Tag Archives: ritual

Book Club: Woman Code Pt. 4

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We’ve reached the end of our series on WomanCode by Alisa Vitti. If you’re anything like me, you’re feeling wildly inspired and wondering how you can start living in sync with your cycle.

Below, are some ideas for each phase. These are practices or rituals I plan to incorporate in my cycle moving forward. Many of these were pulled straight from the book or were inspired by some of the resources listed in Part 2. Feel free to contribute your own ideas in the comments below! After that, I’ve included a few printables to help us take our cycle syncing from brainstorming phase to practical application. Let’s get started!

Here are some actions and practices I plan to incorporate in my cycle:

Menstrual Phase

Lifestyle –

  • Spend some time with a journal
  • Plan for the month ahead
  • Add an extra hour to night’s sleep (or make time for an afternoon nap)
  • Gentle stretching every morning
  • Short, lazy walks in nature

Professional –

  • Wrap up loose ends
  • Schedule meetings focused on planning
  • Evaluate ongoing projects and determine next steps

Self-Care –

  • Beautiful accessories as adornment and celebration
  • Steer clear of social media and technology in the evenings
  • Cleansing, salty baths
  • Rose: essential oil, incense, quartz, maybe a whole bouquet!

Follicular Phase

Lifestyle – 

  • Tackle a new project in your home
  • RSVP yes to social outings
  • Try something outside your comfort zone
  • See a new movie or check out a new restaurant
  • Take a challenging exercise class

Professional – 

  • Dive into your most mentally challenging assignments
  • Plan brainstorming sessions with colleagues/clients who need your help
  • Start a new project you’ve been putting off

Self-Care – 

  • Restock your cupboards and fridge
  • Buy yourself flowers
  • Change your bed linens
  • Wear something daring
  • Play outside

Ovulatory Phase

Lifestyle – 

  • Attend events in your community
  • Have important conversations with loved ones
  • Go on dates
  • Stick to high impact workouts
  • Explore the great outdoors with a friend

Professional – 

  • Make any big asks
  • Collaborate as much as possible
  • Gather opinions and feedback

Self-Care – 

  • Listen to music and DANCE
  • Moisturize
  • Schedule those beauty appointments (haircuts, etc)
  • Book in for a massage
  • Focus on pleasure

Luteal Phase

Lifestyle – 

  • “Nesting” for upcoming menstruation —
  • ie. make your domestic space comfortable, catch up on laundry and cleaning, grocery shopping/meal prep
  • Schedule some “me time” with a good book or take yourself out for a solo meal or movie
  • Scale back intensity of workouts as the phase progresses

Professional – 

  • Prioritize administrative responsibilities
  • Take time for reporting (finances, operations, etc)
  • Check in with customers and clients

Self-Care – 

  • Detoxifying bath
  • Make time for meditation
  • Pop on a podcast
  • Drink lots of water
  • Bust out some Hygge essentials (this is inner-autumn, afterall)

Now, how can we make sure to implement all these great, cycle-specific ideas? I love the notion of keeping a cycle journal or binder to help plan for the phases. This would be a great habit to get into at the beginning of each cycle — map out the coming days and set intentions. Then, you can check in as you “flow” through each phase. You can also track symptoms, dates, and what resonates with you in each phase so you can continue to do right by your body.

I created a couple printables to do just that. One allows for an overview of the cycle. Use it to jot down an overall intention for the upcoming cycle and to keep track of over-arching needs and clues. The other includes a page for each phase so you can dig a little deeper.

Download them HERE and HERE!

Lots of love,
Beth

If you enjoy my book club, please consider supporting what I do (and helping me keep my book-shelf stocked). Thank you! xoxo ☕

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My Weekly Ritual: Mask Mondays (+why I think you should set & forget self-care)

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This post is brought to you by BetterHelp.com. Make therapy a weekly ritual with BetterHelp. 

Every Monday evening I hole up in my bathroom and do a face mask. It’s something to look forward to at the end of a long day of not wanting to be back at work. Mondays, am I right?

My current favorites are this honey facial mask from Bee Friendly and this mermaid mask from Leahlani. And my mom tucked this spirulina mask from The Granola Goat in my stocking this year and I’m excited to give it a try.

If there are things you like doing for yourself – whether it be painting your nails, taking bubble baths, zoning out while you roll around on your foam roller, WHATEVER – I encourage you try out this set it and forget it approach.

It’s really easy to love the idea of self-care but actually doing it…like on the regs…is a little more difficult. There’s never a time when you couldn’t be doing “something else.” So we set those moments for our self aside and relegate them to next weekend or when the to-do list gets done or we’re on vacation. But y’all. All told my Mask Mondays take me about 20 minutes. 20 minutes a week of a lil luxurious me-time. I can spare it. And so can you.

But you don’t have to waste the brain space figuring out when to take that 20 minutes each week. Pick a day, pick a time. Repeat. Every week.

…And then if you’re feeling really wild, maybe you can try a monthly ritual too. Think: trips to your gym where you don’t work out but instead hit up the hot tub and sauna. Getting a massage or a blow out. Hikes in a state park. Taking yourself out to eat or to a movie.

When I turned 28 I decided on the 28th of every month for the whole year I would buy myself a new magazine. Whatever looked interesting and appealing. It was such an amazing birthday gift to myself because I love magazines but I always talk myself out of them. Essentially I gifted myself with the reassurance that it was ok to spend money on something that brought me joy. And setting a date that was easy to remember meant I actually followed through.

If you want to up your self-care game and do more that brings you joy — set it and forget it, sistah!

Anyways, what self care rituals are you into lately? 

On summertime traditions.

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On Monday we talked about items to check off our bucket list THIS summer, but today I’d like to talk about things to do summer after summer. Stuff to look forward to all year; like a yearly road trip to camp in a state park with your cousins or an annual backyard barbecue held for the whole neighborhood. Do you have any summertime traditions like this?

Growing up, my family would pack up the mini-van each summer and head north to Lake Michigan. We’d rent a cottage within walking distance from the shore and head to the beach each day with an armload of sand toys, books, and floating rafts. I’ll always remember eating packed PB&J’s (with the added crunch of specks of sand) and plums from the Farmer’s Market. Maybe indulging in a few kolaches as a treat, made locally in a Swedish bakery. I would finish book after book, lounging sun-kissed and sprawling on the beach-themed furniture, trading dog-eared paperbacks at a used book store for new-to-me stories. Frequent evening trips to the ice cream parlor were a non-negotiable.

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Now that I’m getting married in just a few weeks, I’ve been thinking about how meaningful these types of traditions are. I’m eager to lean in to the rituals of my new, soon-to-be-official, tiny family.

The last two summers, Chet and I celebrated his birthday with a trip to the aquarium. (We walked across a rope bridge above a shark tank right after we got engaged!) And I love imagining what it will look like if this ritual carries on into the expanse of our years. Who knows if it will, but I can see our future selves fawning over sweet turtles and fish so colorful it’s hard to believe they’re real. And that’s pretty cool.

But the possibility of traditions not yet thought of is pretty cool, too.

What summertime traditions do you hold dear? I’m oh, so curious…and who knows? Maybe we’ll get some ideas!