If you Googled the term self-care nowadays, you would be flooded with a wide range of results that some may seem like they are not related to self-care. During these pandemic times, it’s important to acknowledge that there is a privilege of being able to earn a living at home. But, it does not mean it is easy, it can be a long stressful day. It requires a level of self-care and discipline that we’re not used to. A sustainable self-care practice is more necessary now than ever before – especially during this time.
There was a time when self-care meant going to the spa and doing yoga. But people have started discovering that caring for yourself goes further beyond. Some people find meditation, eating a handful of pure black chocolate, going to the mall, and hitting the gym also an effective way of self-care. Whatever yours might be, doesn’t really matter, as long as it serves its purpose, it has to do something for you that revitalizes and rejuvenates you, something that gives solace away from stress.
The human body can be related to vehicles like the way they both need fuel to run, and it gives us signals for when it runs out, it’s time for us to refuel. The human body also has a set of check engine lights to inform us that it’s being deprived of fuel. These signals are illnesses, mind fog, irritation, low motivation levels, and tiredness. But unlike refueling, a car, refueling the body through self-care can be quite tricky. That shouldn’t stop you though from trying, we are aware that building a sustainable routine for taking care of your body and soul can be a daunting task, we have curated a list of the top tips that came from experts, on how you can craft a self-care routine that you can easily sustain.
1. Let It Be
Life can be a rollercoaster filled with ups and downs, when it brings you up, you tend to take full control of every possible situation that happens to you, but when it brings you down, you tend to just let go of controlling it. It is a fact that there are things that you cannot change, you just have to accept this. There’s nothing wrong about not acting on something that you have no control over when you try to do so, all your efforts would end up in vain. Instead of giving yourself unnecessary stress, take a breather, have patience and life will eventually sort everything out for you and the world would always be okay.
2. Do Not Ever Compare Yourself
You are unique, in case you didn’t know, and comparing yourself to others robs you the opportunity to appreciate how different you are and what you can do to contribute to the betterment of the world. Each and everyone has their own different journey, not two people are the same, we all have our share of our victories and failures. Jealousy is a natural human instinct, and it can be a useful tool in order for you to figure out the things you want in life and create a plan on how you can achieve it.
3. Enjoy The Little Things
We have heard time and again from a lot of people how creating simple routines as simple as short meditations, drinking tea, and cleaning fills them with joy. Because, no matter what happens to the world, and no matter how fast things are happening you always have the option to slow down, and be consumed by our own little relaxed world by doing simple things that give your utter happiness.
4. Take Risks
For a lot of people, this can be very nerve-wracking so they tend to default to making excuses for why they aren’t ready yet to talk the leap onto something they would love to do that they know would be life-changing for them, like finally starting that business you have always wanted. We must all realize how short life can be, realizing this subtle, but very significant fact makes any rejection and heartbreaks no matter. The only sure-fire way to get to where you want to go is to take huge risks, that’s why if something you like scares you to death, come running to it full steam ahead.
5. Focus On What You’re Good At
In case you aren’t aware, you are good at certain things, it doesn’t matter what that thing might be, the point is that instead of worrying about the things you’re no good at, the focus and attention you waste on it, could have been used to develop and improve the things you are actually good at, it would be a good idea for you to identify those things and design your life base of those things.
6. Eat Vegetables
It is a good thing to give your palates a break from all the processed junk food that a lot of us modern humans tend to always eat. Eating more vegetables introduces your brain to how the food actually designed by mother nature actually tastes like. Vegetables would make you feel lighter, access your body’s stored energy more efficiently, and improve your skin.
7. Eat Less Meat
As we know, meat that is being sold to us these days is being bombarded with doses of chemicals, pesticides, and hormones that make places like farms that operate like a production line exist which are bad. These places not only harm the environment but harm you as well because they make meat cheap enough so that the tendency is that you can buy a lot of it, and eating meat as we know is not good for your cardiovascular health.
8. Do Regular Exercise
Exercise can do wonders with your body in ways that you might not even notice. You might think of exercise as just tiring and unnecessary wear on your body, but exercise is proven to help lose weight, stimulate the mind, boost your immune system, and prevent cardiovascular diseases.
9. Always Have A Positive Outlook
People who surround themselves with negative people tend to be drawn into the circle of their negativity as well. Remember, people who love talking badly about other people do it because they are unhappy with their own lives, and after talking negatively about other people, they tend to feel guilty and unhappy. If you ever feel that you are getting drawn into the negativity, always remember who you really are and who you want to be, and that you won’t achieve it through being negative. Always be nice to people, respect, and help them achieve their dreams.
10. Spend Less Time On Social Media
We, humans, are social creatures, of course, we would find socializing a very exciting thing to do, it’s our nature to connect with other people. But social media is different, it’s a highly impersonal version of connecting to other people, people’s status updates only contain the good and happy things happening in their lives, this can be bad for your mental health, and it can lead other people to think it’s not okay to go through adversity. There’s no problem with seeing only positive things on social media, but too much of it can lead you to compare yourself with them, which, if we’ll go back to number 2 tip on this list, is not good.
11. Take Deep Breaths
Long deep breaths send a slow, continual flow of air in your diaphragm, this has several health benefits, like energy cleansing, cure being overwhelmed, and relieve anxiety.
12. It’s Okay Not Being Perfect
The saying “your imperfections make you perfect” might seem oxymoronic, but the more you think about it, the more it makes sense, humans are inevitably imperfect, each of our flaws gives us something to improve upon, but there are just somethings that we can’t do anything about, and we are left with no choice but embrace it.
13. Reduce Your TV Time
Binge-watching is such a hard manner to get out of, while it’s healthy to watch some TV from time to time it’s easy to fall into the trap of it leading to binge-watching. Not only does TV steal your time, but it also affects your sleep and ruins your circadian rhythm, and it dulls your creativity. You get derailed from your plans, and it totally kicks your motivation out of the window. TV is an addictive habit that you should be careful of.
14. Have Screenless Days
We are living through times that the attention span of people is getting lower and lower because of easy access to information brought about by the internet and the ubiquity of the smartphone. Set aside at least one day per week where you won’t use any device that has a screen. This would allow you to take control of your mental and emotional health again, and also helps you avoid distractions which also boosts productivity.
15. Serve Others
As humans, we always find ways to serve our purpose, it gives us a sense of achievement. It doesn’t matter where your passion lies, there are always going to be places where you can serve whether foundations, people, the environment or animals, as the saying goes “Life gives to the giver and takes from the taker”.
