9 restorative ways to self-care in the city for less than £20
#3 Go shopping for plants
I’ve been thinking a lot about rest.
I started a new job in May. And it’s a big one. The stakes are high. The responsibilities broad and visible. I’ve got a team, and a pretty big one at that. The business is huge and complex. And the sector is new.
I’ve been really slumming the hours. I mean really. 12 hour days aren’t unusal. It’s pretty normal for me to start calls at 8AM. Go to 6PM. I rarely stop for lunch, my partner usually makes me a sandwich. After all that, my team needs guidance, I have board decks to review, projects to steer and emails to answer. That often takes me to 7.30PM.
I’m not bragging. I’m struggling.
I’m working on getting the hours in check — that’s a different post. Until I do… I’ve been thinking a lot about how to make the little time I have more restorative.
My default after work has been to force myself out for a 20 min walk around the block, eat some takeout, and binge watch Netflix before crashing out and doing it all again.
Hardly restorative.
So I started experimenting with breaking that default evening pattern. Changing the game. Pushing myself to do things that are out of the norm. Interesting. And make me feel restored. Energised.
I tried loads of things. Here’s my new short list of 9 things I reach for instead of the usual Netflix and takeout routine.
1. Listen to music you love. Just listen.
I’m the kind of person that’s usually doing 3 things at once. I’ve been known to watch TV, online shop on my laptop and text with my sister all at the same time. Normally when I listen to music I’m either cooking, having dinner with my partner, or walking. It’s background noise at best.
So I decided to try something different. I picked out an album. The Clash. London calling. Stuck it on. Laid down on the couch. Put on my headphones. and just listened. For the better part of an hour.
It was bliss.
It was like looking at art. Only better.
2. Cook a meal you’ve never cooked before.
Find a recipe. Pick out the ingredients. Make it an affair. Give it some finesse. Attention. Focus. Challenge yourself. Take your time. Enjoy the process.
It’s ok if it doesn’t go 100% to plan. The process, the journey, the act of trying is the beautiful part.
Normally, when I cook, it’s a race to get it done as fast as possible so I can sit down and eat asap. Very little thought goes into it. Very little finesse. Stopping to make the meal a priority makes a big difference.
3. Go shopping for plants.
A trip to your local garden centre can be a blissful affair. The colourful blooms, delightful succulents, and leafy greens can be a sight to behold. My local garden centre even has minature trees — lemon and orange and physalis. It’s beautful to roam the isles, taking it in.
It’s the act of being there, of taking in the rich visuals, the smells, that’s deeply soothing. Just go. And no pressure to find something to buy. Thought chances are you will.
4. Go for a really, really, really long walk in a big park or forest. Pack a lunch and a thermos of tea.
There’s something about a long walk that calms the mind. Ideally in nature, so best to find a big-ish park or forest nearby. Hop on the train. Head to the edges of town. It’s best if it’s big enough to get lost in.
Pack some food, a warm drink, a blanket. Spend a good half day just…roaming.
5. Build something out of lego.
Create something truly creative. I once built a time machine operated by a troop of robots and furnished with it’s own surveillance drone and emergency hovercraft.
The act of letting your imagination run wild as you build and rebuild to perfect your creation has a meditative quality. It focuses your attention on the problem at hand and fuels your creativity.
And chances are you’ve got a box of old lego in a family attic or basement you can haul out.
6. Take a Kirtan chanting class
A good yoga studio will run them. There’s also teachers that will host zoom classes you can join from home. A google search will help you here.
Kirtan classes involve call and response chanting in Sanskrit. It has a deeply soothing quality that can bring on an emotional release in participants. A sense of connection, belonging, safety, and grounding.
It demands an open mind but reaps huge rewards for those who have the capacity to let go.
7. Read a work of fiction. Better yet, let a Sci-Fi or fantasy book take you away.
I read lots of non-fiction. Easily 20+ books a year. I’m a sponge.
But a good work of fiction has a very differnt effect. It’s fun. But it’s more than just fun. There’s a sense of taking in a work of art. There’s beauty in language and taking in a story can be distracting and focusing.
My personal favorites have been science fiction from the 1980s. Snow Crash. Neuromancer. Do androids dream of electric sheep. The man in the high castle. Go and explore, find your niche.
8. Make bread. Or cinnamon rolls.
Bread takes care and attention. You need to tend the yeast. Work the dough. Prove it. Work it again. It’s a process. And each step needs to be metiuclosly performed just right.
You don’t want to overwork the dough. Or underwork it. You don’t want to overprove the dough. Or underprove.
Bread is a precision sport.
One that yeilds deep satisfaction on the other side.
9. Go shopping for artisnal chocolates. Enjoy sampling.
I absolutely love specialty chocolte. The kind where you select a box size and pick out the individual chocolates or truffles for the box.
I love the unique flavours for the chocolates, like tobacco flowers, sea salt, or chilli. I’ve come across some experimental chocolates too, like cannabis.
Just the act of browing a chocolatier, sampling chocolates and choosing your own selection can be a super fun outing. Most of these shops will also sell hot chocolate or champagne so you can have a lovely drink while your browse.
What’s your favourite restorative activity?
