5 STEP PROCESS TO ACHIEVE CLARITY FOR YOUR CAREER & PERSONAL GOALS | SMart Choice Lifestyle

I've always had an eclectic way of seeing things. I draw my inspiration from an incredible array of sources, time periods and industries. It's like I'm building a never ending vision board for my life and career. 

AWARENESS FIRST

Thankfully I had a constant throughout: thinking in pictures. I draw out the way all my ideas are going to look, act and what purpose are they going to serve and need are they going to take care of. The natural outcome was that I ended up pursuing a creative career, dealing with images and stories. Hence, I decided that I am a visual storyteller. 

Becoming aware of your talents and the skills that can help you move forward is essential if you want to grow a career out of just a passion. "Passion" is such an emotion-filled word. "What you're naturally good at and enjoy doing" sounds better. But for the sake of word economy, let's continue naming it "passion".

Being multi-passionate and loving to do many things can become confusing if you don't spend time working out the bits and pieces that will help you understand what career should you really follow. Most of us finish school and immediately get a job. "That's the safe thing to do!" common sense tells us. Sounds fair, and for many of us, it ends up being their road in life. And that's completely fine and normal. It's their choice and if it makes them happy, go for it!

MY DREAMS AND MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS

I was the other kind. The one that had the regular 9-5 job, but had her mind on creative projects almost all of the time. Given the situation, I kept the things I loved to do as hobbies and tried my best to integrate them into my daily work tasks. Every time I got the chance to do one of them, I felt happy. That feeling went away when I got back to whatever I was working on.

For a long while, I thought it to be normal. We all have jobs that get us tired and hobbies that help us refresh and get us back on track. And so a few years passed and while I was working, I always thought of starting my own thing on the side. The dream of building my own business doing what I loved never left me. 

The decisive moment that completely shifted my actions was the 25th of July 2014, the day the neurologist told me that I had Multiple Sclerosis. In less than 24 hours, all my thoughts pointed to living my life the way I always wanted and making my dreams a reality. Even more so, wanting to continue working equaled pursuing my passion. My time was limited. Nobody knew by how much or less. The illness is unpredictable, so I have to hurry! 

There was no turning back after that. After just a week back at the office, I listened to my gut and left. It no longer provided me with anything rather than monthly pay. I chose my health over money. And so I started my sabbatical. Taking time to clear my head after the diagnosis, learn as much as I could about the disease, find ways in which to keep it inactive and most of all follow my dream career.

Do you know that feeling of liking so many things that you can't really decide which one to really pursue? Or, if you had narrowed in down to two or three areas, it's still difficult to start because for each one there are SO many things that you can say or do? Welcome to my world!

The funny thing is that I already know what I want to do (and I kindda knew it for more than 7 years now), but there's always something left to do, improve or wait to be the right moment for. Up until a few months ago, I thought it to be fear of failure. But no. Failure doesn't scare me for quite a while now. I mean, what's the worse it can happen? I already have an incurable disease! (*smiling ironically here*)

The fear of not being good enough isn't it either, as I managed to get passed peer pressure too. The thing is I find it difficult to decide. And that's so funny, because the blog is named SMart Choice, so technically, I should have mastered the decision making process by now. But not in the things I hold dear to my heart.

And so my one year sabbatical became two years, and the more I learned and the more ideas I had, the worse I became at deciding to start. I had it all planned on paper, all organized, but no action. Constant learning. An eternal student. I like learning, but I also like to be productive. 

The biggest lesson that I've learned these past two years is that you can't work on your dreams if you don't know the dreamer. Meaning that you first have to come back to knowing who you are and then see what you can do for work. 

HOW TO ACHIEVE CLARITY FOR YOUR GOALS - 5 STEP PROCESS

That's why I came up with this 5 step process that you can also take to get in touch with your true self, or at least with your inner motivations and ideas that make you uniquely you, helping with your career goals.

