Self-Care – 20 Top Tips To Take A Time-Out
The Importance Of Self-Care
Feeling overwhelmed? Emotionally exhausted? Too many to dos and not enough day? Juggling sixty balls in the air with only two hands, and then the question “what´s for dinner?” Someone asks what seems like an innocent question but it causes you to snap?
Well it is no wonder, because giving to everyone else again and again, eventually leaves you empty. If you have been pouring into everyone else´s cup, while yours runs empty, you are bound to snap, break down, or lose those proverbial marbles. This why self-care is so important.
Many people think that self- care is just selfish, is just expensive indulgence and is just for women. Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! On all counts. Self-care is about so much more than that. Let us look at what self-care really is, and talk about a few things you can do at home to take care of Number 1!. You deserve it after all, and if you don’t take care of you, who will?
What Self-Care Is:
Topping Up Your Bank Account
Think of your relationship with yourself as an emotional bank account. When working overtime to the point of exhaustion, when we experience stress, and when we put up with things that do not serve us, we are withdrawing from our emotional bank account. Especially when we say yes to doing things that we do not want to do, for the sake of pleasing others. Yes, it is good to give love and joy, and your time and energy to those you love, but not at the expense of your own well-being. Self-care is a great way to make deposits into your emotional bank account, it helps you to ensure that you do not go into overdraft, because that is when you snap, or burst or break, and we do not want that. Start making deposits into you account today.
Healing
When an illness arises, it is usually a sign that we are not taking care of ourselves. Dis-ease leaves us feeling discomfort and it is trying to tell us something. Usually this means that it is time to slow down and give back to ourselves so that we can take care of our loved ones and take care of our daily “business” but it does not mean taking care of business with busy-ness. When we feel dis-ease, it is a calling for us to stop and:
Assess what is causing it. Acknowledge that it seeks healing. Address it with self-care according to its needs. Action and Agility is key, do not wait for the dis-ease to grow, the calling for self-care is now. Affirm with self- care and self-love. For example, taking on more stressful situations, and pushing yourself when you are tired after a long day leads to making mistakes, or feeling guilty for not being able to meet all of the commitments because you say yes to everything for the sake of “being nice”, pushing yourself even when you see the warning signs, for the sake of perfection, all of these, sets you up to break down. Notice this and do things to build yourself up instead. Self-care can be very healing, physically, mentally and spiritually. Self-care is the practice of playing an active role in the longevity of your well-being and health. Start today, and prevent the dis-ease from becoming disease.
Empowering
Cultivating the ability to say no to things that cause you stress or cause you to feel that things are getting out of control, is very liberating and empowering, as it allows you to take back more ownership of your life. We can still be there for our loved ones, without carrying everyone´s burdens for them. Instead, teach others to do for themselves, or share the load, and free up your time and energy for the practices that will serve your higher good. Saying no in a loving way, honours you and is one of the many forms of self-love.
Improving Productivity
As counter-intuitive as it sounds, taking a time-out for some me-time improves your productiveness, and how you use your time. Self-care reduces stress, and improves your decision making abilities, bringing about clarity for an enhanced productive day.
Self-Care Is Positive Action
Self-care is about upping your intake of vegetables, and not an excuse to become a couch vegetable, whilst binge-watching TV with a bag of potato chips, saying to yourself, “potatoes are veggies…” Self-care is all of those things you can do to be good to yourself, not only for the present moment, but for the long run. Let´s look at some self-care practices that allows you to still be the super human being you are, by caring for you first.
20 Self-Care Tips
Physical Self – Care
1. Spending time outside and getting some sun exposure. Fresh air does your body the world of good, as well as getting around 10 to 15 minutes of sun, taking care to avoid peak sun periods.
2. Bring some zen into your bathroom den. Taking a long relaxing bubble bath to unwind. This is your alone time, no distractions, no disturbances, and devices. Take this time to rest your mind and your body, and allow aches and pains to dissolve in your bath salts. Self-care is not restricted to the bath tub. Singing in the shower to your loofah while exfoliating elevates your mood and lifts those dead skin cells. Masks, oils, lotions, candles, soothing background music. Lather and slather your way to well-being.
3. Getting 8 hours of sleep daily. Too little and too much sleep affects your brain function. Just like Goldilocks eating her porridge, ensure that you get the quantity just right. 7 to 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep is the sweet spot.
4. Eating nourishing food – we all know that loading up on fruit and vegetables is a given. Self-care calls to crank it up and pay attention to a balanced nourishment of your body. Eating foods that supply all of the macro and micro nutrients your body needs is the highest form of physical self-love. Start by absorbing information on both nutrients, before absorbing the nutrients from your next meal.[1]
5. Movement – go for a brisk walk or start skipping to stimulate crucial body function such as blood circulation and lymph drainage. Kick boxing helps to release built up frustration while serving your muscles a good dose of movement.
