Dear reader,
This week I’m chatting to Livia from Made With Lemons about self-care, living intentionally and how to romanticise your life.
I absolutely love Livia’s ethos as I feel like we’re on the same page when it comes to rest and self-care!
I also find her content on social media utterly refreshing.
So, I hope you too find comfort in Livia’s words and they inspire you in some way.
Enjoy,
♡ Thalia xx
About Livia
Hey there! I’m Livia.
I help high-achieving female entrepreneurs redefine self-care on their terms, find calm and live intentionally so they can prioritize their wellbeing while running a sustainable business.
I’ve always loved self-care and taking care of my body but it wasn’t until my first job out of college that I struggled to maintain it with fatigue from my job and adjusting my lifestyle.
During college, I really wanted to be CEO of a fashion magazine.
I interned for fashion designers and at PR agencies but quickly realised that I was following this path purely to impress bullies from my past.
I constantly got sick and felt burnt out because I had no time or energy left to take care of myself.
So I started prioritising my wellbeing.
I then decided I needed a job that did the same, so I quit and started my business.
Now I help women live for the smaller reasons and overcome overwhelm in the early and mid-stages of business so they can find the time for self-care and put themselves first, no matter what.
I want my clients to run a sustainable business that no longer runs them.
Wellness Q&A with Livia From Made With Lemons
What does a healthy work-life balance look like to you?
I have mixed feelings about the phrase work-life balance.
It seems to me that it’s an all or nothing situation and tends to increase pressure on those trying to achieve it.
Instead, I strive for a messy middle with little acts of self-love and self-soothing in between.
For example, rather than powering through four back to back meetings, schedule in 15 or 30 minutes of white space in between to take a breather, go outside and ground yourself before the next one.
It also helps to shift your perspective about what self-care and balance mean to you. Maybe it is a full day of just wellness or finishing the workday at 4 pm every day (but that’s not always realistic).
So when you get up to make a new cup of coffee, view it as an act of kindness to yourself. Savour the flavours, the way the cup warms your hands.
When you take a 15-minute break between calls, snuggle your dog without any other distractions and be fully present.
Work-life balance looks different for everyone and can be quite fun to test out because one routine might work well for one person, but might not work at all for the next.
Find little pockets of time (make time!!) and romanticise your life to live for the smaller things.
You’ll soon notice your mindfulness and appreciation increase.
And with that, your feeling of balance.
How do you make sure you are regularly prioritising your mental and physical wellbeing?
I’ve gotten good at doing mind-body check-ins.
Now every morning when I wake up, I subconsciously pay attention to how I’m feeling.
Both physically (is my neck sore from sleeping in a weird position?) and mentally (what is my mood? do I feel energized or fatigued?).
This helps guide me towards the type of self-care I need that day.
Today I woke up with low energy and felt slightly under the weather, so I am going for a nice long walk with my favourite music later and doing a yoga stretch session to help my mind and body relax and rejuvenate.
It’s best not to stick to a too rigid routine because you’ll feel different each day, so doing something high energy might not be the best fit if you woke up feeling sore.
I’m also practising noticing whatever is around me and finding the beauty in that.
Life can be mundane and boring enough, but it only is if you let it be!
Instead of running through the rain to your car with your jacket over your head, deliberately walk slow and feel the rain on your face.
Go barefoot, be present, notice something in your home you’ve never seen before, look up, notice the vibrant colours of your surroundings.
Practising this intentionality and mindfulness really helps with wellbeing!
How do you show yourself self-love and self-care? Are there any particular activities you indulge in and what inner work do you do?
Showing myself grace and compassion!
We are our own worst critics and it’s easy to fall into the comparison trap and making us feel less about ourselves.
Setting good digital boundaries can help. Like unfollowing accounts that don’t make you feel good or renaming your folders as affirmations.
But boundaries in general and learning to say no is a huge one because it’s the highest form of self-love.
When you say no and honour your boundaries (with others and yourself) you’re protecting your energy and staying in alignment with your values and goals.
You might also find that you are doing subconscious things that you’ve always done, but they no longer align with where you want to go and who you are now.
So doing an audit of your habits and routines can also help you find alignment and take better care of yourself.
When it comes to daily self-care, I aim to go outside, exercise for at least 30 minutes (even if it’s just stretching or a yoga flow) and do my full nighttime skincare routine.
I never skip my skincare routine, no matter how tired I am. It helps me relax and power down from the day and it’s a great me-time activity.
My love language is physical touch, so putting on body lotion and giving myself a facial massage are all things I really cherish.
What is your favourite productivity hack?
Keeping your to-do list to 3 main tasks and making sure they are realistic enough to accomplish. Too often one of those tasks can easily break down to another 7 subtasks.
I don’t follow any batching and time blocking rules because I find it puts me under pressure and almost paralyses me, so I just sit down and get started.
But I do still struggle with procrastination every so often.
Whenever I procrastinate I start feeling so bad about myself to the point it ruins my entire day.
I no longer want to feel that way, so recently that’s been enough motivation to get me going.
Which self-help or personal development book would you recommend and why?
I really like You Are A Badass Series by Jen Sincero but what’s really helped me the most with personal growth is working with a mindset coach.
The smallest journal prompt used to paralyse me to the point of tears of frustration because my thoughts seemed like a tangled mess.
So working with a coach has really kickstarted my entire process with self-development!
What would you say to your 21-year old self?
Trust the timing!
I was so desperate to have it all figured out right then and there and was so impatient to get to the next stage of life instead of enjoying the moment.
I lived in NYC during my early twenties and it’s my favourite place in the world.
But because of my visa (I’m German), I wasn’t able to stay for as long as I would have liked. So now that I’m a lot more intentional, and appreciate the small things, I would love to redo my time there.
And lastly, what’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
This isn’t specific advice, but growing up my parents always made me feel secure in knowing that things will always work out one way or another.
And they usually do.
Having that in the back of my mind at all times has really helped me stay level-headed when things fall apart and become stressful.
Where to find Livia and Made With Lemons
For more self-care and tips on how to romanticise your life, follow Livia on Instagram at @madewithlemonsco
And to learn more about Livia and how she can help you, head to madewithlemons.co
One last thing…
If you are a health and wellness entrepreneur and would like to collaborate with me on a guest Q&A and reflect on your well-being journey, then please get in touch via my contact form or email me at hello@notesbythalia.com
*Please note, this post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links then I will be rewarded at no extra cost to you. Any money earned through affiliates will be put towards running my blog and newsletter.
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