How to be your BEST self

Last night, I was talking to Jack because he couldn’t fall asleep.  He was up about an hour past his bedtime, but he was so excited about the birthday party that he had just gone to, so I was willing to let him stay up so we could catch up.

I ended up talking about how he needs to remember two things in life:  To take care of himself and to take care of others.  No, it may not be his “job” to take care of others, but it is his duty, as a person.   It is his privilege, as someone with the ability to do so.  Our whole family has the ability to do this…

Today I am working with Sleep Innovations for this sponsored post to talk about taking care of yourself & giving back.

So, where do you begin?  Taking care of yourself and taking care of others?

You take care of yourself by eating right, working out and getting enough rest.   Yes, Thanksgiving has come and gone … and we ate enough to put ourselves into a #foodcoma.  But what comes from that?   What if we did that every day?  We’d feel sluggish and tired.  When we overindulge, it can make us feel worse.    We can combat this one non-holidays with healthy meals and a good workout…

So, Jack and I made a plan of some fun workouts to do at home or in the neighborhood:

WORKOUT IDEAS:

– Set the timer & help the family do chores.Work as fast as you can until you are finished.  How much did everyone get done in 10 minutes?
– Run up your stairs
– Grab a deck of playing cards.   Use them for push-ups,  situps, leg lifts & wall sits.
Ex: 3 of hearts = 3 situps.  5 of hearts = 5 situps
3 of clubs = 3 pushups, 5 of clubs = 5 pushups … etc
– Piggy-back rides & Airplane
– Carry someone on your back or fly them with your legs… this is a workout in itself!
– Jumping Jacks.  Do jumping jacks for 30 seconds.  Take a 20 second break and do them again. Do this 3 times every night.  On the next night, try to increase your time a bit and go even faster (quick jumping)
– Play Tag outside
– Do pull-ups on the monkey bars
– Do wall sits while you watch TV (make a workout plan for every commercial break- like pushups or run around the house)
– Wash the floors (now THAT’s a workout!)  😉

GET ENOUGH SLEEP:

I talked to him about eating well and about sleeping, something that he doesn’t think is so important. Lol!  I think that’s normal… so many people don’t give sleep the importance that it deserves… myself included.  Sleeping enough can keep your mind sharp, your emotions in tact and really just keep you healthy.   I talked about why we just set up our new Sleep Innovations mattress because you need to feel well-rested to feel your best.
(Here is Allie & my dad, while my Dad & Mickey were setting it up! Clearly, she was comfortable! Haha!)

I love this because not only do I trust their brand, but I love their mattress, too.

And… when you feel your best after a good night’s sleep, you do your best.  Sleep Innovations wants you to feel well-rested during this season, so you can do more for others, so you can be at your best.

Now, doing these things will help your body, but what can you do to help your soul?  You can help someone else.

HELP OTHERS:

Getting back to the mattress, for example, Sleep Innovations will be making a donation to a leading, national hunger non-profit and giving back to local food banks around the country. During the holidays, they are encouraging people to give back to people in need by donating non-perishables to a food bank in their community.  Isn’t that amazing that a brand would do this?  They are taking part in a nationwide food drive with participating Sleep Innovations employees throughout the country.

In keeping with this giving tradition, our family has done something new in December… every day, from December 1^st through the 31^st, we have decided that we will be helping someone.   We donated toys one day, we helped someone with their groceries another day and we have been doing it every day since.

This week, we have decided to donate food.  My mom and I did this last year.  We purchased groceries for a family in need.  We want other families to have joy when they cook their holiday meals… to be full of love and good food!

Our family loves to spend time together…

But what would we do if we didn’t have food?   IF we didn’t have a bed to cuddle up in?   To watch movies in, to tell stories in, to read in…

I would hope that someone would think to help us, too.  I would hope that somewhere, someone was thinking of us like we are thinking of them this holiday season.

GIVEAWAY:

In honor of giving, I am giving away a Sleep Innovations mattress designed to fit the way that you sleep.  If you want to win, simply share a photo of how you are at your best using the hashtag #SIHolidayBest  Comment below & Leave me a link to your photo.

Ps- When Sleep Innovations sees this hashtag, Sleep Innovations will donate $1 to a network of national food banks. I just LOVE that!

Giveaway details:
Giveaway will end on December 31
Prizes will be shipped in January after the contest concludes.
One grand prize winner will receive a mattress and a pillow and TWO runners-up will win a Forever Cool pillow.