Needing to break free from the same routine happens to all of us.
As I wrote about on Monday, it’s important to keep your mind fresh and open to new ways of thinking.
Here are my favorite ways to break free of a slump when I find myself in a rut:
- Challenge my thinking… returning to a natural state of wonder (here is a video I made for more info on that…)
2. De-clutter… when I start taking on too much in my life, my office and living spaces reflect that.
Often spending a day or a weekend de-cluttering and donating what I don’t need allows me to take a step back and see what I need to release in my own life to allow some breathing room in.
3. Donate what you de-clutter — go through your closets, your wardrobe, your linens and your bookshelves. Donating is so freeing!
4. A stay-cation! I can’t tell you how many times my family has been in a funk (or we start getting down about something we are wanting to manifest and it JUST… ISN’T… HAPPENING!) and we take a day to do a stay-cation… going on a long walk in a state park… hitting the beach for the day… a picnic on the opposite side of town… wandering through a bookstore for a few hours… even sometimes staying over night in a local hotel.
As we are driving home all of a sudden I notice instead of a depressed mood we are all chatting, have the windows rolled down and bare feet hanging out, fun tunes on the radio… getting away from the daily grind can change everything, and it doesn’t have to cost anything at all.
5. Nature… nothing on this list so far quite has the power to free up my thinking and remind me that everything is as it should be as nature does. If you are a regular reader of my blog, you know there is a scientific explanation for why touching the earth can change your mood and your health. Sometimes just 10 minutes outside napping under a tree is all you need to get unstuck.
6. Solitude… this can go either way with me, so I pick and choose when I need it.
Sometimes reaching out to loved ones can really help us change our mindset and remember there is more to life then what is happening in our little slice of the world.
But many times, the quickest way for me to release my own mental BS is to go inward and give myself a little TLC. Most of us tend to shortchange our own care. Often nothing releases me from my old thought patterns more wonderfully then spending an hour scrubbing off the dead skin cells all over my body in a nice hot bath.
For great ideas to turn your own home into a spa, check out my super invigorating, TLC packed Skin Happiness instant download!
7. Inspiration… sometimes just spending a few minutes looking through inspirational books (one of my fav is MaryJanes’s Ideabook!) or Pinterest (let’s connect on Pinterest!) is all I need to jump out of a slump and into a new project I never would have thought of otherwise!
8. Detox… feeling stuck can happen from the inside out. One of my tried and true ways to feel like a new woman is to do a simple detox.
After years of trying different supplements and recipes and fasts and programs, here’s what works for me.
9. People watching… this one is fun to do with the kids.
Anything from sitting on a bench and watching the people pass by at the mall to spreading a blanket at your local park and keeping your eyes open.
Make up stories about why people are there and where they are going and what their names are and what accent they might have and who they are meeting up with later and what their occupation is and how old they are.
Sometimes at the movies I’ve had more fun sitting and eating popcorn with my kids and watching the people enter and fill up the theater then I did once the movie actually started! Go a half an hour early to the show, buy some popcorn, and remind yourself that it is a big world out there and you are not alone!
10. Animals… if you want unconditional love, you don’t have to look any further than your own pet.
Spend an hour loving on your pet — give them a bath or take them on a walk or bake them a special biscuit or just take a nap with them.
If you have no pet (consider getting one!) then head to your closest petting zoo. If you live near us in Charleston, SC, our favs are Bee City and at Magnolia Plantation… an hour at the petting zoo and we all come home feeling centered and laughing about which animal we wanted to smuggle home with us.
None of these ideas cost very much and all are great to just get unstuck from your rut and appreciating life again. Pick one to do this weekend and start off next week on a new foot!
xoxo, Laura
PS — three bonus things you can do right now this very minute for a little pick-me-up:
- take two nice, long deep belly breaths in and out through your nose. Feed your body oxygen!
- drink a full glass of water and grab a snack with protein in it. Dehydration is a huge culprit for feeling tired.
- hang upside down at your waist (touching your toes if you can) or in downward facing dog (yoga pose) for a minute. Get that blood moving up to your brain!