5 minutes of sunlight = all-day energy

One thing that's always been true for me is that I neeeeed the sun. If there are a few cloudy days in a row, my entire mood and energy level is in the toilet. So imagine how pleasant I am during the long, cold, gray Central IL winters we have each year :)

I recently listened to a podcast about 5 FREE biohacks for your health that you can start TODAY. So I started one of them 3 days ago and am already seeing benefits.

Started what?

Upon waking, I step outside into my backyard (wrapped in my blanket, of course... the other morning, Pippa saw me and told Ryan that I was going outside to sleep 😂) and sit on a bench for 5-10 minutes. The key is to get that morning sunlight into your eyes. This resets your internal biological clock and hormones, enhances your mood, tells your body it's time to start the day, and promotes better sleep.

Tips:

• It's easiest to do first thing upon waking. The official recommendation is within the first hour.

• Expose your bare, naked eyes. No glasses or contacts. Obviously, don't look directly at the sun, but towards it, and try not to close your eyes.

Benefits I'm already seeing:

• Increased energy & mood throughout the day

• Improved sleep at night

• Ease of waking up in the morning (this is HUGE for me, I am NOT a morning person)

• Peaceful & gentle way to transition into your day-- out in nature, sun on face, hearing the birds chirp

Try it out and let me know what you think!

Have socials without socials having you

In a world where social media feels like the main way to be informed yet is also the source of addiction-forming habits & wasted time, it feels like an all-or-nothing approach is the only way.

It's not! There are many different solutions... it just takes intentionality.

One solution I've found that helps me A LOT: an app called Clearspace.

I'm down to one social media app on my phone (Instagram), which is good news because the "free" form of Clearspace only allows you to control one app. The paid version allows you to control multiple apps.

Here's how it works-- you choose which app you'd like to reduce your screen time with. It then allows you to set custom parameters on that app, such as allowing for only "3 opens" a day for a maximum of 10 minutes each. After 10 minutes are over, it kicks you off the app and you are forced to either be done consuming, or revisit the app using another allotted "open" for the day.

You can also set custom hours (such as having full access during lunch time every day, or 7-9pm in the evenings). I found it helpful to have "work hours" set when I spent more time updating my photography account.

You can tweak it however it makes the most sense for you, but the bottom line is that it keeps you accountable and more intentional with how you use your social media apps. It's glorious.

Lately

A few things we've been up to!

As pictured above, our family got to meet and snuggle the newest little guy in the bigger Kaiser family (Elwood "Woods," who makes my parent's 2nd great-grandchild, and my 2nd great-nephew!) My kids DIE over babies, it's really sweet to see. Still firmly fixed on being done at 3, though :)

Ryan and I enjoyed a date night at Black Band-- it's sometimes easy to skip out on prioritizing getting away for a few hours without the kids, but always so refreshing and needed.

We took the kids to see King of Kings, it was SO GOOD. Highly recommend for families.

Also, just trying to get out and enjoy the weather when it's nice. I' haven't been super impressed with the weather this spring, but will take the nice days when they come. My kids don't seem to care and Phoebe could chase bubbles all the day long.

Thanks for following along! As of now, there's no way to leave comments on my posts, but feel free to respond on social media or text / e-mail. Always love hearing from people!

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-Taryn