The 5 Tools I Keep Coming Back to When I Need a Reset
Sometimes the reset we need isn’t a complete overhaul — it’s a gentle return to the basics.
In this episode, I’m walking you through the five tools that help me recalibrate when life gets busy, loud, or overwhelming. These aren’t just wellness habits — they’re intentional, grace-filled choices I come back to again and again when I want to feel like myself.
If you’re craving a reset or just need a fresh start, this one is for you.
In this post, I’ll share:
✻ Why I always start with my “Best Self Choices” and how they anchor my day
✻ How prepping my environment is actually a form of self-care
✻ A time-blocking strategy that helps me build days with margin (not just to-do’s)
✻ How unplugging supports my clarity and creativity
✻ The surprising truth about rest — and why sometimes the best reset is sleep
It’s not about doing more. It’s about doing what matters. These tools help me realign, reconnect, and move forward — one small choice at a time. 🖤
Hey hey friends — if you pressed play on this episode, my guess is you’re craving some kind of reset.
Maybe you’ve been feeling stuck, scattered, or just off.
Maybe you’re low on energy or moving through your days on autopilot.
If that’s where you are right now, I want you to know — I see you. I’ve been there too.
At the start of this year, life knocked me down in ways I didn’t see coming. I had every intention of showing up well… but just because our intentions are good doesn’t mean we’re immune to life’s curveballs. My mental health took a hit. My desire to show up disappeared. And all those good intentions turned into guilt — which is a heavy place to live.
When I finally hit a point where I didn’t feel like myself anymore, I knew I had two choices: Keep pushing through and pretending… or pause, reset, and rebuild.
That’s when I came back to the basics.
The simple, grounding things that help me feel like me.
They’re not flashy. They’re not trendy.
But they work. They are what helped me tread water when it felt like I was out in the middle of the ocean.
And today, I want to walk you through the 5 tools I keep coming back to when life feels too loud, too fast, or just too much.
We’re going to talk about what it looks like to care for yourself, prep your environment, create space in your day, unplug from the noise, and rest when you need to.
Because the truth is: we don’t need another strategy to do more.
We need support to feel better — from the inside out.
Let’s dive in. 🖤
1. Best Self Choices
Am I taking care of myself?
When you feel off, overwhelmed, or just not yourself… this is where you start.
Not with your to-do list.
Not with your calendar.
Not with what everyone else needs from you.
You start with you.
I call these my best self choices — simple, grounding habits I return to when I need a reset. They aren’t about perfection. They’re about connection — to your body, your mind, your energy.
These are the basics I check in on:
Did I move my body today?
Have I been drinking enough water?
Have I gotten outside for even a few minutes?
Am I fueling my body with foods that love me back?
Have I checked in with my thoughts and given myself compassion?
I use these like a menu — not a checklist. Because when you’re trying to reset, pressure is not the point.
Instead, I ask: “What do I need most right now?” And then I choose from the menu.
Here’s why this comes first: If you don’t prioritize yourself early in the day, someone or something else will. You’ll spend the rest of the day reacting instead of reconnecting.
This step is how I return to self-trust. It’s how I remind myself — I already know what I need. I just have to listen. And I know the same is true for you. I know these are simple things, but how often do we neglect the simple stuff. So first step in resetting - are you taking care of yourself? If the answer is no, start there.
Prep Your Space, Prep Your Mind
What does my environment need to support me right now?
After I check in with myself, I look around.
Because the truth is — your environment is always shaping your energy, your mood, and your ability to reset.
You can want peace…
But if your space is loud, cluttered, chaotic, or overstimulating, your nervous system is still on high alert.
You can want clarity…
But if your environment is filled with visual noise and unfinished tasks, your brain doesn’t know where to land.
That’s why this step matters.
Resetting isn’t just about internal reflection — it’s also about external alignment. When you take a few minutes to reset your space, it sends a signal to your brain: You’re safe. You’re grounded. You’re supported.
Here are some of my go-to practices in this season:
Getting essential oils going (my fave is Young Living’s Stress Away) or turning on lofi music
Making the bed and tidying up surfaces + main living areas.
Closing 1–2 open loops (putting away laundry, answering that one lingering email or text)
Writing out a quick brain dump so the mental clutter gets cleared
This is what I call environmental self-care.
Not because it’s fancy — but because it creates the conditions for you to show up as your best self.
And here’s the truth:
Your mind can’t relax in a space that feels chaotic.
Your heart can’t rest in a space that’s overstimulating.
So when I’m in reset mode, I don’t just ask, “What do I need?”
I ask: “What does this space need in order to help me breathe easier today?”
Time Block with Margin
How can I set up my day to work for me, not against me?
Now that I’ve taken care of myself and created an environment that supports me, I zoom out and look at the day ahead.
Because the truth is — it’s not just what we do, it’s how we move through it.
When I don’t give myself structure, my day gets hijacked.
By other people’s urgency.
By notifications.
By the never-ending list of “shoulds.”
Time blocking has become one of my most reliable reset tools — but only when I do it with margin.
A few summers back I read this book called, At My Best, and it really helped me understand how energy works throughout the day and how to leverage that to work FOR you instead of against you. It talks about how we all have green light (high energy), yellow light (slower energy), and red light (depleted energy) zones.
🟢 In your green light hours — you feel focused, creative, and clear.
🟡 Your yellow light is more distracted or task-focused energy.
🔴 And red light? That’s when your tank is empty.
The problem is, most of us spend all of our green and yellow light energy on the first half of our day — meetings, work, errands, chores — and by the time we hit the moments that should matter most (date night, dinner with our kids, a quiet moment to connect), we’re tapped out.
