anything goes with emma chamberlain - realistic habits

Episode Date: February 2, 2023

don’t you just love it when you’re scrolling through social media, and you stumble upon a little video of somebody showing their daily routine? they wake up at 5AM, roll out of their crisp white sheets, take a shower, do a 40 step skincare routine and give themselves a full blowout so that their hair is perfect and wavy and gorgeous... you get what i’m saying. we all talk about how social media is not real life these days, but even i get swept up into the world of the internet sometimes. i watch a video of somebody's perfect daily routine and i don’t feel good, because i’m like, i’ll never be like that. but the truth is, the whole thing is unrealistic! i think that the pressure to have your shit together is a little bit unhealthy, and there’s an obsession with it on the internet. so that’s what i want to talk about today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, don't you just love it when you're scrolling through social media and you stumble upon a little video of somebody showing their daily routine and their daily routine consists of them waking up at 5 a.m. at 5 a.m. rolling out of their crisp white sheets, taking a shower, doing a 40 steps skin care routine and giving themselves a full blow dry blow out so that their hair is perfect and wavy and gorgeous. And then they go and do a workout. Oh, well, I guess they would have done a workout before the skin skincare routine and the haircare. But okay, you get what I'm saying? They workout and then they make a beautiful breakfast

and then they go to work and they pack themselves the perfect lunch and they're wearing a crispy, dry, cleaned outfit and everything about them is just perfect. I did such a terrible job of painting that picture. dry cleaned outfit and everything about them is just perfect. I did such a terrible job of painting that picture. That was a mess, that was a complete mess. But you know what I'm talking about? We constantly see people on social media

who just have their shit together. And whether or not you're in a phase of your life where you feel like you have your shit together, seeing that doesn't feel good. I mean, I think in a lot of ways it can be inspiring, but simultaneously, it kind of makes you feel bad. Because what's portrayed on the internet is a lot more perfect than anything we could ever possibly do in real life. And that's obvious. How often do we all talk about how social media is not real life? That's common knowledge these days.

But even I get swept up into the world of the internet. Still, I watch a video of somebody with a perfect daily routine and I feel poopy because I'm like, I'll never be like that. I'll never have my shit together like that. But the truth is they don't always have their shit together like that. The whole thing is very unrealistic. But we still envy these people because their lives seem so satisfying and so productive and so efficient and so organized and so picture perfect. And you know, they're not showing their lazy moments when they're scrolling on TikTok for two hours in their daily routine video. They're definitely not doing that. They're not showing the moments when they weren't in the mood to work out that morning or when they weren't in the mood to cook themselves breakfast.

So they went and pick something up from a restaurant. You know what I'm saying? Like they're not showing those moments when they're not perfect, when their schedule isn't perfect. Most of the time they're just showing when it's pretty impressive, you know? When they're having an impressive day.

The truth is a lot of us don't have the energy or motivation to have a picture perfect routine. I almost feel like having a picture perfect routine is like a full-time job within itself. You know, having all the perfect products, like aesthetically pleasing cooking pans, and aesthetically pleasing skin care products, and like having all of that stuff and keeping up this sort of image of a picture-perfect life, I guess, is sort of a full-time job within itself.

And not everybody, and I would argue most people don't have the time or the energy or the motivation to participate in that illusion. And that's okay. It's okay to enjoy the art of having a perfect routine. It's okay to enjoy that. It's okay to feel fulfilled and excited by that. There's nothing wrong with the people online who are sharing their picture perfect daily routines, but there's also nothing wrong with feeling like, I can't do this. You know what I'm saying? This is not going to work for me. And I think for the people who don't really feel motivated to have a picture perfect routine, it can be really hard at times to watch the people who do live their lives on the internet because it can make

you feel like you don't have your shit together. When in reality, you might, it just might look different from other people. I think that the pressure to have your shit together is definitely a little bit unhealthy. I think that there are pros and cons to it, but I think that it's definitely unhealthy. And I think that there's an obsession with it on the internet. And I've even found myself being obsessed with it in a way, obsessed with having my shit together and having it be picture perfect. I think that it's unhealthy because number one,

it's unrealistic. We're not all gonna have the energy all the time to maintain our lives perfectly. You know, there are gonna be times when that one chair in our bedroom has a pile of dirty clothes on it. Okay, there's just gonna be times when that happens. And there's gonna be times when that pile of dirty clothes doesn't get touched for a month. There are gonna be moments like that. Moments like that are necessary.

