TeamBoth your physical and mental health need you to practice self-care, and the first rule of self-care is less stress and negativity. How can something that sounds so simple be so hard to achieve? Everyday life is filled with stressors whether it’s in your private or professional life. 1
0 ways to practice self-care let you tune out the everyday stressors and focus on yourself for a little while. There’s nothing selfish about taking some me-time and showing yourself self-love. You need this to remain happy and productive, so let’s see some ideas:
1. Draw a bubble bath or get a massage
Use your bathtub as an escape into a meditative state while the water warms you up and bubbles fly around. Pour yourself a glass of wine while you’re at it and light some candles. Nothing’s stopping you from doing it, except, of course, you have a shower instead of a tub.
No worries there, you can take a long relaxing shower after you treat yourself to a massage. Want to have the entire SPA experience? One of the great ways to practice self-care is to go on a SPA weekend. Hot tub, warm towels, massages, what’s not to love about it?
2. Unplug and relax
Want the ultimate ways to practice self-care? Leaving your devices alone and meditating. We are so glued to our phones, and computers that we forget what it’s like to be off the grid for a while. All your emails, texts, notifications, and the rest can wait for a few minutes.
Disconnect with the world and reconnect with yourself by putting away your devices and simply existing. Breathe and don’t think about anything other than breathing and being present in the moment.
3. Go outside and be spontaneous
Sunshine and roses are your tools for self-care. Step outside for a while and simply wander the streets. If you see an interesting place to go to, go there. You can even let yourself get lost to find yourself. Just make sure to carry a phone with you, and you’ll always be able to find your way back but enjoy those seconds of not knowing where you are and where you’re headed.
Make sure to enjoy the sunshine and notice the clouds, and if possible, go somewhere where you can see flowers so that you can literally stop and smell the roses. Maybe you can go for a swim on a warm summer’s day, go fishing or feel the rain on your skin.
4. Declutter and organize your place
Whether you share a room with someone, live in a house, or a mansion, it doesn’t matter. You need to make sure that your space is decluttered and organized. I’m not saying that you have to obsess about keeping everything as tidy as possible, but being in a clean, decluttered, personalized, comfy and organized space will make you feel good.
Your space is supposed to make you feel safe, comfortable, relaxed, and happy to be there. If you work from home, you might want to check out office decorations tips for your workspace. Even if you don’t work from home, keeping your work area clean and organized but personalized will make you enjoy your work more.
5. Get enough sleep
Do you sometimes just want to take a nap and do nothing? What’s stopping you? I know, you have stuff you need to take care of, but what about taking a break for an hour? Make sure to set your alarm though, and don’t sleep for more than an hour.
This way, it’s less likely to mess up your sleep schedule, and you do need to get enough sleep every night. Adults need from seven to nine hours of sleep every night, but you can take one hour from that and save it for a special occasion when you just want to doze off after lunch and still get everything done.
6. Smile and laugh
Look at a picture of a cute animal or a child, and just let it make you smile. Read a joke and laugh out loud. Think about your happy memories or look forward to achieving a goal you have set for yourself. If you can’t think of a reason to be happy now think about how you could give yourself that reason tomorrow.
We so often rely on others to make us happy while we should do something to make ourselves happy every day. It doesn’t have to be something big, but indulge yourself every once in a while.
7. Read a magazine
Once you read all about the ways to practice self-care, keep reading about the topics that interest you. If you’re not sure whether something interests you or not, try reading it to see. Read a magazine or a book too.
Learning is a part of self-care as well as improving yourself, and when you’re learning about improving yourself you’re doing both! Plus, it’s even fun, expands your horizons, and gives you more topics to talk about with others!
8. Make your skin happy
I don’t know about you, but when I imagine self-care I imagine putting on a refreshing face mask and cucumbers on your eyes. Lighting scented candles and covering yourself with a fluffy blanket while listening to relaxing music sounds like a plan too.
Make your skin happy and use lotions too. When you smell good, you feel good. Well, maybe that’s not exactly right, but your skin will definitely be silkier, and grateful to you for taking care of it!
9. Listen to music and dance
Everyone mentions exercise all the time, but you don’t have to call it to exercise if you just move your body to the beat. Dancing to your favorite groves is one of the best ways of practicing self-care.
Don’t just move your body, sing along as well and simply feel free to let yourself run wild. Dance like no one’s watching, because no one is, and you can just enjoy the music you like and get that circulation going so that you feel energized.
10. Don’t hurry and don’t worry
I hate it when I’m in a hurry, always have and always will. Why rush when you can have a schedule and do things ahead of time? After all, you never get anything done that good when you’re rushing to do it, don’t you? Take your time, and don’t panic even when you’re running behind on schedule.
That feeling of never having time could eat you up inside, and planning is a way of avoiding that so that you can use these 10 ways of practicing self-care.
Enjoy!