Time blocking with margin is my way of fighting that.
Of honoring my energy — instead of burning through it.
Here’s how I do it:
I block my day and each piece of my day into chunks: I ask myself what do I need and what do others need for each part of the day. So it looks like: Morning (self) / Morning (work) / Afternoon (self) / Afternoon (work) / Evening (family) / Evening (self)
I ask: What’s essential? What’s supportive? What can wait?
I make sure to leave white space — even 15-30 mins — between transitions
I anchor my day with bookends: a gentle morning runway and a soft landing at night
This isn’t about control — it’s about care.
For myself, for my energy, and for the people I love.
Margin isn’t laziness — it’s strategic and smart.
It’s how you build a life that honors your capacity and your calling.
So if you’re in a season of reset, ask yourself:
👉🏼 What part of my day is getting the best of me?
👉🏼 Where do I need to give myself more space, not more pressure?
Your nervous system will thank you.
Your creativity will thank you.
And you? You’ll finally get to feel at your best.
Unplug
What noise needs to be turned down right now?
This one might feel obvious, but that doesn’t make it easy because we live in a world that rewards being “plugged in.” Constant connection. Constant scrolling. Constant comparison.
But when I’m in reset mode, I have to be brutally honest with myself:
What’s actually helping me — and what’s just adding noise?
The truth is, when I’m constantly taking in everyone else’s highlight reel, I lose the plot of my own story.
And that’s not just bad for my mental health — it’s bad for my decision-making because I start to question my pace. My purpose. My progress. I start thinking maybe I need to be doing more, or different, or faster. When what I actually need is… quiet.
So lately I’ve been uber intentional about unplugging.
That might look like:
✦ Taking full days off my phone (yes, you will survive).
✦ Putting my phone on airplane mode or in another room while I work.
✦ Reaching for a fiction book or doing things outside like games or pool time or dog walks so I’m not scrolling.
✦ Going outside for a walk with nothing but my thoughts.
This is one of the most powerful tools I have — not because it’s flashy, but because it works.
Every time I unplug, I remember:
I don’t have to be “on” to be valuable.
I don’t have to be available to everyone to be enough.
I don’t have to keep up with the noise to move forward in alignment.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed, overstimulated, or like you can’t hear your own voice anymore — this is your permission to turn the volume way down.
You don’t have to delete your apps forever.
You don’t have to disappear.
But you do have to protect your peace.
And the clarity that comes when you unplug — even for a moment — is often the reset your spirit’s been craving all along.
Rest
What if the most productive thing you could do today is take a nap?
We’ve been trained to believe that rest is what you earn once the work is done.
But what happens when the work is never done? When there’s always one more task, one more message, one more thing you “should” be doing?
We don’t rest.
We crash.
We burnout.
We spiral.
Here’s what I’ve learned the hard way:
If you don’t make time for rest, your body will choose it for you — and it rarely chooses a convenient moment.
Sometimes, when all the tools aren’t working — when I’ve moved my body, hydrated, prepped my space, planned my day, unplugged…and I still feel off? That’s my cue. That’s my sign that I don’t need to push harder. I need to pause.
Rest isn’t laziness.
It’s leadership.
Because when I rest:
✦ I can hear myself think.
✦ I reconnect to what actually matters.
✦ I show up with more energy and empathy for the people I love.
Sometimes the bravest thing you can do in a culture that worships hustle…is go take a nap.
Close your eyes.
Go to bed early.
Sleep in if you can.
Let your nervous system exhale.
You’re not a machine. You’re a human being. And you deserve rhythms that honor your capacity.
Rest is productive.
Rest is protective.
And rest is often the reset you didn’t know you needed.
Alright friend — there it is — the 5 tools I keep coming back to when I am in need of a reset.
✦ First, I ask: “Am I taking care of myself?”
We talked about Best Self Choices — the small, supportive actions that remind you who you are and what you need.
✦ Then I ask: “What does my environment need?”
Because prepping your space and your mind isn’t about aesthetics — it’s about alignment. It’s about reducing friction and creating an atmosphere that supports the woman you’re becoming and what she needs to function at her best.
✦ From there, we got tactical: “What does my day need?”
That’s where time-blocking with margin comes in — not as a way to cram more in, but to create space for what matters and honor your natural rhythms.
✦ I invited you to unplug. To quiet the noise and distractions.
To choose presence over pressure. Real life over reels. Connection over comparison.
✦ And if nothing else works, I wanna remind you that:
Maybe you don’t need another hack.
Maybe you just need rest.
Today wasn’t about a 5 step to do list to master, but rather, a tool to support you — a gentle nudge back toward alignment, agency, and your most well taken care of self.
If today hit you and you’re thinking, “Okay. I needed this. But where do I start?” —
Start with one thing.
One best self choice.
One counter to declutter.
One block of time you can fully focus.
One hour unplugged from the noise.
One night of good sleep.
And hey — if you want a tool to help you actually track this stuff, grab the Mid-Year Check-In Workbook. It’s free, simple, and powerful — and it’ll walk you through these same questions to help you Reclaim Your Year.
As always, I’d love to hear what hit home for you. Screenshot this episode, tag me on Instagram, or send me a DM and let me know what you’re choosing from the menu today.
Alright friends— I’m rooting for you and I can’t wait to see you right here, next week, on The Self Care Sisterhood Podcast. 🖤
PS…This website includes affiliate links. If you click and purchase, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only recommend products + tools that I have personally reviewed, love, and/or use. You can read the full statement HERE.