And there's nothing wrong with those moments. The other thing is, for those of you who struggle with your mental health as I do, I think it's the hardest to deal with the pressure to have your shit together when you're struggling mentally in some way. Like, when I'm in a depressive episode, and then I go on Instagram and I'm scrolling through my Explorer page and I see somebody's daily routine where they have their shit together, I feel so bad. It's so much more painful. When you're already down bad, you're not feeling good.

You can't get yourself out of bed. You can't get yourself to do anything. And then you watch something like that. And you're like, what? It makes everything so much worse. And the truth is, when you're struggling mentally in some way, whether that's a depressive episode and anxiety related episode, whatever it might be, seeing stuff like that and feeling that pressure

only makes it worse. Because when you're struggling mentally, what you need to do is just get through it. You need to do the bare minimum to just get through it so that you can get to the other side of it and start feeling better. The last thing you need to think about when you're going through a tough time is your 14 steps, skincare routine. You know what I'm saying? I think that the pressure to have your shit together at all times does not leave room for the inevitable rough patch. And that's tough to deal with.

And I've actually had moments in my life where I've been in a rough patch. And I think that I've had rough patches that have lasted longer than they needed to, because every day when I would wake up during this tough time, I would immediately start bullying myself about the fact that I didn't have my shit together. And then I was a loser. And then I sucked because I didn't have the energy to get up and do my skincare routine and clean my house and organize this and organize that. Blah blah blah blah.

And it made it worse. And the truth is there was no rush. Okay. I could go do my dishes whenever, even if my dishes sat in the sink for a fucking month. Who cares? Who cares? But here's where it gets a little bit complicated.

You know, the problem is, is that there's a fine line between not being mentally stable enough to perfectly maintain your life or being too tired to perfectly maintain your life and not having any discipline with yourself at all and therefore not maintaining your life in a way that is positive. Do you see what I'm saying? I think it is important to a certain extent to have some discipline in your life and implement habits into your life that are productive and beneficial. But at the same time, you don't want to put so much pressure on yourself that it's causing you to suffer mentally.

You know what I mean? I hope I explain that properly. It's totally awesome to have bursts or phases of having your shit together perfectly. You know, there's nothing wrong with just getting into a rhythm and just nailing it and just cracking the code to your own life, where you're in a routine that just works for you and you feel organized and productive and everything's just flowing.

There's nothing wrong with that. I'm not saying that that is toxic, but what is unhealthy is never allowing yourself to let it go sometimes. That's unhealthy. And it's also kind of unhealthy to never hold yourself accountable for your own life at all when technically you are in a mental place where you can handle it. You know, like if you're in a mental place where you can handle it,

you can handle maintaining your life and stuff, but you just maybe feel kind of lazy, which we've all been there. There's nothing wrong with being lazy or feeling lazy or whatever. It happens. That doesn't mean you're a bad person or something. But if you're feeling lazy and you're not disciplining yourself in any way or not holding yourself accountable, that also can be a bad thing because Having discipline with yourself and you know maintaining some sort of order when you can

Is a good thing Okay, so that was confusing everything I just said um, so I Never know with me. I'm just speaking out of my ass, and I'm like, I don't know, I'll find out later. I'll find out later if what I'm saying makes sense. Today I'm gonna be sharing some realistic habits that I've added to my routine

to make being productive and organized more enjoyable because I feel like a lot of us, you know, watch people online who have the perfect daily routine and, you know, have their shit together. And we try to replicate what they're doing exactly. And we get frustrated with ourselves when it doesn't stick. And the reason why it doesn't stick. And the reason why it doesn't stick is because it's not catered to you.

And the truth is when you're figuring out what your routine is, you need to be thinking about yourself. So I wanted to share with you some ways that I've sort of set up my routines in life in a way that makes it fun for me. Now these things might not work for you, but I just want to inspire hopefully someone out there to think outside of the box a little bit and figure out a way to make being productive

and being organized and getting your chores done and doing all that stuff. I hope that I inspire one person to think outside of the box and figure out a way to make it enjoyable or at least as enjoyable as possible because obviously a lot of this does require discipline to a certain extent. But I think there are ways to make it more fun and there are ways to make it more you. So I'm going to be sharing the ways that I've made my routine very me. So first I want to talk about getting my chores done. Okay, we're talking about cleaning the litter box. I have cats, so you know, I have to clean the litter box.

