Everyone loves watching celebrity skincare routines and seeing them pull out all of their fancy tricks, but what if you could get the same experience at home? Well you can, and all it takes is some household items, reading, and some freaking stress!
There are certain things that really wake us up and help get us out of these slumps we can sometimes fall into, a big one that a lot of fitness influencers are promoting, as well as models is ice facials or even baths.
Ice Facials: These are a lot easier to do especially at home if you don't own a bathtub. This is great to include in your morning routine, to wake yourself up and start the day with a challenge. There are also some other great side effects like the ones listed in this Vogue blog.
Healthy Glow
Sculpting Cheekbones
Calm down breakouts
Reduce undereye bags
Ice facials are good to include in your morning routine if you're looking to start one, it's cheap, challenging, and great for your health. When you push yourself to do something like this, it can kickstart your day for greatness. This also creates discipline when you don't want to, but do it anyway. This may also lead to an increase in self-esteem and respect for yourself. You can also go out and do an ice bath, which is a lot more challenging. This requires you to use your whole body, and there is a place here in Las Cruces called Artic Labs that offers sessions for twenty-five dollars to either purchase a ticket to the cold plunge, or the sauna. Both of these are great ways to heal your body, especially if you have built up stress or injuries. Lots of athletes use these to practice rituals to heal their bodies and take time for themselves at the same time.
These all sound like amazing side effects, so it's definitely worth the hype it has been receiving lately. Wasn't that easy? Well, get ready because the next ones are even better.
Face Masks: This is also a great one, because it is very easy to make, and the process and results make it even more worth it. So this one is straight from my household. What you'll need? Just one Banana.
Mash up your banana in a clean bowl
Place on your face
Leave it on for about 25 min
Wash on first with some water
Then put on your moisturizer
This one is so easy, I love to do it. Bananas have amazing properties that make the effect on your face stunning. They are full of magnesium, so it helps give the skin a nice glow right after you wash it off. It also feels very nourishing whenever you rinse it off. This is a great activity to do, if you want to do a quick assignment, catch up on your favorite latest episode, or just sit and drink your coffee. It really brings in the relaxing vibes around you.
Quick side note: The reason I decided to include things that are easy to do at home is because a lot of people deal with stress at work, and school, and home is often your safe place. Where you can go and leave your worries behind, for the most part. Of course, people have stressful home lives, but taking a couple of minutes out of your day to include these activities and care for yourself will pay off in the long run. Take care of your body now, so the stress does not have the greatest impact in the future. It is the small acts of kindness towards ourselves that can help the most because not everyone has someone looking out for them making sure they do get a little time to unwind and relax.
So let us take a look into some other things we can do to tell our bodies thank you for doing what they need to. What better than feeding ourselves the right way, and making sure we reach our nutrition for the day?
Salads: This is such a broad topic, and so many families have their own special takes on how to make certain salads, but let's just make sure we get our greens into that salad with a healthy fat and grain. Salads can be super beneficial because they are essentially just bowls of a bunch of foods all shoved together. But that doesn't mean that they have to be bad.
This is a great website with a ton of ideas for salad recipes if you aren't the best at creating foods that flow well with each other. But since you have a list of 51 salads to pick from there is no way you can possibly say I don't know how. There is such a great advantage we have when it comes to using the internet to do research. We are so lucky with all the information we have at our fingertips. Salads are a great way to incorporate our health and make sure our bodies can function properly. A lot of us think people eating healthy now is a trend when it is just the truth if we do not want to end up with chronic illnesses, cancer, or weak immune systems. Let us use our food as our medicine, and let food be our medicine. This is great outlook to better your relationship with food, making it not seem like a chore but a ritual to keep your body healthy especially in the long run.
