Our Bodies are Our Gardens
“Our Bodies are Our Gardens”
This fall, we need to focus on loving ourselves and others. This starts by taking care of our body and mind. By investing in your mental and physical health, you become a stronger, kinder, and better person. 2022 was the year of fresh starts, so as we move into the summer months, choose to embrace the happiness and warmth of the season in order to better yourself. It may be hard to “do better”, but every step is important. You DO NOT need to be a part of any extreme diets, focus on supermodel bodies, exercise constantly, or distract yourself from the responsibilities of your life. What you do need to do is LOVE YOURSELF. By loving yourself, you can start your journey of becoming who you want to be. There are so many things you can do to help maintain wellness and love yourself…
1. Get Fit
By exercising for 30 minutes per day, which is only a small fraction of 24 hours, you can help improve your fitness by so much! You can easily workout indoors whether it is in a home gym or just a bedroom, but you can also use this opportunity to get some fresh air and workout, lift, bike, do yoga, or run outside! There are plenty of types of workouts for different kinds of people as long as you do the correct research online. Before you work out, make sure to do this research to help ensure your body is being helped, not hurt. It is also important to find a pair of workout sneakers that suits you. Depending on how far you run or how much you lift, different levels of support and elasticity are needed. In my experience, this can completely change how you feel while running.
2. Eat Right
The “Green Drink” is a craze that has taken over around the US since the days of Covid. It is seen as a great nutritional drink with a lot of health benefits. Drinking one is a great way to start your day. However, this low-calorie option with tons of nutrients will not make or break your diet. In order to become your healthiest self, eating less is not the right course of action! Eating right is. This includes a balanced diet filled with all of the food groups. It is important to get your iron into your diet by eating meat, but fruits and veggies provide essential antioxidants and vitamins. Some of my favorite healthy options are lemon water, avocado toast, Mediterranean salads, acai bowls, and lemon chicken. However, this does not mean you should cut guilty pleasures out of your diet either. Although eating fewer foods with grease, cream, or chemicals is key, occasionally eating french fries or ice cream is great as a treat and won’t kill you! Be conscious of what you are eating, but not obsessive!!
3. Unplug & Relax
We all love our phones, computers, smartwatches, televisions, and Ipads. They are an essential part of daily life. However, sometimes unplugging is necessary to get away from the digital world living on those devices. Social media can be fun, exciting, and interactive, but it can also be toxic, painting an unrealistic, fictional picture of perfect people with perfect bodies, perfect houses, and perfect lives. This fall, try to cut down on your participation in this toxic society by minimizing screen time to only 1-2 hours per day (aside from work purposes). By doing this, one can truly relax and focus on their inner self. To further promote this relaxation, you can meditate, get massages, and most importantly, sleep more. On average, Americans do not sleep nearly enough, so this summer, teenagers should try to get the required amount of sleep (8-9 hours). During the year, personally, I get around 6 hours of sleep and this is not okay! Use summer as an opportunity to get the rest you need for your body to thrive. This energy is incredibly important to carry out your daily life.
4. Focus on the Little Things
Focus your love and attention on the little things in life.
Reading: Pick up a great book this month, or a few. Lately I have read November 9, It Ends With Us, The Summer I Turned Pretty series, and Where the Crawdads Sing. (All great books! I highly recommend them!) Reading has been such a great outlet for me to relax and unplug so far this summer. Whether it is laying by the pool reading a romance novel or sitting on my couch on a rainy day reading a mystery, reading is a lovely activity.
Writing: Keeping a journal, notebook, or diary is a great activity to focus on your inner self and emotions. Although journal, notebook, and diary seem like synonyms to some, they are different and all so important. A journal is a source of inspiration where you can keep all of the little things you love in writing form. Listing your favorite books or your ideas for the next blockbuster film may be great to jot down here. A diary is a recount of your daily activities, essentially spilling your life secrets and activities to your diary. A notebook is more general, maybe used for school work, a to-do list, or your job’s notes.
Crafts: I love crafts, especially during the weekends. Between knitting, scrapbooking, and drawing, they are all fun and relaxing activities to do in the heat of the summer on a calm day or during a snow day to keep you occupied.
Gardening: I have had a garden beside my house since I was 7 and every summer, my family plants in it. I have 2 peach trees, cucumbers growing up a trellis, and a variety of fruits and vegetables like tomatoes and lettuce planted.
5. Love Yourself and Others
This month, choose to love yourself and others. Rekindle old friendships. Care for your body. Practice self-love. Let go of the toxicity in broken bonds. Be optimistic about your future. Let yourself truly feel and love. And truly, emit only positive energy.
You are amazing! You are beautiful! You are strong! You are kind!
And most importantly, you are still growing. You are not perfect. You are a work in progress and that is alright. Let this summer be the change you need to become a better person, both mind and body.