We're talking about putting my clothes away, putting my laundry away, we're talking about doing the dishes, we're talking about putting my clothes away, putting my laundry away, we're talking about doing the dishes, we're talking about stuff like that. I used to hate doing chores, okay? I used to hate it. Like, I would constantly have dishes in the sink. I would constantly have clothes all over my room. I could never get it under control.

I never wanted to do chores. I never, ever found it enjoyable. But ever since I started listening to entertaining things while doing my chores, it's changed for me. I think of doing chores as like a relaxing time. That's how I try to think of it now. I put my headphones on, I put my phone in my pocket, I put on something entertaining. Okay, listen, when I'm doing my chores, I don't want to listen to something educational. Sometimes I do, but I want to hear something fucking entertaining. Okay, maybe it's like someone telling a story

like on a podcast or something that's just stupid. Like not something that's making me a better person. Fuck that. When I'm doing chores, that's my time to consume meaningless content. Okay, and it makes it fun. Okay, because normally I try to control what I consume on the internet.

I try to be thoughtful about it. I try to stick to things that are educational, things that sort of expand my mind in some way, but what I'm doing chores, no, no, no, no, this is my fun time. This is my fun time. So I've made chores my fun time. So it's like I get to listen to just dumb shit and just enjoy myself while I'm doing my chores.

And you see, it's like now I get excited to do my chores because I'm like this is my time when I get to enjoy the internet. I've also made it a routine to clean up my house for like 10 to 15 minutes in the morning in 10 to 15 minutes at night. Now, it's not rigorous. It's just kind of tidying up. And again, this is my 10 to 15 minutes in the morning and at night to just enjoy something stupid. Like, you know what? I'll tell you guys a secret. Okay, fine. I'll tell

you guys a secret. I use my chores time to watch stuff like videos about Hollywood drama. Okay, this is like, like what's going on? Like who cheated on who, who just got married to who, who unfollowed who on Instagram? Like that's my time. Or like if there was like recently like a red carpet, I'll listen to fashion critics talk about people's outfits and maybe say mean things about the outfits I don't know

But it's just fun. It's just fun stupid drama stupid pop culture BS It's delicious. It's delicious and I look forward to checking in on like What's happening in the world? What pointless stuff is happening in pop culture? Like this is my time to check in while I'm doing chores. It's changed my life. And it's kind of made me look forward to when I'm doing my chores.

Because I'm simultaneously rewarding myself with something that, you know, I don't normally reward myself with or I try to avoid at all other times. And it's also kind of nice because I'm giving myself a little bit of time to indulge in this pointless, sometimes toxic content, you know what I mean? But there's also a clear end time. It's like when I'm done with my chores, I'm done watching this stuff. Emma, you're done. And you get to enjoy it again

later when you do your chores again later. But not now. Now it's time to be good again, okay? So, I don't know. I've found that to work really well. I think the moral of this whole thing is if something is really challenging for you, pairing it with something that is indulgent can sometimes help you form a habit. You know what I'm saying? So it's like I am combining a bad habit with a good habit. And it works out because it's like, okay, now I'm getting my good habit done. And simultaneously, I'm controlling my bad habit by limiting it to the times when I'm doing the good habit. I don't know if that's actually a good thing or not. But I will say that this is really worked for me because now I've actually come to enjoy doing my chores even in silence

just because I've gotten into the routine of getting chores done and I realize, okay, wait, this actually isn't so bad. And I learned that through balancing good habit with bad habit, but now I actually enjoy participating in that good habit. So there's something there, for sure, that's good and powerful. But anyway, making it a routine to clean up for 10 to 15 minutes every morning and every night, as I mentioned earlier, that's a really great thing. Just making that a part of your morning routine, shoving it in there, it can make a huge difference. Even though it's only 10 to 15 minutes,

it makes a huge difference. And if you don't have time for 10 to 15 minutes, you could do five minutes and it would still make a huge difference. And you don't need to set a timer and, you know, blah, blah, no, just maybe while your coffee's brewing, you go and you do your little five minutes of cleaning, put in stuff away, whatever. It makes a huge difference. Another thing that has really changed the way that I do chores is by decorating my home in a way that makes me cherish the space that I'm in.

