Phillips & Blow PC - November 2020

Getting your day started with coffee isn’t always enough. Sometimes, you need to give yourself an extra boost, especially when you have little energy or trouble focusing. For an awesome start to your day, here are five tips to get you going right off the bat. Top 5 Healthy Life Hacks to Have an Awesome Morning

Is the story you learned in school about the first Thanksgiving actually what happened? To put it simply, not exactly. While some elements of the first Thanksgiving story we’re familiar with seem to hold water, other details have been obscured or left out of the story entirely. Here are a few parts of the Thanksgiving story you might not remember from your history lesson. The First Thanksgiving: Fact vs. Fiction 4 Myths About the First Thanksgiving Unveiled

WAKE UP 5 MINUTES EARLY.

What’s the power of five minutes? It can be more than you think. Spend this time doing simple breathing exercises or a quick meditation so you can get focused for the rest of the day. If that’s not your style, you can prepare a quick to-

do list for your day ahead. Either way, it’s always nice to have a little extra time for yourself without losing too much sleep.

IT WASN’T TECHNICALLY THE ‘FIRST THANKSGIVING.’

The Puritan settlers (not called “Pilgrims” until around 1880) weren’t the first people to celebrate a successful harvest. Both Native American and European cultures had similar celebrations for centuries. That fateful meal in 1620 wasn’t actually called the “first Thanksgiving” until the 1830s, when New Englanders believed the settlers’ celebration mirrored their own Thanksgiving traditions. It wasn’t even an official holiday until President Abraham Lincoln declared it so in 1863.

START WITH GREEN TEA, THEN COFFEE.

A cup of coffee at 7 a.m. can leave you burned out by 10 a.m. Try swapping it with green tea for a more

THE PURITANS DIDN’T COME TO AMERICA SOLELY FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM.

gentle wake-up call. After that, you can brew your favorite coffee to keep you going strong. This practice also might help you consume less caffeine overall!

While religious freedom was important to the settlers at Plymouth, so was being able to make a living. Before setting sail for America, the Puritans had settled in Leiden, Holland, where they enjoyed a relatively high degree of religious freedom. However, they found it hard to support themselves financially there, so they sailed for the Americas to earn a living. If it were solely a matter of religious freedom, they probably wouldn’t have left Holland.

TAKE A QUICK MORNING WALK — AND HAVE YOUR MEETINGS ON THE GO.

Morning meetings can make us want to fall asleep again. Don’t spend all of them sitting down if you don’t have to! Not only will morning walks help you wake up, but they can also add some extra physical activity to your day.

THERE IS NO EVIDENCE THAT THE NATIVE AMERICANS WERE INVITED.

WRITE IN YOUR JOURNAL.

While the Wampanoag people did attend the first Thanksgiving, there’s no record of an invitation from the settlers. That doesn’t mean they weren’t invited, but it also means they could have come together some other way. Regardless, the result was still an exceptional cross-cultural event, albeit one that would remain uncommon as time went on.

Who says you have to journal at the end of the day when you’re tired and ready to sleep? You can journal in the morning about what happened yesterday and the things you’re looking forward to that day. Journaling can remind you of your daily goals and motivate you to stick to your commitments.

THERE WAS NO TURKEY (OR PIE) AT THE FIRST THANKSGIVING.

PACK YOUR LUNCH (OR SNACKS!).

While some records show an abundance of wild fowl in the Plymouth area, there’s no record it was eaten at the first Thanksgiving. Instead, the settlers and Natives enjoyed harvested crops, including cornmeal, pumpkin, and cranberries, along with venison, which was provided by the Wampanoag tribe.

Staying on track with your goals starts with having the energy to do them. Plan a healthy balance of fats, vegetables, carbohydrates, and proteins. This can be as simple as assembling dips, carrots, wraps, and salads each morning.

We hope you enjoyed these Thanksgiving facts and that you have a happy Thanksgiving with your friends and family!

It’s time to try these tactics to jump-start your day!

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