Summer Glow Up: Tips for the Ultimate Transformation

In this episode of The Sober Butterfly,  Nadine discusses tips and tricks for achieving a summer glow up.  Covering topics such as physical well-being through nutrition, and exercise, Nadine shares her personal goals and strategies. She also delves into skincare and emotional well-being, emphasizing the importance of journaling and surrounding oneself with positive influences. 

The episode features a sponsor segment from Jolie, promoting their filtered showerhead for healthier skin and hair. 

00:00 Introduction and Welcome

00:10 The Summer Glow Up: It's Not Too Late!

01:35 Physical Well-being: The Foundation of a Glow Up

04:09 Nutrition: The Key to Sustainable Weight Loss

10:45 Exercise: Finding a Routine You Love

16:07 Skincare: Lessons from Personal Experience

19:04 Personalized Skincare Routine

20:18 Hydration Tips for Glowing Skin

21:08 The Importance of a Skincare Routine

21:42 The Benefits of Monthly Facials

22:18 Introducing Our Sponsor: Jolie

22:42 Emotional Well-being: Journaling

26:03 Self-Care Priorities

27:09 Building Positive Connections

29:30 Mental Well-being and Goal Setting

37:07 Sober Summer: Enhancing Your Glow Up

38:06 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Transcript

the-sober-butterfly_6_06-19-2024_141250: 0:00

Hello, hello. Welcome to another episode of The Sober Butterfly. I am your host, Nadine Mulvina. Welcome back. If you're new here, welcome. I'm so excited today to be talking about one of my favorite topics, the summer glow up. Today's the first day of summer, so we are right on time. And if you think maybe you missed the boat because everyone's been talking about the summer glow up, it's very trendy right now. It's having a moment. Um, I am here to assure you, you are not too late. You are right on time. Okay? We are going to get you right where you need to be by the time you need to be there. So whether you're prepping for your ultimate Euro vacation, or maybe you're getting ready for your best friend's wedding, or maybe you just want to become the very best version of yourself, let me be your guide. Today, I want to share some tips and tricks to help you get to the very best version of yourself. so let's get glowing.

the-sober-butterfly_7_06-19-2024_141548: 0:57

I had to back the camera way up because I cut off like half of my forehead. Sorry about that. If you're listening at home, this is a great plug to remind you that I have a YouTube channel so you can find me at The Sober Butterfly. Yeah, let's get going. Actually, before we get going, a quick word from today's sponsors.

the-sober-butterfly_20_06-19-2024_150759: 1:19

This episode is brought to you by Jolie. Jolie is the amazing filtered shower head that will leave your skin feeling fresher and healthier than ever. More on that later. But trust me when I say you are going to love it. All right, let's get started for real.

the-sober-butterfly_20_06-19-2024_151538: 1:35

Let's kick things off with physical well being. This is often the first thing I think people think of when they hear glow up. And for good reason, taking care of your body, taking care of your outward physical appearance can make a huge difference in how you feel, how you show up, how you present yourself.

the-sober-butterfly_20_06-19-2024_151758: 1:55

My goals as they relate to my physical well being and my summer glow up are aligned to weight loss. I'm just a girl. Like every girl freaking wants to lose weight. But for me, um, I want to be intentional. I have struggled with obsessively weighing myself, so I try not to get on the scale too often. So right now, as it stands today, I don't know how much I weigh, but I can always tell how I feel based off of how my clothes fit me. I'm very much concerned about results. Like I like results and I feel like when you weigh yourself, like your weight fluctuates so much depending on, you know, what you ate, the time in which you ate said foods or, waterweight bloating, things that are sometimes out of our control. So I don't think weight is always an accurate measure of your goals, like your progress goals. So I don't like to weigh myself very often and I don't think it's always reflective of actually how I look. And so for me, inches just makes more sense. I'm looking at measuring, literally taking a tape measurer and measuring my waist, measuring my arms, my legs, my thighs, things like that, because I actually think that's more. accurate, more telling in terms of what weight loss would look like for me. So I'll be taking my measurements on a weekly basis between now and my upcoming trip this summer. So this summer I'm traveling to Greece, I'm going to Italy, and I'm going to Turkey. And that's towards the end of August. So between now, which is June 20th to August 19th is when I leave, that gives me a nice chunk of time to strive towards losing, I would say, between 5 to 10 inches. Overall around my body. I think that's healthy. I think that's attainable that probably equates to like anywhere from 5 to 10 pounds So for me, it feels better than like hopping on the scale daily And obsessing about why my weight changed or why my weight hasn't changed. I think it's just more indicative of like muscle mass and things like that So I won't be weighing myself really throughout this process but I will be taking my measurements on a weekly basis

