Nourishing habits

My new favorite evening ritual is to make myself an adaptogen mocktail using sparkling water, lime, homemade rosemary simple syrup, Angostura bitters, and ashwagandha tincture. Over lots of ice in a fancy glass that feels special and celebratory. I find it to be a lovely, nourishing transition from work to home, day to night, and the bonus is that adaptogens like ashwagandha can help regulate our nervous system when we are in a state of chronic stress.

The other thing this mocktail ritual allows for is to take a moment to just sit — ideally outside around trees and sky and sunset and stars — to allow my own rhythms to align with those of nature. It’s so easy to get completely disconnected from nature, even though we ourselves are part of nature. But when we wake up before the sun comes up, go to sleep long after the sun has set, eat erratic amounts at erratic times, and are exposed to artificial light and the way too fast pace of “modern life,” we fall out of our natural rhythms. And we feel that falling out so deeply in the forms of irritability, fatigue, and even illness.

An evening mocktail is just one example of a nourishing habit or ritual. There are so many other ways to nourish ourselves. It could be a morning (or evening) walk or meditation to welcome the day (or night). It could be gathering with friends and celebrating. It could be hugging your dog. It could be creating music. It could be moving our bodies in a way that feels nourishing.

I keep coming back to the word nourishing because it encompasses so much. The word itself comes from the latin root of not only “feed” but “cherish.” When we nourish ourselves, it is a way of cherishing our lives, ourselves, our world, and our community. And the result is that we are able to live even more authentic, vibrant lives to create an even more beautiful world.

One mocktail, one sunset, one hug, one conversation, one moment of stillness at a time.