12 Best Self-Care Ideas and how to look after yourself.

What is actually Self-Care?

In simple words, self-care is an individual practice on improving mental and physical health.  It is a personal matter and will differ in each individual’s case. However, the bottom line is that you need to take care of yourself and focus on things that will have a positive impact on you and your wellbeing.

There are many aspects to self-care, like: psychological, physical, emotional, spiritual, relationships, professional. You can create a self-care plan that includes all of the aspects.

Psychological Self-Care

Journal

• Number one for me is running a reflective journal daily. Some people would prefer to reflect in the evening on the entire day; good things that happened, what have I done to make a positive impact, things that I have appreciated most during the day, etc. Others would prefer to run a journal in the morning, focusing on the affirmations, gratitude and how they would like the day to look like, which is visualisation. You can even practise journaling twice a day- in the morning and in the evening. It is all up to you, how you would like to prefer to run it and how it will fit into your daily schedule.

P.S I am obsessed with journals, gratitude reflexions and all that stuff. Check out my post on daily journaling.

Hobby

• Spend some time on your hobby – that is not related to work! Perhaps you relax and contemplate when you finishing alone? Or you are an artistic soul and you like crafting, or cooking and baking? Anything that you enjoy the most. If you are a busy bee, make sure you spend a day or even a half of one day during the week on your hobby.

Travel

• I absolutely love traveling (not during the lockdown obviously) and I like learning about different cultures and history. In previous years I was taking short breaks every 4-6 weeks, going even for long weekend abroad made me feel more relax and fulfilled. I must mention that I am a single mum of one and a pet owner, so traveling for me and the whole mission to organise childcare and pet care is not the easiest task. But I still manage to do it and go for a short break on my own or with one of my friends. And no, I don’t feel guilty leaving my daughter behind J I still take her on holidays with me, but not each time I go. I need the time to myself, to reflect and focus on my thoughts.

Cell Phone Detox

• Turn off your work phone outside of work hours. And I mean TURN OFF, not put on mute. Once you have finished working, put your phone away, either to your work bag or leave it in the office. It is very important to keep work and personal life apart.

Relax Time

• Book some time for relaxation. You can go for a free option like hot bath with Epsom salt and candles, or chilling with a book on the sofa, or watching silly comedy that will make you laugh. I would suggest avoiding horror or thriller movies during your relaxation time, believe me, it won’t relax you. If you can afford more luxury option, book a spa night in a hotel and treat yourself from time to time to a sauna, massage and aromatherapy room. This is your time for a self-care so don’t feel guilty 😉

Positive Vibes

• Make sure you are surrounded by positive people. It might sound harsh, but try to cut toxic people out of your life as much as possible. Make some time for your optimistic friends and family members, people that always listen to you, make you laugh, have some empathy towards you.

Physical Self-Care

• First things first – make sure you develop a healthy and consistent sleep routine. If you don’t sleep well or you don’t sleep long enough, no matter what you do during the day, you will be tired and exhausted.
• Once sleep routine is ticked, you can then focus on a fitness routine. Make sure you exercise on a regular basis, even if that is yoga or 20 minutes stretch, make sure you keep moving. Go for long walks in the forest or down the beach, or if you are lucky and you live near mountains, go hiking. If you have a pet, make sure you take the dog for daily walks – keep yourself and the pet healthy and fit.
• Another aspect is to keep a healthy diet– and here you need to listen to your body. Observer what your body likes the most and how it feels. You don’t need to cut completely on chocolates and snack, but be conscious.
• Make sure you take regular breaks at work – Pomodoro technique is the one! But apart from that, make sure you take your lunch breaks, even if you are extremely busy and deadlines are chasing you. There is no point sacrifice your health over work. If possible take the lunch break outside, or go for 10 mins walk if possible. 

Emotional

• Talk to your close friends about your feeling and emotions; reflect on your thought together with your partner or family member. All emotions are needed; the good once and the bad once too. If you need to cry then cry; if you would like to watch a sad movie then watch a sad movie. Don’t be afraid of showing emotions, don’t hide them. Learn how to handle difficult conversations. You need to get that out of your chest. If I need to put that into perspective then imagine that your mind and hear are like a draw. If you keep adding items to the draw, it will get full at some point. It is the same with your mind – if you keep everything to yourself, you will be “overloaded” (overwhelm). Sometimes it is difficult but it is an important part of your self-care.

Relationships

• Priorities your partner and children over your friends and the rest of your family, focus on their needs and support them. However, don’t forget about the rest of your loved ones. Make sure you keep the relationships, attend all important events, make time for your best friend’s birthday, and make some contact with your children teachers. Don’t forget to keep healthy relationships at work. It might be tricky but surly it can be done.

Don’t forget to check out other external posts on self-care. #womenshealthmagazine

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