How to: Self-Care
Maybe you’ve had a rough week, or are feeling overwhelmed with lots of work and back-to-back meetings. With an endless to-do list – paying bills, catching up with friends, doing chores – it seems like there isn’t ever time for ourselves. Our social battery only lasts so long, and our physical and emotional health can only tolerate so much! We need to take time to focus on ourselves, so we don’t easily feel emotionally, socially, or physically drained.
That’s what self-care is for. It sounds fancy; you may immediately think of material things, like getting your nails done, putting on a facemask, making yourself a nice bubble bath, and drinking wine. But it’s important to realise that whilst these things can be considered self-care activities, self-care simply refers to any activity that you do for YOURSELF to improve your overall well-being. It’s simple enough, but many of us are prone to neglecting our well-being with the excuse of having ‘no time’.
But why is self-care so important? Without it, negative energy and tiredness can accumulate, and overtime, lead to burnout. When we’re burnt out, it’s hard to be productive, happy or optimistic, and we can be prone to feeling restless and tired.
Despite living a busy life, we still need to make time for ourselves to reflect on and release any negative thoughts or feelings we may have encountered throughout the week, and instead, focus on positive and fulfilling activities that are good for us.
With that, here are my how to: self-care suggestions:
Exercise & Eat Well: Feel good inside-out!
Dedicating time for exercise and eating healthy foods are important for both our physical and mental well-being. Our physical and mental health are connected; when our outer-self is feeling good, our inner-self is likely to feel good too. Any form of exercise from tennis to yoga can help you relieve stress, clear your mind, and even make you feel more motivated after! For me, going for a short walk in the mornings helps me freshen up and anticipate a good, productive day. When we’re feeling down or stressed, we often crave junk food to instantly gratify or ‘treat’ ourselves. However, eating too much junk foods can actually make you feel more lethargic, irritable, and unproductive. Try to stock up on yummy foods that are good for your health so that you have those on hand when you feel peckish! Not only will these make you feel physically good about yourself but can also improve your overall mental well-being.
Do your chores!
Chores… really? Delaying washing dishes or folding piles of laundry can make us even more stressed and dread them even more. Chores may not seem that fun, but they are definitely good for our well-being. It allows us to incorporate a routine in our lives and keep us organised. Doing them bit by bit can really improve our lifestyles and productivity.
Take it one step at a time – start by setting a laundry day, or a fixed day for heavy cleaning. This way, it’s routined, and we can manage our time better. Often, listening to music whilst doing laundry or mopping the floor can make cleaning much more enjoyable and therapeutic. You might even find yourself feeling more productive, organised, and satisfied by the end of it.
Get off your phone!
The rise of the technological world has made it increasingly difficult to really have time alone. Although this has made our lives much more convenient, our alone time is often disturbed by floods of notifications from messages or the impulse to check out social media platforms. As a result, we’re always connecting with others, and rarely with ourselves.
Make the effort to get off our phones 15 minutes before going to bed. This way it will allow us to have that time to focus on ourselves. During this time, we can do activities like a night-time routine, meditation, or journaling. You’ll find that it’s easier to fall asleep, sleep more soundly, and wake up feeling more refreshed and ready for the day!
What’s self-care for you?
Self-care doesn’t have to be fancy schmancy, it can be as simple as spending 10 minutes stretching or being off your phone, and it can definitely be incorporated into your daily routines, so we don’t struggle with having ‘no time’ anymore! This includes eating healthy foods to upkeep our physical and mental health or staying on top of chores so that they don’t pile up and become a mountain of stress at the end of the week. There isn’t one self-care plan that can or will fit everyone. However, we can figure out a personalised set of self-care activities that work for ourselves.