Rooted & Rising: Small Things I’m Doing for My Brain, Body & Self

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about what it actually means to be rooted and rising.

When I created Rooted & Rising, it was about finding joy in the messy middle. About recognizing that we can be grateful for where our feet are planted while still wanting to grow.

And lately, I’ve realized that growth doesn’t always look like some huge life transformation.

Sometimes it looks like one minute.

One minute of movement.

One minute to breathe.

Fifteen extra minutes in the morning.

One better choice at lunch.

One glass of water.

One day of choosing not to have that glass of wine after supper.

Small things count.

And right now, I’m trying to be much more intentional about those small things.

One Minute of Movement

One thing I’m working on during my workday is incredibly simple:

One minute of movement every hour.

That’s it.

I spend a lot of my workday sitting at a computer, and it is ridiculously easy to look up and realize I haven’t moved in hours.

So my goal is to stand up and move for 60 seconds.

Maybe it’s 60 seconds of standing up and sitting back down in my office chair.

Maybe it’s squats in front of my desk.

Maybe I march in place.

Maybe I stretch.

It doesn’t have to be a workout. It doesn’t require workout clothes, equipment or a trip to the gym.

It just requires me to get up.

I think sometimes we make healthy habits so complicated that we talk ourselves out of doing anything at all. If I tell myself I need a 45-minute workout in the middle of a busy day, chances are pretty good that isn’t happening.

But one minute?

I can give myself one minute, every hour.

One Minute to Be Still

I’m also trying to become more intentional about slowing my brain down.

My goal is to take at least one minute twice a day—preferably once when I wake up and once before bed—to calm down, decompress and simply breathe.

My plan is to practice box breathing while running my finger over a small textured strip on the back of my phone.

And that’s exactly why I’m trying it. I don’t need another complicated self-care routine that takes 30 minutes and requires perfect conditions. I need something I can actually use when my brain has 56 tabs open. 😂

One minute. Four sides of a box. Breathe.

The addition of the textured strip is something I learned from a work conference, it helps not let your mind wander! The texture gives my fingers something physical to focus on while I’m paying attention to my breathing—another little reminder to bring myself back to the moment.

Will one minute magically eliminate stress? Of course not. But research suggests that controlled breathing can be a useful tool for managing stress, and one minute is realistic enough for me to actually do it. And right now, that’s the goal: small habits I can repeat, not perfect routines I can’t maintain.

Fifteen Minutes Earlier

This week I’m also attempting something that might make the morning people laugh:

I’m waking up 15 minutes earlier.

That’s it.

I’m not joining the 5 a.m. club.

I’m not waking up before the sun to journal, meditate, run five miles, meal prep for a family of five and
solve world peace before my kids wake up.

😂

I’m just giving myself 15 more minutes.

Fifteen minutes to wake up without immediately feeling behind.

Fifteen minutes to drink my coffee.

Fifteen minutes to get myself together before everyone needs something from Mom.

There’s a quote often attributed to Benjamin Franklin:

“Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.”

I’m not making any promises about the wealthy and wise part.

But I’m willing to test the theory. 😂

More importantly, 15 minutes feels realistic.

And I’ve decided realistic progress is more valuable to me than an unrealistic perfect routine I abandon three days later.

One Month and Six Days

There is also something much bigger happening quietly in the background of all of this.

As I write this, I am one month and six days sober from alcohol.

And I’m proud of that.

Along with removing alcohol, I’ve been paying much more attention to what I’m putting into my body.

More water.

More protein.

More awareness.

Better portions.

Not perfection.

Not cutting out every food I enjoy.

Not punishing myself for eating pizza or dessert.

Just paying attention and trying to make choices that support the way I want to feel.

There is something interesting about removing one thing from your life and realizing how much room it creates to pay attention to everything else.

My sleep.

My energy.

My nutrition.

My movement.

My routines.

My mind.

Me.

And somewhere along the way, I’ve realized that making myself a priority doesn’t have to mean making myself the only priority.

It means remembering that I belong on my own list, too.

Our Minds Matter

A lot of this has also been influenced by my work.

I’ve been spending quite a bit of time lately learning, talking and working around brain health, and one message keeps sticking with me:

Our minds matter.

Brain health isn’t something we should suddenly start thinking about when we’re older.

It’s something we can think about throughout our lives.

One statistic that stopped me in my tracks is that almost two-thirds of Americans living with Alzheimer’s are women. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, of the estimated 7.4 million Americans age 65 and older living with Alzheimer’s in 2026, about 4.5 million are women.

Here’s another statistic I found fascinating: according to the Alzheimer’s Association’s 2026 Facts and Figures report, 99% of Americans say brain health is equally or more important than physical health—but only 9% say they know a lot about how to maintain it.

Think about that.

We know our brains matter.

We just don’t always know what to do about it.

And maybe that’s another reason I keep coming back to small, realistic habits.

Move your body.

Learn something new.

Try a new hobby.

Eat foods that nourish you.

Connect with people.

Give your brain opportunities to work.

Give it opportunities to rest.

The Alzheimer’s Association notes that physical activity, social connection, healthy eating and staying mentally active may all play a role in reducing risk, while research continues to better understand exactly how lifestyle and brain health interact.

We don’t have to wait until something feels wrong before deciding our brains deserve some attention.

Try Something New

This is something I want to challenge myself—and maybe you—to do more often:

Try something new.

Maybe once a week.

Maybe once a month.

Learn a new recipe.

Try out a new a hobby.

Read about something you know absolutely nothing about.

Try gardening.

Color. (I know of a couple coloring books. 😂)

Do a puzzle.

Take a different walking route.

Learn how to use a tool.

Listen to a podcast about something outside your normal interests.

Try a new workout.

Call somebody.

Make something with your hands.

Learn.

Explore.

Be curious.

Because I don’t think we’re ever supposed to stop learning.

And I definitely don’t think we’re ever too old, too busy or too far gone to start taking better care of ourselves.

Rooted. Rising. Growing.

Right now, my version of growth isn’t particularly glamorous.

It’s standing beside my desk and marching in place for 60 seconds.

It’s touching a textured strip on the back of my phone and reminding myself to breathe.

It’s setting my alarm 15 minutes earlier.

It’s filling my water bottle again.

It’s choosing protein.

It’s going another day without alcohol.

It’s learning more about my brain and asking myself what I can do today that future Samantha might be grateful for.

That’s what Rooted & Rising means to me right now.

Being rooted doesn’t mean staying exactly where you are.

It means knowing where you stand.

Rising doesn’t mean becoming an entirely different person overnight.

It means continuing to reach.

And growing doesn’t have to happen all at once.

Sometimes it happens one minute at a time.

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So here’s my question for you:

What is one small thing you could do this week for your brain, your body or yourself?

Maybe that’s where your own rooted and rising journey starts. 🌻

Simply Samantha 🌻
Simply Real. Simply Me.