the-sober-butterfly_20_06-19-2024_152230: 4:06

Step one for helping me achieve my goal. And my weight loss goals is connected to nutrition, nutrition, nutrition, nutrition. I recall being a pretty young girl, probably like early teens and watching the Tyra Banks Show. Tyra herself, I felt like her weight fluctuated quite a bit. And there was a point where she went through like this somewhat drastic weight loss journey. And I remember she reported, happily reported on her purple couch, how she lost all this weight. And she was like, you guys, I found the secret. And the secret is 30 percent working out 70 percent what you eat or your diet. And I remember as a little girl being like, Oh, that sucks because I love to eat. I love to eat, you guys. I love to eat. And, uh, I also love to work out. So, even as a kid, like, I was chunky. I was a chunky kid because I ate whatever I wanted, and nobody really restricted me from doing so, and I remember watching that and being like that sucks because you know in my mind I Put working out maybe above like even what you ate Also being a byproduct of The millennium, so a millennial girly, I have struggled with disordered eating and I think my disordered eating is really like overcompensating via exercise because I've overeaten I know that about myself, so I have to be mindful of these things, but I share that to say like nutrition is. Essential and the thing is like I know better. I know what I need to do. I just don't always do it And so nutrition really is a mindset shift I feel like I don't even like the word diet because diet just feels temporary diet feels restrictive diet feels Like oh i'm just Reaching for this milestone. And once again, like I have a trip coming up and normally I do diet before a trip because I'm like, I have a trip coming up and I want to look my best and I can just do this thing and be super restrictive for X amount of weeks. And then I'll show up being snatched and mostly it works, mostly it works, but I do feel like, you know, being 33, being in my thirties, there's been a shift. Like I can't just do something for two weeks and then show up looking a certain way. It takes longer. My body just doesn't respond in the same way to things as it used to. I actually think it's a good thing because the amount of pressure I used to put my body through. Yeah, so it really is a mindset shift. I have to like love myself I have to embrace aspects of myself that maybe I don't Like, if I'm being real, like, I love myself in spite of the things I don't love. I think I have a chubby face. I hate my jawline. I hate my cheeks. I'm not trying to make this a hate bashing session. Like, I do love myself overall, but I have. Things that I don't like about my body and I think this glow up process is really about Embodying the type of person that in spite of how I look I'm always going to love myself Like I think that's the mindset shift for me as it pertains to nutrition now That means I need to focus on fuel my body with nourishing foods. I need to believe that my body deserves healthy foods, whole foods. Think fresh fruits and vegetables and lean proteins and plenty of water, like conventional wisdom. I know these things to be true. A balanced diet gives you the energy you need to stay active and vibrant and to optimize my workouts because I actually love to work out and exercise, but it's sometimes really hard to put conventional wisdom to use when you have lots of temptation around you. I am an extreme girly. I will do something hard and fast and I will also burn out hard and fast. So a prime example of that is I tried to do the 75 hard twice now and I have not completed it twice now. Um, because I think it's just too restrictive. Like I could drink a gallon of water. I could, you know, take progress pics. I could even do the two workouts a day and read 20 pages of nonfiction. Like that stuff was easy. The hard part was really the nutritional plan. And the thing is you get to choose the nutritional plan and I still struggled. So the one nutritional plan that I will say though, that has Been the most consistent for me. I think it's just like aligned to my everyday lifestyle choices is the Mediterranean diet. And it's funny cause I'm going to the Mediterranean at the end of the summer, which is like my beacon of hope that I'll be like my fully optimized, glowed up self by that time. But yeah, the Mediterranean diet for me feels the least restrictive and therefore the most attainable. So I already eat a ton of fish. I'm not a huge meat eater, so like the red meat stuff doesn't bother me. I love, you know, eating rice and I love eating bread and I love hummus and I just like that stuff anyway. Olives, um, I cook with olive oil. And so that's what I'm following right now. I'm not depriving myself with sweets. I'm just cutting back because everything good in moderation, except for alcohol. Alcohol is bad in any quantity. I digress, so with nutrition, just the main thing to keep in mind is you want to find a plan that actually works for you and stick to it. Okay. Stick to it. Stick to it. And if you don't stick to it, give yourself grace and get right back onto the diet plan. I hate the word diet, the nutritional plan. it's nutrients. Your body needs nutrients. Don't deprive it. But also keep in mind whatever your goals are, as it pertains to your physical glow up, are you going to get there if you continue to eating what you're currently eating? That's the question, right? For me, it's like, I'm not overweight. My BMI is in line with my height, but I know how I want to look. I know that I want to be my optimal self this summer. And so, yeah, I need to cut back my carbs and my sugar intake. Do I need to eliminate it altogether? No, maybe, but no, I'm not going to do that because I know myself as well. I know I'm just going to hate life and like, that's not why we're doing this. So yeah. Set yourself up for success, not for failure. Stick to a plan that is nourishing for your body and that is actually sustainable for you to maintain.

