Stress much?

Hey friends! How did your whole foods go? I did pretty darn well... I did manage to eat Kashi on a couple of occasions and I slipped and had ice cream once, but with all said and done I think I did pretty darn well. I definitely had more energy this week and lost a couple of the pounds I gained last week :s

So, I don't know about the rest of you, but stress has seemed to creep up in a bad way these last few weeks... and my body holds on to EVERYTHING when I'm stressed. I realized today that last week I took absolutely NO time out for myself. Every free moment I had was spent practicing for upcoming recitals, preparing taxes, or "supervising" home projects. Well guess what?! My body is starting to shut down... I can feel it. My back is starting to cramp up (my first tell-tale sign that I'm way too stressed), my body is holding on to some serious water weight, I'm not sleeping well, and I'm constantly "hungry".

Therefore, this week's challenge is dedicated to stress management: an extremely important aspect of health. This week we are taking some time out for ourselves! My challenge to you is to find something that you love to do, or something that really helps you unwind and give yourself 30-60 minutes a day to do it. It can be the same activity everyday or you can switch it up. This may be going for a stroll, watching tv, playing a game, chatting with a friend, crocheting, meditating, stretching, baking, yoga, dancing, singing... and the list goes on and on. I would doubly challenge you to find something that will contribute even more to your health and that will get your body rejuvenated, but if you really feel like tv is your best de-stressor then go for it.

What's amazing to me is the fact that I work and work and work to make things "perfect", but then come to the realization that too much work actually hinders my progress. There needs to be a balance in all things! If you don't take time out for yourself, you will have nothing left to give to others.