Category: Cultivating Calm

How to Plan a Budget-Friendly Self-Care Getaway

We all need a break sometimes but it can be hard to find the money to take a vacation. Here’s some budget friendly ideas to get the rest and self care you need.


Guest Post by Cheryl Conklin at www.wellnesscentral.info

Photo Credit: Pexels

Do you ever feel like you’re just dying for a vacation? It may be truer than you think. Non-stop work with no quality breaks is definitely bad for your creativity, productivity, and even your physical and mental health. However, many of us go for years or longer without taking a trip to get away from it all. This delay often comes down to costs. That said, there are plenty of ways to affordably manage a self-care-focused getaway.

Search for Deals

To get the absolute most bang for your buck, try to find travel deals you can use to help finance your trip. For example, you can book your rental car, hotel stays, and other travel costs through sites like Google Flights, Hotels.com and Hotwire. Another fruitful way to save money on your trip is to check tourist sites and travel companies. These agencies understand the expenses involved in vacation, and by offering discounts, they can bring in customers they otherwise couldn’t reach. So, look around online or reach out to your destination’s tourism office to figure out what kinds of offers are available.

If you want to save even more and will be gone more than one night, consider a private rental. Not only will you have more space, but you’ll also save on dining out since you’ll have access to a kitchen. Plus, privacy is much more attainable when you’re in your own space, meaning you can get more out of your self-care endeavours. 

Hit the Road

One great low-cost way to travel is to go on a road trip. You can make the most of your journey by stopping at plenty of destinations on the way. Not only does this give you the chance to experience places you’d probably never see otherwise, but it’s also relatively low-cost. Roadside attractions know they’re riding on tourist interest, so they have to stay affordable.

Go Camping

Looking for an escape from the hustle and bustle of urban living? Consider going camping. This is a great way to connect with nature and get some time away from phone screens and car horns. Since campground fees are usually low, you only need to worry about the cost of gear. If you don’t have your own tent, don’t fear — you can rent camping gear through outdoor shops. If nothing like that’s available near you, ask your friends; Someone may have gear you can use. If you need to buy gear, avoid costly camping retail stores and look to sites like Overstock instead. Here, you can find all the equipment you need at a lower price, especially if you can tack on promotions or coupons. 

Go for the Secret Staycation

Getting away doesn’t always require actually getting away. Simply spending time off work and out of your routine can go a long way toward giving yourself the break you need. However, to really nail in these benefits, keep your stay-at-home plans to yourself. Anyone you tell has the potential to stop by or expect you to come hang out since “you’re free, you can make it!” By just saying “I’m on vacation that week” and leaving out any specific details about your time off, you can make a staycation a legitimate retreat.

Consider Voluntourism

Finally, you can get some time away from your regular routine and help the world all at once by embracing voluntourism. These sorts of trips are usually lower cost since you’re not traveling to hit the beach and lounge. These usually come with a lot of hard work and often require significant manual labor. However, when the workday is done, you’re free to explore the area and have some time to yourself. These trips aren’t for everyone, and if you work a physical job, they may not be the respite you really need. However, working with your hands can be a surprisingly effective breather for those who spend most of their days at a desk.

Vacation isn’t just fun; it’s legitimately good for you. Getting some time away from your regular routine is some of the absolute best self-care you can give yourself. By finding affordable ways to travel, you can take the trip you need to recharge your batteries.

How To Banish Burnout At Work And At Home

Burnout is, according to Healthline, “a state of mental and physical exhaustion that can zap the joy out of your career, friendships, and family interactions.” And it is a very real phenomenon that many professionals experience at some level throughout their careers. Fortunately, career burnout is something you can thwart before your light begins to fade. Here are some practical tips to beat burnout both at work and at home.

Image via Pexels

Guest Post By: Cheryl Conklin

At Work

  • Be a better leader. When you have great leadership skills, your employees will never have to question what they need to do, how it needs to be done, and when. They will look up to you as a mentor instead of simply the person that signs their paycheck. Once you refine your leadership skills, you can easily lead your organization through good and bad times with the kind of positive mindset people find contagious.
  • Enhance your education. Leadership is just one business skill you can sharpen to be more effective in the office. It is never too late — and you never have too much or too little experience — to pursue mastery in other areas. Business management and marketing are two of these, and pursuing a business degree online will allow you to continue to work while improving your professional acumen.
  • Improve company morale. Career burnout is often caused in part by the negative attitudes of those within your organization. This is an easy remedy, and you can improve employee morale by maintaining an open line of communication and recognizing a job well done. Connecteam points out that simple recognition motivates more than three-quarters of employees. This can lead to greater productivity and less stress throughout your entire organization.

