Self-care importance and few tips :
Before I start talking about self-care. Here are simple 7 things that you can control in your life.
- Your morning routine
- Your sleep routine
- How you speak to yourself
- How you treat others
- What physical activity you do on a daily basis
- What you eat
- Who you follow on social media
- How soon you try again when you fail
What is Self-Care?
When I was a kid and someone told me about self-care I always thought of a wine party, luxurious beach vacations, going for a fancy dinner, or buying costly things. Mostly activities that sounded selfish, lazy, and expensive. But I was wrong.
Just like our electronic gadgets, our bodies also run on battery- but sadly we don’t come with a low-battery warning. Instead, we feel burned out, irritated, sick, lack of mental clarity, unhappy, etc. Self- care is the small things you do daily that help you reduce stress, increase motivation, and put you above all the things happening in the inner or outer world. Let me share my self-care routine and how do I take care of my mind, body, and soul.
1. Be Kind to Yourself
It is okay to just spend a day doing nothing. Well, let me tell you a secret this one hard for me as well. I have always been the hustler . Lying lazy doing nothing or watching a movie for 3 hours makes me feel I am wasting time. But sometimes it’s okay to be lazy. Those are rest times that our body crave for. It’s okay to take breaks. It will instantly boost up your energy and you will feel refreshed.
One of the things which I started doing in 2021 is a gratitude journal. You do not need to have a fancy journal notebook. Just an old unused notebook which have some pages left out , any dairy will be sufficient. Be thankful for what you have. Write out the things that you are thankful for. It may be a smallest thing which make you feel blessed. For an instance, be thankful for the food which you had this afternoon, be thankful for your family, be thankful for the life and struggles which has shaped you for being “YOU”.Taking some time out daily to feel blessed about little things in our lives is another way to be kind to oneself. To get you all started I have created a gratitude template. You can download it in the following link.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WawbcOkl6SUYJ5Jz7y0uLiiaygpdacr3/view?usp=sharing
2. Practice saying NO
As women, we are expected to say yes. Especially in South Asian culture our parents teach us to say yes to everyone as this is equivalent to showing respect. One of the best advice I got was to say “no” to protect my energy, sanity, and time. I was asked to take time to reflect before saying yes to anything I was asked to do. This small act of saying “NO” took me a long time to practice but it gave me clarity on what I want to sign up for, where I want to go or what I want to work on. This is an important pillar of self-care and is not selfish at all.
3. Stillness and Movement- Meditating on your purpose
I guess each one of us at some point in our lives has faced one or all of these- anxiety or stress, not getting enough sleep, problem focusing, or burned out.
Meditation is not about self-help plan its about understanding the mind. It has helped me discover my true self, take care of my anxiety, find my purpose, and much more.
New to Meditation? Just close your eyes for fifteen minutes and focus on your breathe movement. You can also focus on your “Third Eye Area” which is in between your eyebrows. Try to balance, find focus this may help in relieving stress and anxiety, and much more.
4. Learn something new!
Our greatest experience comes from trying or learning something new. The pandemic gives a perfect opportunity to learn a new language, an instrument, a new dance form, photography, or anything else. Some of my fav free learning websites are:
YouTube (Cool thing is that you don’t need to pay for courses , and almost all the informations that are found on the paid learning websites are available here).
Udemy
Linkedin Learning
Friends( yes, each one of us is different and knows something better. Leverage the skills and brains of your friends)
5. Nourish your body and soul
Taking care of your body is an important aspect of self-care. Believe it or not, I take out time to exercise 5–6 days a week. Physical activity stimulates the brain and releases chemicals like endorphins that trigger a positive feeling in the body. If workouts aren’t your thing- a walk, yoga, dance, hike, HIIT will make you happy, relaxed, and do the work. You can just play your song and dance to it “lalalallalala”.
There you have it! I hope you find some tips or inspiration from my self-care routine. In the end, do what makes you happy and make your own self-care routine.
Always remember- “You can’t take care of anyone else unless you first take care of yourself”.
