Peddling Hope

09/19/2025

A garden doesn’t stay beautiful on its own, no matter how healthy it is. It will become overgrown if we stop tending it.

Our relationships work the same way. They need attention and a little nurturing. Not all the time, but often enough to remind one another that we’re here and that we care.

It’s easy to let days slip by, assuming our friends or family know how we feel. But without small moments of connection, even the strongest bonds can start to feel distant. You don’t need a grand gesture or a detailed plan: a quick check-in, a shared laugh, or a few thoughtful words over text can make all the difference.

Who might need a little tending this week?

09/16/2025

Let’s talk about Active Rest today.

Active rest means choosing simple, low-effort activities that calm your body and quiet your mind, without shutting everything off. It’s the kind of rest that restores and regulates, helping you feel more like yourself again.

Examples of active rest:
• A slow, phone-free walk
• Folding laundry to soft music
• Gentle stretches before bed

Why it matters:
• Rebalances your nervous system
• Creates a gentle pause in a busy day
• Sends your body the message: “You’re safe now”

How to make it yours:
Notice a point in your day when you feel most overstimulated or drained. Instead of powering through or zoning out, swap in one small, restoring activity.

Keep it simple and remember that you don’t have to earn this rest. What might active rest look like for you today?

09/14/2025

As summer comes to an end, it's easy to lose ourselves in the endless stream of notifications, emails, and to-do lists. But this Sunday, let’s hit pause on the digital noise and give ourselves the gift of being fully present.

Today’s Self-Care Exercise:

Unplug: Choose a time today to step away from your phone. Set it aside and allow yourself to disconnect from the digital world.

Get Outside: Spend time outdoors. Whether it’s a walk or just sitting on your porch, let the warmth of summer and the sounds of nature ground you in the moment.

Be Present: As you enjoy these moments, focus on what you see, hear, and feel. Breathe it in and remind yourself that these are the last days of summer and you should savour them.

Take this time to recharge, reflect, and enjoy the beauty around you.

09/11/2025

When life finally slows down, we can often feel lost and uncertain. It's as if we're in uncharted territory, navigating unfamiliar terrain.

If you’ve spent long enough in survival mode, the feeling of rest can feel threatening, like something is wrong or you’ve missed something important.

Feeling discomfort when life slows down doesn’t mean that you’ve done something wrong. It might just mean that your nervous system is finally regulating itself. Catching up with your body after an extended period of hypervigilance.

The stillness you're feeling is not a step back or a sign of regression. Not at all, it's actually a sign of growth.

What would it feel like to allow this moment to be enough? To let go of the need to constantly be doing, and instead, simply be?

09/09/2025

We often think of rest as something we 'get to' do when everything else is done.

Our nervous systems can become chronically dysregulated, making true rest feel out-of-reach. So, let's shift the perspective: how can we build rest into the fabric of our day, even in small ways?

Here are three accessible ways to incorporate rest into your daily routines:

Sensory Grounding:
Instead of waiting to feel exhausted to make time for rest, take tiny moments during the day to step away from your current task and find a way to ground yourself in the moment. Notice how your feet feel on the floor, the temperature of the air. Whatever you need to feel firmly grounded in your body before going back to your task. These small moments interrupt stress cycles and gently anchor you in the present.

Prioritizing Restorative Sleep Hygiene:
A chronic lack of rest can disrupt your ability to find deep, restorative sleep. So focus on creating a ritual that signals your nervous system that it’s time to wind down. This could be dimming the lights an hour before bed, engaging in a calm activity like stretching or reading, and ensure your bedroom is as comfortable as possible.

And then be consistent with your sleep hygiene. It’s the difference between getting frustrated or getting real results.

Mindful Movement or Stillness:
Rest doesn't always mean complete inactivity. It can also mean gentle, intentional movement that doesn't trigger the stress response, or moments of deliberate stillness. This might look like a short, slow walk outside, focusing on the rhythm of your breath, or simply sitting quietly for a few minutes, allowing your body to settle. The goal is to move out of high alert and into a state of relative calm, even if just for a short while.

Remember, incorporating these isn't about adding more pressure, but about creating space for yourself. Start small, notice what feels restorative for you, and adjust as needed.

True rest is a practice, not a thing to achieve perfectly.

09/07/2025

We often think of self-care as something we do alone. And while solitude matters, connection is a form of care too.

Reaching out. Being witnessed. Offering presence. It regulates our nervous systems and reminds us we’re not alone.

Sometimes we need to ask for support. Other times, we offer it.

