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How I Chill Out And Find My Calm During The Crazy

February 18, 2016

By:

Erin Schrader

We’re all busy, I get it. We go from here to there and back again, we say yes to doing this, that and the other. We put demands on ourselves of the things that must get done today, should have been done yesterday, and absolutely have to be done by tomorrow. We are becoming a culture of crazy animals running around with our heads spinning in endless circles leaving very little [ie: absolutely zero] time for us to reconnect and refresh. 
A few weeks ago I was at our local grocery store and I spotted all sorts of vibrant and exciting flavors of Lipton Tea. Flavors that I had never seen before including but not limited to (see all options here): Lemon Ginger Herbal Tea, Enticing Chai Black Tea and Cranberry Pomegranate Green Tea. I “ooooh’d and ahhhh’d” and spent entirely way too much time deciding what the heck to buy until I was all “get em’ all! you could use some tea time in your life girlfriend!” so I listed to my inner genius and picked up all three. 
I poured myself a cup of the light and refreshing Cranberry Pomegranate Green Tea and went into “chill mode”. Here’s a few ways I’m finding the calm in times of crazy – 
1. Go Into A”No Tech Zone”At Home. Shawn and I have started implementing “no technology time” in our house. We don’t have a set time of the day that we do it, just one of us will yell out “no technology!” during a time where it’s apparent we are sucked in head first to our iPhones or iPads doing meaningless things when we could be talking about our day, playing cards, or genuinely watching a movie together without the distraction of Facebook. It has worked wonders for our relationship and well being. 
2. Color. I recently bought an adult coloring book and colored pencils so that I could put this whole “zen” thing that coloring is supposed to bring to the test. Turns out it’s true. There’s something about sitting down to a blank slate and filling it all in with color that’s super relaxing. I turn on some Ed Sheeran, grab my tea and get down with my bad self. Totally recommend trying this. 

3. Read. I know this is basic but for people like me, this is a hard hobby to tackle. It takes focus and sometimes I just don’t have a lot of that. It also takes remembering things like “grab a book! put down your phone!” and sometimes I suck at remembering things. However, reading is so therapeutic to me as it allows my mind to go to a different place and forget about any of the “real” stuff happening in my life.

4. Plan. Without writing things down, I would go nuts. Like real nuts. My brain does not do a good job of keeping a lot of things up there and my anxiety does not go well when I feel like I am swimming in pools of things to do. I have learned that using a planner daily to write down my hourly schedule along with my complete list of to-do’s makes me feel so much lighter on my feet and happier in my head. Spending a few minutes every morning to get a handle on the day goes a long way for my sanity. If you are feeling like you can’t get a grasp on it all, write it down.

5. Just Be. This is probably the hardest yet most simple one on the list. These days we are brainwashed to believe that if we are simply just sitting down doing absolutely nothing, we are wasting precious time. We think we always have to be doing something when in reality, we we would be a lot better off if we all just did nothing from time to time. I encourage you to grab your favorite cup of tea sometime this weekend and spend 20 minutes doing nothing but drinking it. Pay attention to the sounds of your house, sit outside and enjoy the birds flying by, just be connected to your thoughts and your surroundings. It’s a powerful thing to just be.

[all photos in today’s post shot by Tina Herschberger Photography]

How do you find the calm during your crazy? I’d love to hear other nuggets of how you chill out.

Remember to grab one of the new and improved bold and enticing flavors of Lipton Tea at your local retailer. The inside of your cup will never taste better.

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

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