Must-Try Wellness Trends That Don’t Break The Bank

Covid threw us a spanner in the works, and the majority of last year was spent surviving rather than thriving. As pandemic-first timers, most of our healthy habits and wellness routines went out the window to make room for the bare minimum. This meant simply making it through to the end of each day. But we’re halfway through the year, and the good run we’ve had thus far leaves us room to put back wellness on our priorities list – that is if you haven’t yet. If you’re looking for ideas to look after your physical, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing again, here are five fairly simple and pocket-friendly ideas to do exactly that.

Digital Detoxes 

Starting with the obvious, but often the hardest to do – a digital detox. This wellness practice is all about creating boundaries between you and the sometimes harsh world of social media and the internet. We have all the power to decide what we take in and what we consume and taking a breather from TV, the news, and our phones often bring positive results.

The length of a digital detox is all up to you. It could be as long or as brief as you’d want it to be, the more important thing is committing to the cause and that is living without your phone, social media, and TV. To make the most out of this practice, make sure to focus on what could be done rather than what you’re giving up. Use the time not spent on your phone to make time with yourself – go on walks, read books, learn a new skill or work on a creative project.

Flexible Goal Setting

Your wellness journey must heavily involve being kinder to yourself. One way to do this, though mildly unconventional, is re-assessing the goals you’ve set for yourself at the beginning of the year. More often than not, we make out a list driven by the excitement and hope that every new year brings. Sometimes, life just happens and we get to the middle of the year and we realise not much has been done and we start beating ourselves up for that.

For this wellness practice, the idea is to revisit your goals and be flexible enough if change or adjustments are necessary. If 2020 has taught us anything, that is change is inevitable and that change could come at any moment. The same applies for your goals too. Ditch the big all-or-nothing resolutions and convert that to a longer but more achievable list of micro-goals. Taking these much smaller steps to achieve a bigger goal is highly encouraging and the odds of you working on them are much higher because of the size and scale of it.

Cold Therapy

This idea could be a hard pitch, especially in the season we are in but research has shown that cold exposure therapy is the real deal. More and more experts are discussing the benefits of cold exposure and cold showers, which are cheap and available to nearly everyone. 

There’s nothing complex about this approach, all it takes is the courage to take a cold shower. Full disclosure though, cold showers are not the main source of treatment for any condition, but they may help improve symptom relief and general well-being. This practice provides a few benefits such as increased endorphins, improved circulation and metabolism, and it helps in reducing muscle soreness post-workout.

Downsized Skincare Routine

All the lazy girls rejoice because we are saying goodbye to 12-step skincare routines this year!

The pandemic has made us reassess and rethink our budgets and some have naturally shifted things around and ditched makeup, clothes, and spa services, and have explored at-home skincare trends. With tons of time on our hands during lockdown, people have realised that most of the products recommended by influencers left and right are either redundant or too much to handle, leaving a lot of confused and cynical people with damaged moisture barriers. So simplifying is key. Stick to the basics – cleanse and moisturise, and if you do these simple steps consistently, then expect your skin to start thanking you again.

Mindful and Intuitive Eating

It’s time we become the boss of our bodies (again), that’s why intuitive eating is making a huge splash this year. This, coupled up with the ever-growing body positivity movement, is a sure recipe for a win.

For the unfamiliar, intuitive eating is a philosophy of eating that makes you the expert of your body and its hunger signals. Basically, it’s the opposite of a traditional diet as it doesn’t impose guidelines about what to avoid and what or when to eat. Instead, it teaches and empowers one to make choices – to eat when you’re hungry and to stop when you’re full. This creates a healthy relationship with food and our bodies and enforces us to make smarter decisions for the right reasons.