoga with Athanae

Can the charcoal water: why self-care should be simple

Your self-care regime doesn’t need to be perfect, expensive, elaborate, fancy, or Instagrammable. Nobody needs to know about it at all, actually. The simpler it is, the more likely you are to be able to stick to it. And having the mental resilience to be consistent is the key to change in the long term.

Getting out of bed in the morning after a decent amount of sleep, focusing on your breath for a few minutes instead of looking at your phone, drinking lots of water, putting on some non-pajama-related garb, getting some exposure to natural light if possible, connecting with people, moving your body, eating more of the good stuff (vegetables and fruit), drinking less coffee and more alcohol: these are the basic tenets of showing your body and brain you care for them.

Athanae LucevSeptember 9, 2020health, mental healthComment

Shine a light

When I was younger, I was plagued by a chronic belief that I wasn’t good enough. At anything.

Ever. I sort of hangover from perfectionism, I didn’t want to engage with anything unless I thought I’d be really good at it, and when I did (for example, at work), I still thought I was rubbish.

Crazy, right? There were days I thought my head would explode from the anxiety, the nerves, on constantly being on edge, and my coping mechanisms were food, alcohol and exercising too much, even when what I really needed was rest. It was avoidance 101. I was petrified of slowing down, of what I’d find in a quiet space, should I let it enter.

Athanae LucevJuly 20, 2020yoga, health, mental healthComment