Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. Two years ago, I wrote about ways to love your local charity. This year, I’m switching gears to focus on us. Below are sustainable self-care ideas to celebrate yourself that feature incredible opportunities offered by some of Teak’s clients.
- Volunteer
Getting out of your comfort zone, and your own head, can be one of the best remedies to help you reset. What better way to do so than by volunteering your time to help others? And, the benefits of volunteering go far beyond the work being done. Volunteering helps build new skills, keeps you active, expands your horizons and network, and makes you feel good, to name a few. Looking for ways to get involved? Big Brothers Big Sisters of Eastern Massachusetts is actively looking for volunteer mentors, known as Bigs. Mentoring tells a young person that there is someone in their corner. It lets them know they matter. And, the nonprofit offers community, site, and campus-based programs as well as a virtual program for those with less flexibility.
- Exercise
Elle Woods in the movie Legally Blonde reminded us that exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy (and, as Elle pointed out in her court case: ‘happy people just don’t kill their husbands’). What a better way to celebrate you than to do something that makes you feel and look good? Registration is open for Project Bread’s 51st annual Walk for Hunger. Set for Sunday, May 3, the one-day fundraising event, which takes you along the historic Boston Common and Charles River, shines a spotlight on hunger and helps neighbors. Not available? Save-the-date for North Shore Medical Center’s 30th North Shore Cancer Walk on Sunday, June 28. Have a dog? Register for the hospital’s Canine Club which meets at the Canine Canopy on Walk day and offers water bowls for four-legged participants at water stops along the route.
- Re-Fuel
Just like exercise, eating healthy for your body and the planet makes us look, feel and live better. Little Leaf Farms, which grows flavorful, crisp, leafy baby green lettuce in a state-of-the-art, energy-efficient, sustainable greenhouse facility in Devens, Mass., offers delicious recipes to get in those leafy greens. Not much of a cook? Head to the New England Aquarium’s Harbor View Café for some scrumptious sustainable seafood or the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum’s Café G, a glass enclosed room designed by Renzo Piano with views of the garden. On a budget? Download the Food for All mobile app, which reduces food waste and improves affordability by connecting users with nearby restaurants, cafes and delis to purchase surplus meals at significantly reduced prices. Proceeds from participating restaurants support Project Bread.
- Have Fun
Need an excuse to let loose? Put on your dancing shoes and head to Thursdays Live at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, a new concert series which features rock, pop and hip-hop artists in what is a fun and unexpected setting. The upcoming Feb. 27 show features GRAMMY-nominated R&B singer Carolyn Malachi. Feeling lucky? Bring your poker face for networking, drinks and table games at Casino Night hosted by Big Brothers Big Sisters of Eastern Massachusetts’ Young Professionals Group Executive Committee at the Artists for Humanity Epi Center. All proceeds go to support the nonprofit’s one-to-one mentoring programs.
Happy you day!