Like, I used to be a lawless focus on the way that my space was decorated. You know, I didn't have a lot of personal items in my home. I did. I had a few, but my home was not very personal to me. I just didn't put effort into making my space, a place that felt homey and cherished in a way. And the truth is, is that making your home feel homey and comfortable and a reflection of your personality doesn't need to be some sort of expensive thing. Okay, it can be, but it absolutely doesn't have to be.

Like, it's not about having a perfectly decorated home. It's not about having the most expensive couch or the most expensive blanket, absolutely not. It's about having things that spark joy in you. And those things can be from a thrift store for three dollars. They can be from Etsy for like ten dollars. Like it doesn't need to be an expensive endeavor. Okay. A good example is I have this little sign that I hung up next to my bed. And it says something like slippers, breakfast, newspaper, walkies. Okay.

And it has buttons next to it. So it looks like you could basically push a button and like your slippers would go next year bed. This is a replica of something that was in a TV show, Wallace and Grommet, that I watched as a kid. And I found this like replica of that little wall panel that was in the show that one of the characters had next to their bed. And then I put it next to my bed. This was like $20, but it was like the best $20 I've ever spent. This makes my home feel so me, you know?

And it's little things like that that make you cherish your home and almost build this like respect and love for where you live. And it doesn't matter how big or small your space is making it feel you makes you cherish it more and it makes you wanna makes you cherish it more, and it makes you wanna take care of it more in a way. And I think that that within itself

can be a motivator to keep your space cleaner. You know, it makes you more motivated to get your chores done, I guess, because you wanna see your place clean and organized so that you can enjoy the cute little objects that you have laying around your house. Listen, this might not work for everybody, but for some reason it works for me.

The last thing that I've really gotten into the routine of that's sort of changed the way I do chores is I've really made it a habit through a decent amount of discipline, but I've really made it a habit through a decent amount of discipline, but I've really made it a habit to clean up after myself as I go. This is such a great habit to have, but it took me my whole life to finally nail it into my head, but it makes such a big difference when I make myself dinner, for example, instead of letting all those dishes from my dinner sit in the sink until my sink is full and I'm like, now I have to do the dishes.

I just do them immediately. And I know it's like, Emma, come on. But if you clean up your messes as you go, it prevents a moment where things become out of control and it's like holy shit. In order to clean up this mess, then I've made it's going to take two hours. You never get to that point. Doing the dishes as you make them takes like 10 minutes. And is it annoying?

Yes, I never want to do the dishes. Okay, ever. There's never a moment where I'm like, ooh I never want to do the dishes. Okay, ever. There's never a moment where I'm like, ooh, I want to do the dishes. But doing it as you make them makes it so that, like I never have a sink filled with dirty dishes anymore that it'll take, you know, 40 minutes to do all of them. I never have that.

Same thing with like my closet becoming a mess. You know, when I'm picking out an outfit for the day, it is an absolute train wreck in my brain and in my closet. Okay, I'm putting things on. I'm looking in the mirror. I'm upset because I'm like, that doesn't look cute on me right now. Take it off. This happens for an hour. Finally, I pick out an outfit. I look on the floor, there's clothes everywhere. There's just clothes everywhere. If I have time, and sometimes I don't, and I have to clean things up when I get home, but when I have time, I always pick up my closet and put everything away because it just prevents so much distress later on.