the-sober-butterfly_20_06-19-2024_153533: 10:44

Okay. Step two is find an exercise plan or routine that you love. Are you seeing a theme here? You seeing a trend? it's all about finding things that actually serve you that you're going to somewhat want to do. I feel lucky in the sense that I love to exercise because I need to exercise to be mentally stable. But I know for most people that's not the case. But Exercise is something that I love and even I find times when it's a struggle to exercise. I exercise regularly, I would say five to six times a week. In certain eras of my life, I've definitely exercised every day. Do not recommend that. Your body needs to rest your body needs to rest and so with that being said I do a mixture of different activities, but I definitely take my rest days. I love to run. I do Pilates those are the two constants in my life. And then I also once a week go to orange theory, which is a HITT style workout. Weight training is something that I've more recently gotten into. I'm not a weights girly. Like I'm not ever going to be the one benching or like, I don't know, doing the squats with like the huge barbell. No, that's not like my aesthetic per se, but like I see value now in strength training because they say when you strength train, your body is Still burning those calories. Days from the actual initial training day, which is really cool to think about so physically, do I, oh, I have my planner here. Great. I physically have my planner and I will write in quite literally what my workouts are for that day. Like that is just something that like I have to do because it holds me accountable. There's something about having something written down or you can put it in your calendar or in your phone, but just having it mapped out, like scheduled, I'm, I'm not going to break the schedule. I'm a schedule girl. So yeah, that really helps me. This is kind of against what I just said, but you can't wait for motivation. You just can't find something you love. But like, if you don't want to work out, you don't love to work out. Don't wait for the spirit to move you. It's never going to move you. You don't like to work out. So don't wait for the motivation to all of a sudden come crashing down and all of a sudden you're. You're a running girl. Like that's not how it works. You have to just push yourself. It's almost like mechanical. Just like, I don't love to go to work every day, right? When that alarm clock goes off, I get up and I get ready for work. Same thing with your workout. I can't wait to feel like I'm motivated to go to my job because then I probably never go and I would be unemployed So the point I'm trying to make is push yourself to do it Whether you want to do it or not, you have to depersonalize the idea of working out if that's not your thing Take out the emotion from it. It's just something that you have to do And once you get into that habit that mindset You'll see that it becomes less daunting. Another tip I have for just sort of like getting more active in your day to day is, um, Get your steps in I know right now we're seeing a lot of people talk about 10k a day steps and I love that 10, 000 is a great baseline. I live in a big city. So for me, 10k is like a regular day, but you have to check in with yourself, depending on where you live for me. I'm always aiming for 15k plus days because like I said, like, I can seriously do 10k before 12 o'clock. Noon. If you are getting on average 2k a day, don't even strive for 10k. Like that's a big jump. Strive for 5k. You want to set yourself up for success. I already said that because it's so true. Like you will feel disheartened if you set these really lofty goals that are not sustainable for yourself. So yeah, set yourself up for something that's attainable and then you can always move the threshold or the meter higher as you go. And the last thing I'll say is like, there are great ways you can sneak steps into your day. I don't drive, so it's easy for me. I don't have a car. but if you do, like most people do, they drive everywhere. It's like, as you're running your errands, like you go to Target, We all scour for the closest parking spot next to the entrance. Why don't you do the opposite? Why don't you look for the one that's furthest? Okay, and then walk your happy self into target. Walk around target and then walk right back to your car that's parked half a mile away. Like those are great ways to like push yourself without even like thinking about it so much or overthinking about it just to like get into those habits. Take the stairs. That's big for me. I don't care how fit you are. Everyone is winded going up a flight of stairs if there's an escalator, the line is like wrapped around the corner, everyone's trying to get on the escalator and I'm like, you know what, I'm just going to take the stairs, I'm better than you. No, but it kind of feels that way. You're like, yeah. Looking at everyone just like pushing to get on the escalator. And it's like, no, I want to take the stairs. Thank you. Move out my way. I'm going up. All right, that's all I have to say about exercise So yeah Just find ways to keep your endorphins Flowing and keeping yourself motivated by things that you love and if you don't love it, fake it, Just push yourself to do it until you may surprise yourself and actually like it

