Hibernate Like a Boss : Why February is the Perfect Month for Rest & Recovery

While society is always telling you to “hustle harder!”, winter whispers something different – “Rest”. This is permission for you to hibernate like a boss. Rest and slow living isn’t laziness; it’s rebellion against burnout.

Sleep and Rest – Your Secret Weapons

Some people say “I’ll sleep when I’m dead”. While that’s true, you’ll die a lot sooner if you don’t get adequate sleep! Your body and mind heal while you get your beauty rest, which boosts your immune system and promotes mental clarity amidst life’s chaos. By resting now, you’re sharpening your edge for spring.

Trees go dormant and many animals hibernate – Shouldn’t we take the hint? I love to indulge in this rest and reflection time of year through couch naps and journaling. Come spring, I plan to emerge as a wiser, bolder butterfly.

Rest As a Ritual – Building an Evening Routine

The strength to conquer each day comes from clarity, not chaos. So it’s a good idea to wind down intentionally and maximize your rest time.

Rebel against your instincts if you need to :

ditch the doom scroll – swap your phone for a journal or a book
incorporate calming habits like herbal tea, dim lighting (warm white Xmas lights are lovely!), gentle yoga in bed, and ambient instrumental music or just white noise
try blackout curtains if you don’t like to see the ass crack of dawn (like me)

Slow Living Isn’t Weakness – It’s Power in Disguise

This is the ideal time of year for a few extra doses of self care. Naps, self reflection, and even occasional creative daydreaming now can do wonders for the busy months ahead.

Ask yourself:

What can I learn about myself right now?
What habits, people, or mindsets can I let go of?
What changes would I like to make this spring and summer?
What small steps can I make now to prepare for a vibrant year?

Conclusion

Rest isn’t just a pause; it’s an intentional rebellion against the constant pressure to always do more. Hibernate now so that you can rise stronger with clarity and purpose come spring.

This February, I challenge you to embrace the power that come from rest. Hibernate like a boss, and be sure to journal about the badass butterfly you’ll become. Take 10 minutes today to plan your hibernation ritual and commit to at least one act of rebellion against burnout.

If you liked this post, please give it a “like”, share it with someone you think would enjoy it too, & let me know in the comments below what your hibernation plans are!

PS – Just for fun, here’s a little coloring book page that you can print out or copy to color, or do with as you please! ❤

Where I’m At #5

Where I'm At

“Where I’m at” posts are just random updates about what’s going on in my life at any random time, based on the areas / roles in my life. Any particular goals I’m working on will be highlighted, so you can easily see what I’m actively working on improving. Leave a comment & give me ideas for things you’d like to see me write individual posts about!

planner : I have a lot of projects planned for February! I’m finishing up my digital audit as I’m writing this, which is always quite a relief – I must have deleted a zillion things I didn’t even know I had! I still have to audit 10 years of Google Photos, but that’s another project all its own. (ETA : I realized I should add auditing my PKM to the list too, because the chaos I’ve created there is stressing me out – “actionability … only save things that contribute to current projects & areas … it’s not a museum of knowledge if you don’t absorb or utilize the information!”) Next month’s projects include a “What a Crock-Potluck Revival Party” (we haven’t had a crockpot party in a while, so I thought we’d get back on that wagon), I want to make an “Oh Shit!” notebook (in case I get hit by a dump truck & my husband needs to know things he doesn’t normally care about), as well as planning for fun stuff in warmer weather (travel, tattoos, concerts, etc)
self (body & mind, emotion & education) : Forever working on my eating habits – I’ve been focusing on eating more consistently throughout the day because I have a bad habit of barely eating until dinnertime, and then going a little too crazy (cuz I love my dinner recipes! 😋) I’ve been sleeping kind of crappy because I really like my quiet time in the mornings, and I should probably get back to my exercise routine, but…not right now 😆 My brain’s been doing pretty good lol – Lots of fun ideas abound, feeling pretty chill (albeit a little cabin fever), and learning all kinds of interesting things about blogging!
marriage (relationship & libido) : Not doing too bad here, actually! Humor keeps things interesting lol
mom (BooBoo & Bubby) : The girls are doing pretty good, though I’m sure they can’t wait til it’s warm enough to go outside every day! They’ve been keeping busy drawing, painting, & playing with their dolls mostly. And enjoying a little bit of Legs Marvel Superheroes on Xbox hehe
teacher (K & PK) : They’ve been doing really well with school, though it was hard getting back into the rhythm after the holidays. BooBoo surprises us (& herself!) every day with how well she can read already, and Bubby is getting really good at tracing lines
zB : Having a lot of fun (& driving myself absolutely crazy!) trying to choose which direction to go with everything related to the blog & products to create & everything. I know I’m overcomplicating everything though lol! I’ve been learning a lot about SEO, optimization tools (like Buffer for automating social media posts), and everything in between. (My brain hurts. 🤪)
homemaker (finance, cleaning, gardening, prepping, travel) : Everything’s fine & dandy here! I need to rebalance our general finances, which I keep putting off. Been maintaining the cleaning, but not really making any progress (no time!) And I’m looking forward to travel & garden planning soon!

