“If you’re always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be” – Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou lived an extraordinary life and is someone I would consider an ageless beauty. She was beautiful inside and out and didn’t accept the established ways of viewing things.
I don’t know what her self-care routine consisted of, but I propose that we adopt her belief about our ability to be amazing.
And that we ditch what our culture regards as normal aging (read: disability, decline and dysfunction) and shoot for amazing, attractive, and admirable instead.
What might a day in the life of an ageless beauty look like?
Here are some extraordinary self-care tips you can begin incorporating:
- First thing when you wake up, think of 5 things you’re grateful for.
- Take a few minutes as you get out of bed to stretch in every direction and be sure to move your body in unaccustomed ways to loosen and lubricate all your connective tissue.
- Have a cup of warm lemon or apple cider vinegar water to help counter acidity.
- Use a tongue scraper before you brush your teeth.
- Spend a few minutes in meditation – sitting or walking is fine.
- To keep strong metabolism and good lungpower, perform up to 15 minutes of high-intensity intervals or a similar program.
- End your workout with a few yoga poses. Or even just one.
- On alternate days practice yoga instead of cardio.
- Choose to incorporate vegetables at every meal: greens in your smoothies or omelets, salads, soups, stir fries. Think of eating the rainbow of colors. There are so many interesting ways to prepare vegetables!
- Get outside for at least 30 minutes every day to assist your circadian clock.
- Take slow, deep breaths whenever you think about it throughout the day.
- If something triggers your fight or flight system, pause to feel the sensations in your body and treat them with gentleness.
- Spend time relaxing with people you love.
- Find something to do that brings you joy.
- And finally, make some herbal tea and…
“Drink your tea slowly, and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the world earth revolves – slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future. Live the actual moment.” –Thich Nhat Hanh
You don’t have to be “normal” by our culture’s standards of aging. Trust that you can be an amazing ageless beauty. Believe it, act on it, and you will see it.