In an age of social media, self-care can feel overwhelming, says Victoria Devine, a finance author, podcast host and founder of She's On the Money.
"You see every influencer … doing these elaborate skincare rituals and that's just not going to work for me."
Instead, the Naarm/Melbourne-based business owner and former financial adviser says winding down can be about appreciating small, inexpensive things.
Unwind with… is a weekly column that explores the simple ways people take care of themselves.
My favourite way to unwind is…
There's a lot of pressure to go to the gym and do Pilates, and none of those things have stuck for me.
Instead, it's about small things that make me feel really nice, like having a fancy drink even if it's just sparkling water with some lemon, or using a cuticle oil pen while you're at your desk.
A favourite morning ritual is…
Rain, hail or shine, I go for a walk with my dog and have a coffee with my husband.
When life gets busy, you can fall into feeling a bit like housemates instead of husband and wife, so we do that to make sure we connect.
When approaching parental leave…
I'm having a baby at the end of February, so I'm frantically trying to get ahead on work because I'm taking six to eight weeks of maternity leave, and my husband is taking six months.
My work is very flexible — I am a business owner, and he is on a salary — so it just makes a lot more sense that I would be the one returning to work sooner to keep the ball rolling.
We've always had these big conversations about when we wanted kids and what that might look like, so when I got married in 2022, I sold my financial advice practice knowing that how busy I was would be unsustainable.
To unwind at the end of the day…
I listen to a couple of different podcasts to unwind — one makes me sound unhinged because it's a murder podcast called Morbid. The other is a sleep podcast where they read stories and it's called Nothing Much Happens.
As someone who is perpetually busy, if you put me in bed with no sound, all I'll do is think about what happened that day and what I need to do tomorrow. Having another voice in my head helps put me to sleep relatively quickly.
Something I do to save money is…
Making my bougie iced coffee at home. There's a shaken oat milk espresso [at a cafe] I'm obsessed with but that's $9 — absolutely not happening in this house!
I like making my own with instant coffee, a bit of brown sugar and some cinnamon on top. It does take a bit of time to make, but that that's why it's good — you're making a treat for yourself and seeing it that way.
My advice on how to unwind…
You have to prioritise it. I think everyone's waiting for this magic list of things that they can do to feel perfectly relaxed, but that's not a thing.
It's about understanding who you are and working out the things that give you energy and what are the things that make you feel relaxed.
Unwind with… is produced by Madeleine Dore, a writer, interviewer and author of I Didn't Do The Thing Today.
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