Currently

eating : crockpot dinners

drinking : hot lime water, & hot grapefruit water (way better than lemon water!)

watching : Hubby keeps trying to make me watch movies. I don’t generally have the attention span for movies. Blink Twice was pretty good. Back to Action was pretty terrible. The show Younger hasn’t been too bad. And surprisingly, the series Maxton Hall has been pretty interesting. And Ripley, omg, that was actually pretty good lol!

reading – Nothing. I haven’t really had much interest in any particular books lately. But I’ve kept up with my Daily Stoic Journal every day!

playing : Board games with the girls, especially Candy Land hehe ☺️

buying : Not much. Went a little crazy on Temu because I really needed a new winter coat. I also ended up with a couple gifts for hubby, gloves, some new eyebrow rings, and a bunch of other things I’ll be surprised to see when they come 😅

listening to : My “Tunes” playlist on YouTube – lots of Green Day & Foxboro Hot Tubs, Reverend Horton Heat, & “Wish I Knew You” by the Revivalists (me & hubby’s dating anthem hehe)

celebrating : Midwinter & Valentine’s Day

pinning : wallpapers, self care, Green Day

planning – projects, a party, goals

feeling – generally good, but a bit restless!

Where are you at? Let me know in the comments below!! 😀

Goal Planning for Actual People

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Now that the new year has begun & lots of people are already fizzling out on their lofty but well intentioned resolutions, let’s get real & talk about goals.

I’ll admit, I’m a serial overthinker. I’ve had elaborate goal planning systems that I’ve worked with to varying degrees of success in the past. Even a slight peek in an online search of “goal setting” will overwhelm you with complicated systems that guarantee your success.

Let’s get real. It’s not that serious.

You can’t give yourself a bunch of new stuff to do. You’re not gonna do it. You know this; I know this. It’ll just stress you out & piss you off, even if you have the most efficient execution system on the planet. Just pick something. One thing. Add other things when it won’t piss you off.

With that said, I’d like to share my simplified goal planning system. Feel free to try it out for yourself, & alter it however it would work best for you!

Annual

To start each year, I like to do some journaling & establish a few things :

Word (or theme) of the year, & why. Of course, this can be changed any time during the year if needed, but I like to have something simple & specific to focus on. Mine trend along the lines of “intention” & “simplify”.
A few questions :
- What would you like to do this year?
- What would you like to have?
- Who would you like to be?
- What would be the single coolest thing that could possibly happen this year?
- What sort of legacy do you want to leave behind when you die?
What does your ideal life look like? The next level version of you? Consider the roles / areas / buckets of your life (whatever you prefer to call them). – How would you like to show up for these things in your daily life? Do you ideally need more or less of anything specific?
Create a vision board. Don’t get too crazy. The purpose of a vision board is to remind & inspire you. Only add images that truly resonate with you. Bonus points if you use your own photos!

Periodically

Every couple months I also like to do a “Level 10 Life” & “Role Review”. Beside a list of my life roles, I rate my satisfaction with each on a scale from 1-10, & I will sometimes choose what to work on based on my lower scores. If I feel the need to elaborate, I’ll do a brief review of each role by writing down how I feel (good or bad), why, & what I’d like to improve.

Each of these practices are intended to get you contemplating different goals that you could work on. Could being a key word because you really should only be focused on one thing at a time, so I encourage you to pick something that would have the greatest positive impact on your life, & aligns most with your values. Then…

Plan Your Goals

Define the goal. What exactly do you want? What is the ideal end result? Why? Is this a task based project, a habit forming lifestyle change, or both?
Create a plan & a system. What action steps can you take to move toward that ideal end result? Only give yourself functional tasks that will contribute real progress toward your goal. What systems or habits can you implement into your daily life to ensure you make consistent progress? And how can you keep yourself accountable?
Execute the plan / system.
Reflect weekly, and monthly. Ask yourself “Am I making progress here? How, or why not? How can I improve next week / month?” This is an essential step, so don’t skip it!
Pivot, if needed.