Next, let's talk about organization. Okay, I recently have become organized in a way that I never was before and it has really changed my life as well. But it took a lot of time. The process of becoming organized took me over a year to accomplish. It started about a year ago when I started cleaning out my belongings. I hadn't cleaned out all my belongings in multiple years. It had been multiple years. So I had a lot of stuff built up. Clothes I wasn't wearing anymore. Random charging cords from random devices that I don't even own anymore. Broken, chipped plates and bowls, like just

stuff that like I wasn't using anymore because it didn't have a function in my life anymore. It took me so long to sort through all my belongings. Okay. And it was awful in a lot of ways. It was awful, but I was motivated because I was like, I know that at the end of this rainbow, there's a pot of gold. When I finish sorting through all my belongings and I narrow it down to the stuff that I actually need, it's going to feel really good. It probably did take a year to sort through everything and to sort of organize everything, kind of group everything together

that needs to be grouped together. All of my charging cords, all in one place, all of my jewelry, all in one place, all of my sunglasses, all in one place, it took so much time to sort through everything and then to put everything together so that all of my belongings were number one stuff that I really needed or need in number two or want honestly not even just stuff I need but stuff that I really want to have sorting through what I want and don't want in my life, and then

putting everything together. That took a really long time. But after that process was done, I had another journey I had to go on, which was finding a place for everything that made sense. Basically reorganizing my entire life and belongings in a way that was thoughtful and easily accessible. But this year long journey of slowly but surely picking away at this project and taking a few hours on the weekends when I had nothing else to do to sort of slowly pick away at this project, it has changed everything for me because now everything that I own has a place to go. It has a spot where it belongs. And that makes cleaning up after myself so much easier that makes staying organized so much easier because I already have a

sort of system of organization going on in my life. So maintaining that isn't very hard actually because all the hard work is done. I think being organized in a way is kind of like an investment of your time because the initial stages are extremely challenging and they're annoying and they're tedious and they're exhausting and you dread it and you don't want to do it, but then once you Finish everything you finish getting rid of all the stuff you don't need you finish putting everything away into a perfect spot where it makes sense

Then you reap the benefits and you're like oh Now everything has a place now. I'm like permanently organized And it's just a lot easier to keep it under control. The way that I organized my actual life, like my schedule, things that I need to accomplish, etc. It's pretty much all on Google Calendar. Like I feel like Google Calendar is what works for me. I used to be really into writing things down in a physical planner, like on paper. And I still really enjoy that. But I found that at this point in my life, I just want to

slap everything into Google Calendar and have it accessible on my phone at all times. It's easy to tweak Google Calendar whenever you need to, and it's just great, okay. Next let's talk about productivity, how I get myself to be productive in a realistic way. Number one, I think it's so helpful to have an organized checklist of what you want to accomplish every day. And have that written down somewhere. You know, maybe it's in your Google Calendar, maybe it's in a physical paper planner, maybe

it's on an app like notion, I use notion, making a checklist and making that checklist realistic. Okay. I like to make my checklists the bare minimum of what I need to accomplish that day. And then after I finish all that stuff, then I can go back and add more things if I still have energy or whatever. And I'm down to, you know, get more shit done. Then I can add more stuff onto my checklists. But there's something mentally satisfying about checking things off on a checklist and eventually completing that checklist. And there's something motivating about it. And it also

makes your day feel less daunting. When you see everything you need to accomplish, all written down, you're like, all right, you know what? I can do this. Like this is doable. And I think giving yourself the bare minimum of what you need to get done that day and having it all written down on paper is motivating because the way I like to look at it is, okay, when I get all this stuff done on my checklist, I can then do whatever I want. Like I reward myself with after this, you have free time. So if you finish everything by 12 PM, okay great, you're done after that

and you can do whatever you want. If you finish at 8 PM, okay, well, there's not a lot of time for free time, but at least you got it all done and maybe you have an hour or two before you go to sleep for some free time, but I reward myself with free time afterwards. And sometimes I don't get any free time.

But the possibility of some free time afterwards. And sometimes I don't get any free time. But the possibility of some free time later motivates me to check off that checklist. And I don't know, there's just something inspiring about it. And it also organizes your day in a way so that you don't feel aimless. You're not like, I don't even know what to start with first. Oh my God, I feel like I've so much to do and it's all clouded up in my head and I don't even know what to do. If you write it all down, it just feels so much less overwhelming. Another thing I like to do is I like to plan fun things

for my free time at the end of the day. Like maybe it's watching a TV show, or it's cooking a new recipe for dinner, or maybe it's going out to dinner with a friend, or maybe it's going to target. Like I love going to target. Okay, that's, that's like an enjoyable experience for me. So sometimes I'll say to myself, okay, when you finish all of your tedious sort of work for the day, you get to go to target. But just having something little like that that you can look forward to motivates you to

