Blogs | Mysite

Self-care is important to your mental health and physical wellbeing.

But do you do enough of it? I know that I have to work hard at reminding myself to look
after my own self care.

Self-care refers to the kinds of things you might do regularly to reduce stress and maintain
and enhance your wellbeing, releasing that feel good chemical serotonin into your body.
Activities like exercise, dancing, singing, being out in nature, art, music, yoga, meditation,
gardening, cycling.. paddle boarding.....there are so many.....what's yours?)

For me, I love being outside in nature and each season brings its own joy:

The plants and trees budding into life in spring.

A warm summer's evening stroll.

Autumn's spectacular colourful transformation.

Curling up by the fire on a cold winter's day.

Below are some different life areas where self-care activities are important:

Workplace/Professional
Physical
Mental
Emotional/Spiritual
Relationships

What do you currently do?

What can you improve....or even start?

Workplace/Professional - If you're working from home, keeping set working hours so you don't get over tired and taking regular breaks from your laptop is beneficial. Have a ritual to close the working day and cleanse the area so that your work space keeps separate from home space (really handy if you don't have a separate office space). Light a scented candle, take a walk, open the window to let fresh air blow through. Close the working day and leave it there. If you're back out in the workplace, taking regular screen breaks and having lunch away from your desk gives you mental and physical breathing space.
Physical - Drink lots of water and take regular exercise even if it's just 20 minutes a day with a brisk walk in the fresh air. Exercise releases happy endorphins into the body and can instantly boost your mood.
Mental - Reduce 'bad news' that can make you feel anxious - steer conversations away from the negative, only listen to the news occasionally, listen to uplifting music instead of the radio to avoid phone-ins and negative conversations, listen to positive Podcasts, limit social media - it's so easily to negatively compare yourself to others so regularly detox from the toxic,
Emotional - keep a diary and write down your thoughts, listen to your self talk and notice if this is negative. If so, practice swopping a negative thought with a positive thought, create a gratitude jar and put something in it every way, repeat positive affirmations or mantra's every day.
Spiritual - try grounding meditations, mindfulness and breathing exercises to connect into yourself.
Relationships - Practice kindness and thoughtfulness towards others. What we give we receive, so if we give out goodness we just might get it back.

If you take time to look after yourself, you'll start to notice that your batteries re-charge and not only can you look after others more satisfactorily, you'll see the mental and physical benefits with yourself too.