Being the way I am with both OCD and ADHD; my brain is wired 98% of the time. I always feel like there is so much that I should be thinking about and doing. I find it incredibly hard to switch off and take some time to myself. Because of that, it is imperatively important that I make time to sit down, relax and decompress. If I don’t make time for it, I’m not going to do it. In this post, I am going to share with you guys some of the ways that I do this and what relaxation time looks like for me.

No exercise and forced movement.

I move my body in some form of workout every single day and as a minimum I walk 10,000 steps. Since implementing this amount of movement, I have bene waiting for the moment that it doesn’t feel like a lot of work and sadly that has never happened. Because I work in an office, most evenings, I still have 5,000 steps to go and I end up walking around the block in the pitch black. It is hard work keeping on top of it and sometimes I just need a bloody break.

Let people know I won’t be responsive.

To be honest, I am shit at replying to people. A standard conversation between me and my best friend can take two or three days because we are both shit at getting back to one another. But on a relaxing day, the last thing that I want to be doing is texting. Normally in a morning I will just send out a quick text blast and let people know that I am in fact alive, but you wont be hearing from me any time soon.

Watch my comfort shows and movies.

There are a few shows that just bring me comfort. The kind of shows that fill my cup and take minimal thinking. For me, that is Brooklyn 99, Vampire Diaries, Top Gear and many more. The kind of shows that I grew up with. I know every twist and turn that is going to happen and my anxiety isn’t going to go through the roof. Just having these playing in the background of my relaxing day helps me more than I care to mention.

Get my husband to help more.

This makes my husband sounds like he doesn’t do anything, but that isn’t true. In fact, he would always do hell of a lot to help me, but I am a control freak. I like things to be done a certain way and because of that, I just do things alone. However, on days where I need to relax, I still want things to get done, but not necessarily by myself. Because of that, he leaps into action to help me where he can.

Try to put aside work.

The reason for all of this is because I am so bad at switching off. I can’t remember the last day I had a full period of time where work didn’t cross my mind all day. But sometimes, I just need that. If something props into my head, instead of jumping on it and doing it straight away, it can sit there and I will get to it, when I get to it. My worry doing this is that I might forget what I wanted to do, but then I need to use the mentality that perhaps it wasn’t that important then.

Play Sims.

Before you start. Don’t. I know it is incredibly childish, but I love Sims because it allows me to switch off. It is one of those games that you can open and before you know it, hours have passed by. That doesn’t happen to me with anything else. It allows me to switch off, completely and I need that every now and again. Normally I like to do challenges, or I do think it can be pointless, but I love it. When my husband see’s Sims open on my laptop, he knows to leave me be!

Eat whatever I want.

I eat very carefully thanks to being allergic to most food groups and having PCOS. I don’t want to undo all of the hard work that I do at the gym, by overeating or eating the wrong things. However, when I am having a day to myself to relax and decompress, I try not to think about the number of calories in my food. If I want it, I will be wating it. It is a very carefree attitude, and I don’t allow myself to do it very often, but when I do, it is the ultimate treat.

Pamper myself.

I am a big fan of having a pamper. For me, a pamper means giving myself a little reset. Whether that is lathering my hair in a mask and exfoliating from head to toe. Then usually it involves me giving myself a gel manicure and pedicure before going into the bathroom and doing my full tanning routine. By doing these small things for myself, I feel like I’ve accomplished something, and I am left feeling amazing.