How do you make your health a priority?

I’m still working on it. As I’m getting older, I realize that I’m not as resilient as I once was. I just turned 35 and I feel 85 most days. My hips hurt, my back hurts. My brain hurts. When I was younger, I could thrive off of 3 hours of sleep. But I have to sleep now. It’s not even a question. Physically and mentally, I can’t pull an all-nighter anymore, so I have to sleep and unfortunately, some things have to fall to the bottom of the list. So I’m working on accepting that.

“Another thing I’m trying to prioritize as we look to 2021 is not overpacking my plate.”

So many times, I feel like I can be this robot. And I’m not. I’m just a 35-year-old person trying to make it in the world and I can’t do as many things well in one day as I think I can. So I’m trying to take on less and be okay with that.

What rituals do you tuck away that are essential to your day-to-day?

After moving homes, I’ve pared down this drawer to the things that I absolutely need at night or in the morning. My prescription medication is for depression and anxiety and I’ve been taking it for a long time now. For the first few years that I was on this medication, it was very painful, something that I would never speak to anyone about. I felt like I was failing because I couldn’t handle myself without medication and everybody else around me had it together, naturally. We have a family history of depression, so it is not something that I control and I’ve become more comfortable with that. Life is tough and whatever gets you through, more power to you.

The inhaler is a 2020 addition that I’ve added to my daily routine. So I thought that I had COVID, but in actuality, I couldn’t breathe and it was because of the poor air quality. So my doctor put me on an inhaler. Frankly, having to get an inhaler was scary because climate change and the impact it has on your body is terrifying. We have to start thinking long-term about what we’re doing to this planet and what we’re doing for our bodies.