check everything off your checklist. I also have started putting my phone in a place where I can't see it while I'm getting work done. Because I've noticed that my phone distracts me more when it's out on the table. If I see it out on the table or out on my desk, I just keep grabbing it because I see it and then I'm like, ooh, wait, maybe I do want that right now. Maybe I do want to go on that right now. Whereas if I don't see it, then I don't think of it as much. So I'll put my phone in a drawer. I'll put my phone in the other room sometimes. Or I'll put my phone in this weird thing I bought on Amazon

that is basically like this bowl. It looks like a bowl, like a vase almost. And you basically put your phone in it and you can't see your phone. And it charges your phone and it sanitizes your phone at the same time. Now listen, this thing might not be sanitizing my phone. I know for a fact it charges my phone, but it might not be sanitizing my phone.

I have not proved that, okay? I fell for the gimmick of it all. It might not be cleaning my phone, okay? I wanna believe it is, because I break out on my cheeks, sometimes when I'm talking on the phone too much, I will literally get cheek acne from my phone on the side that I use my phone on.

So I would like it to be sanitizing my phone, but I don't know. But I like to put my phone in there because I can't see it. And in theory, I'm also preventing cheek acne that's unnecessary. But not having your phone out makes a huge difference. Just not making it visible, making it invisible to you while you're getting work done. I also like to give myself one day a week where I do nothing at all, nothing, nothing on the calendar. I give myself one day a week, minimum, sometimes more, but minimum one day a week, where I have nothing on the calendar. And what's interesting is is that sometimes

I actually end up getting more done on those days because I don't feel any pressure to do anything. And when you don't feel pressure to do anything, then you're like, oh, well, you know, maybe I will actually do it because you don't feel paralyzed by the pressure to do anything. So then it ends up giving you the energy to want to do things. But then sometimes I use that day to genuinely do nothing and just recharge. But I think that giving yourself one day a week where you don't have to see anybody, you don't have to do anything, you don't even have to move out of your bed if you don't want to.

Giving yourself at least one day a week to do that can make a huge difference. And last but not least, when I take breaks in between being productive, getting worked on, doing whatever, I don't let myself go on any social media apps. Okay. If I'm taking a break, I'm not on Instagram. I don't start watching stuff on YouTube. No. I try to find something enjoyable and relaxing that isn't too distracting.

Like, if I start going on Instagram or I start watching YouTube when I take a break from being productive for a little bit in the middle of the day, it's so hard to get break from being productive for a little bit in the middle of the day, it's so hard to get back into being productive again. It's like impossible. I'm like, I'm permanently distracted for the rest of the day. So I'll try to do something else. Like, for example, I love making little mood boards on Pinterest. I know Pinterest is kind of a social media app in a way, but there's something about it that's not as addicting for me personally.

I go on Pinterest and I make little Pinterest boards all the time. And if anything, it actually makes me feel inspired and motivated. It doesn't make me feel bad about myself or anxious or distracted. It just makes me feel calm and inspired. So I love going on Pinterest when I am taking a little break in the middle of the day. I also like going on Spotify and trying to find new music. Sometimes I'll do that. Like I'll go through different playlists. That can be really fun.

Again, it's just fun and it's not distracting. I don't feel anxious when I do that. It just is a fun little pastime for me. Or maybe I'll watch something educational or listen to something kind of educational. Well, I draw or doodle or go on Pinterest or maybe even just sit there. But the worst thing you can do

is start scrolling through social media because it's so addicting and it's so, it's just so much information. It just messes up your brain, you know? So I try to avoid it. Listen, am I perfect? No, sometimes I sit on the toilet

in the middle of the day and I'm like, sorry, I'm going on Instagram and I start scrolling on Instagram. Next thing I know, you know, my feet are asleep and I feel unmotivated to get back to work. It happens at least once a week if not more, but I try not to do that. And last but not least,

let's talk about how I've made my self-care routines more fun, because my self-care routine was non-existent. You know, I wasn't very consistent with my skin care routine. I wasn't very consistent with my hair care routine. I wasn't very consistent about washing my hair all the time. I wasn't very consistent about washing my hair all the time. I wasn't very consistent about shaving my legs all the time. And listen, you don't have to do those things, but I will say that I actually do feel good when my hair is clean and I have shaved legs.

