Uh yeah, it’s hard. Life. Living. Being an adult with stacking responsibilities, trying to find purpose and meaning while also supporting ourselves, caring for others, staying hydrated, getting enough sleep, feeling great, and overall crushing it? We don’t recall coming out of the womb juggling, do you? But it’s fine, everything’s fine. (Cue nervous laugh.)
We can’t give you your purpose, and we won’t pretend to be finished with the lifelong journey of Buddhist ideals, aka understanding the meaning of life, accepting suffering and ourselves, and being enlightened. However, we’ve rounded up some amazing hacks to help make the way a *little* bit softer, more peaceful, clear-skinned, and efficient.
Start disconnected.
Make it a point not to look at your phone or computer for at least an hour upon waking. Yes, that even means on the toilet. Remember books? Try a quick morning meditation, or read a chapter before anything else. Anxiety levels will drop a significant amount when we remember the significance of truly quiet, reflective, in-the-moment time.
Wash all your veggies as soon as you get back from the store.
It may sound like a lot of work, but we have to unload as soon as we get home anyway, right? Wash your fruits and veggies before popping them in the fridge. That’s right, bust out ye olde salad spinner and glass jars to rinse and trim greens, pop herbs into some water, and right into the fridge. Dinner just got a lot less cumbersome, and the fridge is looking like an organic market selection. Cute.
Get a cute, BIG water bottle.
Yeah, yeah. We’re always saying hydration is important, but when it comes down to it, we never get around to those 2-3 liters a day. Psych! With a cute water bottle, we can set daytime goals for a refill. Fill it 2-3x a day, and boom. Skin? Glowing.
Add things to your water.
Oh, but what’s that? Water is boring? It doesn’t have to be. In fact, our filtration systems zap all the good stuff out of our bulk water, anyway. Add electrolytes. Chlorophyll. Iodine. Silica. A dash of lemon. Chia seeds. Get creative and make your water nutrient-dense and powerful so that you get the most out of it, and are excited to chug.
Coconut oil. In bulk.
That’s it, that’s the hack. No really—it’s amazing stuff. From melting off eye makeup, to oil pulling, to cooking, to adding fat to our smoothies (we need fat to absorb certain nutrients like vitamin D, so don’t have a smoothie sans fat and then pop all our supplements) to getting sticky residue off of any surface, you’ll need a jar on hand in every room.
Wash your pillowcases.
No, we don’t typically go by Captain Obvious. However, some need a little reminder! Bedding should be washed every 7-10 days, two weeks max. Sometimes, life gets a little hectic and the idea of stripping the bed and putting it all back on just doesn’t fit into our insane schedules. For some, putting the duvet cover back on is a special little personal hell. At the very least, wash the pillowcases every 3-5 days, no less! Sweat, oil, and grime has a way of building up on the areas we, surprise, smash our faces in for six to nine hours a night, and grind right back into our pores.
Get a Roth IRA.
This does require a trip to the bank, and a little bit of your savings. However, investing in a Roth IRA can easily lead to a million in the bank come retirement time if you start early enough. It’s OK to be late to the game. There will be some money waiting for you at the finish line—money you hardly missed, expanding by the day. This is adulting.
Plan your workouts around your cycle.
We’ve all got fitness goals, but breathe a sigh of relief knowing that for ladies, it’s actually not great to go super hard, all the time. Follicular and ovulatory phases (aka right after your period and when you’re ovulating) are times for high intensity and crushing it. Luteal and menstrual (PMS time) is when you can dial it back with walks, yoga, and straight-up relaxing without worrying about gaining weight or throwing off your progress.
Make a spending budget.
For those that fear the spreadsheet, we won’t make you get into it. Have a rough idea of how much you want to save and how much you need to spend, to, you know, survive. The leftovers are for drinks out, another cute bikini (not you though, Michelle, you have enough of those), and other unnecessary-yet-so-necessary splurges.
Double cleanse every night.
Whether you go full-contour or bare-faced, sweat, oil, and sunscreen ain’t coming up easy. Oil cleanse first to break up grime and product residue, and then give yourself at least a 60-second facial massage with your favorite cleanser. The difference is palpable for those of us breakout-prone.