5 Ways To Practice Self Care This Week

We have all had a friend or relative or sometimes a doctor say these words to us “you need to find ways to practice self-care and take better care of yourself”. Sometimes we are left with questions of what exactly they mean. You wonder I am eating healthy and ensuring I get the required sleep what more can I do?

In my view, practicing self-care begins with you recognizing you matter and need to, first of all, take care of yourself before you can take care of others. You may recall what we always hear in an airplane as we watch or listen to the safety features before take off. We are told to “put on your oxygen mask first before you can help others”. Yes, this even applies to your children. Like someone correctly observed, “you cannot pour from an empty cup”.

The key to practicing self-care is finding the balance point between the activities which make up your day and the activities that bring you a sense of peace and well being. When you take time to care for yourself, you are communicating to everyone else that you are valuable and deserve to be treated as such.

As women, we tend to take care of everyone else but forget our selves in the process. We sometimes rationalize this by saying there is not enough money to go around. However, there are many things you can do to take care of yourself without spending money. Some of these activities you may already be doing and only need to make a few tweaks or change your perspective to the activity and make it about you. Below I share 5 ways you can practice self-care this week.

#1. Ensure you take time to Dress Up

Yes, I mean makeup and stilettos plus everything that goes with these. Very often we underestimate the value we would bring to ourselves if we took time to prepare what we are going to wear the next day and actually get into those clothes the next morning.

It happens to mostly SAHM because your routine is often dropping children to school, run a few errands, pick children from school, come back home. You tend to reason that it is not necessary to wear that nice dress that flatters you and often gets you comments like have you lost weight?

Making time to pick out a nice outfit to wear not only makes you happy but also boosts your self-esteem. Everyone likes getting compliments once in a while. When your workmates or friends notice that you took time to get yourself ready for the day they will compliment you and this will, in turn, make you feel happy about yourself. All over a sudden that project that you have been dreading appears to be doable and you can take it on. If you are a “mompreneur“, you begin to feel like you still got your groove and can take on anything the world throws at you.

#2. Engage in an Exercise that you love

Experts tell us engaging in a simple exercise like walking 20 – 30 minutes every day is not only good for your health but can also boost your mood and energy levels. The problem why some people do not view exercising as a means of self-care is because they engage in exercises they do not love. They are exercising because other people are doing so or said that is what has to be done. You need to remember that self-care is not about something you force yourself to do. It is all about filling yourself up and not draining or usurping your energy.

Ditch going to the gym if it freaks you up. Instead, opt for a walk or a run and listen to music or one of your favorite podcasts or even an inspirational message while you are at it. This will be a double win for you.

In my case, I used to go to the gym but I found that it was consuming so much of my time and frankly speaking I was not enjoying it. I have since resorted to walking 4 times a week. I aim for a 10 km walk when I have the time or a 5km when am pressed for time. After these walks, I feel rejuvenated and ready to take care of those I love. My highlight of the week is the Saturday morning walk which is a little longer about 12 – 13 km and I usually join a group of ladies. I enjoy these walks because we share a lot of information about the journey of life. You can read more about that group in the post Defying the rain to accomplish a goal.

#3. Read or listen to an audiobook

It is not just physical exercise that can do you good. Exercising our minds is just as important as exercising our bodies. Most people often say they do not have time to read. I have found that when you take time to carve out 20 – 30 minutes a day to read a book you love, it does wonders for you. The key is to make this time sacred and enjoy it. Start by setting up a reading nook in your home where you can cuddle up or put your feet up and just get lost in that book. Soon the 30 minutes will go into an hour because you are having so much fun you do not want to leave.

For people who prefer to listen to audiobooks, this even gets better. We spend so much time on the road so instead of listening to people hooting their horns or getting upset with the traffic. Just roll up your windows and listen to an inspiration or motivation book. By the time you get to your destination, you will be pumped up to take on your tasks and this will make you happy at the end of the day.

#4. Get in the kitchen and create something

Granted this may not apply to those who do not like cooking but if you love to cook, the kitchen can provide some ways to practice self-care. Like I said above, this is one of the activities that you can make about you. As you cook, have some entertainment to enjoy.

I love to catch up with my YouTube favorites while I cook.  During the day, when I get a notification that one of the channels I have subscribed to has a new video, it makes me happy because I know I will have company that evening as I cook. I also listen to inspirational and motivational talks as I cook and I find that this fills me up and enables me to “cook with love” as my friend Angel likes to say.

Some of my favorite YouTube channels are:

www.youtube.com/user/HowJenDoesIt

www.youtube.com/user/Doitonadime

www.youtube.com/user/organizedclutterbug

www.youtube.com/user/athomewithnikki  and www.youtube.com/user/atworkwithnikki

www.youtube.com/user/mysocalledhome

www.youtube.com/user/TEDxtalks

www.youtube.com/user/joelosteenministries

www.youtube.com/user/terrisavellefoy

#5. Sing and dance to your favorite music

We often underestimate the joy that comes with dancing to your favorite music. Can you imagine what would happen if you listened to some good music and danced along as you waited for a dish to cook? Or instead of running or walking for your daily exercise you opted to go to a dance class instead. I have a friend who goes to a dance class after which she sits in a steam bath and she swears this is what keeps her in shape and rejuvenated every day. Although you will not catch me doing this in public, once in a while I like to turn the volume up and get lost in some good music.

Finally,

As you think about ways to practice self-care, you need to remember that your greatest asset is yourself. You need to make time to sharpen your saw so you are able to give to those you love and handle the demands of work and life.

I am curious to know what are some of the ways that you use to practice self-care. Let us continue the discussion in the comments box below.