I’m what you would call an “all or nothing” type of girl. If I’m into something, I can’t get enough of it. If I’m not, it’s a struggle to put any effort into it at all. Because of that mentality, it’s often hard for me to find a balance between everything going on in my life – balance is something I am constantly striving for.
Since moving to NYC a little over a month ago, I have been struggling to find a routine (surprise, surprise). I have all these things that I love – blog, yoga, writing, classes, exploring the city, running, cooking, spending time with friends. And I have all these things that I want to get into here that I used to do in LA – acting, playwriting, teaching yoga, etc. And while there is simply not enough time in the day to do everything I want to do, I certainly have not been following any sort of prioritized list. I’m kind of afraid of lists, but… I’m going to say it… I think I need one.
My goal for this week is to find a routine – a balance, if you will. There is so much this city has to offer, and I want to make sure I am getting the most out of it.
The thing about a routine is that it needs a starting place. The best starting place I can think of? Breakfast. I’ve gotta start somewhere, and I may as well incorporate my love of food and gentle mornings with an actual kick start to my day. Something to check off the list, they would say in the routine world.
And if it’s going to be routine, it needs to have some semblance of normalcy. The best breakfast I know I can stick to each day is a green smoothie. It doesn’t have to be the same every morning – actually, heaven forbid it be the same every morning because that would be a really boring start to my day and my routine is going to be the furthest thing from boring.
I’ll tell you what’s not boring. Smoothies. Green smoothies especially. They fascinate me because they have so many nutritional benefits yet they are still oh so delicious. If I wake up and begin each day this week with a green smoothie (with the exception of Parfait Thursday, of course) then I can start this whole striking a balance thing with a bang.
So here it is, The NOT Routine Green Smoothie, or more simply, The Balanced Smoothie:
Ingredients:
– 1 very ripe banana
– ½ cup kale
– ½ cup mint leaves
– 3 chunks of pineapple
– 3 strawberries
– ½ cup almond milk
– 1 spoonful cacao powder
– ½ spoonful spirulina powder
– 1 handful ice
Directions:
1. Blend all ingredients thoroughly, and enjoy. Easy Peasy.
This is my goal for how this week will go: wake up, make The Balanced smoothie, respond to emails and write a blog post, go for a run, go to yoga, come home and shower, make lunch, go to a coffee shop and write (I prefer the coffee shop Think… I call it my thinking spot). I will bring a snack so my writing process doesn’t get interrupted. Write some more, take a break and go for a walk. Come home, make dinner, go to class. I’m not going to be so rigid that it loses its fun. I’m going to make having a routine FUN. It will basically be the anti-routine except with an actual routine hidden in there somewhere.
If I’m only doing things that I love, it’s not really a routine, is it?
And if I’m promising this to all of you, then I have to stick to it. I may not be very routine in the traditional sense, but I definitely know how to follow through.
Have a beautiful Monday everyone… let’s blow this week’s mind!