At Home

  • Vacation often. Taking a vacation — even a quick weekend trip — increases mindfulness and can give your brain a much-needed boost. While you may not be able to enjoy a lengthy sabbatical, do prioritize family vacations or solo sojourns every few months. After each trip, you’ll notice you are much more productive and positive than you were before your sabbatical.
  • Leave work at work. 50 — this is the number of hours that the American Institute of Stress says pushes most American workers toward feelings of burnout. As an executive, you may be tempted to work from the office five days a week and respond to emails and telephone calls in your off-hours. Limit this as much as possible, and make sure that your superiors and subordinates are aware of your boundaries. Remember, you have to have personal time to be most productive during your professional time.
  • Engage in healthy habits. The actions you take each day to better your health will help you keep your flame burning bright at work and at home. Health threats, such as sleep deprivation, malnutrition, and untamed stress, will follow you to the office and stick around long after you’ve clocked out. Do yourself a favor and get plenty of sleep, eat well, and exercise. These — along with other healthy habits, including socializing and keeping a clean home — will go a long way toward beating career fatigue.

Career burnout is an alarming phenomenon that can leave you stagnant in your career, no matter how close to the top you climb. But you can avoid it by taking steps now to improve your work and home environment. The above tips are a great place to start. 

Does burnout have you feeling overwhelmed and depressed? Dr. Stacy’s seven-day course can get you to shift your mindset to get back on track. 

Inexpensive Ways To Take Care Of Yourself, Even During A Pandemic

Have you been feeling the stress of COIVD-19 and restrictions the pandemic has placed on your life? Here are some inexpensive ways to take care of yourself while you ride out this strange time in our lives.

Guest Post By: Justin Bennett of http://healthyfit.info Justin can be reached at jbennett@healthyfit.info

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

When the World Health Organization officially declared COVID -19 a global pandemic in March, the world as a whole effectively shut down. And even closer to home, most of us have had to change the way we live and act each day.

There is a high probability that you’ve shifted your efforts from self-care to caring for your children, spouse or significant other, or aging parents. And although you are right to do your diligent duty, you can’t forget about yourself. Remember, you have to take care of yourself so that you have the physical and mental energy to get through this pandemic with your health and sanity intact. Here are some resources that can remind you how to do just that—without overspending.

Wellness coaching from one of Studio B’s Professional Health Coaches can make a huge difference in adhering to healthier behaviors.

You are just as important now as you were before the crisis. Treat yourself that way. From meditating and exercising to eating well and avoiding social media, these inexpensive ideas are a great start.

For expert therapy, wellness coaching, and personal development and growth strategies, connect with Stacy Reuille-Dupont today!

In this Season of Darkness … Find the Light Inside. Restore.

For centuries this time of year (in the North) was a reminder – maybe forced – to return to self and look internal. Days were shorter, darker, colder. Harvests were done, gardens resting, and fires needed to tending to keep us warm and comfortable. Just because we have more comforts doesn’t mean we should ignore natures very clear lead.

It is time to rest and restore. Nature is very clear when she tells us to rest. Here’s how.

Photo Credit: Photo by Bank Phrom on Unsplash

Winter is one of my favorite times. I don’t mind the cold, I love the snow, and really like the dark mornings. I like the way the darker days help me feel cozy. They help me remember that a time for rest and restoration is important. I forget that. I enjoy being with people, creating projects, and working on things. If I am not careful I spend all my energy in the external world. To be healthy we must balance the internal and external. Some of us are too internal, some too external. We need the balance of both. 

TAKE REST. RESTORE. GET QUIET. BE. WATCH. ALLOW.  

YouTube Video: 

Taking Complete Rest is As Important as Productive Action

The holiday season frenzy is a lot for most of us. We want a little, but it gets ridiculous quickly. It is important to find your balance. 

Some of want more stimulation – a BIG hello to my ADHD, extroverted and some of you anxiety friends. Others want to hole up and make sure they interact with as few as possible – a Quiet Hello to those feeling depression, some anxiety, introverted, and vigilant trauma friends. (These aren’t inclusive or exclusive of individual preferences. Just possible presentations related to needing more or less stimulation)

Needing big or little stimulation is neither good nor bad – in fact the world needs both. However, it becomes a struggle when we use it as a coping mechanism and hide behind them so we do not have to deal with the true issues under the surface. 

It also becomes and issue when we just get caught in it. Some of us get depleted before we know it. We were having a good time … until we weren’t. 

Keep your resolutions this year with YogaAccessories.com!

As you consider what your personal needs are – and it’s ok if you have both – make sure to honor your own being. If you need to get around more frenzy do it. If you want more quiet do that. The trick is to pay attention to yourself. 

What do you really want? 

In this season of giving, of connection, of being, and of rest. Make sure you are taking time to restore. 

Restoring is not the same as vacation or taking a day off. Restoration looks different for each of us from person to person and individuals from one day to the next. It could be 5 minutes of quiet breathing or a day of movies. It might be creating a delicious meal to share or spending the day pampering yourself at the spa (or a home spa day). Not sure what you can do to restore? Here’s a list of 25 ways you can take a vacation.

Give yourself the gift of being exactly what you need right now. Take a breath, maybe close your eyes, and check in with you. 

What do you want to do right now? 

What is feasible for you to do right now to get as close to that need as possible? 

Sometimes we can go full in and give ourselves exactly what we want, other times we need to moderate how we meet our needs due to our current location, responsibilities, or resources. 

