Shay Mitchell On Why Rotting Days Are Her Fave Self-Care Hack
The Béis founder has never been a routine person — until now.
Shay Mitchell doesn’t have a lot of free time these days, which means prioritizing self-care looks a little different than it did a few years ago. Between the hustle of founding and growing two different businesses — Béis in 2018; ONDA tequila soda in 2020 — and being a mom of two young kids, she admits scheduling in time for herself isn’t always the easiest thing to implement. (Case in point: She squeezed in this Zoom interview during her daughter Rome’s nap time.)
“Without kids around, I'm not somebody who normally follows a routine of any kind,” the entrepreneur exclusively tells Elite Daily earlier this season.
The Pretty Little Liars alum is booked and busy, but she’s all about giving herself grace and going with the flow with whatever stressors come her way. “I think [my favorite wellness practice is] not taking anything too seriously,” she says. “Yes, I’ll have a bath and I'll do an hour workout, or I'll lock myself in my room and watch whatever it is I want to watch on TV. Those things are all great, but I think your perspective on things plays such a huge part.”
I think it's actually beneficial to have those days where you're just horizontal, you order in food, and you're just watching a good show.
Below, Mitchell shares why she’s a big fan of rot days, her thoughts on hustle culture, her biggest tip for entrepreneurs, and how she juggles it all.
Elite Daily: Describe your dream treat-yourself day.
Shay Mitchell: Some people will call it rotting. I don't look at it as rotting because I think it's actually beneficial to have those days where you're just horizontal, you order in food, and you're just watching a good show — that can be really good for your mental health and just your general well-being. I do think that they give you some sort of recharge in your system.
ED: I love that.
SM: Yeah, I feel just as content sometimes doing nothing as I do when I'm super active, getting a lot done. I think that's the balance that I go back to: not feeling guilty about those days where you didn't get everything crossed off your to-do list. It's OK, there's another day, so enjoy this moment when you have the luxury.
ED: The Béis Weekender Bag has gone viral as a travel must-have. What are some wellness practices that you incorporate while traveling to stay grounded?
SM: Your perspective plays such a big part in how you handle situations and your stress level, and I don't like to be a stressed-out person. Say I miss a flight or something goes left — there was a reason for that. And just changing my perspective on things that maybe in the past would've really stressed me out and being like, “Is it that big of a deal? No.”
ED: When you're home, how does your morning routine differ from your nighttime routine?
SM: I wake up to my girls, I go to sleep with the girls. It’s kind of nice having that, especially at this age, I'm really just taking it all in because I know it's very short-lived, so I'm enjoying this loudness and the chaotic-ness about mornings and nights that I didn't have before them. I love when a house is loud.
These mornings are fun, they’re always changing. I wake up, I pack Atlas' lunch, I get her to school, then I come back, I play with Rome, and then I start my day, I put her down for a nap, and then I get a lot done in that hour. Then at night, it's the bath routine. There are a lot of routines that obviously I had never had prior to having kids, which is something that's been interesting.
ED: You're juggling parenting kids with running two different companies. Do you have anything that you swear by for helping you balance all those things?
SM: An incredible team of people that I'm lucky to lean on and learn from and grow with. Béis is my first baby, and it's been so incredible to see it evolve. In these past six years from working on it, it's just been incredible getting to learn so much from everybody around me.
ONDA has been super exciting for me because I also love drinking and I love clean drinks, and I noticed that there weren’t a lot of women in this space. So for me, it was something that I also was thrown into and learning along the way. It's been such an amazing experience.
ED: What’s your biggest piece of advice for others hoping to start their own companies?
SM: Hire people that are smarter than you that you can learn from — that's exactly what has happened. I didn't go to school for design of bags or any of that kind of stuff, or even for business school. My education stopped with high school. For me personally, the best kind of education was always just being thrown into something and learning from it on the spot.
ED: What have you learned from building these businesses so far?
SM: Celebrate your victories, no matter how big or small. Always take those moments to pause every once in a while. Otherwise, you can just roll over them and you're all of a sudden at the end where you're like, “Whoa, I didn't even take the time to enjoy those little moments.” Your accomplishments may seem so small to other people, but for me... I’m like, “Wait, that’s awesome.”
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