And the reason why I like having my legs shaved is honestly because when I wear pants, I don't like how my hair feels in my pants if my leg hair grows out. Okay, I don't like how that feels. My armpits get itchy when I don't shave them. Like it's just, I like the feeling of having my hair clean and being shaved and having my skin exfoliated and moisture. I like it. I like the feeling of having my hair clean and being shaved and having my skin exfoliated in moisture. I like it. I like it.

It's just that I never had the energy or motivation to do it before now. But I'm always so happy that I did it. I don't feel like a societal pressure. You know what? Maybe that was the first thing that made self-care more fun for me, was that I think that growing up, I hated having a self-care routine in a way

because I felt like I was being forced to do it. I felt like society was telling me what to do. Like, you need to wash your face and you need to do this and do that and you need to buy this product and you need to do this and you need to do that. And it fucking pissed me off. But now that I'm an adult, I feel like I have a newfound appreciation for self-care. Because I feel like now I'm doing it for me.

I'm not doing it because anyone's telling me to do it. I think that that's the first step in wanting to create a self-care or sort of routine is doing it for you not because you feel like you have to and only doing stuff that makes you feel good and is enjoyable to do. Anyway, so here are some of my self-care habits. Number one, let's talk about skin care routines.

Over the last three years, I've gotten into skin care a lot. I've just learned a lot about it. I'm not a pro by any means, but I've learned a lot more about it and I've just grown an interest in it. And because of that, I enjoy using quite a bit of products. You know, I mean, I don't use them all at once, but I have quite a few products in my skincare cabinet.

Okay. I definitely have a lot going on in there. And they sort of have two different types of skincare routines. I have one skincare routine for the days when I'm fucking not feeling it. And I'm like, I don't wanna do this right now. I don't care. I don't wanna do this.

I'm not in the mood for this, this sucks. And that skincare routine has two steps. It's wash my face and then put on a thick layer of moisturizer and a sunscreen. So I guess three steps. That's it. That's in the morning. And then at night, it's two steps.

It's just wash my face in moisturizer. That's when I'm not feeling it. It takes me 30 seconds. It gets all the stuff off my face and it moisturizes my face. And that's it. On the days when I have the energy though, I do like a 15 step skincare routine sometimes. I'll, you know, do a face mask

and then I'll use like four different serums and then I'll do, I don't know, chemical exfoliant and I'll like have fun and play around with it. And I'll set up sometimes extra time in the morning to do that before I have to get started with my work for the day because I do enjoy that process. And at night, you know, I'll light a fucking candle and I'll do my skincare routine and I'll take my time. And I'll listen to an educational podcast or whatever, and I'll just do my skincare routine,

or I'll listen to music, and I'll just do my skincare routine. And it's beautiful, it's a beautiful time. I love it. But when I'm not feeling it, I also have a simplified version that I can do as well that still makes me feel good, even when I'm not in the mood to do my skincare routine. So I have two versions,

and I pick and choose what I'm feeling that day. And I think having an ambitious skincare routine and a more simple routine allows you to choose what you're feeling that day. But also the thing about skincare is you can literally have a two step routine and that be it, 365 days a year, and that be enough for you. But if you enjoy skincare like I do, then I think having two routines is great because it gives you an option for the days when you're not feeling it.

Another habit I've implemented is doing my bedtime routine immediately after I eat dinner. I go, I brush my teeth, I do my skin care right after dinner. And the reason why I do that is because if I don't do it right after dinner, I will not do it. I will go to bed. I won't even brush my teeth. I swear to God, if I don't do it right after dinner, I'll lay in bed and I'll start watching something or I'll start looking at something or whatever. Next thing I know, I'm so tired and I'm just not getting out of bed to do my nighttime routine.

I'm just not doing it. I'm not going to brush my teeth. I'm not going to wash my face. I'm not going to do anything. So I've made it a habit to do a right after dinner. And that has really helped me because it's gross sometimes and it's not gross. Well, I don't know. It is kind of gross sometimes to not brush your teeth before you go to bed. Listen, not okay. Sometimes we have our days, okay. I know.