Find the sweet spot of meeting your needs in this moment with the limitations you might have. 

Follow your own path and help yourself restore during this busy time of the year. Get yourself a cup of tea and snuggle up under some blankets as you enjoy the coziness of darker, quieter days during this winter holiday season. Enjoy Restoring You. 

Facing Fears and Dealing with Trauma

We all have trauma. Some experiences are worse than others, some easier to deal with. For many we pretend we aren’t dealing with trauma and thus keep our survival brain operating instead of our socially engaged learning brain. This hurts us all and gets worse with time. Trauma impacts your physical health, relationships, and ability to be successful. Is it time you faced your fears and healed your trauma?

As we move through this season of endings and watch mother nature let go, it’s a good reminder to reconnect with parts of ourselves that have been wounded and shunned. 

During this time of year many spiritual practices focus on reconnecting with the past, honoring those who have come before, and remembering we are connected to a much larger system – nature, family, seasons, history, ancestors, and even traumas. 

I am not affiliated with this movie. I just really like it. I like the concept and spirit of how important it is to honor our ancestors and ourselves at the same time while holding space for all that the family story may contain.

Past trauma keeps us stuck and living as though the bad will happen again. This year what might happen if you faced your fears, looked deeper at your family stories, beliefs, patterns, and trauma to truly heal your body and soul?

In honor of Halloween (Samhain/Día de los Muertos) this month, let’s honor the past and reconnect with our true selves even if it scares us. Many of us avoid things we are fearful of. This makes sense. Usually when we feel fear there is danger near and we need to move away from it to survive. 

The way the brain is set up, the amygdala is wired to help us understand danger, where it comes from, and what to do about it. Its signal inspires for us to get away from things we deem as dangerous. Unfortunately sometimes things we believe are dangerous are just what we believe, they truly aren’t dangerous for us, but caught in belief patterns of fear based on past experiences. What they are doing is hitting the danger, danger, danger button of our brains based on past experiences. It is linking to times when we were afraid or when our ancestors were in danger. But it may not be true today. 

When the amygdala gets going it can be hard to break from the cycle of fear. This is part of what is not working in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). As a result of a traumatic experience – physical or mental – our nervous system gets highjacked. This highjacking keeps us “looping” in hyper-vigilant states looking for what is wrong, even after the danger is over. 

In addition to being on edge for what danger is coming at us, we can also go into what is known as a hypo-arousal state. This numbed out feeling, lack of connection, and sense of being apart from our experiences is a survival mechanism to keep us alive. Often we bounce between the two states and feel more and more fearful and confused. 

Our bodies are pretty brilliant when it comes to making sure the species goes on. However if we do not heal traumatic wounding and reset the nervous system back toward health it wreaks havoc on our immune system, cardiovascular system, our relationships, our ability to work, and our concentration and thoughts to name a few items. Research continues to link trauma to a number of chronic conditions, like chronic pain, cardiovascular disease, obesity, sleep disorders, headaches, and digestive issues. To heal it we must work with our dysregulated state and allow ourselves to build capacity to stay present to what is happening in front of us now, not what we have experienced in the past. 

High quality yoga accessories at great prices - YogaAccessories.com!
Looking to reset your nervous system? Yoga can help. Learn more in the Integration of Yoga and Psychology, Wisdom Informs, Science Explains YA CEU Course.The Integration of Yoga and Psychology

In therapy we often work using pendulum states – moving between an escalated nervous system presentation to safety – while the therapist helps regulate the whole system. We work to build what is called a window of tolerance for sensitivity and stress while adding healthy coping skills back into the system. 

Once the nervous system is reset and the healthy coping skills learned, it’s not like the trauma didn’t happen, but instead of being a gaping wound that hurts to move, it’s a scar that may be sensitive to similar experiences. It’s not hurt anymore, but it reminds us that we had a scary or terrifying experience in our past. It helps us see how strong we are and helps us learn to be more kind to ourselves and others. 

As we turn toward trauma it does not mean we have to repeat all the details of the event(s). Often we don’t know them. The brain is good at managing states so we don’t even remember all the ugly stuff we experienced, however the body knows. The experience is still categorized in experiences and needs to be “filed into the right chapter” of life. We do this in a variety of ways, but telling the story isn’t necessary.

Click here to visit Therapy-At-Home Workbooks.

As we begin to face what fears we have, we slowly become more free. We learn that not everything that was will happen again, not everyone we meet will hurt us, and not every trip outside our home ends badly. We slowly begin to see that life is full of good things and bad things. Things we like and things we don’t. Little by little we come out of our shell and heal. We get stronger. We get braver. We get more connected to all that is around us. 

During this time of letting go, closing down, honoring ancestors, facing goblins, ghosts, and ghouls. Are you willing to face your own demons? Then let’s get started. 

If you are ready to face your own demons … contact us and we can help you determine the next steps on your personal journey. Studio B ~ Create. Your. Self.

Studio B is the culmination of my journey as an exercise scientist turned psychologist. Visit us and see how we can help you Create. Your.Self