the-sober-butterfly_20_06-19-2024_154412: 16:08

Now let's talk skincare. But before actually we talk about skincare. I want to share a quick story. So When I was in my teens my 20s I was that annoying girl that would sleep in her makeup because I was hungover mostly and I wouldn't like Wash my face. Some days I was just like, I didn't care about my skin is the point I'm trying to make. And even though I didn't care about my skin, my skin loved me. I would have glowing skin. I never had a breakout. I never had a pimple. I was just annoying. It's just like, how do you have the skin? You don't even care about it. Definitely. You don't deserve it. and then something happened. Around 30. So like 29 going into 30. I remember it was a pandemic. My skin just rebelled. It was just like, I'm tired of you treating me this way. How dare you? And it started to break, broke out like nobody's business for no, Known reason I still don't know to this day like what happened or why it started to freak out But it did it really did and I didn't know what to do because I Had never had issues with my skin before so it's like if you've never had experience dealing with skin care issues. You don't really know what to do. And so I would talk to some of my girlfriends and ask them what to do. I even went to a dermatologist and I never really got to the root cause of what was happening with my skin, but it was bad. and then I got sober. I quit drinking alcohol, July 5th, 2021, and it took some time. It wasn't like an overnight. I want to be clear about that. It wasn't like an overnight snap. My skin is. back to what it looks like today and what it looked like before. It just, with time, cleared up. And not only just cleared up, like, it started to glow. Like, it started just to get that sense of, like, that youthfulness back to it. I don't know what happened, but the only thing I changed. At that time was my consumption of alcohol. So we know that alcohol dries out your skin. We know it can lead to other like impurities of the skin. It's just a poison, like you ingest poison. It's bound to show up in many ways, I think my skin was just finally having a hard time detoxing quite literally the amounts of alcohol. I was drinking Anyway, so I just want to share that so I'm actually grateful for the experience I had when struggling with my skin because it forced me to pay attention more to like the products I was using. And I realized I didn't really have any rhyme or reason for why I was using things. I just bought things. Things that were marketed basically at me. I was like, Oh, this, this bottle is cute. I'm going to buy this without looking at the ingredients without looking at like what type of skin type it was intended for. I just would buy things. Now. I don't do that because it's a waste of money. And also understand more what my skin needs to maintain itself. And there's something about, you know, turning 30, you just need to pay more attention to these things. You realize that you can't take your skin for granted. You start to see things sag and wrinkles form, and you just want to make sure that you're optimizing your skin. Of course, there are cosmetic procedures you can, implement into your routine. I haven't quite gone that route fully yet. I'm not against it. I just don't think I need it quite yet. So I say a lot to say, find things that work for you and understand. What your personalized skincare routine should look like, look for products that are aligned to the type of skin that you have. If you don't know your skin type, I'm a combo girl. I so I have oily skin and I also have dry skin depending on the season. It's summer, so right now my skin is pretty oily. So I buy products that are reflective of my type of skin. So you can take quizzes, you can find out what skin type you have to really optimize your dollar and making sure that you're buying the stuff that works because skincare can be pricey. Conventional wisdom coming in hot here, but drink tons of water. I like to add fresh lemon into my water. It is Chef's Kiss, the greatest thing I've done for myself. I didn't hate the taste of water before, but I realized I didn't love it. It doesn't taste like anything. I know it doesn't taste like anything, but like it kind of does. So, I now feel like I'm drinking lemonade. Remember, I have a sweet tooth. Um, I feel like I'm drinking lemonade. It's just fresh lemon juice. Lemon that I squeeze from a juice. Um, juice that I squeeze from a lemon and yeah, I half it every morning. First thing that hits my stomach is ice cold lemon water. I don't know about temperature. Some people argue you should have room temp. It's summer. It's hot. I like my water to be freezing ice cold. So yeah, drink water. Um, don't drink alcohol and Take care of your skin, take off your makeup, have some kind of routine. I have an AM routine. I have a PM routine for the morning and the evening. If anyone wants to know the specific products I'm using, please let me know in the comments below. I will happily make another video and link it or drop it in the show notes to show you guys what things I'm actually using because there's a lot of like noise out there. It's hard to sometimes decipher what you actually need versus what you don't need. But I would say, yeah, buy things that actually work for your skin type. And then if you can afford to splurge a little bit facials. Yeah, facials go a long way. It does not have to be a weekly thing. I would love to get weekly facials, but it's not quite in the budget. So instead I do a facial once a month and I can see a huge difference in my skin as well. Make sure you trust the esthetician who's actually working on your skin and gives you like real feedback about like what things they recommend for you. Not just like, Oh, get this hydrating facial because everyone's doing a hydrating facial like making sure that they actually recommend things that make sense for your skin type.

