Coaching with Gretchen

Movement, Mindfulness & Self-Care Coaching with Gretchen Schock

Gretchen Schock

What would your inner child tell you to do?

Mindfulness

If 10-year-old YOU could be here now, how would they feel about this situation of you not putting yourself as a priority? What would that inner child tell you to do?

I remember as a child feeling hungry, feeling the belly grumble, telling my mom how hungry I was, and then eating food. As an adult, there have been many times when I felt hungry but rather than listen to what my body was telling me instead I immediately thought of how eating a meal at that moment would fit into the family schedule or how it would affect everyone else in my house. I want so badly to be a home where my kids remember us sitting down to the table to eat dinner together, but honestly with my yoga teaching schedule, it’s nearly impossible to do.

Being 10 is all about change, embarking on this new double-digit adventure of adolescence but yet still focused on themselves and their needs rather than looking at the opinions of others.

Let’s try to channel back to that 10-year-old YOU.

Let’s put YOU on the to-do list this week so that your needs are being met and you feel as though you are engaging in your relationships from a place of abundance.

Self care isn't selfish on a small display board

What does that look like for me? I am reminding myself of my inner child who would eat when hungry, I’m listening more to that inner voice within me now. If I’m hungry, I eat. If it doesn’t work with the schedule of the rest of the house I sit down with them and have a cup of tea while they eat. Sometimes we have to let go of the rules and restrictions we put on ourselves and evaluate whether or not those rules serve us to be our best selves.

Mindfulness is about living with intention and evaluating the habits we have placed in our lives and letting go of the things that aren’t serving us anymore. When we are more mindful in all of the aspects of our lives; family, work, relationships, we see how important it is that self-care is a weekly priority.

Think back to when you lived life with your needs in the forefront of your mind. Maybe it’s not the 10-year-old you, maybe it’s 16 or 21. A time when you listened to your inner self more than the opinions of others. What lessons could you take from that time to bring into the present day so that you make yourself a priority this week?

Building a Sustainable Wardrobe is Making Me Happy

Minimalism

I’ve tried doing a capsule wardrobe. I’ve reduced my closet to 33 items. And I’ve paired down my clothing to a particular style wearing a set uniform of clothes. What I realized in the process of doing this is that it makes me depressed.

Creating rules around my clothing taps into my scarcity mindset of childhood, of not being able to afford the Guess jeans that I so desperately wanted or wearing my sister’s hand me downs until I got a job and started buying my own clothes. Though I love the idea of creating a minimalist wardrobe, having a set rule around my clothing doesn’t feel good in my soul. So I’ve thrown the closet challenges away and I’ve disposed of the notion that my entire wardrobe will fit on a small clothing rack. What I know for sure is that creating rules around my wardrobe doesn’t bring happiness into my life but neither does an overflowing closet!

Instead of rules around the number of items or limiting the color of my clothes to a particular color palette, I want to continue to be intentional about the clothing that I bring into my home so that it fits my lifestyle. I’ve decided to focus my clothing purchases on conscious fashion clothing brands. I’m intentionally buying from B-corps and businesses that have good environmental practices or use fabrics that are good for the planet. This is going to be a slow process but I’m excited about building on what I have with pieces that can easily mix and match to create various looks easily.

What's a B-corp? "Certified B Corporations are businesses that meet the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose. B Corps are accelerating a global culture shift to redefine success in business and build a more inclusive and sustainable economy.
Society’s most challenging problems cannot be solved by government and nonprofits alone. The B Corp community works toward reduced inequality, lower levels of poverty, a healthier environment, stronger communities, and the creation of more high quality jobs with dignity and purpose. By harnessing the power of business, B Corps use profits and growth as a means to a greater end: positive impact for their employees, communities, and the environment."

I’ve always wanted to own Eileen Fisher but the price tag has always prevented me from purchasing. The pieces in her collection are simplistic and classic and that’s what I am drawn to. I like the idea of investing in a piece of clothing and wearing it for years without ever feeling like you are out of style. Finally, as luck would have it, I stumbled onto Eileen Fisher’s website during their 70% off sale- I can afford that! (Unfortunately, the sale is now over but there are still many items that are on sale though not priced as they were when I purchased.)