6. Sitting up straight – slouching at work or at home may seem comfortable, but your body will be thankful to you for sitting up and taking notice of what slouching does, when we haunch over our computers, we are not able to breathe in and out deeply enough. Sitting and standing up straight assists with spinal health, and your back will be grateful in the long run.
7. Just breathe – should anger, anxiety, worry of fear arise, don’t run away from it by turning on the TV or having an alcoholic beverage for a temporary escape, because it will still be there once you return from your escape. Face it head on with breathing exercises. Deep breathes help calm the nervous system. Try BOX BREATHING. Deep breathe in for five seconds. Hold for five seconds. Deep breathe out for five seconds. Hold for five seconds. Repeat five times, or for as many times as it helps to soothe you.
8. Water Works – Water really does work, drink at least 3 litres a day to hydrate and flush out toxins. Turn on the water works from time to time and have a good cry. Just like clearing out the cupboards of clutter, we should also clear out clutter emotionally, it has a great impact on how we feel physically.
Emotional Self – Care
9. Spending your time wisely – Doing a time audit to see how much time you are spending on the things that do not bring you positive and long term well-being benefits will serve you greatly. How much time are you spending on texting or social media vs self-study or reading a good book for example?
10. Saying no to the things that take you out of your balance. We cannot be everything to everyone all of the time. Saying no to some things and making time for navigating your emotions and bringing about clarity on what it is you would like to create for your life is emotionally enriching.
11. Digital Diet – Turn off your devices on your off days, spend time in nature, and connect to mother earth. Take your dog for a walk and appreciate the trees, the clouds and the birds. Take your shoes off and walk on grass.
Mental Self-Care
12. I cannot bang on this drum enough. Meditate – don’t medicate. This does not just apply to over the counter medication, but to all of the things we do to “medicate” to avoid the pain and the things we keep putting off. Drowning our sorrows in instant gratification like movie marathons or the staring down another empty wine glass night after night only perpetuates the pain. Meditating brings about mindfulness needed to access your inner power. Connect to the true power of the mind with visualisation and imagination.
13. Learn a new skill. Learning a new language, or how to play a musical instrument or a home maintenance technique not only builds new wires in the brain but you never know when it will come in handy, and you can wow yourself and your loved ones with your new skills.
14. Read a book. Make the commitment to yourself to read at least one book a month. Exchange books or book recommendations with friends. Pick up a book you have read a long time ago, and read it again. You would be surprised what you pick up on this time around. Nurture your mental health and watch your financial and physical health improve too.
Social Self-Care
15. Spending time with family. All too often we take on more deadlines at work or in business, chasing those financial goals, but remember your emotional bank account. Top up this very important account with time for your partner, children and close inner circle, the people who bring you value, and vice versa. Make the time and take the time not only for what is important, but also for who is important. Colouring in for adults is soothing for the soul and an activity you can do with your children. Pack a picnic basket and jump on your bicycles with the family to a beautiful spot in nature.
16. Spending time with friends. Friends are not just there when we need someone to talk to or a shoulder to cry on. Just like the body, we must nourish our relationships. Start a grub club with close friends who nourish you as well. At least once a month each member of the grub club hosts a dinner at home. Plan a theme around it and make it festive. Bonding over a meal with your friends is nourishing in more ways than one. Don’t let social distancing stop you from having your grub club, gather over a video call and share a meal together virtually whilst keeping yourself and loved ones safe.
17. Honour the commitments to yourself and your partner. This means listening to and taking an interest in how your partner’s day at work went, having regular date nights, and doing couples activities to strengthen your bond and ability to operate as a unit. Honour the commitments that you have said yes to, as well as those that you have no choice but to say yes to. This means doing your taxes on time for example. Taking care of the nitty gritty things you have to do on time, frees you up for spending more time with your beloved.
Spiritual Self-Care
18. Practicing listening to your inner guidance system, otherwise known as your gut feeling, or better yet your intuition. This is a gift that we all have, but we have to learn to switch it on, which requires mindfulness instead of mind-fullness, listening without using our ears, and asking ourselves the questions that will allow our systems to provide the answers we seek.
19. Reject old limiting and sabotaging beliefs and replace them with self-affirming, empowering ones. Be consciously aware of them, write them down, practice it daily.
20. Journaling – Either free flow journaling or activated journaling, using prompts is a fantastic outlet for a brain dump and enhances your emotional and spiritual literacy.
- [1] https://mynutrition.wsu.edu/nutrition-basics
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