Well, hello there beautiful MAB tribe! I hope the start to your New Year has been glorious. As we start off 2017, I’ve been powerfully reminded about why self care is important.

If you’ve been following my Instagram, you may know that I have been traveling the last several weeks. I was on a cruise in the Caribbean for the first week of the year and as much as I’d love to report how awesome it was, unfortunately that wasn’t the case this time around.

A lot of people post all the good parts of traveling the world while leaving out the parts that royally suck. While traveling is amazing and I’m so grateful for all the places I’ve been, it does come with a price too.

After thoroughly enjoying this little piece of paradise in Mahogany Bay, Honduras, we returned to our room and got hit with some horrible food poisoning. We were violently sick the whole night and woke up in Belize unable to go on our barrier reef excursion.

And the funny part was that several people assumed it was because we drank too much. Like that’s the norm and it’s “understandable.” Trying to explain you really are actually sick NOT because of alcohol is a trip – I had to laugh. But, I digress.

After returning home, the repercussion of being exposed to so many people and places has caused some weird reactions inside my body. I’ve also been feeling extremely tired all week and realized that being away from my routines has caused me to get out of balance as I had completely forgotten about taking care of myself.

So, needless to say, I’m on my self-care game like a mo-fo this week after all that traveling. I’m realizing how important my self-care rituals are having been away from them. As I’ve slowly implemented back into “real life,” I’ve been doing double time when it comes to how I care for myself.

Mostly because I can feel I lost my sense of balance and well being while I was away. When we don’t stick with our self-care practices, it’s very easy to feel tired, stressed, slip back into bad habits or lose our footing in the world.

I have realized that traveling is great, but it can also empty you because you’re away from your comfort zone, healthy habits and routines. You can’t be of the highest service if you’re trying to work from an empty cup. My goal right now is to fill my cup back up with what I know I need.

Essential oils have saved my life it feels like the past week. I’ve literally used so many of them everyday  for stress relief, to clear the air, wash clothes, calm a sunburn and to infuse my water, lotion and shampoo.

Baths, sleep, yoga, prayer, meditation and staying uber hydrated is my jam when it comes to finding my center again. It’s amazing what some self-loving can do. I’m slowly starting to feel normal again thanks to my prized me-time rituals.

Several of my coaching clients found they drifted from their own self-care practices through the holidays as I did, so I thought sending a reminder about why self-care is so important was fitting.

May we all be reminded to love on ourselves more, give ourselves the care we need and get back to what we know brings us peace, health and the highest vibes. Namaste friends.

Image: Mad Flowers Malibu