My August Wellness Routine

This August my priority is about embracing and uncovering more of the parts of myself that had to go dormant through the pandemic. I want to fold them in with the parts of myself that I’ve recently discovered. I want to see what the hodgepodge of a Vivian who likes working out looks like when she goes on solo trips. I want to know how the part of me who has a deeper appreciation for storytelling and lyricism shows up when she’s going to a small Nashville writer’s round.

I like who I am right now more than I ever have. I am still more anxious than your average bear, but also I can make a mean tres leches cake from scratch, can hold a plank for a lot longer than I ever imagined, and can drive.

I’m proud of who I am and sometimes cultivating a wellness routine isn’t about making yourself “better” or adding a new habit every single week, sometimes it’s about choosing to embrace activities or routines that simply help you meet yourself more than you did a day ago.

I’m heading to nashville

I alluded to this up above, but I’m going on my first solo trip since 2019. One of my favorite songwriters put out a debut album and is a part of a small writer’s round show in a few weeks. She isn’t a touring artist, so this is my only chance to see her perform some of these songs live. I forgot how fun it is to impulsively buy a concert ticket in a different city and just say, “cool, I’ll figure everything else out afterwards.” So, if you have any Nashville recs, let me know! I’ll be there for 2 days.

Pilates

I have a pretty solid yoga practice that I’ve stuck to, but I get bored easily. Going to PT earlier this year (my first real “in gym, guided experience”) also taught me I like to work out work out. The last few months, I’ve been going to the gym almost daily which has been so fun. A few weeks ago I started Pilates (TikTok made me do it) and I love it! It’s the perfect mix of low impact, intense and show results kind of workout. I pay $4 a month for a Katy Bath Pilates subscription and have been following her beginner series.

VITAMIN SUPPLEMENTS

This is a more practical component of this month’s wellness routine, but an equally important one. I had bloodwork last month and both my Vitamin D and Iron levels are low. Apparently these levels can read low after coming off birth control (I stopped the pill last October) and were probably exacerbated by my first COVID experience in May. Now I’m on a D3 daily supplement and an Iron supplement that I’ve been too scared to start until this week. I’ve struggled with IBS and one of the reasons I came off the pill is because of the intense bloating and GI issues, so it was triggering to have to voluntarily start taking a supplement that has a reputation of messing with GI systems. I have to take a pill twice a week and took my first one this week. I’m going to stick to it for the month and then get retested, but I ended up turning to IG stories yesterday when my GI symptoms flared up as a result of the Iron. Here are some recs my community sent over – take it with a full stomach, have a lot of iron enriching food, try to pair it with Vitamin C, research liquid iron or ferritin tablets instead, if it’s really, really bad talk to your PCP to explore alternate options. Many people who live with anemia or have also had iron deficiency encouraged me to stay the course because your body does get used to it. Wish me luck.

REIGNITING MY LOVE FOR COOKING AT HOME

WE GOT NEW POTS AND PANS! I am so excited. Since moving we’ve been only using our Always Pan (which did not hold up the test of time), some Amazon pans that got banged up in the move, and some stainless steel pans and pots that I got as a gift from my family. (If you’re Latinx, you’ll get this — it was some ultra luxury pots and pans that had been in boxes for probably decades but had never been used because they were too nice. Make it make sense.) But because the stainless steel ones were hard to clean, we only really used the Always Pan and the one pan life was not cutting it anymore. It made me not want to cook. We made the upfront investment last month for a whole fancy, beautiful, nonstick set, that will hopefully pay itself off in the long run.

What are you adding to your routine this month?