So, without further adue, here are the steps that get you closer to yourself. You'll need a piece of paper and a few minutes to write things down.

1. DEFINE THE CONTEXT

Find a picture of yourself as a kid. Look at it and try to remember who you were back then. Asses your current lifestyle choices, the things you're naturally good at, the skills you've learned throughout the years and see where you stand. What's the thing (or things) that have remained a constant? Note them down and move on to the second step...

2. WHAT DO YOU STAND FOR AND WHAT DO YOU WANT YOUR LEGACY TO BE?

Note down your core values (limit yourself to just 5, the most important ones). After a life spent working, what would you like to be remembered for? What are the most important things that you leave behind as a professional?

3. ALIGN GOALS TO PERSONALITY AND VALUES?

Make a list of goals that you want to achieve during this lifetime. Be specific in naming them. No matter how big or unimportant they seem, they are part of your vision, so note them down. Given the values and legacy that you've decided upon already, how do you plan to achieve those goals? Define a short strategy. What choices will you need to make in order to achieve those goals?

4. DAILY ACTION PLANNING

Achieving mastery or anything in life means discipline and work. All the people that got somewhere with their lives and careers have to (and most still are) work hard to get their goal. You'll need a plan. Make it simple, actionable and daily. Think of the bigger picture and then narrow it down to what are the daily tasks that you need to do in order to get where you want to. Start with the first goal on your list and go from there. Then act upon that plan, but...

5. FOLLOW-UP AND REVIEW

To know how far you've came, you need to do regular reviews and measurements. Nothing fancy, just, for example, see how much of Project X is done and what's left to do. You need to know what you need to do, in order to plan your day and efficiently dose your energy, especially when living with Multiple Sclerosis.

Liked this post? Subscribe HERE, to be sure we stay connected. Let me know if you’d want me to write a more extensive piece on this topic, or on smaller topics from it. Would love to hear your opinion on this! Leave your comments down below.

Sincerely,

Denisa

Why You Need to Follow Your Heart. Time Waits for No One

As I'm sitting here with my late-time cuppa, cloudy weather and writing in English, my inner reality couldn't be more different than what's really happening outside this room. But that's what dreamers and idealists do. Or at least that's what I have been told.

I always loved escaping into words and daydream. When I was a kid, it was all productive and such, as it was my job to have an imagination an develop interesting worlds and stories. The worlds I was constructing had strong visuals and fierce heroes. But that was back to the time of dinosaurs. Kids today are technology-bound, well adapted to a world of gadgets and science.

But what about one's soul? What about one' purpose?

My generation lived mostly in its head and thoughts. This generation lives more in its social media pages or apps. Things change and there's nothing wrong with that! It would be pretty hypocritical of me to criticize tech, as I'm writing this from a wireless-connected laptop, as I just finished a mini-browsing of my Facebook and Instagram.

All that I'm saying here is that we need a return to ourselves, to our inner beings, to our hearts. We are so connected, so informed, so skilled, so prepared nowadays, that we forget to stand still and often find ourselves on autopilot. Mostly like a machine.

It all comes back to the soul. To the heart. To the purpose.

For the past 7 years, my life has been like the one of a hamster on a treadmill. That's the typical image of a 30-something in this century. I was doing all of what society and peers were expecting of me, yet I wasn't fulfilled. "Things can't always be perfect!" I kept telling myself in order to soothe that restlessness I had inside. Over and over again.

Numbing life with life and getting smacked down by life.

Ironically enough, our minds are not the masters of the lives we have. We might... think we have control over what's happening, but if we don't take conscious choices, if we don't stand up and fight for what we believe in, it all happens to us. And then it leaves us with a lesson to learn and a question to answer: "Will you follow your heart?".

Again and again, life decided to give me some "subtle" pokes. 

