Bringing Back Self-Care

Today's post is brought to the thoughts weighing heavily on my mind this week. I talked a little bit before about how 2017 is my hear of taking better care of myself. 

If I'm being honest with y'all last week had me feeling empty and unfulfilled. I kept telling my friends that I felt unfulfilled but I couldn't really grasp why. I was feeling uninspired with work and my social life and some of my food issues seemed to rear their ugly heads. 

I haven't mentioned this yet, but I experimented with Whole 30. I will dedicate a whole post to my thoughts on Whole 30, if y'all have any interest. But my point in bringing it up today is that I think it actually set me back in a lot of ways. It requires you to be super restrictive with your food choices. It also makes it impossible to eat out and/or drink. I felt like I couldn't join in with my friends on any social occasions. Charlotte is full of incredibly diverse and delicious restaurants, which I often frequent with my friends...but Whole 30 took that away from me. I was eating really clean, I was sleeping more than ever, and never eating out but I felt unhealthy socially. I am the poster child for an extrovert. I thrive off of meals with my friends full of laughing and trying new dishes. So I was unfulfilled in that regard. I hated turning down going to a bar with my friends to celebrate birthdays, football games, and long work days, solely because I didn't want to be around the temptation. Whole 30 just wasn't for me.

That was quite the tangent, but a necessary footnote to bringing back self-care. After my tough week, I knew I needed to craft a weekend to bring me back to life. The pieces fell into place. My Mom texted me during the week saying they had free tickets to the Biltmore. After a lot of back and forth we decided to go on Sunday and 2 of my friends could join us. Also,  my friends and I decided to try this new delicious brunch spot, Little Spoon, Saturday morning. I planned to preface our brunch with an Orange Theory class. Saturday afternoon, my roomie and I planned on seeing Fifty Shades Darker.   I was so excited to have a full weekend that still had some time for restful nights.

Saturday started with a 9:15 am Orange Theory class. Followed by a delicious brunch...the pictures don't even do the meal justice! Their menu is sectioned off to have "snacks" i.e. small bites of deliciousness followed by the appetizers. I have been dreaming about my coconut milk latte everyday since.

I was feeling so FULLfilled. Get it? Okay, that's annoying. But in all seriousness, I was incredibly full and it was a beautiful day. My roomie and I decided to take Gigi on a midday walk, one of my favorite types of self-care. I love getting outside while the sun is shining and I love spending time with my pup.

We then saw Fifty Shades Darker, which was a fantastic excuse to drink an electric blue slushie. Oops!

The next morning we were. up and 'em early to head to Asheville for the day.

My roomie came!

We did the auto tour...such nerds! haha

My girl, Maria, came too!

The wallpaper in this one was so beautiful.

I loved their "gym."

The house was so ornate in the best possible way. Every detail was incredibly intricate and unique from room to room. It is fascinating to think of all the blood, sweat, and tears went into building such a magnificent house. 

It was a relatively busy weekend but it was so rewarding. I felt myself come back to life. I am vowing to be intentional with my self-care. I carry around a small notebook that I picked up while in Belgium.

Pssst...if you ever want to hear about my Belgium trip click here and here.

I jot down what's on my mind, blog ideas, lists, etc. when they come to mind so I don't forget them. I'm hoping to jot down ideas for intentional self-care...some examples...

-Talking to my Grandma
-Buying a thoughtful gift for someone
-Reading a book
-Walking Gigi on a pretty day
-Reading my favorite blogs

How do you guys involve self-care into your everyday life? Thanks for listening to me babble.

xo