Real self-care is seeing and accepting your imperfections and finding ways to improve yourself with compassion. It also means making compromises. No compromise is perfect. You manage the best that you can, without criticism or punishment for not doing things exactly the way you think you should be. *
*Adapted from psychology today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-couch/201905/self-care-is-important-why-is-it-so-hard-practice
Below are links to a few of the ways to you can get started on practicing self-care. Self-care is critical to being healthy and is especially important in the most stressful times of our lives. If you are ready to practice self-care, click on one of the buttons below to get started. If you want to read more about self-care and why it’s important, scroll down.
Practicing Self-Care Is Important: 10 Easy Habits To Get You Started
by Noma Nazish, posted at Forbes.com
You are sitting in the office; it’s a busy week at work. There’s an important meeting you’ve to prepare for, a social media campaign that you’ve to spearhead, loads of paperwork, and your calendar is jam-packed with tasks and events. So, how do you make room for all these things? You overwork, cancel your yoga session, cut back on socializing, and even skip a few meals.
To keep up with this roadrunner form of living, we don’t think twice before putting self-care on the back burner. More often than not, it takes a wake-up call to notice the toll this kind of lifestyle takes on our lives.
No matter how indulgent or fancy the term may sound, self-care is crucial for our physical, emotional and mental well-being. You shouldn’t neglect self-care and here’s why:
- Know your worth: Self-care is important to maintain a healthy relationship with yourself as it produces positive feelings and boosts your confidence and self-esteem. Also, self-care is necessary to remind yourself and others that you and your needs are important too.
- A healthy work-life balance: Contrary to common belief, workaholism is not a virtue. Overwork, and the accompanying stress and exhaustion can make you less productive, disorganized and emotionally depleted. It can also lead to all sorts of health problems, from anxiety and depression to insomnia and heart diseases. Professional self-care habits like taking intermittent breaks (for lunch, calling your mom, or taking a stroll), setting professional boundaries, avoiding overextending, etc. ensures that you stay sharp, motivated and healthy.
- Stress management: While a little dose of stress is a healthy way to give us a nudge that we need to meet the deadlines or finish that overdue task, constant stress and anxiety can have an adverse effect on your mental and physical health. Smart self-care habits like eating healthy, connecting with a loved one or, practicing meditation cuts down the toxic effects of stress by improving your mood and boosting your energy and confidence levels.
- Start living, stop existing: Life is a precious gift. So why waste it when we have the choice to have a more meaningful existence? Yes, you have a lot of responsibilities— fixing the dryer, mowing the lawn, paying bills. But it’s important to remember that taking care of yourself is also your responsibility. Little things like sipping tea while looking at the raindrops racing down the window glass, enjoying a bubble bath, or reading a book are essential for your daily happiness. While things like taking up a new hobby or learning a new language can make your life more purposeful by giving you a new reason to get up in the morning.
- Better physical health: Self-care is not just about your mental health. It’s also about caring for your physical self, by eating healthy, taking adequate sleep, caring about your hygiene, exercising regularly, etc.
And if you’ve read till here, I am going to assume that you are ready to jump on the self-care bandwagon. So here are ten small, simple self-care habits that anyone can get into:
- Go for a run or a light jog.
- Meditate or do deep breathing for five minutes.
- Take a break when you need it.
- Choose who you spend time with.
- Laugh heartily at least once a day.
- Eat green daily.
- Avoid emotional eating.
- Start a journal.
- Learn to say ‘No.’
- Stop overthinking.
Lastly, don’t put it off for the next weekend, Christmas holidays or the zombie apocalypse. Start today and be regular. It won’t take long before you begin to see the difference!