the-sober-butterfly_20_06-19-2024_155446: 22:18

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the-sober-butterfly_20_06-19-2024_160303: 22:42

Next up is emotional well being. Your emotional health is just as important as your physical health when it comes to a summer glow up. So let's jump in with journaling. I know you know how important journaling can be to your emotional well being. I think just there's something powerful about writing down your feelings, writing down your thoughts on paper. And putting that to paper, I think, can help you process emotions, especially when you reflect and you read back what you've written. A big part of my early sobriety was writing down how I was feeling. I just had a rollercoaster range of emotions. And it's actually a little comical now to look back at some of the entries that I wrote thinking just like, who is this drama queen? Like, Is she writing for Chicken Soup for the, Sober Girlie? Like, what is going on? It was just so dramatic. Um, but that's how I felt in the moment. I journal twice a day. Most days I'm not perfect, but most days I try and journal in the morning and at night. So in the morning, I am on the go. I get up pretty early because I also work out in the morning, preferably. So I don't have much time is the point. I'm trying to make so my journal in the morning is a gratitude journal. I write down 3 things. I'm grateful for every day. I'm not going to lie. 1 of the 3 things is I'm grateful to be here. Life is a privilege and I recognize that many people today did not wake up and so I always journal top of my journal is I'm grateful to be here and then I try to find 2 other things that I'm grateful for, which is super easy to do. At night, it's more freestyle. Like I just jot down what happened in the day. Like it's sometimes a little manic but I reflect on Big things that happened in my day. There's like a prompt that I saw a long time ago in another journal, which is like, what is a story worthy moment from the day? I think that's a great way to like, kind of thumb through the different archives of your mind. Like, if you think about all of the experiences that we have in our day, they may seem trivial. They may seem mundane. But there's always something that happened in that day that you can unlock. And then I usually write that moment down. And if nothing happened, I'm like, wait, why is, why is everything so boring? Like, I feel like I lead a very exciting life. So if there were ever moments where I'm like stretching for things that happened, I'm like, okay, well, tomorrow I'm going to make something story worthy to write down in my journal. So, yeah, um, step 1 is journaling for that summer glow up. You are thinking positively and you're doing some deep introspection and reflecting and if you really struggle with journaling, or if you just want to flex your creativity, I would say that you could even journal from the perspective of how you're going to feel when you hit whatever milestones that you've set or goals that you set for yourself in the process of becoming that girl. Does that make sense? So like, for me, like I said, for me, August 19th is like my official glow up date. That's how I'm seeing it, right? Like, I'll be landing in Athens, Greece. I'm like, okay, what am I talking about? What am I thinking about? Like, I don't know. How am I like feeling in this moment? So you can kind of make some almost like predictions about what life is going to look like when you are in that full summer glow up moment. Try it. I don't know. I haven't tried that. I'm going to try it and report back.

