Busy Bee Wellness with Marina

 On its own, being outside is something good you can do for your mind and your body. It is good for boosting mindfulness, better sleep, reducing stress, and more. The list goes on and on. Here are three of the many different things you can do outside that are good for both. Find local trails in your area and hike! You can go with a friend or alone (safely!) depending on how you feel. It's great exercise and trails are often beautiful in the sunlight! It can really help clear your mind. If you feel like turning it up a notch, you could throw on running shoes and go for a trail run! Gardening is also a great option! You can choose to grow pretty plants, herbs, or vegetables! This way, you can get your time outdoors while investing in what you're consuming and putting in your home as well! The last one is grounding. I love to do this early in the morning when the sun is rising. It's the simple act of walking around barefoot in the grass, therefore connecting with the Earth and...

 I know as well as anyone how real the "doom scroll" is. You sit down, open up social media, and suddenly it's many hours later and you haven't moved. I do love social media and am a big advocate for using it for good and for connections. All that jazz is great. However, our minds are not designed to absorb so much screen time. Also, viewing the world through someone else's lens rather than experiencing it is unhealthy. You become prone to comparing yourself to others' unrealistic lives and to dissociating from the life you are or could be living. Recently, I have been intentionally working on reducing my screen time overall and being more intentional about the time I spend on my phone. Here are some of the things I am doing to be successful at this: On iPhones, you can set Screen Time limits in your settings by apps. I spend most of my time on Instagram and Facebook. I set a one-hour limit for both of those limits combined. However, the limit alone was not en...

 A large part of taking care of our mental health comes from relationships and daily human interaction. Whether or not you are a introvert or an extrovert doesn’t matter. People need other people. One thing that I have discovered is that relationships take work and they can be difficult to maintain. In this post, I’m going to share a few best practices to maintain friendships and improve relationships. These can be applied to your platonic and romantic relationships because I believe, if someone is your significant other, they should still be a friend to you first. A few Best Practices for Relationships: When you think about someone or they are brought up fondly in conversation, call or text them to let them know. People love to know that people are thinking of them. For me, I find it very comforting.  Make time for your relationships. my excuse a lot of the time is that I am too busy to hang out with people. If we are diligent about setting aside time and actually making plan...

I love the mornings and firmly believe that they have a big impact on your day. Creating a consistent and positive routine can be difficult, especially when you're busy. If you're interested in doing this, here are a few things you can do to implement one at the beginning of your day.  First, you have to get up. You do not have to wake up at the crack of dawn (even though sunrises are so lovely😉) but give yourself time to have a morning routine. I wouldn't recommend sleeping till 12 either. I generally wake up between 6 & 8, depending on how I'm feeling and what I am doing that day. By rule of thumb, I like to be up at least two hours before I have to leave the house, as long as I am not sacrificing too much sleep. That also means you have to go to bed early enough to accommodate your morning schedule.  Figure out what your non-negotiables are. If I wake up late there are a few things I do not leave out of my routine. Everything else is something I am okay with sta...

 Have you ever experienced the "slump?" I don't know if I've mentioned this yet but I've been trying to get back into running. My boyfriend and I are both training and planning to run a marathon (or half) next April. However, I've just been getting back to it this week after about two weeks off even though I really didn't feel like it. It is hard to get back on the horse, no matter what it is for, running or not. There is no denying it. Here are 3 tips I used to feel motivated again.  Find some people who inspire you and get into their content. Watch videos, listen to podcasts, check out their social media posts, and more. They often have the best tips for reaching your goals if they align with their brand and the journeys that they share can help inspire you to continue.  Another thing you can do is materialize your vision of your goal. I recommend vision boards and journaling your progress. This helps keep yourself accountable and in line with your own g...