I am coming off of a YEAR. A year that I can say challenged me to my core. Growing a business amidst life’s crazy course is full of surprises, detours, and unexpected turns. For me, I saw the days turn into weeks and the weeks turn into months before giving myself something I like to call a “Life Scan.” When life gets crazy, it’s hard to take a step back and process how you’re ACTUALLY feeling. Most of my responses are set to auto-pilot, which keeps my train moving, albeit not always in the right direction. The most gratifying moments in life are ones of authenticity: knowing how I truly feel about something and acting on that sentiment is the gift that keeps on giving. In these moments, everything is aligned.

So, in turning 36 last week, I decided to take control of this revelation. To apply it the best I could. To give myself time everyday to think. Maybe I’d incorporate some nighttime meditation? Maybe I would start setting an alarm to just STOP what I’m doing and think about the day? One way or another, it was time to stop, so I could start building “felt time” vs. “marked time” back into my life. This awareness has been the greatest gift, one that has made me a more well rounded person and has given me a true appreciation for leaving a mark on your time on Earth. ​From owning a business, I’ve realized that my personal life can often collide with my professional life. These are my “Top Five Tips” for igniting selfcare in a world that can easily feel chaotic:

1) Wake up the same time everyday – This creates consistency. From consistency, I am able to go to bed at a certain time and ensure that I’m ready to rock once my alarm goes off.

2) Get outside – Walking my dog in the morning BEFORE checking my emails has made me a better, more focused worker. When I sit down to work, I’m relaxed and present.

3) Say No – I’ve always thought NO was me being negative. Or me not being a team player. But that’s only when “No” becomes about the people I’m saying no vs. how it effects me. Saying “No” has allowed me to take stock in my schedule and my bandwidth and see what is genuinely leftover for the people I love and want to share my life with. Without the power of “No,” my world will be crowded, chaotic and exhausting.

4) Meditate – I used to hear this all of the time. “Meditate, Annie, it will change your life.” I never listened until this year. And everyone was right. There is something about giving yourself 10-30 minutes of silence, mostly with how much information we receive daily. My brain shuts down. It’s healthy to give my brain a real rest outside of sleep. It has changed my life.

5) Bring snacks everywhere – Gone are the days that I go 5 hours without eating. This made me tired, cranky, and not as sharp. Now I bring a little bag of snacks with me everywhere, i.e. nuts, dried fruit, dried snap peas, granola, etc. And I hard boil eggs, which makes it easy to grab something full of protein whenever I’m on the go.

How do you make your time count? I’d love to know? We’re all in this together, so feel free to share and inspire.

With love and care and “felt time” to spare,

Annie Tevelin

At SkinOwl we try not to throw around the world “Resolutions” after the new year. To us, the idea of a resolution makes us feel like we need “to be a better person” because the person we are now isn’t good enough. Resolutions naturally set you up for failure because resolving to “lose weight” or “find a new job” starting January 1st, is nearly impossible.  Life changes take time and forgiveness is crucial when you accept that we won’t ever be perfect. Instead of resolutions, we’re making a New Year’s promise – to practice self-love alongside self care.

In a nutshell, losing weight or quitting smoking have good intentions behind them but they’re shaming.  This is the year of forgiveness! Give love to your body by eating healthier and moving more when you can, or give love to your soul by spending more time with your friends, or doing whatever makes you happiest. Order the salad for lunch because you want to fuel your body with healthy foods but don’t hate yourself when you want to have some wine and chocolate while watching the Bachelor (it’s the ideal Monday night if you ask me…).  Making drastic life changes can be fun, but it can also be hard to commit to – for example, waking up at 5 am to workout before work or juicing daily might seem easy, but not if you have children who need you when you’re on the way to the gym.  It’s not to say that making positive life changes is bad but it’s only human to slip up and giving yourself the leniency of moderation is much healthier and won’t make you think negatively about yourself.

This year, we want to make resolutions that are less about seeing your current self negatively and more about incorporating enriching and fulfilling activities in your life like more time with friends or taking your dog on more walks. Here are Team SkinOwl’s individual Self Care promises for 2017:

Annie: ” I want to master the art of spending time alone, being a business owner means that I am usually around a lot of people.  I strive to have as strong of a relationship with myself as I do with the people I love.”