But like it doesn't taste good. You feel dirt. Like your mouth feels gross. Like it's unpleasant. It's an unpleasant experience. But sometimes I'm too lazy, I can't do it. I can't get out of bed. So I try to do it immediately after dinner so that then I can go chill in bed for the rest of the night and I don't have to move if I don't want to. I finished my checklist for the day, I'm fucking done. It's time to go lay in bed for the rest of the night and enjoy that.

Another thing I do is I'll sometimes pair a self-care activity with my chores. So for example, I'll put on a face mask or a hair mask before I start doing my chores. And this is nice because I don't know, just groups two things together. It's like killing two birds with one stone. Or, you know, if I'm planning on showering after I finish doing my chores, maybe I'll put in a hair mask and I'll put on a face mask. So now I'm hydrating my whole body. Okay. I'm getting my hair right.

I'm getting my skin right, like everything's going my way. And I'm getting chores done and I'm listening to a video about Jennifer Lopez getting back together with Ben Affleck and I'm having the best fucking time of my life. Do you see what I'm saying? Another thing is vitamins. Okay. I hate taking vitamins But you know what's fixed that for me? gummy vitamins eat, taking vitamins. But you know what's fixed that for me? Gummy vitamins. I never thought I'd say this. I'm not getting, I really never thought I'd say this. Gummy vitamins have changed my life because they're yummy and I put them near my coffee machine. So every

morning while I'm making my coffee, my eye naturally drifts over to my vitamins and I look at them and I see delicious gummies that I want to eat. And it's really helped me take my vitamins. Not all of my vitamins are gummy, but I do have a few gummy ones. And that just makes me dread taking my vitamins less, but also putting them next to my coffee machines that I see them every morning. That really helps too. I also take a magnesium supplement every night

and I put that in my nightstand, so that right before, see, but that's not good because I eat them after I brush my teeth and you're not supposed to do that. But my dentist won't listen to this. And honestly, I don't even know if my mom will listen to this. So I think I'm good. Not the hook. I do take my gummy magnesium vitamins after I brush my teeth. Sorry. But putting

your vitamins in places that you'll definitely see them is super useful and also buying gummy vitamins. They're not just for kids. And last but not least, exercise. Okay, exercise is such a powerful thing because it truly helps with so many things. Like exercise really helps me with my anxiety especially but also even my depression at times like I feel like going for a walk or even a little jog when I'm coming out of a depressive episode and I'm like okay I need to do something but I don't know what to do first. Going on a little walk, going on a little hike, going on a little jog, going and taking a yoga class,

something like that can just make you feel good and can help you sort of pull yourself out of those moments. Obviously, when you're in a depressive episode or you're in like an anxious episode, sometimes you can't, you like can't. So that is what it is. But when you're kind of coming out of it

and you're like, all right, I have enough energy to do something, but I don't know what I want to do and I don't, whatever, I, I can't choose what I want to do. Exercise can be a magical first step into pulling yourself out of a shitty moment. But also it can help with maintaining mental health strength in a lot of ways. Like, I don't know, I just noticed that when I'm in a routine of exercising, I just feel a lot more relaxed and calm and happy. But the thing about exercise is that it's got to be fun for you. I've had phases where I run outside. I've had phases where I go to workout classes. I've had phases

where I do at home workouts. I've had phases where I just go on really long walks every day, not really long, but you know, like an hour long walk or something. I've had phases where I don't work out at all. There's no rules. There doesn't need to be rules around it. It just needs to work for you at that given moment in your life. But I do think figuring out a way to make exercise enjoyable

is a really great thing. And I will say, it doesn't hurt to have a cute workout outfit. Okay. I pretty much wear the same workout outfit every time I exercise, but I like it. I'm like, it's cute, you know, and that motivates me a little bit, not really though. Now that I think about it, I think it used to motivate me, but I don't think it does anymore. Now I'm over it. But it might motivate you, so that's why I mentioned it. All right, you guys.

Well, thank you all for listening. I hope that there was something in here that was helpful. I don't know. Thank you guys for listening. Thank you for hanging out today. I really appreciate it. It's always just so fun when we get to hang out. Isn't it? Isn't it just so fun? Feel free to send me some of your habits. Follow anything goes on Twitter at AG podcast, or on Instagram at anything goes.

at anything goes. Tune in next week if you want to. Where will hang out again? Okay, talk to you later. Love you. Bye.