Think of this article as ideas to build your own self-care routine upon. Everyone is different and what works for one person may not work for another. Here we will look at a few ideas that can be considered for our self-care routine. To learn more about what is self-care click here.
Good Sleep Routine
A lot of issues can be resolved by having a good sleep routine. Sleep is restorative and improves our overall health and cognitive functioning. You can learn more about sleeping better in this article.
Daily Exercise
This is obvious but we often forget about this one. A simple 30 minutes daily exercise routine can be very helpful in keeping your energy up and keeping you mentally healthy. Mental health includes physical health and daily exercise is a good way of achieving that.
Healthy Diet
Like daily exercise, we forget about our gut and our diet. We forget that a good balanced diet can spell wonders for our gut health, mental health, physical health. The food we eat provides us sustenance and energy to do our daily activities. A good, balanced diet can be effective in improving energy, mood, productivity and wellness.
Hygiene & Grooming
Taking care of outside is just as important as taking care of inside.Taking ten minutes every day for yourself to focus on self-grooming can be really beneficial. Those ten minutes of self-grooming are where you are focusing on yourself and doing something to take care of yourself. It helps you feel confident and energised and loved. It is amazing how something as simple as washing your face, moisturising, picking out clean clothes, showering, putting on makeup, oiling your beard, brushing your hair...can be an uplifting experience and make you feel joyful and confident.
Taking Breaks
Taking some time off from the everyday mundane is a good idea. Sometimes we get overwhelmed with the daily demands of life and start feeling exhausted (psychologically, emotionally, physically) and need some time off. It is okay to take a personal day and relax for a day (or two) and regain our energy, think of it as recharging.
It is also important to take regular breaks of five or ten minutes to stretch and get hydrated.
Doing Things You Love
Make time for things that you love to do, read, play video games, play board game, talk to family and friends, sing, dance, garden, write, draw, paint, sew, cook, bake, build. Do something that you love to do everyday, do the simplest thing, it could be watching an episode or two of your favourite TV show, something that will bring you joy. This is a simple way of staying connected with yourself and talking care of yourself by doing something that you enjoy. Our interests and hobbies are part of who we are and when we engage ourselves in these activities we are in a way nurturing ourselves.
Explore and find something new that you might love, the possibilities are endless.
Maintain Personal Boundaries
This is a very essential part of self-care. Create and maintain personal boundaries. If we have healthy boundaries we are essentially protecting our mental health and well-being. We can say 'no' to requests that make us uncomfortable or when we are unable to honour the request made. It is okay to be compassionate towards ourselves and be truthful about our limitations and limits.
These are seemingly obvious and common sense tips for self-care but the truth is that we often forget about most of these, we forget about ourselves. Taking small steps to take care of ourselves everyday is extremely important for our mental health and well-being. Use these tips as groundwork to build upon your own personalised self-care routine.