Remember this…self-care is not selfish. There are some of us who spend the majority of our lives taking care of others. When it comes time to take a minute for ourselves, we feel bad, we feel guilty. The truth is though without taking care of ourselves first, we aren’t able to give our best to everyone else.
Self-care is defined as any activity that we deliberately do to take care of our own health. That obviously is going to look different to each of us.
I tend to do my self-care first thing in the morning. Actually, I am a few steps into it as I type this.
First thing I do is wake up when my husband’s alarm goes off. I do now have to, I actually could very easily go back to bed for another hour and a half or so. However, if I stay awake, it is just me. I get to do whatever I want to without even feeling like I am saying no to someone or something else.
I grab a cup of coffee. So many of my mom friends complain about never drinking a hot cup of coffee. Not me, I have at least one every single morning. I make my cup of coffee with a drop of peppermint oil in it and bring it right back up to my room. I pull my second pillow up and sit up in my bed to do the next step in my self-care routine.
Grab my phone and write in my gratitude journal. That is the only thing that I do on my phone at this time. I have an alarm that goes off on it at 6am to remind me to write. I read the quote for the day and then I type out all that is on my mind to be grateful for that morning. Starting my day on this positive note really helps me to reflect back and take a breather when something goes wrong.
Next up, I write my blog. Being able to get words out of my head is a great deal of comfort for me. There is no better self-care for me that Making Time For Me. When I was younger I use to journal as a way of self-care and today I type. Getting the thoughts out of my own head and possibly helping someone else in the process.
Now, this next thing I will admit I haven’t been doing regularly since vacation back in March, but I plan to get back because I really miss it. Yoga!! The peace and joy that I find at the mat are unparalleled. I start the day with exercise which then leads to a day of better food choices and just an overall feeling of health. Yoga helps to calm me and balance me, two words that I can’t often use to describe myself and my personality.
Almost all of my self-care is done by 7am. That is when I have time for it. Those are my fringe hours and I have decided that making time for me during those hours in the morning is more important than 90 more minutes of sleep. Though if I am honest, when I wake up at 5:30, I have typically already had 8+ hours of sleep!!
It is OK to take time to care for yourself. It isn’t not selfish, in fact it is the exact opposite. You can’t pour from an empty cup. When you fill yourself up, you will be a better version of yourself for your family, your friends and your job!
What do you do for self-care?
Making Time For Me 