Stress and anxiety are on the rise, and it's no surprise in an overstimulated, media-addicted, and immediate gratification-demanding world, our brains are on overload and the demands on our time are relentless.
So for many of us, all that overthinking and mental chatter is wreaking havoc on our nervous systems.
I believe that the secret to developing a greater sense of calm in our lives is to manage our bodies and our minds with good daily habits.
So this is part one of a four-part series where I talk about my go-to daily habits that have helped me manage my stress, my health, and my overthinking brain.
Let's get started.
Hey there, you are listening to the Overthinkers Guide to Joy.
This is a podcast for thinkers, overachievers, perfectionists, type A stressed out, anxious people who just want to calm down and feel better.
I'm your host, certified life coach, Jackie de Crinis.
Hi there. Long time no talk. I have been conspicuously absent as I haven't recorded a podcast in a very long time.
And apologies to those of you who were dedicated listeners.
I am back, or at least I'm back from my next series.
And I'm doing a little bit of a rebrand.
So for those of you who followed me before, you know, my previous podcast was called Joy Hunting.
And it was interesting, I got a lot of comments back that people loved the title, but had no idea what it meant.
And so I thought, oh, how interesting, it seems so obvious to me, because of course I created it.
But the concept behind joy hunting was really reflective of where I was in my life when I became a life coach.
And that was this notion of hunting for joy.
And so for those of you who don't know me, I was a television executive for about 30 years.
And I had a wonderful life in Los Angeles, and I had a home and children and dogs and cats and hamsters and all the good things.
But I lived a very chaotic, very frenetic life.
A life that I chose, it wasn't chosen for me.
A life that I worked really hard to get and that in many ways I was very proud of.
I had an interesting job, I had a wonderful family, a lot of gratitude for the home that I lived in and for the living I made.
But I was so busy building that life, creating that life and like so many of my listeners, I was a kind of classic type A overachiever, a little bit of a perfectionist, box checker, list maker.
And while I set out to do all the things and accomplished most of them,by the time I sort of got to my late 30s, I felt like I wasn't living my life.
I was existing in my life. And I used to always say that I felt like I would look inside the window of my home and wish that I was more part of it.
And what I mean by that is that I wasn't present in my life.
I was so busy juggling all of my obligations and the mandates on my time that I felt like I could never be present because I was always worried about the next task or assignment or deadline or meeting or soccer game or whatever people do when they have a big career and some kids.
And I wanted to turn down the volume and enjoy it.
And I couldn't.
It just, it didn't, the industry that I was in or at least the mindset that I had about the industry I was in just didn't permit for the work-life balance that I wanted or so I thought.
And when I finally retired from television, I wanted to do something that felt more soulful.
I wanted to do something where I felt like I was helping people and basically I wanted to feel like I was helping people who were like me, who had set goals and who many times achieve them, and then when they arrive, they're still not happy.
And they're not happy because they have been so busy trying to achieve those goals.
They never learned how to be present in their lives and they never learned how to just enjoy what they had.
It was always about the next thing.
And that's not always money.
Sometimes it's just achievements.
I know athletes who are like this.
I know artists who are like this.
It is not unique to business people.
It is unique to, again, overachievers or people who suffer from not feeling like they're good enough at some point in their life and then found something they were good enough and then doubled down on everything they were good at to the point of exhaustion.
So joy hunting.
This comes full circle.
Joy hunting was this podcast that I created about finding joy in your life or hunting for joy in your life.
And so a number of people, when I took my pause from recording, they said, "Oh, the title isn't clear.
Talk to us about what do you do now?
What do you do as a coach?
Why were you even joy hunting for yourself?"
And so I said, "Well, the idea of what I like to do or the concept of what I do as a coach is about helping people reduce their stress in their lives, helping people enjoy their lives by becoming present in their lives and connecting their minds to their bodies.
So they're not running around like chickens with their heads cut off, just accomplishing things or making lists or being overwhelmed by the life they've created, but by sitting and really enjoying it.
And so this rebrand of the podcast is for those people who either would come to me as a coach or those people who just need to be told it's okay to slow down, it's okay to turn the volume down, and it's okay to pivot.
