Many friends ask me about my daily routine for soul-care and self-care to boost immunity and stay healthy. With this difficult time during the pandemic, I decided now would be a beneficial time to share my soul-care and self-care regimen for immunity and health.
How has your life changed for the better and for the worst since the pandemic? My daily routine has not changed much at all, except for limiting where, when, and how many times we leave home. And of course I have been cleaning more often, especially after we leave our home, and I’ve been cleaning groceries and packages.
If you’re looking for a daily soul-care and self-care routine, read through mine. You may find some practices you’d like to incorporate into your daily routine:
Wake up
Priorities should set the tone of our day. I set my alarm early enough to make time to start my day with God. That is the most important component of my “me time”. I may do other things spiritually or physically for myself during the day, but my time with God is #1 and it is the catalyst for the rest of my daily “me time”. If I don’t start my day with The Lord, the rest of my day tends to fall apart. When my children were little, I had to set my alarm early enough to get up before they did. Then I had to train myself not to get distracted and allow my “me time”. I would have my time with God in my bed because I didn’t want to leave my room and risk making a sound that might wake my children. Now that my children are older, my atmosphere and routine for time with God has changed.
Currently, when my alarm sounds, I try to remember to speak to The Father with gratitude and thanksgiving for the night of sleep I had or for the new day that has dawned. I reach into my bedside table drawer and take my natural thyroid supplement (Nature-Throid).
Getting Ready for the Day
Oil pulling to remove toxins from the body and for dental health is the next thing I do to take care of myself – For oil pulling, I use therapeutic grade, fractionated, organic coconut oil and therapeutic grade clove essential oil.
To tone and exfoliate my skin, and more importantly detox my lymphatic system, I perform a brief dry brush. I then apply shea butter to moisturize the skin, and I also apply essential oils for various things like hormone balance and gut health, recipes in The Healing Power of Essential Oils. Then I get dressed and take care of my personal hygiene for my day.
Pets
We have an old Yorkie, so I gently wake him up, cuddle with him, and take him outside. While he’s in the backyard taking care of his morning routine, I add essential oils for focus, tranquility, and immunity to our essential oil diffuser. I also heat water in the tea kettle to start my day with caffeine-free herbal tea with collagen. We also have a beagle/basset mix, but she is my daughter’s dog so I get to simply cuddle her and don’t typically take her out, feed her, etc.
Gut health, Soul-Care, and Stress Relief
Because of their gut healing properties, collagen and herbal, caffeine-free tea are a perfect way to start your day. I usually drink holy basil, hibiscus, rooibos, or chamomile and lavender. This is the collagen I use. While I drink my tea, I settle into my time with God. Sometimes I sit on the living room floor or on my screened-in porch, and I listen to worship music. I spend time in prayer, worship, Bible study, and Christian meditation with The Lord, and deep breathing.
My deep breathing exercises vary, but I try to incorporate a total of at least 20 minutes each day. They can be broken up into smaller segments throughout the day. Relieving stress and relaxing the parasympathetic nervous system, deep breathing exercises are essential to caring for your spirit, mind, and body. Sometimes I simply sit in His presence with my worship music, listening to the words, meditating on them, repeating them. I may take deep inhalations on the first part of a verse, and exhale on the second part. Sometimes I engage in deep breathing while I read scripture, inhaling on the first part of a verse, and exhaling on the last part. Sometimes I just sit in His presence and simply listen while I deep breathe. Other times, I inhale and think of Him filling me up with His love and Holy Spirit, then I exhale and internally pray words of love and praise to Him.
Sanctuary-Home and Family
At this point, I have healthy and relaxing essential oils created by God and I’m playing worship music through our downstairs speakers. By performing brief and tiny decluttering or cleaning like picking up a few things or wiping down counters, etc., I am creating a sanctuary atmosphere in my home.
By now my children are moving about the house preparing for their day. My youngest daughter brings her sweet doggy down, and I get to cuddle with her. She is a cuddle bug and hugger, and therefore helps relieve stress—I call her my “therapy dog”.
By this time I pretty hungry. With my hypothyroidism and adrenal fatigue journey, I should probably eat closer to when I awake to fuel my body sooner, but I just haven’t gotten that into a good rhythm with everything else. Struggling with distraction and task orientation, I easily find myself putting off or forgetting to spend time with God altogether. That is why it is imperative for me to have my time with God as early as possible. Drinking the collagen tea does give me a little protein to tide me over.
I meal plan and meal prep once each week, usually on grocery shopping day. Because I’ve prepared ahead of time, my morning breakfast preparation is minimal. I usually warm up my breakfast or make a smoothie. I do not eat any genetically modified foods. I eat about 85% organic fruits and vegetables, and the meats and dairy I eat are pasture-raised free-range. There is way too much information for me to share on my eating habits, so I’ll save that for another time, but if you ever have questions please feel free to contact me.
I also make a daily immune boosting all-day sipper drink from Trim Healthy Table cookbook. This usually consists of mainly water or herbal tea, apple cider vinegar with mother, and/or baobab boost powder which is a huge source of vitamin C.