Erika: “I wants to spend more time in nature, taking one day a week to enjoy the environment she lives in and appreciate her surroundings.  The exercise is a plus but it’s not the goal.”

Sadie: “I want to go on more adventures, set aside time for travel and say yes to exploring LA and doing things that are out of my comfort zone.”

Lauren: “I want to get my hair blown out before work at least twice a month! I just did it and it set the tone for my entire day and made me feel relaxed before a crazy day!”

Therese: “I want to do more of what connects me to my soul and this universe.  I want to focus on my consciousness expanding and making more art.”

Rachel: “I want to spend more time with beloved friends and travel more!”

Kate: “I want to take more healthy risks, grow out my business, practice yoga regularly, and
also explore more events around LA!”

Monkey: “I want to eat more treats this year and finally catch the squirrel that vandalizes my mom’s porch chair!”

Let us know what your self care goals are for this year!

xoxo Sadie

How often do you find yourself doing something out of habit? Something simple like eating some ice cream when you’ve had a stressful day. Maybe it started when you were a kid; mom got you some ice cream after getting a shot at the doctor. It was sweet and delicious and fun, and it made you feel better about the difficult situation that you had been through at the doctor. Cut to years later, we’re still grabbing for a pint of ice cream to ease the pain! It was cute as a kid but now it’s sitting on your thighs and your arteries and your skin! The habit is reaching for the ice cream but what’s the intention? Trying to soothe yourself? So how about acting from the intention, because as adults we know that ice cream is only soothing for about 5 minutes, and then it leaves an even bigger stress in its place when you realize how many calories you just ate! The next time we go through something stressful we are going to go to a yoga class, or go out to the garden, or grab our camera and take pictures, or even just ask our friend for a long hug! We are going to try an action that is truly soothing and will help fill our minds and bodies with positivity! How about you? How will you replace habit with intention?

This just might have to be our daily mantra! We love this little reminder to just do all the little things that add up to one big, happy life! Sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in so many day to day stresses and situations that we forget to just do the basic things like thinking positively and dancing just for fun and just being happy in general! In today’s fast paced world sometimes you just need a reminder to take care of yourself. We suggest printing this one out and putting it on the fridge or pinning it to your bulletin board or taping it to the bathroom mirror… anywhere that you can glance at it as you start your day! That is definitely what we will be doing with this simple but important message!

Sometimes the hardest thing is just to trust yourself. We don’t know about you, but sometime we find ourselves doubting our own feelings only to find out that our initial instinct was the right one after all. It’s easy to let the opinions of friends, and society as a whole, color our own ideas and dreams. But no one knows YOU like you know YOU! And no one has the exact same dream and perspective that YOU have! The world needs new ideas, new dreams, new passions… the world needs YOU and your dreams. Because when you follow your gut, when you follow your dreams, you are being true to yourself, and there is nothing more inspiring and more moving than truth. We’ve decided to silence the outside noise, find our own inner truth, and let our dreams show us the way… we hope you’ll join us!

As we start a new year, it’s a great time for self reflection.  We must first confront ourselves, our fears, our desires, before we can move forward. If we cannot acknowledge what is going on in our own minds, then we will never be able to make any changes to our future selves and improve our lives. We want to make improvements and have 2014 be the best year yet, so we are confronting ourselves and making positive changes for the future! What about you? Want to join us?! COMMENT on this post and let us know you’re with us!

We believe in taking care of ourselves each and every day. We’ve seen baby steps turn into the most meaningful changes countless times! It’s fun to set resolutions for a new day, new month, or new year, as setting goals gives us something to look forward to and strive towards. But when we take great care of ourselves from minute to minute and hour to hour, and truly live in the present moment, that’s when we are happiness and meaning to our lives! We believe in setting goals but not in losing track of the here and now. So go ahead and look towards the future while still nourishing your mind, body, and spirit every single day! In the end, a happy mind will give us the strength to push harder towards our goals. With that, we wish everyone a happy, and safe, New Year’s Eve!