There’s no time like the present to consider if you are taking as good care of yourself as you deserve. Self-care is more than bubble baths and pedicures, it’s the act of paying attention to your emotional cues and then taking steps toward improvement. When you get stressed and have way too much going on, it’s super easy to start dropping the things that help you stay healthy and happy.
Self-care is more than bubble baths and pedicures, it’s the act of paying attention to your emotional cues and then taking steps toward improvement.
If you’re not taking care of yourself, it’s impossible to show love and care for the important people in your life. While it’s so easy to justify not having time as a reason to stop taking care of yourself, the truth is there has to be a balance. Taking the time to make sure you’re getting enough rest, taking your vitamins, getting outside, flossing, and so much more will actually help you have the energy and confidence to tackle everyday life – and even better, show love to those around you.
When practicing true self-care, it is not selfish. You should never have to justify taking 10 minutes to reset after a hectic morning and before you dive into your next set of tasks. When it comes down to it, self-care is about prioritizing what’s important, saying no to things that aren’t necessary, and finding purpose and meaning in your everyday actions.
Putting it into practice
What if you want to practice better self-care, but don’t know where to start? A large part of practicing effective self-care comes down to emotional, physical, and mental awareness. It might be helpful to sit down and journal how you are feeling in each of these aspects of your life. Being able to consider how you feel is the first step to better prioritizing what you need to be healthy.
It might be helpful to sit down and journal how you are feeling in each of these aspects of your life (emotional, physical, & mental awareness).
Once you have a good awareness of where you are and what you need to work on, take baby steps to find ways of including these moments of self-care in your life. Maybe that looks like taking a walk between two stressful activities. Maybe that means giving yourself time to read a good book before bed. Whatever it looks like for you, give yourself the freedom and flexibility to try new and different things and see how it affects your day.
Self-care in a cup
One of my favorite ways to practice self-care is to make a nice hot tea or cocoa and then allow myself to sit and enjoy it for however long it takes to drink it. That ten minutes or so to just sit and have a drink is a great chance to reset. Even better, when I make some for me it’s also a great chance to make a cup for whoever is in the house at the time and we both take a nice little break.
