Easy Daily Habits for Your Health
At the end of last year, I was in a very very low place. Mentally , physically, emotionally, spiritually… you name it. I was an anxious wrecking ball of emotions, had zero energy, packed on nearly 30 pounds and felt terrible. And as someone who ALWAYS loves a good goal and gameplan, for the first time in as long as I can remember I had no goals , and zero motivation to do just about anything. And things were only getting worse as the year went on, not better.
I knew that something had to change. But how on earth do you do create a shake up like that when your energy is virtually zero?
At the beginning of this year, I knew I didn’t have it in me to make big goals and plans like I normally would, so instead, I decided to make a small list of teeny tiny “baby steps” that I knew would be good for me, and that would take virtually zero energy to commit to. I talking , the babiest of baby steps.
And these baby step habits wound up making the world of difference, not because doing them gave me big huge direct results, but because the act of doing them gave me the accountability and knowledge that I was doing something good for myself each day and over time they compounded AND I was finally learning to keep promises to myself again. And slowly but surely all of that began to pull me up out of the deep funk that I was in.
These five habits are so stinking simple to incorporate into your daily routine, trust me, even in the lowest energy state you could be in, you can maintain these habits and know that even on the hardest or busiest days, you’ve still done something good for yourself.
Realistic Phone Boundary : No Social Media Before 8a.m.
I feel like we literally all have a love hate relationships with our phones, we absolutely hate how much we love and are addicted to them.
I don’t know about you, but the number of times that I’ve said “ I have got to quit scrolling on my phone” is absurd. And the amount of time I spend scrolling on my phone is even more outrageous.
And I know I’m not the only one , because did you know that 71% of people check their phone as the very first thing they do in the morning? Before they stretch, before they say good morning to their spouse or kids, before they even put their feet on the ground to get out of bed, they blind themself and sink into their phones. ( Guilty!!) I mean what an absolutely depressing and unhealthy way to start the day. But yet here 71% of us are doing it.
I’ve tried mannnnyyy mannnyyy times to quit checking my phone in the morning. I got a separate alarm clock, I made rules for myself where I can’t use my phone till after 8 or 9 a.m. but guess what…. none of those lasted very long because it was just such a far stretch from my current habits. I use my phone to turn off my sunrise alarm clock, I use my phone to check the date to write in my journal, I use my phone to check the weather to get dressed. So even on the days where I was successful in not touching my phone in the morning, it really hindered my productivity and I basically sat around twiddling my thumbs till my little phone time out was up.
After failing again and again I really thought about it and realized that the biggest negative impact on my mood, productivity and my time was specifically social media in the morning. You get sucked in and time passes quick leaving you running behind on getting your day started, and then when you finally break free, you’re over stimulated, just got updates on thousands of people, blasted yourself with world events and politics and sad dog videos and then have to just go about your day like you didn’t just absolutely scroll yourself into a exhausted and depressed mental state.
So I decided instead of a “no phone” rule in the morning, I simply don’t let myself use social media in the morning before 8 a.m. This way I can still turn off my alarm, check the date and the weather and move forward with my morning , but I don’t get sucked into the emotional time suck of social media until I’ve already been up, journaled , gotten dressed, had time to reflect on my own thoughts and started my day on a much more peaceful note.
Of course it’s not ideal, and I still hate the idea of being so dependent on my phone, but it is a very realistic baby step that has been pretty easy to maintain, and drastically improved my mood throughout the day.
Tongue Scraping
I know this is a weird one, but we are going for easy peasy habits for our health and this is such an easy thing to slide right into your morning routine after brushing your teeth.
I wasn’t really sure how I felt about this at first, I kind of thought it was gross but then I heard that throughout the night we actually detox and one of the places we detox to is through our tongue… and THAT is why we have morning breath. Which is pretty gross when you think about it.
Theeennnn I heard that if you drink or eat breakfast before scraping your tongue, that you are literally re-ingesting all the gunk your body just tried to detox ( SUPER GROSS right?!!)
So needless to say I was convinced to try it, it seemed easy enough to stack on right after brushing my teeth and lemme tell you… once you try this one time , you will never ever go back. Your mouth will never feel clean after only brushing your teeth . The difference is HUGE. And you will absolutely get hooked on scraping your tongue daily from the very first time.
So this has been a super easy habit that I never miss and it feels good knowing that even though it’s such an easy thing, that I’m helping remove even just a small amount of additional gunk from my body each day.
