We recently started this fun blog series: “5 Things I Do to Stay Balanced”. Over the weeks, you will hear from each of us at Mindful Family Medicine – and get a peek inside our lives and get to know us all a little better!
If you missed Debbie’s or Dr. Roy’s, you can read them below:
5 Things I Do to Stay Balanced: Debbie Steinbock, HHC
5 Things I Do to Stay Balanced: Dr. Roy Steinbock, M.D.
Ara Haupt is a new mama, wife, Physician Assistant, Pilates instructor and world traveler. Below she shares 5 of the things she does regularly to help maintain her balance.
- Journal, pray and read challenging or encouraging verses in the Bible with hot coffee in hand! This is a time for self-reflection, to be challenged about how I think and speak and how I serve my family and the world around me. It is essential to my personal growth. This doesn’t happen every day and sometimes it is for 5 minutes but I try my best to make it a regular practice.
- Have a dance party with my husband and daughter. Life can get way too serious. We blast some good pop tunes or a country favorite and I make my family dance with me, especially around 5 or 6 pm when meltdowns are likely to happen (for adults and babies alike)!
- Take 1 day per week when I don’t drive a car. I bike or take public transport where I need to go… it is amazing how much less can be packed into my schedule when I have to bike or commute with my daughter to run errands or see a friend. This helps me to be more present and enjoy the journey rather than focus on how much I can get done.
- Watch my daughter take the world in. My now 8 month old is so fascinated with the world and gets so excited to see people, new things or learn something new. I aspire to emulate this. I now take moments throughout my own day when I notice and am thankful for the little things that make up daily life.
- Practice Pilates. Deep breathing and thoughtful movement has become essential to my well-being. It affords physical fitness but more importantly provides stress management, postpartum rehab and an hour for myself when I am not giving to anyone else – I am simply being refueled.