the-sober-butterfly_20_06-19-2024_160931: 26:03

Okay, next up we have self care, and I've talked extensively about self care, so I'm going to keep this one brief. Make self care a priority, that's like the main message I could deliver here. This could be anything from taking a long bath, reading a good book, spending time in nature, going to Greece, Italy, and Turkey. Do what makes you feel good, and that recharges your spirit, it doesn't have to be expensive. I have a whole episode about stop overspending. on self care in sobriety, because if you're sober, we love to do that. We love to project our future happiness sometimes into like physical things that will like fix our lives. And that's just not the case, right? Self care really does come from within. So keep that in mind and prioritize making an effort to do something for yourself. Every single day. Your self care could be this whole journey you're going through right now. This whole glow up journey for summer is your self care, but like what actionable steps are you taking every day to get there. Moving into step three. Step three is all about connections. I think surrounding yourself with positive people is probably one of the most important. impactful things you can do to uplift yourself and inspire you through this journey. I feel that way about life in general, but especially as you're in this transition transformation process. Why do you have people around you who don't support that glow up? Why do you have people around you who are doubting your ability to become whatever version of self that you want to become? Why do you have people who are holding you back? If you thought about a person with those questions, I need you to steer clear of them. I'm not going to tell you what to do, but I highly recommend that you distance yourself, there is discomfort in The unknown there is discomfort in change. And so you're doing things differently. You're moving differently. People are going to respond to that. However, they may see it. They could see it as a threat. Oh, this person's changing. Therefore, our dynamic will change. That could be literally what they're thinking. So it's not always like ill intended. Like, oh, I don't want this person to glow up. Um, it could just be this idea that, like, they don't like this person. Posed threat, you're talking about going to the gym and eating right and going on trips, like, they don't like that because where do they fit in that equation? So, I would say you just need to move differently right now, baby. Like, you have to make sure that you're surrounding yourself with people who are not hindering that progress because we ourselves can also act as sometimes a deterrent or even self sabotage ourselves in our progress because, as mentioned, We don't like the unfamiliar. We don't like discomfort. We don't like change. That's just, as humans, that's how we operate on a baseline. So your body, your mind, I should say, could potentially be trying to deter you from doing the hard work on yourself for that holistic transformation, that summer glow up. So you need to make sure that you are also mindful that sometimes we can be our own worst enemy and default to surrounding ourselves around people who we know better. We know we shouldn't be hanging with them. Just in general, building strong healthy relationships is integral to emotional well being.

the-sober-butterfly_20_06-19-2024_161520: 29:30

Okay, lastly, let's focus on mental wellbeing, keeping your mind sharp and positive is crucial for your complete glow up. So number one, we kind of already touched on this goals, set those personal goals for the summer, having something to strive towards. Like a vacation, a wedding can keep you motivated and focused. If you don't have a big life event coming up, that's fine. Still. I want you to think about a date, circle that in your calendar, and strive towards that date. And then when we get to that date, check in with yourself. How do you feel? Have you accomplished some of the goals that you set forth for yourself? It's just nice to have something to work towards something that's like tangible that's coming up in the near future, I think is a great place to start. And if you can't think of a date, just choose mine. August 19th, baby, let's do it.

the-sober-butterfly_20_06-19-2024_161757: 30:22

step two is read a nonfiction book. I think I mentioned already that I did 75 hard or I did not do 75 hard. I attempted 75 hard. And one of my favorite rules that they had was read 20 pages or 10 pages, I'm sorry, of a nonfiction book a day. That was transformational for me. I love to read, but I'm a fiction girly. So forcing myself to read a nonfiction book Every single day was groundbreaking. It really opened my mind to, like, personal development and things that, I hadn't quite considered on my own. Now I'm always reading a nonfiction book. when I was doing 75 hard I read The mountain is you by Brianna West. And that book was really helpful because it talked all about self sabotage and I recognized in Brianna's writing how much I related to many of the concepts that she discussed around self sabotage and how so much of it can be connected to like childhood wounds or just like coping mechanisms, trauma, all of that. So yeah, highly recommend that book if you're looking for a book around personal development because we all I think can fall prey to being our own worst enemy. So read a personal development or nonfiction book. I would say tailor it around an area of your life that needs improvement. So, for example, if you're struggling with your finances, find a book. Around financial literacy, if you're struggling with time management, find a book related to executive functioning and things like that. So you just want to find something that. It's connected to an area like of life. That is an opportunity for you to grow. we don't need to keep sharpening our skills around things that we're great at already. We want to glow up this summer. And so the best way to do that is to educate ourselves in new ways and not just continue to read the same type of books that we are accustomed to. And if you don't read books at all, no shame, this is a great opportunity for you to flex that muscle and start actually connecting to, new mediums. I do like audiobooks. I listen to audiobooks all the time when I'm commuting to work or even when I'm running or when I'm cleaning. But the way my brain works, the processing is not as powerful as when I actually read the written word. I'm a visual person. What can I say? So I like the act of having a physical book in front of me. Right now I'm reading F the Fairytale by Demona Hoffman. I actually got to meet her this January at a conference and she was amazing. She even inscribed the book to me, which was really cute and I was excited. And it's all about, you probably guessed it, forget the fairytale guys. It's a book about dating because I think that's an area of my life that I can grow in, dating and relationships. So yeah. Um, I'll let you know maybe in a separate video, how that book went and if I see any improvements with my dating love life this summer.

