How do you make your health a priority?

These days I feel like it’s about finding moments of downtime in my life to be present and to connect with myself. I have started this new career where there’s constant communication, which is fun, but can also be kind of stressful. So a way to get in touch with myself and feel good is to keep my phone downstairs and have a no-screen time dinner with my partner.

Socializing with people, too, is how I make my health a priority. It’s something I have to do a few times a week. At the same time, I do feel like I am an introvert, so alone time is really important and setting boundaries. That’s essential for my mental health because I can get overextended easily.

What’s a small ritual that you wouldn’t expect to be something important for your mental health, but is an essential part of your day?

Collecting the harvest is such a great ritual because my garden is kind of removed from the living spaces of the house. At least once a day, I try to go down there. Even tracking the small growth of plants over time is a nice meditative process. It’s a really wonderful thing for peace of mind.

“My boyfriend moved in recently and is a phenomenal chef.”

And we’ve been doing dinners together at night a lot during the week. We used to watch TV when we ate dinner, but now we sit at the table and enjoy the food and each other’s company. It’s actually something I grew up with too. My mom was really firm about every night we’re going to eat as a family. Sometimes I thought that was silly, but now I really appreciate it and see how important that is as life gets busier.