As a storyteller, I dreamed of becoming a movie director, to be able to tell stories through image, sound and words. Life happened. Peer pressure made me give up because "There's too much competition! You'll lose precious time! Take the safe path!". Ended up studying Sociology for four years instead. 

Yeah! Like this proved to be the "safe path". Either way, it was my choice.

Finished Uni, got admitted to a Master's programe, got my first job as a Life Insurance Consultant (the irony of selling life protection when mine was going to be tumbled down!). 

Life happened. My mother got breast cancer

That marked my first meeting with chronic disease and full-on regret. Feeling sorry for all that I made wrong, for all that I should have or shouldn't have said made me realize that we always have a choice to how we act. We always have a choice to do or not to do something. I chose to be strong for her and look for stability. I wasn't living for myself. I was now living for her. 

So I changed jobs to a place that in other conditions I never would have looked at. 

But I ended staying there for two and a half years. I learned how mean and double-faced human nature can be, and how damaging stress can be. Looking back, this experience also taught me to be humble and serve others, despite of their behavior. I was beginning to learn life. 

At the end of those years, I chose me above all else, and quit. The pressure on my emotions was too big and wanted to brake free. I give my praise to God that my mother recovered and is still a part of my life. It made me begin to lose Ego.

Got another job in sales and vehicle management coordination, and felt at ease. I was beginning to get back to myself bit by bit. But after only seven months, and having the past experience of feeling trapped in a place I didn't belong, I chose to leave and pursue my own thing (once more) in graphic design. 

I had just finished a beginner's course and was preparing for my final exams, Steve Jobs just died and made me become aware of my own limited time. I compulsively watched his Stanford 2005 Commencement Speech until it became engraved inside my mind. 

Although it was a normal consequence of life, death still scared me and put some anxiety all over my actions. Do things now!

So I did! Got the best results at the Graphic Design exam, and went into planning mode to pursue my dream. The focus was mostly on myself and on what I would achieve.

In came life again. Because, you know, shit happens! My grandma died

At the beginning of that year, the woman who was one of the pillars of my personality and the one that I drew much of my inspiration from was gone. Leaving me with an inflamed Ego and a big regret that I wasn't more time there for her.

Time doesn't wait for anyone. Life goes on even without your input. I needed to choose once again. I thought of her, and what would she want me to do. 

I just started a Photography course, as it was the closer that I could get to telling visual stories. Given the death of a close family member, many would have stayed at home for some days, grieve and then go back to their activities. But I chose to be strong once more and go to my course. 

So, that night I stayed at her wake, went to sleep at 7 am, rested for 4-5 hours, and then went to class. Nobody knew, nobody saw anything on my face. I kept it to myself. Once more, I chose to be strong for my family and do the right thing. There's a whole other story about this experience, but I'm not going to cover this now, maybe in a later post.

All these experiences were bringing me back to God

I always been like this. I grew up an Ortodox-Christian, not actually a church-goer, but passionate about all those stories in the Bible and God's goodness and protection. In my deepest despair, He is the one I turn to, He is the one my soul needs. Nothing else. Even if I do it unconscious, when I get afraid, I pray.

That year I prayed to be happy. I let my soul in His hands and prayed for it to be soothed. 

And it was. That fall I began a relationship with my best friend, a guy I've met at my Graphic Design course and that quickly became my go-to person. He is similar to me in so many ways (good and bad), that I really couldn't have asked for a better match. I wouldn't had known what to ask for! Our relationship grew stronger as months went by. We had our ups and downs, but it was all fine in the end. 

Life resumed its course. I got a job as a Shop Manager for a telecom retail company, got passed some of my limits, learned a lot about me and people once again. But something felt off again. Stress was much higher than my inner feeling of fulfillment. It ended up putting great strain on me, and I came to work only to wait anxiously to get back home to my plans, peace and quiet. So I left. It didn't feel right. 

As I felt myself calming down, I began to see things clearly and once more planned starting my own thing. 

