How I Take Care of My Heart, Mind, and Body

How I Take Care of Myself: A Summer Wellness Routine

There is a version of wellness that lives entirely in the abstract—the aspirational morning routine, the perfect supplement stack, and the idealized life that exists somewhere between a curated Pinterest board and a wellness influencer's feed. And then there is the real version, which is messier, more personal, and infinitely more useful because it is actually something you show up for and do every single day.

This is mine—the things I genuinely do to keep my body, my mind, and my heart feeling beautifully aligned, mixed with a heavy dose of summer, salt air, and the particular kind of coastal slowness that Vero Beach has so graciously taught me to love.

The Body

Prioritizing the Foundation of Hydration I know that drinking water is perhaps the least glamorous piece of health advice I could possibly offer, but it also happens to be the most profound truth, as pouring a generous glass before the coffee, before the supplements, or before anything else has completely transformed my skin, my energy levels, my digestion, and my overall mood more than almost anything else.

The Intentional French Skincare Approach My skincare routine has become my absolute favorite daily ritual because I refuse to rush through it, choosing instead to follow a gentle French philosophy that focuses on true skin health rather than simply covering things up. Instead of layering a dozen complicated products, this approach is all about finding the few right formulas and staying entirely consistent with them, which is why I make it a point to cleanse gently, treat thoughtfully, moisturize deeply, and wear SPF every single morning without exception because your skin is always worth the time it takes to care for it properly.

A Carefully Curated Supplement Stack Over time, I have meticulously built a daily supplement routine that is tailored precisely to what my own system requires, and I always emphasize doing this carefully because not every supplement is right for every single body, and it takes real, patient attention to research, give products time to work, and listen to how your physical self responds.

Eating Clean, Seasonally, and Beautifully This summer I am eating very clean and entirely with the season, finding myself genuinely obsessed with the vibrant, colorful natural sweetness on my plate, which currently ranges from fresh mangoes and coconuts to dates and the most incredible fruit smoothies that feel like a decadent dessert. Alongside all this freshness, I have been baking a great deal from scratch using clean, organic ingredients, because there is something deeply nourishing about making bread and pastries with your own two hands that feeds your soul just as much as it sustains your body, especially when cooking for yourself with the same love you would pour into someone else.

Movement That Feels Like Freedom Rather than treating movement as a form of punishment, I look for the versions that bring pure joy, which this summer looks like walking along the beach in the early morning when the light is still soft and the sand is cool beneath my feet while the ocean does its quiet, rhythmic thing that makes the whole world feel manageable. It also looks like surfing, a practice where I am falling deeper in love with that exquisite combination of focus and surrender required by the waves, and it looks like the beginning of my marathon training as I build slowly toward the Disney World Marathon in January, discovering that early runs and long, intentional walks do something beautiful for the nervous system that a gym simply could never replicate.

The Mind

Guarding the Gates of Perception Perhaps the single most important thing I do for my mental health is remain ruthlessly careful about what I watch, listen to, or scroll through, because the mind inevitably becomes exactly what it consumes, and I take that truth far too seriously to let background noise occupy my days with anxiety or contraction.

Creating a Cinematic Soundtrack Right now, my afternoons are scored by the warm, cinematic instrumentals of Disney and Pixar films like UP, Ratatouille, and Finding Nemo, which make even the most ordinary moments feel like part of a beautiful story, alongside a healthy dose of Taylor Swift—specifically Is It Over Now, which has become the undisputed anthem of my summer in a way I can’t fully explain except to say that music is an entire environment you choose to create for yourself.

Slowing Down with the Classics I am reading The Odyssey this summer as part of a larger plan to work my way through the great classics, finding that legendary literature does for the mind exactly what the ocean does for the body by putting our modern worries into proportion and reminding us that human beings have always been exactly this complicated, beautiful, and resilient.

The Daily Practice of Writing Whether it is journaling, drafting blog posts, working on my children's books, or just scribbling ideas on napkins, writing is the vital tool that allows me to know what I think and process what I feel, helping me take the tangled parts of life and smooth them into something true, which is exactly why I write down specific things I am grateful for every single night before my eyes close.

The Heart

Anchoring in Daily Prayer and Mass This is the absolute foundation of everything I am, and I will never try to dress it up or make it more palatable, because going to Mass and maintaining a daily life of prayer with God is the steadiest, most deeply nourishing anchor I have to ground me in something much larger than myself.

Cultivating a Living Sanctuary Every morning, I light candles not for a special occasion, but simply to make the morning light feel intentional, and I spend time daily tending to my plants and my little garden, which are small acts of care that somehow always give back more than they take, proving that choosing beauty deliberately will eventually compound into a life that feels genuinely beautiful to live inside.

The Medicine of Unconditional Love My Pomeranian, Charlie, is a massive part of my daily heart health routine because the entirely joyful, uncomplicated love of a dog requires you to be completely present in the moment, making you laugh every single day and acting as a wonderful medicine on the harder afternoons.

Choosing Joy and Recording Gratitude Joy is never a passing feeling that only arrives when your circumstances are flawless, but rather a conscious decision you make in the morning before the day has given you a single reason to feel it, and when you pair that chosen joy with recorded gratitude at night, your last conscious thoughts become focused on absolute abundance rather than any sense of lack, proving that wellness is never complicated when it is backed by consistency and daily, practical love.

Whether I am watching the sunrise over the ocean in Florida or catching the sunset over the cliffs in San Diego, I am reminded that home isn't just a geographic coordinate, but a state of mind—a reflection of the peace, the joy, and the gratitude we choose to carry within ourselves wherever we go.