If you are feeling, chronically stressed or even acutely stressed, this podcast is for you because it's my tips through my life experience and through my coaching education of how to help people reduce stress in their life.
And we're kicking off this new podcast with a new series called Four Essential elements to reducing stress.
And these are my go-to elements.
These are what I recorded in my very first podcast as the home series for Hacking the Holidays.
And it was designed initially to help people reduce their stress during the holidays.
And what I came to learn over the last, I don't know, almost two years now as I've worked with dozens and dozens of clients is these are the four fundamentals that I always return to for every client.
These are the essential elements to, I think, living a less stressful life and to becoming more in touch with your body.
So here we go.
A lot of people talk about self-care.
That is, it's a big theme in every article and every video, pretty much everywhere we look, we hear about self-care and self-care is a big industry.
So a lot of times people think self-care just means things like haircuts and colors and blowouts or massages, mani -pedis, facials, things that make us either look more beautiful or feel more beautiful or feel put together.
And those are great.
That is a huge element of self-care is investing time or money into how you want to appear.
But that's not the kind of self-care I'm talking about. The kind of self -care I'm talking about is from the inside out.
All of that self-care, which is again an element of it, is kind of like detailing your car.
Does a car look better when it's washed and detailed? 100%.
Does it hold more of its value? Absolutely.
But you could detail your car all you want, but if you don't put gas in your car and you don't change the oil and you don't check the brake fluid and you don't bring it in for regular checkups, your car is not going to run well, and it's not going to be safe and it's not going to feel good to drive.
So that's kind of the same thing with your body.
So how do we take care of our body from the inside out?
Well, like I said, it goes back to this principle that I refer to as check your home.
Or now what I've sort of coined the phrase as do your homework.
And home stands for four things, it stands for hydration, observe your levels, meditation, and exercise.
So this is what I call my homework series.
I call it home because these are my four non-negotiables.
And the first one is hydration, water.
Now, in spite of being a $200 billion industry worldwide, it is an underrated and overlooked asset.
I think it started in late 1970s, kind of as a status symbol when Evian Water came on the scene.
Personally, I found Evian Water positively undrinkable.
So that whole craze was lost on me.
But then all the other companies started jumping on the bandwagon.
Everybody from Coca-Cola to Pepsi had their brand of water and eventually water became kind of a celebrity thing.
I mean, I think you remember the campaign with Jennifer Aniston promoting the brand of smart water, which was probably genius because I would probably drink gallons of smart water if it made me look like Jennifer Aniston.
Anyway, so water became sort of ubiquitous.
Everybody walked around with a bottle of water and whether or not they drank them or whether or not they just held them because it made them feel good or it just gave them something to do.
The concept behind it was the correct one, which was we need to drink water.
But the big problem was, of course, the backlash of against single use plastics that became, we suddenly became aware that that was incredibly bad for the environment.
Everyone had to course correct.
And then that led to the advent of brands like the Swell Thermos and Hydroflask.
And anyway, so in spite of big business, water is, I think, grossly overlooked.
And that, what I mean by that is the basic benefits of water are so often overlooked.
Let me just give you some scientific highlights.
Your body is made up of 60 % water.
This means it needs to be replenished constantly because of little things, you know, like urination and perspiration and just general bodily function.
And so we need this water to keep our engine going.
When we get dehydrated, we think that just means parched lips or our tongue gets dry or we don't generate enough saliva and you can feel it when you're public speaking or when you're trying to give a presentation.
No, dehydration is actually the sign that the body is out of homeostasis.
That's that, that, homeostasis is where you want your body always to be, which is at a neutral level and everything functioning well. And dehydration can
cause lots of different things.
I'll give you an example.
Dehydration can cause fatigue.
And fatigue can mimic sometimes depression and sometimes anxiety.
And I'm not suggesting that anxiety or depression are caused by not drinking water.
I'm simply saying that it can mimic those feelings.
So if you find yourself feeling suddenly tired or sad or anxious, try drinking a glass of water because you might find that it actually mitigates that sensation in your body.
Water calms your nervous system.
Water can help you lose weight.
Water aids in digestion.
It prevents constipation.
