Long intro todayand I have a few announcements in this newsletter, so keep reading and enjoy! 😃
In January, I decided to do dry January. I'd tried in the past and failed, and wanted to see what changes would happen when I did not drink for 1 month. My relationship with alcohol is wonky…no one thinks I drink a lot and I think I always over drink especially- since I'm small. I wanted to see if drinking impacted my physical, mental, and emotional states. I know I definitely sleep better or wake up feeling less “groggy” when I don't drink at night. Even if I have one 5oz (yes, I measure 🫣) glass of wine, I would sometimes wake up the next morning feeling like I'd had way more and I never understood why.
Well, to shorten this story, Dry Jan was going great and then with a week left in the month, I found out I was pregnant. So it has been a Dry 2024 for me. To be completely honest, alcohol hasn't been missed. Yes, I do miss a margarita on a summer day. Yes, I miss my red wines (especially because I'd been unofficially training my palette- is raspberry or cherry? Pepper or tobacco?) but truly, water has been everything I've needed.
As a mid-30-year-old, I find myself and many people in my age group evaluating then re-evaluating our relationship with alcohol- and of course, there's research that shows young adults are drinking less than previous generations. A study by Gallup shows this shift: “62% of adults under age 35 say they drink, down from 72% two decades ago” I'll link this below in the wellness corner. I love that for us.
I planned to do a whole spiel on drinking the controversial studies, the health effects, yadda yadda, but I'll leave you with this: listen to your body, do a little research on alcohol's effect on your health, and also examine your family and friend's relationship with alcohol (even addiction.) Since Jan. I generally haven't felt much of a difference in my physical, mental, emotional, spiritual etc aspects of life. If anything:
I am more concerned and aware when I see others around me drinking, what I think is a more than healthy amount.
It's easy to go out and get a great non-alcoholic drink. My fav is the Phoney Negroni from Osteria. Alcohol never enhanced an experience, so I've continued to have fun out with friends all year!
My friends are like "well yeah duh you're pregnant and not drinking and it's not a big deal", but there are questions when I go to an event when I'm around people I don't know and they want to know why I'm not drinking. It feels like a question that people must ask if you don't grab or order a drink immediately.
Will I go back to drinking? Yes, but my relationship is much different and since I hope to be a breastfeeding mama, I have several more months before I will feel comfortable drinking again.
Lastly, my goal is to put out 10 newsletters annually and with baby girl on the way, I'm not sure how feasible that will be this year. If you don't hear from me, don't fret, I'll be adjusting to mom life and returning when I have a better handle on…well everything. (Pic below, if you're reading this and are unsure if you are understanding me correctly- you are.)
Mental/Emotional Wellness:Over the past year, I've seen so many articles and posts about expanding your language around emotions because as you're expressing yourself, there's many more than happy/sad/angry/scared. I've seen many emotion wheels all across social media, but I came across this great Mood Meter (below) from the newsletter I get from The Present Psychologist. Being able to better express how I'm feeling has helped when I'm at work, in my relationships and as I am checking in with myself.
Physical Wellness: If you are curious about frozen vs fresh produce, you aren't alone. There's a study from 2010 that shows no significant changes in the active components (both nutrition and color) of berries after they were frozen for 4 months. For those of us (me especially) who rarely use frozen veggies, don't be so hard on them. I mainly use frozen fruit for smoothies, but I may add frozen veggies to my freezer stash, especially because fresh veggies spoil so quickly.
Environmental Wellness: Over the past month and moving forward, our guest room will be used more frequently and one thing I have always wanted to do isdeodorize our mattress.I found this great eco-friendly method and baby, the mattress and room smelled amazing after. I used lemongrass and grapefruit(rose) essential oils since they are some of my favorite scents that I have at home.
Creative Health: In last month's newsletter, I mentioned I went to a retreat in the Poconos hosted by the Philadelphia Black Giving Circle. A few activities there were very arts- centered. I did a page out of a coloring book, I learned about junk journaling and being there ignited my spark to start scrapbooking again. Here's a little more info on junk journaling, but hit me up if you want to talk about it some more. I'm hoping to get back to my creative endeavors once baby arrives.
Remember:
Wellness includes physical, occupational, social, financial, mental/emotional, spiritual and creative health. It's all about balance!
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That's your wellness corner!
Senior Fitness Corner
Last month I mentioned the keys to predicting longevity were upper body strength, lower body strength, aerobic capacity and mobility. My hope was to break each of those down over the next couple months, but I am putting that on pause because I want to create engaging visual content about each and that requires a bit more time than what I've had over the past few weeks. Let's say it's a 2025 museologie goal. All of us, regardless of our age need to be familiar with the above fitness concepts and other aspects that will aid in healthy aging.
Currently, I am taking a Nutrition and Weight Control for Aging Baby Boomers Course. So far, it's good- Lots of things I know, but also, I'm learning about the interactions between food, medications and exercises, and also deficiency in micronutrients (vitamins and minerals.) If I ever expand my practice, these are things I need to know and ask about during intake. One thing this year has taught me: there's so much to learn for me to become a better trainer for older adults.
Yay Changes! Let's embrace them with joy?!
Well- try to at least. See you all next month, maybe.