the-sober-butterfly_20_06-19-2024_162252: 33:30

Step three, is make a Pinterest board. It's fun. If anything, it's just a fun, like, arts and craft type of activity you can do, now that you've heard the full episode, maybe you'll have a clearer sense of like, what you can pin, but I recommend pinning images, quotes, any inspo that really resonates with the person that you're becoming and this will serve as a visual representation that can become a really powerful motivator for you throughout this tenure of time. I use my glow up my summer glow up Pinterest board as My screensaver for my desktop so it just is a constant reminder that, like, I am becoming, I am becoming, this best version of myself this summer, August 19th. I'm going to check back in with you guys and let you know how my progress has gone. As we wrap up this episode, so my physical goals, I want to lose 5 to 10 inches this summer through obviously my nutrition, consistent exercise, and just really being mindful of all of the things that are nourishing for my body when it comes to my emotional well being, my goals for myself are related to.

the-sober-butterfly_20_06-19-2024_162501: 34:45

Surrounding myself with people that I want to feel inspired by. Like, I have a network here. I have friends here. I have peers here, but like, I don't know if I, Have like my core group, like the dynamics in New York changed so much with the pandemic. A lot of people left, a lot of new people came, but I felt like I lost my core group of friends and I don't think I really have found that again. I think getting sober changed and shifted some relationships. Of course, I have like really close friends. I have best friends, but they don't live here. they don't live near me. And so, yeah, I think a focus for me this summer is going to be connected to finding my People and lastly my mental Well being goals are going to be connected to more mindfulness practice Like I already read a ton. I already set goals for myself And I've set goals for this, glow up, but look, I don't really have a mindfulness practice. So I'm going to give meditation another go. I really struggle with quieting my mind. You guys, um, you probably can guess that I'm a talker. Imagine what's going on up here. Like it's just. Like a never ending stream of thoughts. And so I would love to recenter myself and learn to connect with my mind, body, and spirit And I think a great way to do that from what I've been told and what I probably know to be true already is through meditation So. Yeah, I'm going to be working on that as well this summer. So those are my goals for my summer glow up I would love to hear some of your goals tell me the physical tell me the emotional tell me the mental I want to hear them drop them in the comments below I would love to connect with you guys about just how are we are doing with our summer glow up. Um, this is a process. There is no like, end destination, but we do have our check in date. So also feel free to drop your check in date. You guys already know mine is August 19th and we can see how we're doing. I would love to be like accountability partners or buddies in this system. So let me know what you're striving for or working towards and what your goals are below.

the-sober-butterfly_20_06-19-2024_162843: 37:00

and of course, I'd be remiss to not talk a little bit more in depth about something very close to my heart. Having a sober summer, alcohol might seem like a staple of summer fun, but trust me when I say you do not need it to have a good time. In fact, ditching alcohol can enhance your glow up in so many ways. You'll have more energy, clearer skin, better sleep, improved mental clarity. Plus, you get to be fully present to enjoy every moment of your summer adventures. If you're looking for alternatives, you can opt for refreshing mocktails, sparkling water, ice herbal teas. There are just so many delicious and festive non alcoholic options on market. So let's just cheers to a healthier, happier you. And if you want some recommendations, please let me know below. I'm happy to make another video showcasing, showcasing some of my. favorite non alcoholic beverages to drink this summer. I just actually finished my bar cart, so I'll be showing you guys what that looks like another time as well.

the-sober-butterfly_20_06-19-2024_163034: 38:06

All right, beauties, that's a wrap on our summer glow up episode. Remember, a true glow up is about nurturing yourself inside and out. Focus on your physical, emotional, and mental well being, get some exciting new goals, and don't forget to stay sober and shine even brighter. Thank you to our sponsor, Jolie, for supporting this episode. Be sure to check out their filtered shower head for an extra boost to your glow up routine. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe if you're watching on YouTube if you're listening from home, leave a review and share it with your friends, follow me on social media@the.soberbutterfly for more tips and inspiration until next time, stay amazing and keep glowing. Bye.