Self-Care is Self-Love
It is officially fall!
This is my favorite time
of year; the trees are changing colors and something about fall always makes me
feel like it’s time for renewal or regeneration. So, for this blog, I
wanted to discuss self-care for
caregivers, professionals, parents, and anyone who is reading. We all deserve
self-care, because self-care is self-love.
Therefore, this blog post is about clever tactics to squeeze self-care into
your day.
Our to do list is already long and nowhere on
the list did you schedule time for yourself. It is important to put yourself
first, before you end up needing a caregiver.
Stress leads to many health issues – depression,
anxiety, high blood pressure, ulcers, obesity and heart disease. It is harder
to complete your to do list when you have multiple conditions you have to
manage.
We are responsible for a lot, sometimes it can
be overwhelming, both emotionally and physically. I am not trying to scare you
into self-care, but I want you to be aware, as this is what the blog is all
about.
Below you will find tactics to squeeze self-care
into your day:
- Write down something you are thankful for or repeat an affirmation (I do this every night before bed)
- Read a book or magazine (I read In Touch Ministries Daily Devotions)
- Stop and stretch (I do whenever I am feeling tight or uneasy)
- Eat with no distractions (I am still working on this 😊, I love to eat and watch TV)
- Use a luxurious hand cream or body lotion that smells awesome (I use lavender)
- Drink water, splash it up, put your favorite fruit in the water (I drink cucumber water throughout the day)
- Color in a coloring book (I have a special nurse coloring book that I pull out every now and again)
- Play your favorite song, over and over again and dance (Spotify has helped me tremendously)
- Go to park, people watch and take some deep breathes (I do on the weekends mostly)
- Call, text, or email a friend that you are thinking of (Facebook counts too 😊)
- Try something new or learn something new (Sometimes online webinars are free)
- Breathe, with or without guided meditation (I recently started guided meditation, and I am loving it)
- Play a game (I am still a fan of Bejeweled)
- Take a long shower (One of my favorites and I like to play my music too)
- Upgrade your towels or sheets (I have an awesome set of satin sheets)
- Paint your nails (Or go get a mani/pedi. I do!)
- Buy fresh flowers (I do and smell them often too)
- Avoid stressor you can control, say no (I am learning this, and I have said no, and at first it felt strange; but once I did and during that time of the event I did something I wanted to do, I felt joy)
- Turn off your phone (I do this at least twice a week)
- Watch or listen to something that makes you laugh (Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, it is stuff everywhere)
As you can see most of
the activities take less than 10 minutes;
you are worth every bit of that 10 minutes. Self-care does not have to be a
heavily involved task; just a few
minutes to do something that makes you feel good.
I practice self-care
daily (several times a day) and now it is a part of my daily routine. One self-care activity I
recently discovered is aromatherapy. Aromatherapy is the practice
of using the natural oils extracted from flowers, bark, stems, leaves, roots or
other parts of a plant to enhance psychological and physical well-being. The
inhaled aroma from these "essential" oils is widely believed to
stimulate brain function. I only use Young Living Essential Oils. Stay
connected, for next week post where I talk more about Aromatherapy and Young
Living Essential Oils.
As always, thank you for reading and stay connected!
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