TAKING A BREAK, A PAUSE, A SABBATICAL…not sure what to call it, but overall I know it’s time for me to “be.” While I’ve lived with stage IV disease for eight years now, sometimes I forget how serious it is. I love helping others and often put that over letting myself truly be present. Here’s my update:
Taking a Break, Pause, Sabbatical
25 Ways to Spread Love
The day I received the heartbreaking news of my stage IV disease, I felt lost and overwhelmed with fear. Though I had cancer before, stage IV felt scarier than the first diagnosis and I didn’t know what to do or where to reach out. Something pulled me to a spiritual place. I picked up the phone to call a priest who was close friends with my in-laws. He answered the phone and told me that his next appointment cancelled and I should drive over to meet him. Though we share a different faith, his words resonated and filled me with hope and was exactly what I needed at that time. What stood out to me most in the conversation was these words: “Caryn – live with a loving stance.”
Initially I thought, “what does that mean? How can I live with a loving stance in my own life?” Obviously, wise words from religious figures, role models, scholars or even greeting cards are meant to be interpreted individually. However, I saw it as not just about romantic love or self-love, but about spreading love in my day-to-day.
Pretty Wellness Small Steps Challenge 2020
Happy New Year. We’re excited for the third annual Pretty Wellness Small Steps Challenge. In all aspects of life, even our health, goal setting = increased success. The Pretty Wellness Small Steps Challenge 2020 outlines weekly wellness goals with supporting tasks to inspire you to make small healthy changes and New Year’s resolutions that will stick. Each Friday, starting January 3, 2020, we will announce a wellness goal to focus on for the week. Then each day, we will provide a deeper dive via Instagram on simple ways to be successful with the challenge. Come to us weekdays at 7:45 EST for live videos or check out our Instagram stories and the SmallSteps2020 highlight daily. Our goal is to share tasks and tools to make healthy living easy for the busy individual. We can’t wait for you to join in, connect and share your insight.
Wellness Work Series: Stress Reduction Tips
As a recovering workaholic, I can easily get sucked back into the grind and stress. If I haven’t completed my to-do list, I set my alarm to a painful early morning hour to finish up the project. My mind is in “rush mode” and body enjoys working in the flow. So I produce a lot in a short amount of time. Yet, in doing so, the heaviness of stress sits on my chest. For many years, I convinced myself that my type-A personality fueled my success. Yes, some stress motivates performance, though research shows continual long-term stress harms our health. So, as a part of the Wellness Work Series, I have outlined a few healthy stress reduction / stress management tips for busy individuals.
Healthy Lifestyle Hacks
We all want to make our lives a little easier, right? Finding simple solutions and lifestyle hacks can be the answer when you want to improve your health. We started PrettyWellness.com to share information together on how to take small steps toward better health. Whether you’re a working mom, a stay-at-home parent, an up-and-coming 20-something or anyone in-between, we’re all trying to find our way through a busy and complicated life. After my second cancer diagnosis, I learned that focusing on taking care of myself and tweaking my lifestyle, helped me feel amazing even under the stress of treatments. Now, it’s my mission to share this with everyone and create conversations together about our wellbeing. Taking small steps toward better wellness can put us all on the path to the life we want to live both personally and professionally. It starts with putting one foot in front of the other. This can be made easier, when you look for healthy life hacks to instill into your routine.
19 Wellness Trends for 2019
What’s new and what’s hot in wellness is right here – we’ve got the latest wellness trends for you. We’ve been attending events, reading trade publications and embracing conversations about healthy lifestyle modalities and what will be mainstream in 2019. Some of these items may stick, some may not…but we’re excited to share what in wellness will be more readily available this year. Below are our favorite 19 wellness trends for 2019.