Journaling and Devotions
This is probably the most difficult habit to form of the five if you are not currently someone who journals. I have a lot of friends who have expressed how they struggle to maintain a journaling routine. So I know it is not the easiest thing to sit down and do each day even though, to be honest with you , this is not a new habit for me. I’ve been reading a small devotional and journaling consistently just about every single morning for nearly the past 8 years.
But I promise you, if you take the time in the morning to sit down for even 5 minutes and just get your thoughts, worries, anxieties onto paper and actively reflect on things that are going well for you or small things you are grateful for, your mind will feel so much more clear the entire rest of the day. And if you combine this with reading a passage from the Bible or a little devotional, you will be surprised how much better you will feel.
You don’t have to go “ dear diary” style or anything. You can free write, you can use journal prompts ( there are some great ones on Pinterest!) , or you can do what I do and use it as a prayer journal where I basically free write, but instead of writing to a diary, I write to Jesus.
If you want to start but really really don’t know how , here are three quick and easy prompts to get you started. Write one or all in your journal and then finish the sentence.
Today I’m feeling…
Today I’m thankful for…
Today I’m worried about…
This habit is one of the hardest to stay consistent with, but this is truly such a beneficial outlet and way to work through all of your stresses, thoughts and emotions, and provide overall better mental health and clarity.
My Powerhouse 3 in 1 Greens
Not to be dramatic but these greens were the cornerstone of my healthy habit baby steps. I knew that it would require basically zero effort on my part since all I had to do was drink them. But what I didn’t expect was how quickly the boost of vitamins and nutrition helped actually increase my physical energy!
I chose these greens specifically because;
They have a full serving of fruits and veggies including ; spirulina, barley grass, wheatgrass, spinach, kale, mango, banana, broccoli, chlorella , cranberry, tart cherry, and blueberry. Each a powerhouse of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, promoting blood sugar balance, removing inflammation and more.
They have pre-biotics, probiotics, annnndd digestive enzymes which help provide support for your gut , helps aid in digestion and reduce bloating.
They also include biotin, collagen , hyaluronic acid, and vitamin c , a.k.a. the recipe for glowy skin and healthy hair.
While still a little pricey and definitely an investment in your health, they were still less expensive than some of the other more well known brands and eliminated the need to purchase greens, collagen, and pre-biotics all separately. ( Which can get supppperrrr expensive.)
Oh and they taste like lemonade instead of dirt so that’s a biiiiggg bonus too.
I firmly believe that my energy has only increased every single day that I’ve been taking these, so even though at first it was a success to simply stick with this baby habit, now I have more energy, allowing me to do more and be more productive each day.
Realistic Phone Boundary #2 - No Phone After 9
I know we already talked about phones, but the truth is they consume so much of our lives that we really need to address them again. This time at night.
Idk about you but the evenings is when I have majority of my screen time. This is when we are most likely to doom scroll. “Watching” tv or laying in bed till the middle of the night scrolling away wondering why we can’t sleep.
So just like in the morning, I’ve made soooo many “rules” for myself to try to lock away my phone or put it in a different room or this or that. And they all have failed because again, they were too far away from my current phone habits.
This time I decided I needed a realistic night habit I could actually stick to. Most nights Josh and I watch a movie and then head upstairs to bed around 8:30-9:00p.m. to watch more tv upstairs. So I decided instead of trying to put my phone away at a ridiculously early time like I have in the past. I simply tell myself I have till 9:00p.m. and then I am pretty much trying to go to sleep anyway , no one needs me, I’m not missing anything and I can put my phone away and not touch it again till the morning.
And this has been sooo soo good. I can’t even begin to tell you how much more I’ve been enjoying the evenings with Josh, how much easier I’ve been falling asleep and how much less likely I am to be on my phone in general. It’s like once you start breaking the addiction, it gets easier and easier to do without it.
But I never would have been able to keep this up if I didn’t make this a very realistic time and goal for myself. Maybe you aren’t a baby grandma like me. If you go to bed a little later, make your phone bedtime a little later, pick a time that is late enough so you don’t feel so crazy emptyhanded and tempted but that also gives your body enough time without looking at the blue light to start producing melatonin so you can drift to sleep with much more ease.
I’ve noticed I am far less anxious, sleeping so much better, which in return has helped me feel more rested, and have more energy to tackle each day.
I really hope that you never get into the kind of deep funk I was in, but if you do find yourself in that place, or if you’re simply looking for some very easy things to help boost your health both physically and mentally. These five habits are a great place to start because they are easy. They are simple, they are 100% doable.
And the benefits of sticking to each will only compound over time, helping you to slowly but surly feel better and better.
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I’m Brooke!
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