Guess what?! Once more it didn't happen right!

I planned to get a job in order to raise money to start my own photography business. Found a job in sales, advertising space and client relationship. All good, all stressful as always, but it was comfortable. Somehow, my dream got postponed, as I never felt quite ready. I was scared shitless, to be honest!

Life grew bored with my behavior and decided to give me one more "poke". Into my right eye. On a Friday.

The time when it happened was just right, as I once more grew to comfortable into being pushed and pulled by life and not listening to my intuition. Whenever that happened, fear took command and made me settle, going totally against my dreams of always going for what it feels right.

I told the story of my multiple sclerosis diagnosis here. The thing that I would like to add to it is that as I write this story, I understand that our lives are empty without doing something with purpose, without really using the gifts we have been given. 

I have always loved to write and tell stories. I was always able to leave myself aside in times of great distress and turn to helping others.

Now you tell me. What do you choose: a life that happens to you, or one designed by choice? 

Because things will always happen, go well, go bad, get stuck, or anything else. But what really matters is what you do with the cards that you have been dealt, and how you use them to serve others? 

For me, that's what life is all about: smart choices. God knows what He's doing. Always!

Liked this post? Subscribe HERE, to be sure we stay connected. Let me know if you’d want me to write a more extensive piece on this topic, or on smaller topics from it. Would love to hear your opinion on this! Leave your comments down below.

Sincerely yours,

Denisa

How to Avoid Skin Oversensitization? The Microbiome and Excessive Body Cleaning | SMart Choice Lifestyle

The smell of fresh cut grass and home-baked bread, followed by a delicious breakfast with hot cocoa, raspberry or rose organic jam, a soft boiled egg that was steaming when you opened it and dipped a bit of bread crust into that perfect orange yolk. And then off to play outside for the rest of the day, or until lunch. This was most of my childhood spent at grandma's!

If you have memories like these, you also remember that the outside world wasn’t our enemy, like it’s often portrayed today. We glorify interiors, houses and running water. Those are fine, trust me! Living without them would be manageable, but certainly not a pleasure. As we have all these comforts, we also develop many products with which we can keep it all clean and sanitary.

As time goes by, we drift further and further from nature, living in aseptic environments that keep us safe from all the germs and bacteria outside. Infections and especially bacterial ones are nasty, even life threatening if left untreated. But there’s another side of the coin that we usually tend to miss: too much cleaning and sanitizing actually could damage us even more.

How’s that?

Our grandmothers and great-grandmothers did not have access to the vast array of personal hygiene and house cleaning items that we do now. I’m not saying that it was an extremely healthy environment in most cases, but the irony is that fewer people got sick or even fewer had allergies from a young age. People were more able to work with their surroundings, instead of against them.

Our bodies are custom made for living in nature. They adapt to the environments we’re in and develop immune tools to keep us safe from illness. That’s their main goal: survival. For ages, humans have been living in synergy with the natural world, taking care of it and reaping its fruits in return. People lived according to what nature provided them and our bodies adapted according to what we had to deal with on a day to day basis.

Bacteria isn’t all bad. Actually, the microbiome as it is called, helps us stay alive. It protects us against germs, breaks down food to release energy, and produces vitamins. It “consists of the 10-100 trillion symbiotic microbial cells harbored by each person, primarily bacteria in the gut”. The human microbiome is in constant exchange  with our environment, human microbes flow freely onto the surfaces we interact with on a daily basis. Microbial communities are constantly being transferred between surfaces, our bodies being constantly adapting to the place we live in.

Thus excessive sensitization via all kinds of disinfectants, antibacterial soaps and personal hygiene products is similar to the effects that antibiotics have inside the body. Too much consumption and that good microbial barrier is disrupted, making way for opportunistic bacteria that can damage the skin or our body’s health.

