Honestly, sometimes taking it easy can be harder than going, going, going. It’s easy to add things to your calendar and rush from workout to work to holiday cocktail party to another holiday cocktail party and then wake up and repeat.

It’s hard to miss your favorite Junior League meeting of the year (handing out Christmas flyers in Bryant Park!) because you’re not feeling well and you know it’s better for you.

And while I believe it is important to keep up with one’s regular diet (by diet, I mean how you eat, not dieting) and exercise during the holidays, it’s also okay to be easy on yourself—especially if you’re hard on yourself all year. If you usually run 3 miles in the morning, but you only have time for some yoga before work these days, that’s okay. In fact, your body probably relishes the restorative exercise.

For me, I didn’t get to work out on Monday because of poor timing. Yesterday, I didn’t work out because I was sick. This morning, I woke up still really sore from Sunday’s run, and with my lungs still a wee bit tight. I have something on my calendar for nearly every single day between now and December 23—almost all fun social events (oh and a little move thrown in there), but a little stressful trying to figure out how to fit everything in. (My friend Dorry has a great post about enjoying the holiday season without getting too stressed.)

I decided yoga would do more for my body and mind than a vigorous cardio or strength workout, and I did a half hour of yoga in my apartment, while Bailey did his own downward dogs next to me! (I wish I had taken a picture of this.)

You may call it justification, I call it listening to my body 🙂

And this morning, breakfast was an old fave: