SHINING LIGHT

DAY 2: Wellness and Beauty

By: Gabriela Yareliz Gonzalez, Editor of Modern Witnesses

Hi friends!

I have been so excited to read through all of your comments and story responses on Instagram. Thank you for joining me on this second day of hunting for what is often taken for granted. Today, we are getting all personal, in the nitty-gritty of self-care and our medicine cabinets.

Again, in these next seven days, I want us to be extra intentional about being grateful for the stuff we don’t usually list.

The way it works is that over the next couple of days, I will be sharing my lists (by theme) of some things I am grateful for that I don’t usually share around the dinner table. It won’t always be some deep profound spiritual thing, but again, I want us to go to what we often overlook. Gratitude, in and of itself, is a profound and spiritual thing.

I encourage you to make your own list with each day’s theme. If you feel so inclined, share with us in the comments or on our Instagram post. Even if you don’t make your own list, I hope some of these things, as simple as they may seem, remind you and me of just how blessed we really are.

xx

DAY 2: WELLNESS AND BEAUTY

[Let’s get personal]

Men’s razor

I don’t want a pink glitter handle razor. I have found most women’s razors are prettier but inferior. Thank God for a good 12-pack of men’s disposable razors. #noshame

Concealer

It’s the joy of looking awake, no matter how late your night was or how long that project took. It made me look alive in law school after a three hour night’s sleep. (Yes, I was that nerd who did every.single.reading.)

Oil

The best makeup remover and body moisturizer. Ever.

Tweezers

This is NOT a joke. They help us keep our eyebrows groomed, and they save us from whatever other unwanted surprise we find in those horrible magnifying mirrors at Bed Bath and Beyond or in that weird fluorescent lit public bathroom. Also, perfect for splinters. I am a certified nurse with those things. *wink*

[Image by @floliving]

My Flo app

The perfect protocol for troubleshooting your menstrual cycle and making sure you live your best life. My favorite app. I discovered it when I was doing research to help manage my endometriosis in a natural, holistic way. Using this app was a crash course to learning more about my cycle, myself, my moods, the foods I should be consuming and avoiding (depending on what part of my cycle I was in)– let’s just say that when I started using it, I felt like before, I had been walking blindly. I had no idea what was going on, what I was doing, what was normal, what my body was doing or how to feel better. Now, I am empowered. Almost all my symptoms are gone. And if they aren’t, I now usually know why.

[Image via @tataharperskincare]

Clean Beauty

I am grateful for all the products that have come out on the market that help our bodies stay as clean as possible. I am obsessed with a non-toxic deodorant moment. This came to my attention when my lymph nodes swelled up, and I had to undergo two cancer screenings. When this happened, I was looking at my deodorant, and it’s like an alarm went off, saying THIS IS NOT A DRILL. All the junk in makeup and beauty/grooming products also messes with our hormones, therefore, also affecting our cycles. I made some MAJOR changes in this department. Not everything is clean, but the switches I did make were worth it.

Thank you, Native, Tara Harper, RMS…

For more on clean beauty.

NAC (supplement)

The supplement that improves brain and liver function and hormonal balance. I swear by it. It has helped put my endo symptoms in remission. Read more about it, here.

Resistance Bands

It’s a workout game-changer. So cheap on Amazon, and so effective. They help you sculpt your body.

MAKE YOUR OWN LIST

Time to make your own list! SHARE WITH US!! Find us on Instagram or down below in the comments and share some of the stuff that has made your beauty or wellness routine that much better. Sharing is caring.

And of course, thank God that He makes these things possible; That He gives the wisdom and vision to certain people to make these things a reality for us.

“You are my God, and I will give thanks to you;
you are my God; I will extol you.

This is the day that the Lord has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

Psalm 118:28-29

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s list. You may find some recs for your commute.