Our body’s default defense mechanism, called the immune system, has the power to regulate all these little armies of good bacteria and to keep them in tune with the rest of our bodies, while keeping a careful watch on foreign pathogens. When we disinfect to often, our immunity overreacts, and begins to think everything's a threat. Given the fact that our environments are so clean, the simplest nasty bacteria that once had no impact over our body, begins to have one now.

For people living with Multiple Sclerosis, things are even more... sensitive. Given the treatments that we need to take, our immune systems are lowered, already putting the body at risk to infections and other damage that might occur.

I'm not saying that it's a must, but we need to be even more cautious and help our health as best we can. Over-sanitizing or under-sanitizing are neither the best way, as they are extremes. Taking care of your personal hygiene and house cleaning shouldn't go there. Keep it simple, keep it basic.

But first, let's go back to nature...

There are three things that you can do to minimize the impact, all under the same umbrella: progressive desensitization to the natural world. For a person that has been living indoors most of her life, going wild with these tools seems a bit out of place. This is a process, and you should only do what makes you feel comfortable and what suits your lifestyle. But do try the following:

1. Reduce toxic load from your personal hygiene products and house cleaners. The safest way I found to do this is to replace one nasty chemical with a more natural choice. Only a couple of examples: use regular hand soap for your day to day hand wash. Only use antibacterial ones when you’ve worked with other chemicals or if you’ve been to the hospital; the same goes for hand sanitizers: you don’t need them at home, where it’s supposed to be clean); use sodium bicarbonate to get rid of nasty smells in your refrigerator (and try to clean the entire interior once a week, using a solution made of 1 part apple cider vinegar and 3 parts water).
2. Go out in nature more! Walking around in fresh air and being around trees and grass not only is beneficial for your fitness, but also for your mind. It can be a powerful destresser and a good time to relax. Depending on where you live, plan small or large trips to classic destinations like the local park, the nearby forest or a weekend to the mountains. No matter what you choose, nature will always pay back tenfold! Of course you have to protect yourself from falls, bees or other dangers, so make sure you learn a thing or two about how to take care of issues like these if they arise.
3. Take up urban gardening. Depending on where you live, you can create a small or a large one. Either way, it could only be just some pots you have on your balcony, but the goal is to allow yourself time to think and work with your hands. To allow yourself to get back in touch with good bacteria in nature. I personally recommend gardening without any chemicals, letting the plant grow on its own terms, while I tend to its needs and help it on the way. Great activity to bring nature back in the city!

These were my three ideas on how you can begin to bring your body back from the aseptic world and right into the natural one. Bit by bit, you’ll adapt. It’s a process. You have to have patience! But more about that in another article.

Liked this post? Subscribe HERE, to be sure we stay connected. Let me know if you’d want me to write a more extensive piece on this topic, or on smaller topics from it. Would love to hear your opinion on this! Leave your comments down below.

Sincerely yours,

Denisa

Three Reasons to Simplify Your Lifestyle | SMart Choice Lifestyle

Let me tell you a story. Imagine the lead act in the most important circus in the world. He’s a famous juggler, who’s known for all his amazing balance, focus and dexterity. He adds so many new tricks to his act, that they all see him as a genius performer.

But he begins to feel tired. The more things he has to juggle with, the more difficult his focus gets. His mind is now the one which plays tricks on him. His performance will suffer and so will he. Too much to handle. He blames himself. He’s a bad performer. He feels angry and ashamed. He no longer has the will and drive to do his best and to constantly grow his act.

He eventually settles with being a clown. An act that just makes people laugh. At least they won’t all laugh at him. When he takes of his mask and looks in the mirror, his reflection is sad, overwhelmed. Day in and day out, every evening, he plays the clown. He makes people laugh. But he cries inside. He wants his purpose back.

The next day he opens the chest where he stored his juggling equipment and only takes out the three spheres and the balancing board he used to love so much. He goes outside and steps on the board. His hands instinctively begin to throw the spheres into the air. Bit by bit, his act gets better, faster. A smile comes back to his face and more and more people gather around, cheering him on. He’s the famous juggler again.

