Girl, take care of your body.

I’m sick and tired—of being sick and tired. How I’m changing things up so I can feel my best and give my body the care it needs.

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It’s Monday! If you often suffer from the Sunday scaries and dread Mondays with a passion, I feel you. We’ve all been there.

Honestly though, this Monday is off to a great start and I’m excited to keep the positive energy rolling through the week—hopefully you are in the same boat. (Peep the subtle Maine pun ha ha.)

Last night I was laying in bed scrolling through all of my saved snapchats from the past few months. Smiling the entire time reminiscing on what a wild year it has been for me. But looking through the most recent weeks, I got to thinking about how hard I have been on my body.

It’s no wonder that as soon as I got back to Maine, I ended up miserably sick and in bed for three days straight. Ugh.

But rightfully so since I had spent the last three weeks drinking almost every night, and getting four hours of sleep, if I was lucky.

I will take full responsibility for this because I truly crammed a lot into those three weeks. Either way, every day I’d wake up more drained than the day before and somehow pushthrough another night of farewell shots and shotgun races with good friends. Not to mention the loads of fast-food I ate while being on the go paired with little to no exercise, I was really just asking to get sick.

Obviously, there are more ways to celebrate and say good-bye than drinking and partying. It would just start as eating with friends, then sharing a few stories over a couple drinks, then a shot or two would turn into three or four, and before we knew it,we’d be closing down the bars. You know how it goes sometimes. The problem was, that it just kept happening—week after week.

In my mind I kept thinking, enjoy these moments; soak up the wild nights with friends and family because you won’t always get these chances.

I took this to the extreme and forgot to let my body and mind rest—like ever. I’d party until three in the morning, just to wake up and drive to the next ‘good-bye’ destination at eight and then start the vicious cycle all over again.

This is going to have to be something I learn to balance; because working seasonally, I come and go every six months. If I continue these crazy binges every time I move, I’ll always be setting myself back when it comes to my health.

Yes, I want to go out and have fun with friends and enjoy drinks every now and then. But I have to learn that what I’m putting into my body is what I’m getting out. I need to start prioritizing my health. Yes, some late nights every now and then can’t hurt but averaging less than five hours of sleep and drinking mugs of beer every night can seriously land you in the hospital—trust me, I would know.

One of the coolest things I’ve ever read about taking care of our bodies, compared the foods we eat to the gas we put in our vehicles. We wouldn’t want to put mud into our cars to try to fuel them, so why do we put junk into our bodies and expect them to run well.

I think it’s easy to forget how important taking care of your body really is. I think for a while you can successfully go through the motions and simply ‘make it’ through your day; but there’s no way you are performing your best or really enjoying your daysunder these conditions.

You can ask anyone, I’m all for the idea that we only live once. But one thing I’ve had to realize lately is that we are only given one body to live in. Who knows how long I will be on this earth;but while I’m here I want to feel good and be able to keep up with all of the adventures ahead. I can’t do that if I’m always sick and tired.

So, for the month of June I have made it a goal to prioritize my self-care. Maybe I’ll miss a few nights out here or there, but taking care of my mental and physical health will really feel amazing. Then for the rest of the summer, I’ll get this whole balance thing down and work on moderation when it comes to junk foods and drinking.

Let’s make this a summer of finding the balance; between having all the fun, but also getting all the rest and taking care of our bodies. Work hard, play harder; but rest like your life depends on it—because it kind of does.