This idea is completely free, and it can be for everyone. For the religious people reading, take a little time out of your day to thank God for giving you another day on earth, this is also a great time to reflect on the great parts of your life that you can sometimes forget about living such a busy life like most of working and going to school do. We sometimes forget how lucky we are to have two legs, two arms, two eyes, two ears. A healthy functioning body, and we only remember when we get sick. If you are not religious, you can still give thanks to the world for letting Mother Nature let you stick around. It is very important to remain grateful and not get carried away in wants, and vices that a lot of people do. Remaining grateful lets you stay humble, not too conceited. Which can lead to even more stress when you are constantly thinking about the next thing. Being centered in the moment, staying in your lane. Not letting yourself be pulled into other people's current and then taken off track when you return back to your goals and dreams. Not to mention that this daily acknowledgment is completely free by the way.
Gardening: This activity does take a little bit more time and dedication, but when you see your little sprouts the feeling is going to be so worth it.
Get some seeds, either from the store or even from some fruits/vegetables you've eaten.
Get some dirt outside your house, or go get some outdoors.
Place seed in the soil, with whatever container you've chosen.
Water it daily
Make sure it receives sunlight
Change the pot as the plant grows.
Gardening and becoming connected with nature is really good for reconnecting with the world. You are able to get a first glance at the process of life to death. It is definitely interesting and can become a great hobby when you really start to get good at it. Maybe your tiny plants will not be providing any oxygen in the beginning especially just as sprouting, but the more you gather, maintain, and grow can improve the air quality of the room that they are in. They are nature's best friends. Plants love us and help us in ways we don't even think about. Maybe you do not have children yet, or even any pets. Plants are a good way to obtain some responsibility and get better at taking time to take care of things. Letting yourself give and help something other than yourself. This is almost as important as making sure that you take care of yourself.
Some of these activities take more time and effort than others, but nonetheless, they are all here listed to serve the same purpose. I have written before the importance of putting your phone down and reconnecting with other tasks, that help to give your life meaning. From giving yourself some discipline, with ice facials. To self-care with the face masks. I tried to choose things that are easy to do even if you do not have all of the money in the world. Not everyone has access to go out and purchase thirty minutes to do an ice bath. But good thing there are people like me who are looking for ways for everyone to get the same enjoyment out of life.
I think that a lot of people could use a new hobby in their life. Something to distract them, or find out their new interests. A lot of people suffer from anxiety and stress, and there are little ways to ease the pressure of needing to be fully aware all of the time. It is so hard to relax and let go, I know because I personally suffer from this. I know that I am not in this alone, and in fact, there are many people who could back me up in support of feeling the same pressure. Life is hard, people expect a lot from you, but little steps, and hobbies, make the days feel shorter, easier, better, and more enjoyable. If you take anything from this know that I want to help if you feel like you are suffering from any of the same things. It is normal and we are all in this together. A lot of people do not get the help they need, or take the time to take care of themselves, if you are reading to the end, I'll say this is only the first step in creating the life you want for yourself. Unfortunately, it does take time and dedication to reach our goals in life.
I absolutely love skin care because it's very refreshing and in fact relaxing while improving the skin at the same time. I do agree that a new hobby or two can improve a person's life significantly as it motivates the person to go above and beyond! Personally I love to be on my computer, but I have found hikes to be a nice new hobby to add every once in a while in my life.
Raquel your suggestions for morning routines sound like great routines to add in your morning routine. Adding a garden in your life seems like a very creative thing to do as well as keep you busy during the day. I can also truly agree that you can get rid of stress when you are relaxing at home, as long as it is the right kind of activities.
I also didn't know or think about using bananas in face masks, but that makes sense. I also appreciate how you framed all these tips as a step toward "creating the life you want for yourself." Everyone deserves rest and care—however/whatever they decide works for them.
Love the inclusion of self-care in this! I enjoy taking a bath and doing face masks on a weekly basis to simply restart my week. I didn't know about using bananas for masks, so I will be trying that. I recommend that if you want some extra benefits, like anti-fungal and anti-inflammatory, try turmeric masks. It is great for hyperpigmentation and reduces acne. A little bit of turmeric powder, plain Greek yogurt, and honey is all you need.