Do you often feel like all your time is spent taking care of others in your work, home, and social responsibilities?
Neglecting self-care is easy in a busy world, but the consequences can be serious. Adding self-care practices to your daily routine can greatly strengthen your health and well-being, especially in difficult times.
Experts have shared that the happiest and most successful people regularly focus on self-care, so getting in some “me” time is essential!
5 Effective Self-Care Practices
Here are some simple self-care practices you can start trying out today.
Block out time for self-care in your schedule
It’s not enough to occasionally stop your busy lifestyle and take a walk or indulge in a hot bath. Self-care is an ongoing process. Just as you reserve time in your schedule for other appointments, set aside time to take care of yourself, too.
It’s important to adopt self-care habits that you can enjoy on a regular basis. They’ll help you avoid burnout, increase your productivity, and allow you to enjoy life.
Scheduling in time daily or weekly just to do something for yourself is a good way to start making your self-care a priority.
Enjoy your favorite hobby
Whether you love to experiment with new recipes in the kitchen or painting pictures of sunsets, indulging in your favorite hobbies can be part of self-care practice. Hobbies and activities that you already enjoy, so this should be an easy one to do!
The hard part is finding in your schedule to do them. By better managing the daily tasks you have to do, you can free up time for the hobbies you want to do. Practice becoming more focused so you can get tasks done faster.
Make note of the compliments you receive
You can enjoy this self-care practice even as you work or run errands! Start taking notes of the compliments you receive. You can keep them in a journal, diary, or online folder.
Your compliment folder can also include emails, notes, thank you cards, and other things that make you smile.
This self-care practice can help you fight negative thoughts. Compliments can serve as reminders that you matter, your existence is important, and someone appreciates you.
Don’t forget you compliment yourself, as well! Practice positive self-talk often can improve your confidence from within.
Remove clutter
Ever get in a bad mood and find yourself cleaning? Or if you ‘re like me, you get some good news and suddenly start cleaning!
Clutter can drain you physically and mentally. It can also make you unhappy as you try to move through your day.
Whether you decide to declutter your closet or clean out the fridge, removing clutter will uplift you.
Eliminate the things that no longer serve you. For example, if you’re keeping clothes in your closet that you hate each time you open the door, replace them with clothes that you love.
Don’t forget to donate your old stuff to a good cause!
Do one “selfish” act
Living selfishly all day isn’t recommended, but doing one selfish act that makes you happy can do wonders. You can enjoy that one thing without feeling guilty about it!
I hesitate to really call this selfish because I don’t think it’s entirely selfish to want to take care of yourself. You can’t help others if your own energy is low.
You know the airplane safety routine says to put your own mask on first before helping someone else with theirs? Same idea.
If you struggle with self-care, it’s often because you spend all of your energy and time taking care of others. There’s no room left for you to take care of yourself.
Taking the time to do one selfish act, such as reading your favorite book or ignoring a boring phone call. You’ll be restoring your own importance and revitalizing your energy.
Take Part in Better Self-Care Practices
Self-care often takes a backseat to work, family, and other obligations. But without stopping to take care of your own mind and body, you’re at risk of burning out and even suffering from serious health issues.
We’ve gone over some easy self-care practices:
- Schedule time for self-care
- Enjoy your hobbies
- Take note of compliments
- Remove clutter
- Do one “selfish” act
Insert these into your own daily routine to treat yourself and get the self-care you truly deserve!
