HEY GRRRLFREEEENNNN! The birds are chirping, the sun is shining, and the #DoBetterChallenge is (finally!) OVER! First, I would like to thank my parents for having me, the universe for creating this opportunity for me to do better, and all of my grrrls for joining me!! I knew we could do it! Not only is the #DoBetterChallenge over, but we are now entering MONTH FOUR of our radical self-care journey. Wow, time sure does fly when you are creating the life of your dreams! If you’ve been here from the start, you’re a certified #RealOne, and if you are just joining us #HEYGRRRLFRENNN, thirty-four consecutive days trying to add new healthy habits to your daily routine is a major accomplishment! Since it only takes like twenty-one days to form a habit, we are officially ahead of the game and ready to try something new! Bring it onnnn!

Grrrls, I have a *slight* confession… lately I have been enjoying my alone time! *Loud, audible gasp!* Like forreal, really getting into it! I don’t know if it’s because finals are over, or I finally remembered to schedule that PTO for a little TLC but I am having a BALL over here! No joke, I feel like I finally have time to do all the small things that make life worth living like meditate in my favorite sun spot, dance around to my mood music of the day, and idk just be a grrrl?? I’m not gonna lie, because you know I’m under contract to keep it real, there are some serious downsides like running out of excuses why I’m too busy to take out the trash, resisting the urge to get food delivered for every meal because I just caaaan’t even right now and sometimes feeling a little guilty for prioritizing my peace. Overall, I’m still living la vida grrrly and that’s something that I want to share with all of you! So this week, I want to talk about how the grrrls can hop into their me time era and prioritize spending some time alone.

Bump The Basics

I’m gonna start with the easiest tip first because there’s absolutely no reason to make life even harder for ourselves. Think about it grrrls: if we were meant to suffer, we would be forced to be on a never ending call with unhelpful customer service bots! Representative… REPRESENTATIVE!! If you are looking to add a little bit more me time to your schedule start with the places where you are already alone and sprinkle a little more time onto it! To me, the most obvious settings where this could take place are the bedroom and the bathroom. Hey, I said obvious, not glamorous. If your shower routine is a solid twenty-five minutes flat because you are soo used to having to rush around this week why don’t you pick a time to stay awhile longer and luxuriate! You’ll feel soo much better and your skin will be soft as butter! The same goes with going to bed. If your sleep routine is you scrolling on social media until you pass out, that’s real because same, but how about this week we try something that is going to pour back into us? Even something small like cutting that time down ten minutes earlier to make space for you to just exist in your body and just be could make such a positive difference. Since the weather is warming up and it’s just soo beautiful outside I think that we could also open this up to other everyday experiences where you might be alone like your daily commute! Honestly, with headphones you can make anywhere in the world your personal alone time oasis especially if you have a pair of sunglasses?? Grrrl! You’ll be in your own little world, and look absolutely fabulous while doing it!

Finding The Fun

Now this one right here!! Grrrls, this tip is literally the KEY to success and as a sagittarius I feel pretty comfortable being the authority on this piece of advice! I actually can’t believe I am writing this one down because it is literally my little secret hack to surviving life, but I would do anything for the grrrls! The easiest way to do anything in life is to try to make it as fun as possible. Like it seems soo simple and it really is, and even becomes that much easier to do the more time you spend with yourself and figure out who you are and what you like! A very beginner friendly way to start doing this is to make everything a moment. And I mean everything, especially the habits that are going to help you reach your greatest and highest good. For example, if you have an aversion to journaling because you think print is dead and you want to avoid manual labor then take your journaling experience to the next level and make it fun! Instead of a traditional journal you could start an you could start an audio diary, or an art journal with mixed media collages, or you could start a rival blog site called Lady, Attain Truth! Hey, there’s room for all of us to shine! The point is to take something that is basic and bump up the fun so that you can’t wait to do it more and more and more. Plus, your radical self-care journey is supposed to be fun, sometimes a little difficult but overall good vibes lol so if we can take the chores and bores of our life and make them enjoyable we are just one step closer to creating a happier and more enjoyable life for ourselves.

Underneath It All

This one is kinda scary which is why I saved it for last but we are all big grrrls and we can do hard things, plus we have been at our radical self care journey for like four months now so at this point there is absolutely nothing that we can’t do! There is a reason that we are avoidant of spending excessive amount of time with ourselves and eventually we are going to have to get to the root of the issue and find some serious solutions, which can take a lot of work or as the professionals say “shadow” work. Shadow work refers to the process of exploring and integrating the aspects of ourselves that we have repressed, denied, or disowned. These aspects, often referred to as our “shadow,” encompass the parts of our personality, emotions, and experiences that we find unacceptable, shameful, or uncomfortable which explains why we might not want to spend time alone or operating in that space. I hate to break it to you grrrl, but you are actually with yourself 24/7 365, which means that finding out the bigger reason why is lowkey unavoidable. I am not sure what happens if you never address it but I think the medical term for it is “mid-life crisis”.

No need to panic grrrls, this is not a step that can be completed in a day, or even a week, so please do not rush this process and start it slowly because there is no need to rush healing. Take all of the time that you need and do it in your own way that feels authentic to your individual journey. It’s also okay to feel overwhelmed by this process, or to admit that you need help. This piece of advice actually hits home for me because when I first started my radical self-care journey I didn’t even know that I was on it. Can I be real for a minute? I had reached a breaking point. I wasn’t equipped with the tools to process or communicate my traumatic experiences so I repressed and ran away from them. Please please please please hear me when I say that doing the work is hard, but it is significantly easier to do if you are proactively working through it versus being placed in a space where it is no longer avoidable. You are already doing an incredible job pouring back into yourself and building a solid foundation for a happier and healthier relationship with yourself and I am soo proud of you (Oop not me tearing up!! Sorry grrrls, I have been getting really emotional to Cowboy Carter lately reminiscing about my journey *Cues Blackbird*) This has been an immensely healing journey for me and hopefully for you all too! I believe in all of us and I know that we can do anything that we set our hearts and minds too. Now go and be great you lil grrrly pop! TTYL!