When I talk about self-care do you know what I mean? It is something that is very often over-looked, but the impact of daily self-care can make a huge difference to our mental health and wellbeing. Some people get scared off when they hear self-care, thinking its going to time consuming and expensive. Self-care isn’t about a day at a spa, although they are wonderful every now and again. Self-care for me is daily self-care activities that benefit your mind body or soul. Its like putting a deposit in your energy bank. And we could all do with that. So let’s explore this further.
Good self-care is key to improved health and wellbeing, increased mood and reduced anxiety. I know when I’ve spent some time for/on me, I feel a glow or natural high. The reverse is also true; the times when I’ve not been able to take time for my self-care for whatever reason, or years ago when I didn’t know the importance, it has really affected my mood. So spending time on self-care is key to a good relationship with ourselves and others.
Do you live on constant high alert?
When we are living lives on high alert, with activity, noise, and hurry, it is incredibly difficult to feel healthy and rested. When that is our overall experience with life, the result is that we become stressed and burned out. In order to nurture the health of our mind, body, and soul, we need ways to re-centre and restore. We need these in short spurts throughout the day-some only need to be 5 or 10 minutes long. I bet you might even do activities that you don’t realise can be classed as self-care. A few examples are:
- enjoy a cup of tea or coffee in peace
- crafts, such as knitting, colouring or painting
- having a catch up with a friend
What’s right for me?
Finding the self-care activities for you is key. I’m going to be providing support on this in future blog posts, which I’ll link to. For now, just know it is vital to calm your mind, nourish your body and feed your soul. Let’s focus for now on calming your mind.
Three Top Tops You Can Start Today
Take Deep Breaths
When things feel all too much, taking a deep breath really does calm you down by triggering neurons in your brain which tell the body it is time to relax. You can actually reverse engineer your mood, by taking some deep breaths. You can read about breathing exercises here
Get Outside
Fresh air has numerous health benefits. There may be days when you don’t feel very energetic and are spending time in bed or on the sofa, it can be difficult to get outside, certainly for exercise. Research has shown that exposing your lungs to fresh air, and the scents of flowers and plants, can help to relieve stress and anxiety. Oxygen is thought to affect the levels of serotonin released in the body, in turn, contributing to feelings of happiness and relaxation.
Be Kind To Yourself
Know that you are worth it. Know that you need to be taken care of and this will help how you view yourself. You need to look after yourself before you can look after others. There’s another really important aspect to this. Be kind to yourself on flare up days. Accept you need rest and give yourself just that.
If you’d like to get started with self-care today, download this At Home Guide to Self-Care, by clicking on the link.
For ongoing support and encouragement with your self-care, come and join my FREE Facebook group, Shine in Self-Care
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