But what if he always was the lead act? What if he made it harder on himself by becoming overwhelmed instead of keeping it simple? That’s what made him happy after all, isn’t it? He loved juggling and sharing that with people. Now, when the people laugh, he laughs with them.

The juggler is in fact all of us. The many things added are the ones we constantly add to our life. Those things that got piled up into our lifestyle and now make our lives miserable, tense and sad. We need to go back to basics, rediscover what made us smile and what we did with joy.

Make conscious choices about what’s relevant to our lives and what are the things that are essential to our happiness and wellbeing. Personal and professional. Integrate. We are the same persons who do them all. Choose our spheres and balancing board carefully.

Here’s three reasons why:

1. Better mental health

We are constantly bombarded with information, messages, emails, things to do. It never ends. When we take time to declutter, our brain thanks us and refocuses all that energy into making us healthier and more alert. Our neurons are constantly working throughout the day. We need to learn to relax and do one thing at a time. Which brings me to reason number two...

2. Better focus

Our brains cannot focus on more than one thing at a time. Multitasking is just another word for overwhelming your mind. You have a limited amount of energy and time everyday. Choose the three most important things that you need to get done today and two chores. And that’s it. Do those to the best of your abilities. Use the rest of your time to learn, rest and connect with loved ones. Here’s reason number three...

3. More time for what’s important

As much as we would like to think that relationships can wait for us to send that important email, that’s not true. The most important things in life are the people we surround ourselves with. We are wired for connection and need human closeness. The real, old-fashioned one. The one without a screen in between. The one where we actually have a normal conversation, and be totally present in that moment, not on our phones. But that takes space, energy and knowing our priorities.

We live our lives by choice. What decisions we make and what things we pick is up to us. We each have a certain life, we are all unique. But one fact is universal: simplicity keeps our minds healthy and our relationships stronger.

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Sincerely yours,

Denisa

How to Get Back to What's Important? Three Steps | SMart Choice Lifestyle

This past year has been so far full of events, opportunities and things to do. I almost spread myself too thin between travelling, managing three projects simultaneously, learning new things, planning and thinking things into minute details.

Don’t get me wrong, I am deeply grateful for all that has come my way for the past months. I love what I’m doing and had many breakthroughs and “aha!” moments that I’m happy for. But the constant push and pull of doing all these things wasn’t integrating my personal life. The time I had left for sleep, relationships and recharge was feeling smaller and smaller and it all was beginning to get suffocating. That’s when I knew it was time for taking a few steps back and look at the bigger picture while I get back to myself, to my core, to my WHY.

It’s important to be active, to do the things you love and are passionate about. But at the same time, it’s vital to not lose track of what motivated you to do all that in the first place. We tend to lose our Northern Star while we keep our eyes on the end goal.

There is the need for time to just look at the stars, look within and allow yourself to relax and just be. For me, for the past two years since working for myself, that time usually begins in July. It’s also the anniversary of the day I first met multiple sclerosis and got diagnosed, and it somehow gets me into a more reflexive state. The perfect time to take a break. This period extends to August and I go back to work on September.

It doesn’t mean that I’m just sitting on my couch all day doing nothing. That’s just boring! It’s a time I review ideas, thoughts, journals. I listen more than I talk. I learn. I sleep and take care of my mind and body. I get back to my purpose, to my why: getting people to be the best version of themselves, and help them not feel alone.

Since being diagnosed with an incurable illness like multiple sclerosis, I learned to make time for myself. Meaning I always prioritize my health above anything else. I can’t stress enough how important looking after yourself is. When we’re young, we think we’re indestructible, but life can prove us wrong. I can’t do anything to cure myself, just to recover and keep my health as stable as possible. On top of the yearly vacation, I also take a few steps daily, just to get back to what’s important.

