Can you believe it is already Friday again? We are counting down the days until our Spring Break. Do you have any plans this year? It’s a big year for my son because he gets to go on his 8th grade Washington D.C. trip. I’m currently scouring last minute Groupons to see if we can take our girl on a small nearby adventure while her brother is off seeing the historic sites without us.
It’s a happy weekend of celebration as my hubby celebrates his birthday. It’s hard to believe I’ve gotten to witness his special day since his sixteenth birthday bash. Who would have ever thought it? It’s always been sweetly surreal.
Here are three other things that are making me happy this week!
Good Sleep
Dealing with chronic pain really can do a number on your sleep and this last year my sleep has been pretty awful. Some days I would just give up and start my day at 3AM and then repeat the process the next day. As the days of terrible sleep mounted, the pain increased. It’s a vicious cycle of sleepless nights, grumpiness with everyone around me, and increased pain.
While I was at the library, I decided to check and see if I could find any books on pain management. I found and devoured, The Body Doesn’t Lie, in a single afternoon. The book promised a 3-step program to end pain and “become positively radiant.”
I know, I know…hang in there with me.
Vicky Vlachonis is an osteopath and musculoskeletal specialist that works with a lot of celebrities and dancers. Her holistic approach to pain management is what has made her famous among these celebrity circles and she believes that chronic pain can be managed through better habits.
The big focus on pain is, of course, on sleep. Of course, most habits in this book do feel intuitive, but I needed reminding. From creating sleeping rituals that help your body to fall into better sleep to understanding the trigger points on your body to help relieve pain to food choices that can improve digestion. These tips make you think about where your pain stems from and help you find better ways to repair it.
You are encouraged to journal a bit and think about where your pain can stem from so that you can focus your healing efforts on those things. For me, I have pain when I’m sleeping in kind of a strange place… my ears!
Weird, right?
As a side sleeper, my ears were throbbing and I have made a few trips to the doctor thinking I had earaches only to find out it is just pain from laying on my side. After reading this book about identifying pain, I went online and found this pillow that addressed my pain problem. A quick pillow switch means I’m not feeling rotten in the mornings with throbbing pain through my ear and jaw.
Guess who has slept uninterrupted all week and without any pain medication? ME!
Other habits that I have added are soaking in epsom salts with lavender oil daily after working out, starting my day with warm lemon water, dry brushing (I’ll let you know if that really does help anything- I am curious about it!), being careful about when I have my evening glass of wine (earlier not later), tea sipping before bed, and going to bed at a better time.
Intuitive, perhaps, but a year of broken sleep makes me so thankful for this week of restorative sleep. If you have broken sleep or suffer from chronic pain, this is a book worth checking out.
Lent Love
I didn’t grow up in a church where we were called to sacrifice anything for Lent, but this year I felt called to participate. I am going to say that I think that my sacrifice for Lent might be a new life habit because I attribute this as another reason on why I am sleeping so well.
I gave up checking email and social media after 5PM.
I have discovered that I waste a ton of time in the evenings mindlessly checking this stuff and I believe it also increases my anxiety before I am heading to bed.
What am I being left out of?
Whose career accomplishments overshadowed my own?
Oh, I’m so angry about politics..let me check and read every article that supports my own viewpoints before I go to sleep.
Now let me text my friends the things I’m reading.
Yup. Terrible.
In the morning, I feel more objective and a little more detached from it all so the scroll isn’t amping anything up for me anymore. In the end, I am discovering that this small sacrifice improves my family time, my reading time, and my sleep.
Did I mention my reading time? Yeah, I’m working on my third book this week!
No More Mail On My Counters
I can’t stand having mail on my counters and my husband loves to get the mail, open it, spread it all over the counters, and then go about his day.
STOP IT RIGHT NOW. HOW DARE YOU?
Of course, there wasn’t really a great spot for mail in our house…until now. Have you seen these magnetic containers? You can attach the containers to the side of your fridge and fill them with the odds and ends in your life that you need quick access to. I thought it would be the perfect spot to put the mail. It’s off my counter, but not completely out of sight so I don’t deal with it.
Now when the kids come in with permission slips and my husband comes in to open all the mail for me, I can kindly ask them to put the mail in the mail container. Because mail doesn’t belong on the counter.
Get one of these, you won’t regret it!
Eating: Big bowls of this roasted shrimp pasta hit our menu planner this week. ALDI makes a great gluten-free spaghetti noodle that has worked as a wonderful substitute in this recipe for our family.
Reading: YOU GUYS. I’m not hearing a lot of chatter yet about this thriller, but I can’t put it down. I am almost done and it is AMAZING! It’s a definite must-read this month especially if you are an Agatha Christie fan!
Watching: We caught this incredible documentary on Hulu and it was amazing! It inspired us to try a Middle Eastern restaurant with our kids and they loved it. It’s a fascinating look at a Pulitzer Prize winning food writer and his ability to find the restaurant hidden gems in the most unlikely places. It also shows the power of a good review for small business owners and how it changes the path of their restaurant’s success. We highly recommend it! (note- adult language!)
Listening: I’m running the kids a lot so I made this mix for you..and me!
Have a lovely week, friends!! xoxo
*this post may contain affiliate links- I only recommend what I love though. Check out past editions of It’s the 3 Little Things!