If you need a little help in the stress-handling department...

This may (or may not) come as a shock, but I have stress-management issues. We all have good days and bad days, but it takes a lot of effort for me to keep my state of mind in balance. Between mommy-ing, working for myself (and a laundry list of clients), tending to the house and handling the endless to-do list necessary for keeping a family humming along, sometimes I feel like I’m burning the candle at both ends and on the verge of a nervous breakdown. When this happens, something as (kind of) innocuous as my son leaving his shoes in the kitchen can send me over the edge. (I know I’m not alone here.)

I use several mechanisms to keep my stress in check. Exercise is huge, as is carving out “me-time” (although these two often overlap). If there’s a museum exhibition I don’t want to miss or a vintage store I want to check out, I go solo with zero guilt whatsoever. And, of course, there’s vodka and wine.

I also use CBD—in basically any form I can get my hands on. After educating myself on the benefits of adaptogens, I started working these herbs into my oral wellness routine as well. (Four Sigmatic offers lots of awesome ways to get them in your body and on your skin). Then I came across a supplement that includes CBD and the adaptogen ashwagandha (which I don’t think I’ll ever be able to spell correctly the first time around). It’s called HempFusion Stress Support—and I’m on my second bottle. My husband may not agree, but I definitely think it helps take the edge off, at least to the point that I won’t go postal if my son accumulates a full set of glassware upstairs.

Obviously I can’t say that these supplements are solely responsible for being able to let more things go, since countless other factors come into play. But you know how the tachometer in your car measures the engine’s RPMs? My baseline used to teeter on the red zone, but now I’d say I’m down to a 5 most of the time—and it’s a much better place to be.