And these are…

1. Take time off everyday. No matter how busy you are, we all have just 24 hours to live each day: 8 hours of sleep are non-negotiable. These should be your “default prescription” for brain and mental health. Also, add brakes throughout the day, 10-20 minute naps (if the conditions permit it). At the end of your workday, switch off: shower, eat dinner, relax with family and friends, or on your own.

2. Divide your day into active and passive segments of time. Meaning, the active interval is the one you are the most able, clear-minded and fit to do work. Schedule your tasks to be done during that period. The passive half has to do with switching off. It’s the time of the day when you can’t focus as well, when you’re sleepy and get ready for sleep. Respect your biological clock. It doesn’t matter if right now you’re out of sink. You can program your mind to wake up and go to sleep at certain hours, so that your clock works just fine. It’s all done by learning new habits, by choosing the right things.

3. Review your progress, be it personal or professional. I assume that if you got this far into reading this article, you have a why in place. If you do, the need to measure where you are with your goals is important. It keeps you on track and connected to what really matters.  Keep a journal of your thoughts, feelings and achievements. Show gratitude for your wins and forgive your losses. See where you need to improve and plan how to do that.

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Sincerely yours,

Denisa

How to Unplug Your Mind? Thought Clutter Detox for Millennials | SMart Choice Lifestyle

Our mind is the biggest trixter. Its basic function is to register all the information we consume throughout the day and store the bits and pieces that are proving to be useful to our daily lives. The problem these days is that with so much data to process, the mind not only can get exhausted, but it doesn’t know when to slow down and let us rest.

Ever since we were babies, we have been absorbing and learning all kind of things. From how to speak, walk and talk, to the more advanced ones, like how to write a thesis and be good at our job. We’re on a constant learning curve and that’s fine. The issue is that the mind needs rest, needs a break from all this noise, so that we can once again function at the best of our abilities the next day.

Try to sit still for a few seconds. Close your eyes and just be. Can’t shut down that constant chatter, am I right? This is one of my constant struggles as well. I have to work on myself just to be able to be aware of what I’m doing on a given day. But in time and with patience, it can be tamed, you can clear your head. It’s a daily practice.

Here’s how to do it.

1. Have scheduled hours to go on social (phone, computer, etc) and hours to rest. Allow yourself to wake up, breathe, and start the day slowly but mindfully. The same thing goes for the evenings: leave all screens in another room, at least one hour before bed. Instead, read a fictional novel, your favorite story, anything that can get you relaxed and put your thoughts into relaxation mode. The internet, apps and games are VERY tempting, I know that! Ask me how many times I scrolled way passed midnight! But your sleep, rest and wellbeing are more important than all the entertainment and information this world can provide. Take care of yourself and sleep at least 8 hours per night.

2. Write your mind off! Pay attention to your thoughts and allow them to settle one at a time. Schedule 10 to 15 minutes in the morning and in the evenings to write down what’s on your mind. I find it useful to have three main categories to put my thoughts into, three “buckets of thought”: what I think, how I feel and what I need to do about it. If categorizing is not your thing, try to “brain dump” all the clutter inside your mind, and analize afterwards. Day and day out, you’ll eventually begin to see a pattern, and understand your thought process. Look for triggers, repetitive behavior with certain emotions, etc.

3. Clear the mind, sit in silence and practice gratefulness for all the things achieved today. Even if it’s as little as writing that email that was somewhat overdue, be happy that you finally did that. What matters most is the process of expressing gratitude. Pray for guidance and ease, give thanks for what you’ve been given and the moments when you and your loved ones have been at your best. Wish for more of that.

Taking care of your mind and unplugging at the end of the day, as well as having a no-gadget morning routine can be hard to achieve. Especially now, when connection is made easy. But the most important connection you’ll ever have is the one with God and with yourself. Peace of mind and ease of heart matter most than anything.

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Sincerely yours,

Denisa