How I use wellness practices to support me & my business

I’m pretty passionate about embedding wellness practices that support both you and your business. One of my favourite sayings (that took me a while to actually live by myself) is ‘you can’t pour from an empty cup.’ And guess what, you can’t run a business from an empty cup either. Here are some of the wellness practices I live by that also support my business at the same time

Journalling

I can feel in my body the last time I journaled without even looking at the last entry in there. The longer I go without journalling, the more my body feels tight, my brain feels frazzled and I feel totally out of control and overwhelmed. It’s actually not healthy for our bodies and our minds to hold onto so much without a release. For some people it’s therapy or pouring your heart out to friends and family, maybe it’s a mix of different things. The important part is, you have to get it out. I personally love to journal because it’s so accessible, I can literally take my journal anywhere with me, I don’t feel like a burden to others (probably a whole therapy session in itself) and it’s totally free! Well, unless you want to splurge on a cute journal and a nice pen, but they’re not essentials.

Journalling helps massively to clear my mind, which is so supportive for my business because it means I can show up ready to focus on my work. I’m not battling 100 different thoughts at once because I’ve let them out, I’ve asked myself the questions and I’ve got some honest answers. I also use journaling in my business (and it’s something I often encourage my clients to join in with) to help get to the bottom of blocks and challenges.

Yoga

My business doesn’t necessarily require any physical flexibility (only mental) but yoga supports my business in many ways. By taking care of my body through regular yoga practice, I’m able to sit and focus on my work and not the many new pains that pop up on the daily - the minute I start slacking in the yoga I feel this big time. Yoga also helps to clear and focus my mind so that once again I can focus on supporting my clients without too many blocks and challenges of my own.

Spending time in nature

It took me an embarrassingly long time to realise how much this truly is a wellness practice for me. Before I went full time with this business, I used to work 7:30-4:30 at a desk in my living room (or more often on the sofa), then I’d finish up, make dinner and get my daughter to bed, only to open my laptop and start working on client work before going to bed and repeating it all again the next day. I could go days without actually leaving my house. I used to wonder why do I feel so overwhelmed, why do I feel totally chained to my laptop, why am I so emotional (tears, anger, you name it, I felt all the feelings.) My husband would gently suggest that maybe getting outdoors would make things feel a bit easier, to which he’d probably get snapped at, and then, when he finally convinced me to take the dog for a walk, suddenly I was feeling calm, clear and on top of the world. I repeated this so many times that it was actually a bit mortifying that I didn’t realise the problem. Now I make sure it’s part of my daily routine to get outside and I am to be in a forest at least once a week and both my brain and my business reap the benefits. And also probably my dog, my husband, my daughter and my body come to think of it!

Respecting my energy

I have always pushed and pushed and pushed myself to the point that it’s no surprise I’ve had times where my body has literally said nope. Now I’m much more conscious of respecting my energy levels and listening to my body. Sometimes that’s about taking the afternoon to chill on the sofa when I can tell that’s what my body is craving, sometimes its trusting the hyper focus moment to carry me through but making sure I’m prepared for the crash that will follow. More recently I’ve been learning about how to bring my cycle in and how that impacts my business and learning at what points I need to slow down and where I can speed up.

If you’ve made it to the end, go and take a minute to fill your cup to allow you to continue to pour freely into your business. Whether you need an afternoon watching Gilmore girls on the sofa or a walk in the woods, I urge you to listen to your body and respect your energy. Your business will reap so many benefits if you just remember to take care of yourself.