I also use a variety of healing and immune-boosting therapeutic grade essential oils from The Essential Oils Diet Cookbook (I use it simply to learn how to incorporate healing oils into recipes, but I follow the actual Trim Healthy Mama lifestyle.
Homeschool
Once I’ve risen from the table and cleared my dishes, it is time to hit the ground running. By this time, I’ve fueled my spirit, mind, and body for the schedule ahead of us. Our homeschool day begins with individual devotion and prayer time with my twins.
Time to tackle our combined homeschool lessons during which I lecture, we read together, etc. Next, my twins disperse for their independent school work under my supervision. I check in with them often and help when needed.
While they are working, I begin any food prep for dinner, dump ingredients into a crockpot, etc. Serving my family and home is an honor and a privilege. When I was young and had a more worldly mindset, I saw it as drudgery and mundane. The Lord has certainly reshaped my thinking. Now I enjoy and love caring for my home and family. If Jesus served so sacrificially, so can I, and let’s be honest—nothing I ever do will compare to what He has done for me. Loading the dishwasher is small potatoes compared to all He endured.
Work-Finances
You’ll notice it is early to mid-afternoon and work is on my list of priorities. While it is very important to me and I am trying to build a career for when my nest is empty, my top priorities are the things I’ve already taken care of throughout the beginning of the day. I’m seeking God during these times and putting those callings first. Because I’ve followed Matthew 6:33, I know God is going to take care of the rest.
It is now is time to buckle down and provide my family financially, so I work on business tasks for my craft shop, virtual assistance, writing, wellness work at home. When all of that is done, if I have time I will work on budgeting for our home, menu plans, grocery list, price comparisons, etc. This is also an integral part of building finances for my family and being a good steward of the money The Lord gives to use and helps us earn.
Homeschooling continued
A homeschool mom’s job is never done, much like a school teacher’s. I grade homeschool work and prep lessons for the next day if not done over the previous weekend. My twins and I discuss
Family Tasks in the Evening
Cooking is something I greatly enjoy, but my busy schedule doesn’t always allow me the time. I usually take any previously prepped ingredients, thawed meat, etc. and begin to cook dinner unless I’ve poured ingredients into the crockpot earlier in the day.
We make it a priority to sit down at the dinner table as a family. Extra-curricular activities are important, but not at the expense of connecting as a family at the dinner table. We eat, talk, interact, and enjoy each other’s company. Sometimes we play board or card games during or after dinner.
Once our food has settled, several times each week we take a walk in the neighborhood with our pets as a family. When we return, we have family devotions, Bible study, and prayer.
We watch television together, read or do hobbies individually, but usually all in the living room together.
Bed Time
My children don’t go to sleep right away, but they still like being tucked in by my husband and me. While they wind down and drift off to sleep, I may take a relaxing detox bath with Epsom salt and various essential oils for detoxing, relaxing, or needs of the day. Depending on our daily schedule, I may have already showered before going out, etc.
I take my PM health supplements including, but not limited to magnesium and Ashwagandha. Magnesium helps soothe the parasympathetic nervous system and ashwagandha reduces cortisol, helping our internal clock to reset, so we can sleep through the night instead of the wide awakening many of us experience in the middle of the night.
Ending my day with God is just as important as starting it with Him. I read and pray before going to sleep. Sometimes I continue to pray or count my blessings as I doze off. I try to get at least 7 hours of sleep. We should all get more, and if I really want to walk out of hypothyroidism, adrenal fatigue, and hormonal imbalance then I really need to sleep more. I’m working toward that goal, but I’m just not quite there yet.
My Exercise Routine
I’ve chosen to address this topic last simply because my routine varies greatly at this point in my journey. I have just gotten to the point where I can again tolerate low impact cardio. Walking has always been my best form of exercise, and studies show it is better for all of us. I don’t do any type of high impact exercises. I don’t go to the gym. I don’t stress my body. Unfortunately, society has taught us the old wives tale of “no pain no gain”, but it is simply not true. When we tax our bodies by wearing them out for 30-60 minutes 4-6 times each week, many times feeling like we could pass out, we raise our cortisol levels and deplete our adrenal glands. In turn, this creates hormonal imbalance. That is actually one of the main contributors to why I’m in the position I am with my health right now.
I do nourishing exercises that do increase my heart rate, but I perform intervals of no more than 20 minutes. Three to four times each week is the maximum days I exercise other than walking. I’m just easing back into it gradually and am already seeing results. Exercise is crucial to our health, but the world’s idea of exercise and God’s idea are two totally different things.
Hopefully, in weeks to come, I’ll be able to share more in-depth about some of the individual healthy practices above.
Now, it isn’t necessary for you to try to mimic my practices or schedule for you to see some results and renewal in your spirit, mind, and body. You just need to choose one or a few at a time and incorporate them gradually every few weeks. Soul-care and self-care are vital to boost your immunity and live healthily. Before you know it these practices will become part of your day, part of who you are, and the fruit you bear will have an effect on you and everyone around you.
