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Arete Warriors – spirit, mind, body strong
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Dear Santa, My Nervous System Needs A Bonus
It’s that time of year when moms add Santa to the job title – right behind CEO, chauffeur, therapist, and chef. We’re juggling protein goals, peace on earth and a suspicious number of Amazon packages.
Magical? Yes.
Exhausting? Also yes.
I’d love to help you. How can I make this even just a bit easier for you this season?
Here are some ideas.
Let’s Prepare – the warm up
FOOD PREP
You need to be ok with leftovers if only for this season. Plan to cook two dinners this week and Intentionally make too much. We are munching off leftover brisket and chicken thighs from a party we hosted Sunday and it’s made for an easy cooking week for me.
Focus on keeping protein sources handy. Let’s be honest, we’re going to get plenty of carbs. 🍪🍫🥂
GIFT IDEAS
The best gifts are the ones we wouldn’t splurge on for ourselves but they make life easier, more enjoyable or fill some real need.
Since I know you value your health, so your loved ones might too, we’ll start there.
I’m a big fan of my Whoop (if you use this link you can get a discount on it) but Ali wants to try the Oura Ring, so that’s what he’s getting this Christmas. ($200-$600)
We fight over our hypervolt massage gun but this RENPHO Active Thermacool 2 Massage Gun on Amazon is highly rated and on sale right now. (<$100 on sale)
I’ve given a care package of my favorite healthy supplements to friends before as a gift so they could try many and see which ones they like best. (Varies)
I have a few different Red Light Therapy devises around here. One near my bed, one for anyone watching TV, etc. This one is highly rated if you’re interested in that as a gift idea! (<$100 on sale)
Perhaps a punch pass to a local rec center, fitness studio, or personal training would be an excellent gift idea! (Varies)
If you live in the Denver area (and especially if you have athlete kids) my kids have both worked out at KULA and although it’s not cheap, I was impressed with the quality of their classes and coaching. They also train adults.
Moving on from physical health to the mental kind. These are some gift ideas that would make like more enjoyable.
We play games and a few of our favorites are Chameleon ($20), Mexican Train Dominoes (~$60), and I love Rummikub ($20) though I’m admittedly a bigger fan than Ali.
Nadia is currently obsessed with one of my childhood favorites, Chinese Checkers. ($40)
You could gift memberships to Audible ($150 for 1 year), KiwiCo (monthly STEM projects for kids), or your local museum or Zoo would all be wonderful gifts!
Memberships to help make life easier might include a food prep service (like Factor 75, HelloFresh or Home Chef), a car wash membership or grocery delivery service (InstaCart or Amazon Fresh).
I love supporting friends’ businesses. I have sent my massage therapist as a gift, my housekeepers, babysitter, and handyman too.
Meditation apps such as HeadSpace, Calm or InsightTimer are the perfect example of something one might not spend the money on for themselves, but they would definitely fill a need.
And let’s be honest, a gift certificate to dinner out, a favorite local coffee shop or for a spa treatment of some kind would all be huge hits!
I try to lean toward the EXPERIENCE over CLUTTER, can you tell?
Let’s Work – the exercise
I’ve created a few gifts for you as well this holiday season.
The Arete Warrior program was designed to be a 10 week course, meeting once weekly with me (or another instructor) for a workout and class activities. The program was designed to teach self-awareness, control, discipline, and an understanding of overall health concepts such as sleep, nutrition, and exercise.
This material was geared toward elementary and middle school aged kids.
Here is the complete, full color Arete Warrior journal for you to share with your kids (or nieces, nephews, etc).
I’ve combined the weekly exercises into this small kit that you can print out and bind or use however you wish.
And for YOU mama, here is your kit including some journal pages, exercises for self-discovery, a quiz to determine your love language, and a worksheet to practice The Work by Byron Katie.
And finally, here is a complete (cardio + lifting) 45 minute workout you can do at home with only a few (ideally heavy) dumbbells. I will say this gift is temporary so if you want to do it, do it soon. 😁
Happy shopping, partying, wrapping, cooking, grocery getting, driving, delivering, coordinating, cleaning, organizing, planning, snuggling, SMILING and don’t forgot to find some time for YOU.