That’s it. That’s what every single goal planning system boils down to. Don’t worry that you’re forgetting something – If it’s important, you’ll realize that & pivot thanks to your regular reflections! Just live your fucking life, & don’t overcomplicate it. (There’s a good goal idea!)

What would you like to work on this year? Let me know in the comments below – Maybe I can help!

Where I’m At #4

Where I'm At

“Where I’m at” posts are just random updates about what’s going on in my life at any random time, based on the areas / roles in my life. Any particular goals I’m working on will be highlighted, so you can easily see what I’m actively working on improving (and see that I do try to practice what I preach). Leave a comment & give me ideas for things you’d like to see me write individual posts about!

Hi everyone! It’s been a rough month for my family – we all got COVID mid-November, & apparently we’re all still dealing with the aftermath. Yeah, seriously. My kids’ pediatrician told me I was probably misdiagnosed with a sinus infection because she said they’ve regularly seen some COVID symptoms lasting up to 15 weeks. So there’s that.

On a better note, our holidays were lovely, & I hope yours was as well!

Let’s get into how December went for me…

planner : I actually just switched up my Notion setup a little bit! My main dashboard is now a gallery view of the PARA method, with “Projects” being the equivalent of my planner. “Areas” are the equivalent of the roles you see here, with each area having a separate page & each relevant page having a section for tasks & notes. I like it a lot so far! Also, I’m really excited to move into a new journal! I’ve made an entire year fit into an A5 Stalogy for the second year in a row, & that poor notebook is about to explode!

self (body & mind, emotion & education) : I’ve really been struggling with my diet & exercise ever since I first got sick; that’s a real challenge for me – picking back up after illness. (Something for me to work on!) I’ve really been enjoying journaling & writing my blog posts; haven’t been terribly interested in reading any books lately (I keep trying to read Tim Ferriss’ 4 Hour Workweek because I like his writing style & some of his ideas, but I just can’t stay interested.) Emotionally, I’ve been pretty up & down because of being sick. Bleh.
marriage : We’ve been rediscovering old ways to have adventures, considering the weather. It’s been fun going “window shopping” & spontaneous restaurants for dinner!
mom (BooBoo & Bubby) : The girls have been great, despite having a very persistent cough. Their favorite Xmas gifts included some Magna Tiles, Miraculous Dolls, & Furblets lol
teacher (K & PK) : We’ve been taking it easy this month, to prep for & enjoy the holidays. We’ve worked through the curriculum a little bit when they felt like it, but most of this month’s education centered around the science of the changing seasons, measuring ingredients for homemade treats, playing games, & doing holiday worksheets.
zB : Had to move some things around because I was really struggling to maintain focus this month, & I wasn’t sure if I’d have enough posts ready for the month, but I somehow managed to pull everything together & I’m excited to share those with you!!!
homemaker (finance, cleaning, travel) : I don’t even wanna talk about the finances this month LOL – I just keep telling myself “tis the season!” I’ve gotten a lot more cleaning done with us not focusing so much on school, so that’s good. And I’ve been trying to plan some interesting adventures for these cold & snowy months – We’ll see what happens!
witch – Nothing going on here; I really should try to find some time to at least meditate more regularly, though I do a little bit every night.
reseller – Absolutely nothing going on here, besides a couple of sales. I’m still very much in limbo about how I want to go about my whole resale business right now & in the future. It’s just not a priority.

Currently

eating – Lots of soup!

drinking – Hot lime water 😋

watching – Beast Games, Xmas movies, Lincoln Lawyer, & finished Royal Pains just in time for it to leave Netflix!

reading – Blog posts

playing – “Beat the Parents “ & “Would You Rather?” (card games from the Dollar Tree that I got the kids hehe)

buying – All kinds of stuff we don’t need, just cuz it’s discounted post-holiday (we really need to put the brakes on! LOL)

listening to – Rain!

celebrating – My youngest is turning 4! 🥳

pinning – self care, journaling, homeschool stuff, & Green Day lol

planning – Kiddo’s bday, goals

feeling – Excited for a new year!

How was your December, & what are you looking forward to in January? Let me know in the comments below!!

And if you’d like, feel free to use this free desktop background I made on Canva for whatever you’d like (I was just screwing around while I was sick, hehe) 😘

See you next week!!