Stress Rx: Take Breaks
Hey,
This week I was in the clubhouse talking to a friend (hi, C 👋) who, like me, works at a place where the mission centers around women's empowerment and community. We were brainstorming ways to use our platforms for good. We were also trying to put our fingers on the specific emotions that social media brings out when horrifying news breaks, particularly when it is a direct assault on women's rights and women's bodies. Endlessly affirming our collective anger can feel like action, but at what cost?
In times like these, remember to step away from the stream of memes and the echo chamber of outrage in our feeds. I know that when all we want to do is help, it can feel careless to unplug. In fact, it's necessary.
Don't tune out or turn away. Take breaks.
Permission. Granted. To stop scrolling, reading think pieces, and absorbing the same photo collages and instagram quotes. It is okay to take a break. It is necessary to prescribe yourself more self care.
The Nature Cure from Outside Magazine about doctors actually prescribing the outdoors to patients, really hit home this week. Emotionally threatening stimulus, like reading the news or even certain interactions at work, literally triggers the same sympathetic "fight, flight, or freeze" systems that encountering a snake or bear might. Exposure to this for long enough depletes us both physically and mentally.
Our bodies and minds need to "rest and digest" to actually recover from what the world throws at us. To think with clarity, we need to activate the parasympathetic system. The stimuli of being outdoors does exactly that — it has so many more benefits than I can list here (I recommend the whole article).
I am not a doctor and I can't prescribe you time outdoors or to delete instagram for a bit, but I can at least share my own goals.
So this week — where do you go outside and what do you love to do there? Can you increase that by an hour? Can you double it? What can you do to give your body that chance to restore, to take in fresh air, and to prescribe yourself a way to relieve stress?
I am also committed to helping those who are on the ground directly supporting and protecting women in Alabama:
NARAL x Yellowhammer Abortion Fund. Donate or join us for Monday's Come Alive & Happy Hour and Tuesday's thick. class where all proceeds go to these organizations.
Montgomery Area Reproductive Justice Coalition. POWER House Alabama, Montgomery's only abortion clinic and organization that provides escorts and hands on grassroots support for women in Alabama, is also taking donations via their PayPal.
Exhale Pro-Voice, the after-abortion talkline based out of Oakland where you can donate and train to volunteer.
Take care of yourself and do what you need to to recharge your strength. The world needs it. We have a lot of fights ahead.
xo,
Molly
Permission Granted
…to prescribe yourself a break
Read something fun. I'm finally digging into Daisy Jones and The Six as well as our next book club selection, Save Me The Plums. My goal is to read at least half of these outdoors somewhere. Next book club meeting in the backyard?
Get outside...in shorts. Leggings as uniform is a great lifestyle and all, but nothing brings back the childlike love of the outdoors like shorts. This weekend I'm in Joshua Tree living in my forever favorites Patagonia Barely Baggies and newer loves OV Polka Dot Rec Shorts.
Stay inside...in comfies. I don't have it yet, but mark my words, I will own this OFFHOURS Homecoat. I've been eyeing it for months waiting for the occasion to make the splurge.
Submerge yourself in water. Cold water swimming has been long thought to help people with depression. If that's not in the cards, a reminder that taking a bath can actually help you get more sleep.
Treat. Yourself. I'm an unabashed candy lover and this profile of how to eat candy like a Swedish person is just the permission I need to make Saturday Candy a thing.
Soothe your skin. Lather yourself in something you love — our team can't get enough of Sagely's CBD Relief & Recovery products — and relax to the sweet, soothing sounds of David Attenborough narrating the shit out of Our Planet.
Appreciate the shows that bind us. I can't contain my excitement to savor every minute of Fleabag Season Two and dissect every second of the finale of Game of Thrones. Cancel your Monday morning calls and decompress with us.
ABM. Always be massaging. It wouldn't be an Assembly team meeting without someone using a recovery tool. We're working tired muscles with our The Release tune up balls (grab them in our shop!), trading our team Thera Cane* back and forth, and talking about this heated Shiatsu Back & Neck Massager a few of us have at home (*Recommended by resident Acupuncturist, Karinn Gallagher.) Or, go get a massage. It's been too long, hasn't it?