1) Drinking seasonal no ABV shrubs

I have been DIGGING these citrus non-alcoholic shrubs I’ve been sipping on recently. Addiction and particularly alcoholism runs on both sides of my family so I am constantly self monitoring my alcohol intake. Towards the end of last year, when I would count up the alcohol unit intake at the end of the week, I decided I needed to cut back. A few summers ago, I was big into shrubs but life went on and I forgot about them. Well, baby, I’m bringing them back! Thanks to it being winter, I’ve made grapefruit shrub and orange shrub and peach shrub I made from summer peaches I canned last year. They’ve all been glorious. If you’ve never made them before, you basically make a fruit infused simple syrup, add some vinegar, (I used my homemade apple scrap vinegar, another post coming soon on that) pour over ice and top it off with club soda and lemon. It is so refreshing and the vinegar replaces that little bite you would normally get from the alcohol.

2) Plugging my phone in the living room at night

I understand this is not a possibility for everyone but a few months ago I sat back and realized there isn’t an emergency I would need my phone for overnight. If something were to happen to my mom or sister, they could get a hold of me through Andrew’s phone. My kids sleep in my house so I don’t need to worry about them getting a hold of me so I started plugging my phone in the living room when I went to bed and it has been so freeing. If I find I have a question for Google after I go to bed, I have to decide whether it’s worth getting up and going into another room to research it. Turns out, looking to see how long Beyonce and Jay Z have been married and then getting distracted by Instagram for 15 more minutes is not worth getting up for. It’s taken some time but I no longer have the urge to reach for my phone next to my bed though I do keep a pad of paper and pen next to my bed to write down more important things to look up in the morning. I answer texts in the morning when I get up and have had some coffee. It’s not the first thing I reach for anymore when I wake up. It’s made my nights and mornings so much more enjoyable.

3) Setting offline hours for my phone

Every weekday morning from 9:30-12:30, my phone locks me out of my internet apps. If I need to write emails and do some research, I grab my laptop instead of my phone. This keeps me from scrolling through social media and has been a good way to recenter how I use my mornings and makes me more productive.

4) Reading and joined a “buy nothing” Facebook group

I’ve just been reading more in general. After I read my magazines, I pass them on to folks in my neighborhood. I’m reading more books for pleasure. #2 and #3 on this list help with this as well. I’ve also joined a “buy nothing” group in my neighborhood on Facebook and have been blown away by people’s generosity. It has done my heart good to see how neighbors step up when people have needs or “wishes.” And it’s so great for the zero waste movement. If you’re unfamiliar with how it works, it’s literally people posting “gifts” (free things they are giving away that they no longer need) and “wishes” (people posting things they would like if anyone in the group has them to give away). I’m glad I looked to see if there was one in my area because even though I haven’t used it myself, it’s been so good for my soul to see how generous people are.