How are you guys doin? I don’t know about you, but I’ve been STRESSED. With everything that’s been going on in this world, I feel at least a little bit crazy all the time. I’m even starting to think that the stress from our current political climate is at least partly to blame for my chronic eczema. It’s no fun. But then I have days where I wake up feeling mostly normal and calm, and so I feel guilty for not being a hot mess. Then I have to remind myself that it’s good to let that part of my brain shut down sometimes. You know why? It’s EXHAUSTING to feel this way all the time. I think we need to find that middle ground where we don’t normalize everything and become complacent, but we also don’t go off the deep end. And that’s why I think self-care is more important than ever these days. For me, self-care looks like getting plenty of sleep, sticking to my exercise routine and trying to eat a healthy diet as much as possible. I also listen to a ton of political podcasts because being informed makes me feel like I have some sense of control. I included a lot of political podcasts on this list, but two new favorites are The Daily (by The New York Times) and Pod Save America.  [Read more…]