It can improve your skin, which means it can help you clear up acne.
It can improve the elasticity if you have issues of aging.
It's literally good for every organ in your body.
So how much do we need?
Eight by eight is the basic rule, and what does that mean?
Eight glasses, eight ounces.
And if you exercise or sweat, you need more.
The biggest complaint about drinking water that I always hear are these, "I don't like water. It's yucky. It's boring. It doesn't taste good. I forget to drink it. I'm always having to go to the bathroom."
Well, let me deal with this one complaint at a time.
If you don't like water, try adding some fruit, oranges, just slices, lemons, limes, whatever works for you.
Some people do strawberries.
I know people who put passion fruit in their water.
Whatever you prefer it, just make it pretty and make it taste good.
And try it in different temperatures.
Some people love room temperature water.
Some people love it ice cold.
Find a glass that you love to drink out of, or a thermos, or get yourself a big cup with a straw, preferably a reusable straw, not one of the ones that you throw away each time.
But make it fun.
Retrain your brain to look forward to water, because the more you drink, the more you'll want.
It's like anything.
It's a habit.
The other thing is, the more water you drink, the less caffeine you'll need.
This is a huge benefit to water.
I highly recommend starting your day with a minimum of two glasses of water before you do anything else.
Before the coffee, before the breakfast, before the workout, drink two glasses of water.
You lose a ton of water when you sleep, so this is a key to starting your morning right.
It will literally give you energy, and over time, you may find if you drink enough water in the morning, you may no longer need to drink caffeine to wake up.
So as we're having to go to the bathroom a lot, well, that's actually a good thing.
Yes, it's inconvenient, but it means your organs are working.
And that means you're doing a great benefit to your liver and kidneys, which are the two little filters that take in all the alcohol, all the fats, all the chemicals.
Those are the filtration systems, and the only support that those filtration systems get, for the most part, is water.
So build it into your schedule.
If you have hourly meetings and you know that you're going to have to go to the bathroom all the time, make sure you schedule a five-minute break in between.
Just taking that break of getting up from your desk, walking out of your office, or just taking a break between clients, bosses, or meetings will provide a psychological benefit too.
So let's recap the benefits of drinking eight glasses of water a day:
- You are going to feel calmer.
- You're going to stay slimmer.
- You're going to improve your digestion.
- You're going to lower your stress.
- You're going to boost your energy.
- You're going to reduce your muscle tension and possibly your headaches if you're prone to headaches.
- You're going to look and feel younger because your skin is going to look better.
- You're going to help flush toxins from your body.
So there is literally no downside to drinking water.
Is there such a thing as drinking too much water?
Yes, I actually think there is.
I think anything over 100 ounces a day, unless you're a marathon runner, is too much.
I think you want to keep between about 64 and 90 ounces on average, depending on what you do, where you live, and how hot it is.
But water is your friend, and what you're going to find is it's actually the best medicine you can take.
What you also may find is that you stop taking as many medicines once you start drinking water.
The other thing is people tend to grab food, sugar, or alcohol when they're actually thirsty.
Thirst mimics a bunch of other conditions, and our brains trigger these bad habits.
So people will always be wanting to grab a snack when they should really be grabbing a glass of water first.
Or at the end of the day, when you're accustomed to that cold beer or cocktail, there's nothing wrong with it, and I'm not objecting, but have a glass of water first.
What you really may be responding to, what you really may be craving, is hydration.
So hydration is part one of this homework series, and I hope you'll join me next week when we move on to observing your levels.
This is where I talk about how to eat optimally and get the rest you need to continue lowering your stress and keep you more joyful.
All right, that's it for now.
Until then, drink your water, have a great week, and I look forward to talking to you next time.
If you want to learn more tips about managing your stress and how to manage your overthinking brain, just go to my website and sign up for my weekly newsletter at jackiedecrinis.com.
That's J-A-C-K-I-E-D-E-C-R-I-N-I-S dot com.
You can also follow me on Instagram @jackiedecrinis.
Bye for now.
Thank you for listening to this episode of Overthinker's Guide to Joy.
If you liked what was offered in today's episode, I would love for you to leave a review and subscribe or follow wherever you get your podcasts.
