Self-care is something a lot of us tend to overlook in our day-to-day lives. We focus so heavily on things like looking after our loved ones, being productive, and accomplishing goals in our career, we sometimes forget it’s important to nurture our wellness too. Even if you’ve considered investing more effort into self-care before today, you might have assumed it’s too difficult or time consuming to take more time out for that aspect of your life. Today, we’re going to look at some of the simplest, sustainable ways you can add self-care to your routine.
Start Small and Commit
If you’re generally quite a giving person, it’s going to be difficult to suddenly start saying no to people so you can dedicate an entire day to your self-care strategy. With that in mind, try not to push yourself to accomplish too much at once. Self-care can start with something as simple as fifteen minutes spent every day drinking a cup of tea and enjoying listening to your favorite songs. Once you’ve found something you can reasonably fit into your schedule, commit to doing it every day without fail – even if you’re struggling with time. When finding that extra moment of time for yourself becomes easy, you can start to work your way up to more opportunities for self-care, like taking a full day for yourself every month.
Indulge in Something that Matters to You
We often tell ourselves that indulgence is a bad thing – something we should avoid as much as possible, because it’s too expensive, or too fattening. However, the reality is that we should all be looking to get as much pleasure out of our lives as possible. Allowing yourself a small amount of indulgence – within reason, is a great way to maintain balance. For instance, if you love snacking, but want to cut down on the number of snacks you eat, try getting a subscription box delivered to your home. This way, you can look forward to a snacking experience, and try snacks you never knew existed. You might even discover something healthy you enjoy. Even better, this strategy will ensure you’re always exciting yourself and experiencing new things.
Evaluate Your Strategy Regularly
When you’re trying to accomplish something in your career, or your study, the chances are you go back and examine your progress over time every so often, to see if there’s anything you can do to improve your chances of success. Unfortunately, this is something people often forget about with self-care. Making time in your schedule to ask yourself how much you’re actually looking after yourself can be important. Every couple of weeks, ask yourself if you’re sticking to your goals and making progress. Think about how much time you’re dedicating to yourself and the things you want to do. Are you feeling well cared for, or do you feel like you’re about to burn out? Assessing your strategy from time to time will help you to pinpoint things that just aren’t working for you, so you can try something new.
