meet carrie barber
How do you make your health a priority?
For me, it’s all about convenience. I order Oganic Oren so I know that I have healthy food, no matter what, throughout the week and then the weekend, I eat whatever I am craving. Something that’s made a huge impact in terms of my wellbeing and mental health is having balance and not being too extreme, beating myself up, and leaning into what my body wants (especially when that is Jon & Vinny’s).
“I used to struggle with food and exercising too much.”
I was so hard on myself, but I wasn’t healthy because I was so stressed out about it. So now, as much as I can, I try to let go of that and trust that my body knows what it needs, that I’m not perfect, and I’ll need certain things on certain days. I feel the healthiest I have ever felt as an adult.
What grounds you and makes you happy?
I wake up early, around 6 or 6:30, so that I can take my time in the morning and not feel rushed before I start work. In this photo, I didn’t have a couch, so I was lying on the floor watching Mad Men in the morning. Then Gio moseys out to lay with me and falls back asleep and that’s our bonding time in the morning. I got very lucky with him. He was rescued from traffic during rush hour on Beverly, but has the sweetest demeanor, sleeps all the time, and I have never heard him bark.
I wake up before Gio does. He always sleeps in, but it’s nice to know that I have to get up for him, get dressed, and take him on a walk. Especially now in quarantine, I love having him here. He keeps me company. He’s so cuddly and very affectionate, which is nice too because he keeps me grounded.
How do you manage your anxiety and take care of your body?
My prescription medication is for anxiety. I’ve always been an anxious person. The last few years I’ve tried everything that I could or that was recommended to me to curb my anxiety. It got to the point where it was exhausting trying to figure it out. I tried all the natural things and was tired of struggling with it. So my medication is fairly new. I had been on antidepressants and anti-anxiety medication in my early twenties and I felt like I did enough work that I should be able to figure it out. But now, I feel like whatever helps, I’m here for it. I’m trying to make life easier. I know for me that it might not be forever. It’s just something right now.
“I take supplements on an as-needed basis.”
Except for magnesium, which I live and die by. I used to see all these western doctors, holistic doctors, healers…(you name it I tried it) and they would always give me supplements, but I never stuck with it long enough to feel like it was making a difference. Once I started eating better, and more consistently, I found that I didn’t really need as many supplements.
next story — katey denno