Here are pictures of my Eileen Fisher purchases to create 4 different looks.
The Eileen Fisher items are Flex Tencel Ponte Notch Collar Jacket in the color Bramble and Organic-Cotton Stretch Shift Dress in Black. I paired them with items already in my closet; Chico’s So Slimming Girlfriend Jeans, Tieks ballet flats, Merrell boots, scarves, and necklace are also from Chico’s.

Eileen fisher jacket in bramble and pragnic cotton shift dress in black, printed scarf and jeans from chicos, tieks ballet flats in taupe.
Eileen Fisher black organic cotton shift dress, chicos jeans and necklace with tieks ballet flats in matte black.
Eileen Fisher organic cotton black shift dress with necklace from chicos and Tieks ballet flats in matte black.
Eileen Fisher organic cotton black shift dress with chicos scarf, jeans and merrell boots

Have you been wanting to focus on more conscious clothing purchases? What are the brands that you are loving?

Declutter Your Space & Free Your Mind

Minimalism

You don’t actually need MORE, you are perfect just as you are.

Guest bedroom with bookshelves on either side of the bed that are clear of clutter. Bed has pillows and quilts. Very welcoming space.

Clutter is stressful. The more stuff we fill our homes with the more time it takes to care for those items. And adding one more thing to your to-do list can feel stressful and daunting. So then the cycle happens where we don’t care for the stuff we have in our home, piles begin to build, those untouched things fill with dust, our health declines because we are breathing in dirty air and then we feel pretty rotten. Let’s start by stopping the cycle!

I’m not suggesting that you throw everything away. Let’s begin by taking a look at the bookshelves in your home. Clear some space on your bookshelves for the eye to fall on to nothing. Resist the idea that we have to fill all the shelves with books to the point that they are spilling over and stuffed in. Find places for the eye to rest on nothing. It’s in those spaces where your own creativity lives, it’s in those spaces that you can truly highlight the precious books on the shelf.

Make a pile of the books that you will never read again and either donate them to your local thrift store or find the Little Free Libraries in your neighborhood to donate to.

Now think of your own life, just your everyday life. Where can you create space for nothing? Where can you let go of the idea that you must be busy, that every second of your day needs to be filled with action items or noise, or that boredom means picking up your phone and scrolling through images of other people’s lives? Allow there to be room in your life where you stare off into space and daydream, reminisce, or work out the problem in your mind before reacting or doing. Just like the bookshelves, make room in your day for nothing. For the mind to settle and the body to relax.

Where in your home can you create room for the eye to fall on nothing?

Mushroom Risotto

Recipes

Vegetarian and Alcohol-Free!

Risotto is one of those “labors of love” dishes. It takes tending to while it cooks so you have to remain present in the task. I can do that on my yoga mat but in the kitchen it’s a whole other story!

Mushroom Risotto with green beans and alchol-free

I haven’t made risotto since I decided to quick drinking and began my journey of sobriety 8 years ago. Risotto is often made with white wine and that’s my kryptonite, white wine. But I actually don’t let alcohol into my home at all so cooking with it is not an option.

I keep seeing posts in my social media feed about folks doing a “Dry January”. I thought why not expand that into food as well so I created this delicious vegetarian mushroom risotto. I hope your family loves it as much as mine did.

Ingredients :

Place mushrooms and onion in food processor and chop. 

Heat oil in a large saucepan. Add onion and mushroom and sauté over medium-high heat stirring constantly for 2 minutes. Add rice and stir until thoroughly mixed. Add one cup of water and 1 teaspoon of bouillon, keep the heat on medium-high and stir sporadically as the water is absorbed. Once it looks to be absorbed add another cup of water and another teaspoon of bouillon, keep repeating this step until 5 cups of water and 5 teaspoons of the vegetable paste have been added. Rice should be al dente.

Turn down heat and add cheeses, stir until melted. Salt and pepper to taste. 

I choose to serve the mushroom risotto with sautéed fresh green beans but any additional vegetable would be lovely.

8 Simple Steps to Create a Social Media Content Calendar

Behind the Scenes, Small Business

As a small business owner, it can often feel overwhelming with the number of hats you have to wear in order to run your business. Let’s not let social media and content creation be one of those stressors!

Plum Paper planner with social media strategy highlighted in the monthly calendar.

