Rise and shine!
Today I wanted to take you through a day in the life of….. well ME!
To start off any day, I will spend about 30 minutes snoozing 7 different alarms. A few on my FitBit, one on my Philips Sunrise Alarm Clock, and the rest on my phone (which is charging outside of my room as a way to control my doom scrolling at night).
I go to turn off my phone alarm and every single time, I take my phone back to my bed and close my eyes once again.
Finally, once I have accepted that I must indeed get up, I grab my phone and scroll. I have REALLY tried to make it a habit to do anything else but look at my phone first thing…. but let’s be honest, I am addicted. Some mornings I will successfully go straight to the Calm App and start the day with a quick 10-minute meditation. Other days, I spend an extra hour in bed and then become washed over with immense guilt of feeling “behind” and “unproductive”.
So off to a great start!
Oddly, the one task I am very successful at is making my bed. My mom probably just fell over reading this. I feel like making my bed is an analogy for my life. Let’s just cover a blanket over everything underneath and now you can’t see the mess.
The next thing I do is take my Vitex (ie. Chasteberry) which has become part of my routine since coming off the pill after being on it for 10 years. Right now, my periods are a bit out of order, as my last one came after 7 weeks of waiting! Chasteberry helps regulate the menstrual cycle with long-term use. I am at about the 4 months mark and they say to take if for 6 months to see results. I am happy to answer more questions about Vitex so hmu in my DM’s if you want :). One thing to note is that Vitex has to be taken an hour before/after any food or medication so I like to start the day with it on an empty stomach.
Next I will drink water, or hot water and lemon if I am feeling more adult that day. My friend who is a nutritionist told me that lemon water actually helps line your stomach and ease eating meals. I can state that it definitely works!
My breakfast is the same as always. 1/2 C Quinoa (precooked), 3 tbsp hemp seeds, 1.5 tbsp chia seeds, a tsp of MCT oil, pumpkin seeds, Elmhurst Almond Milk, an apple, and Natural Peanut Butter. I also throw in chocolate chips sometime but the lactose is a bit of an issue.
*its good to note that I make sure my dairy-free milk options do not contains oils or any other weird fillers. Elmhurst is expensive, but it is the only one I have found to be just water and nuts!
I use to eat my breakfast with oats, but then I found out I was allergic (cry) so the next best option was quinoa. It was an odd switch at first but now I have no problem with it!
Because it is Tuesday,
after breakfast I get prepared for a content shoot day! Tuesdays are where I try to batch shoot all my content to save time. I will start some laundry, quickly check over my emails, vacuum the apartment, have a quick shower, and then apply some light makeup.
My go-to make up essentials for a quick natural look is:
- Foundation: Clinique Even Better SPF 15
- Bronzer or Blush: NARS but once I finish it I am switching to something else as they are not cruelty-free (suggestions welcome!)
- Eyebrows: Benefit Cosmetics (another brand I will need to switch from as not cruelty-free either I just discovered!
- Eyelash Curler
I have also decided that having a spray tan is a mood enhancer and will now be considered a mental health expense hehehe.
Once I am ready to shoot,
I will go review the content plan I likely created the night before. This is a little note document where I have saved some pictures for inspiration, as well as, the message I am trying to get across. In terms of content, I have being trying to go back to my basics and creating images & videos that make me happy, rather than hopping on to trends. I found my depression was too much to handle when I tried pretending to be something I am not, in order to keep up with a silly algorithm.
For my shoot, I use a combination of my soft box light, tripod, my mirrorless camera, my iPhone 12, and a ring light. ( I really want to upgrade to that new iPhone though, that smooth video shooting feature looks unreal!!!)
When shooting, I often will put on a playlist titled something like “Model Walk Songs” or “Photoshoot Hype” to get in to a photography vibe. Fake it til’ you make it as they say.
Around noon is when
I am hopefully finished shooting and I will take a break to check my laundry, maybe have a snack, take my anti-depressants, and have my Greens Powder. I then will sit down at my desk to check for any time-sensitive emails before starting to write this week’s blog (which is essentially what I am doing right this moment hello!)
I love writing. I do dream of writing a book one day but because that seems like such an imposter syndrome route at the moment, this blog feels like a safe place. I love to write about a wide range of topics that I feel I have experience in. I sometimes find it difficult to have a blog ready every week (you’ll notice about two weeks have gone by since the last one) but I try my best and it’s not perfect, which kind of makes it perfect for me 🙂
Once I think I have a good outline of my blog done, I will take a break to eat lunch and then download the photos off my camera from the shoot this morning. I will take the photos that I plan to share the following day and edit them through Lightroom. Editing photos is one of my flow tasks. I could edit for HOURS if I wanted to. I get lost in the minor editing details and love to play with the highlights, contrast, colours, luminance, etc. to produce a beautiful photo. I mostly edit on my phone as I find the photo edits done on my computer look different once I airdrop it to my phone.
I will upload my finished draft to Instagram and then try to write out a caption. While writing is also one of my flow tasks, it is a bit tricksy as the words come to me at the most inconvenient times. Showering, in the midst of a conversation at work, driving, or meditation, I always feel in a rush to quickly open my notes app and jot the ideas flying through my head. But I can’t force myself to write. It never works.
By now its probably around 3 or 4 pm,
and I know this is when I need to take a screen break. I will either go outside for a power walk, a run, or head down to my building’s gym. Exercising is key in helping me manage my anxiety disorder, as well as, give me an added sense of accomplishment for the day. But I will not force myself to work out if I don’t feel up to it. I have done that for too many years of my life. I sometimes also use the time to clean, read a book, or go through my clothes that I want to add to Poshmark later on. Or even make a more fancy dinner.
As the sun sets and the evening begins, I will go back to my desk and finish my blog. I will then add any final touches to my Instagram post that I plan to have live the following day. I will finish the caption, add hashtags, insert it into LineBreak (to add spaces) and save it to drafts. I also love to take the photos I create and use an app like Tezza or Mosaic to create an aesthetic story that I will post as well.
Right now, most my evenings are
spent on the computer looking through Facebook Marketplace for cool apartment finds, watching Yellowstone or Sanditon, or window-shop online products that I cannot afford but love to just look at. As a result, my screen-time is horrible and the reminders are even worse.
Once it is close to bed-time, I like to appreciate the fact that I made my bed and notice comfy it looks to return to it. I will try really really hard not to bring my laptop or phone to bed but again let’s be real here, it happens. On a good day, I will plug my phone into the charger outside my room, leave my computer on my desk, and open one of the books I am reading. Right now I am working between two books: ACOTAR Book 4 and Loving Bravely by Alexandra Soloman.
SO there you go!
This was day-in-the-life of me, Christine! If you liked this post or have any questions please comment below!
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