🌿 Today’s Self-care Sunday: Reach Out With Intention

Reflect:
Is there someone on your mind today? A friend, a loved one, someone who’s been a little quiet lately?

Send a short message:
“Just checking in. How are you today?”
“I thought of you when I made my coffee.”
“I miss you.”

These small touchpoints matter more than we know.

Caring for others doesn’t mean abandoning yourself. It means remembering that we’re wired for social relationships. And small gestures of intentional attention go a long way.

08/31/2025

As the long weekend unfolds, give yourself the space to truly slow down and savour each moment. Amidst the labour day weekend plans and to-do lists, take a pause for yourself.

Today’s Self-Care Exercise:

Pause & Breathe: Take a few minutes today to pause, wherever you are. Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and exhale any tension that’s lingering.

Be Present: In this moment, everything else can wait. Ground yourself within your body with slow breathing and using your senses.

Whether you’re relaxing at home or enjoying time with loved ones, this weekend is yours to embrace. Be present and allow yourself to fully recharge.

08/30/2025

For some of my clients, stillness can feel uncomfortable. Especially when they’re used to measuring progress and success by how much they’re getting done.

It feels like the goalposts are constantly moving backward after every success. Like every bit of rest puts them further behind. That their success is measured by how burnt out they are at the end of the day.

But not every season is meant for productivity. Some are meant for recovery. So for today’s Mantra, I want to remind you that Recovery is possible.

08/28/2025

Do you feel that shift in the air? 🍂 Late summer sunsets, warm evenings, and at the same time… a sense that new routines are waiting.

September has always felt like another New Year to me. A natural pause to reflect, and reset, and prepare for the busy season ahead.

I focus on taking small sips of self-care. A little more rhythm to my days now that family has gone home for the summer. Gentle planning that makes the transition easier on our minds and bodies.

In this month’s blog, I’m sharing how I balance the micro-planning of daily self-care with the bigger picture of routines, checklists, and family calendars. These small steps create steadiness. They help us move into fall with more resilience and less overwhelm.

You can read it here:

The school year may be starting soon and vacations winding down, but summer isn’t over just yet. That’s where the idea of pacing comes in.

08/26/2025

Let’s talk about the word lazy.

I don’t use it. Not with clients. Not with friends. Not with myself.

Because lazy is often just a label we slap on moments when we’re tired. Or quiet. Or frozen by stress or overwhelm. It’s a word rooted in shame and it ignores everything the nervous system is working through behind the scenes.

Sometimes what we call “lazy” is actually burnout.Or grief. Or depression. Sometimes we just NEED the rest because it’s long overdue.

So today, if you’re feeling still or tired, let that be okay. You don’t need to earn your worth by pushing through. You’re allowed to rest.

08/10/2025

I got a lot of messages about my analogy from Thursday about taking little sips of Self-care. So this Self Care Sunday, we’re going to try this approach.

Because sometimes, self-care feels like another thing to check off your list. Like you need a whole afternoon to get it just right. And if you wait for everything to be just right, you’ll be waiting for a long time.

🌱 Today’s Exercise: Try the Little Sips Approach

Reflect:
Think about one area of your life that feels like too much lately. Where are you putting things off because they feel too big to start?

Journal Prompt:
What would a “little sip” look like here? What’s one small action you could take to make room for self-care in your day. Come up with a list of little things you can do in two minutes or less to find a little more time to cherish yourself.

You don’t need a full hour or a perfect routine. You just need a way back to yourself... one small moment at a time.

08/07/2025

When something feels too big, we tend to put it off. Drinking more water. Catching up with a friend. Taking care of ourselves.

We wait for the “right time” to give ourselves attention. But the truth is, that time often gets put off over and over so you can take care of others instead.

So what if we stopped waiting for the perfect moment, and started with something smaller?

I like to use the analogy of one of my clients wanting to start drinking more water as a step toward her self-care journey. She found herself struggling when trying to drink a full glass of water every hour, on the hour. And struggling more when she tried to chug down a huge bottle of water to make up for what she missed during the day.

I asked her to consider if it would be easier to just have water nearby as the goal. So she could take little sips throughout the day.

The concept of taking ‘little sips’ of self-care means you’re not trying to do it all perfectly, all at once.

It can look like:
A quick text to say, “Thinking of you” when you’ve lost touch with a friend.
A pre-made healthy meal from the store when you know you’re too tired to cook.
A hand on your partner’s back while you pass in the kitchen.
Two rounds of deep breaths before opening your inbox.

These little sips keep us from chasing perfection. Instead of aiming to get everything right, you can take a small sip. And then another.

Before you know it, you’ll be further along your journey than you thought you could be.