Are you a small business owner? Or are you in charge of posting on social media as part of your job description? Maybe you started writing a blog in the new year and already are a bit overwhelmed with keeping to a schedule. I want to share with you my tips on how to create a social media content calendar that is low stress and fun to do.

I’ve tried several different digital social media planners over the years, some were free and some I paid a yearly fee for. There were many features that I liked about them but lately, I’ve been yearning to pull away from the phone and computer and go back to basics a bit with pen to paper. I find it calming to open up my paper planner in the morning and write out my goals for the day, my schedule, as well as my to-do list.

Step 1: Print out a monthly calendar or begin working in a paper planner. This year I am using Plum Paper. I like that I can personalize the daily pages and customize the planner to fit my needs.

Step 2: Identify the topics that you want to talk about. I believe that five topics should be the max so that your message comes across very clear to your audience. Allow them to get to know you and understand what your brand believes in. This helps to keep you streamlined on the content that you create and alleviates the need to post something just for the sake of posting. You want your posts to be important to your audience. There are enough selfies already in the world! Bring value to what you post online.

Step 3: Now for the fun part! Color coordinating your topics. I like to use Zebra Mildliners , they are easy on the eye to look at and I can quickly see at a glance the topic that I should be posting about on the particular day. Designate a color to each topic and create a “map” off to the side of your calendar so that you remember what color goes to what topic.

Step 4: Decide where you will post the content based on where your audience interacts with you. Do you have more than one place in which you are creating and posting content? Divide each square into the number of places where you post content. As you can see in my picture above, I post on Bee Yoga Fusion Instagram, Gretchen Schock Wellness Instagram, and here on this blog. So I divide each day into 3 separate blocks.

Step 5: Determine how many times in a week that it is possible for you to create and post original content. Is that three times a week for each? Or do you think you could post daily on one platform and then less so on another platform? Set your goal for the number of posts per social media location or website.

Step 6: Then take your color pencils or markers and begin at the start of the month. Using your topic map start with the first color and then move on to the next filling in the squares with alternating colors. Some people choose particular days of the week in which they will talk about a certain topic or theme. I’ve done that myself and found it a bit stagnant for me in my creative process. Instead, I focus on the goal of the number of posts a week per social media location or website and less about hitting a particular day of the week with content. I like the variety of alternating the topics regardless of the day of the week. Make sure to give yourself days off!

Step 7: Now that you have your color blocks filled in, look at your calendar and the pictures that already exist on your phone and spend 30 minutes deciding on content that you will share for the upcoming week. You don’t have to write the actual text for the post but maybe you already have a picture or an idea of what you will want to write about. “Favorite” your pictures so that you can easily find them on the day of your post.

Step 8: Stick to the plan! Everyday open up the calendar and see what you should be posting about so that you stay focused on your goals and your brand message.

Pomegranate Honey Glaze

Recipes

This light and versatile glaze will bring a pop of deliciousness to roasted vegetables and fish.

It’s winter right now and though the temperatures have been dropping in Maryland I’ve actually been craving summer dishes like grilled fish and light side dishes.

I typically try to eat “in season” so I combined the pomegranate and the veggies that I received in my Hungry Harvest box to make a summer style dish in the heart of winter. With the sweetness of the pomegranate paired with the dense texture of the wild swordfish, that I picked up at Costco this dinner was a huge hit!

For the veggies, I roasted butternut squash and brussel sprouts. I cut the squash into cubes and the brussel sprouts I cut into quarters and roasted for 40 minutes in a baking pan with a drizzle of light avocado oil and salt and pepper for 30 minutes at 450F.

The pomegranate and honey glaze doesn’t overpower the organic tastes provided by the food and instead enhances the senses bringing sweetness to your dish with just a hint of summer.

Pomegranate honey glaze poured over roasted vegetables and swordfish and a side of cous cous
Roasted brussel sprouts, butternut squash with swordfish drizzled with the pomegranate honey glaze and served with a side of cous cous.

Ingredients :

  • 1/3 cup pomegranate juice
  • 1/4 cup of honey
  • 1 TB balsamic vinegar
  • 1 pomegranate worth of seeds

Join the pomegranate juice, honey, and balsamic vinegar in a mixing bowl and whisk until honey is smooth. Add the pomegranate seeds and then scoop over vegetables or fish.

**Hungry Harvest is a vegetable and fruit delivery service. Get $10 off your first box!