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“If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete.”
– Jack Kornfield

When was the last time you took out time to actually do something just for yourself?

When made a part of your daily routine, self-care tips make life feel simpler, more enjoyable, and something to be actually excited about.

Self-care is an expression that has loads of meaning. From loving yourself the way you are and taking care of your overall wellbeing, to investing in yourself to be better than you’re today. But whatever your reason, self-care has one aim – living life as it’s meant to be rather than scrambling from one day to the next, half-heartedly and wishing it was otherwise.

Researchers from King’s College in  London found that stress can be one of the main reasons behind a higher risk of death due to different causes.

The good news is, stress can be managed in a way that works for you & not against you.

When you make time on a daily basis to take care of yourself, unwind, relax your mind, body & soul – you develop resilience. That means bouncing back from setbacks & dark days becomes easier. You start looking at stressful situations as challenges rather than as a wet blanket on your efforts.

Facing challenges with a positive attitude and freshly recharged energy brings out the best in you. That’s how important daily self-care can be for your general wellbeing, happiness, & success.

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Why is self-care important

Self-care is something that should come naturally to us as part of our survival skill. But, we tend to get so lost in our duties, responsibilities & timelines that taking care of ourselves is the first thing that gets pushed to the backburner.

It doesn’t matter which role you play in life – the perfect employee, hard-working entrepreneur, mother, caregiver, best life partner, the always-there-for-you friend. You need to take care of yourself in order to do justice to those roles.

Start prioritizing yourself & stick to a downtime routine as sincerely as you do to those tasks that just can’t be postponed. Kerrie Mendoza of Family Food & Travel gives some very really-makes-sense kind of self-care tips that we think we usually do, but actually, don’t do quite often enough.

Here are some top reasons on my list that keeps me motivated to prioritize myself as much as I do my loved ones:

• Self-care keeps you from getting lost in all the roles you play in your personal & professional life. It allows you time to keep the essence of who you really are, alive.
• It helps you provide your complete effort for those who depend on you rather than trying to carry on your responsibilities & duties with what’s left of you.
• Taking care of yourself will help you stay motivated longer. You handle stress better & deal with difficult situations in a more positive way.
• When you create a habit of self-care, you prioritize yourself. It infuses you with a better sense of self-worth, a kinder outlook on life and a general positivity of attitude.
• Hard fact – we are constantly changing & evolving whether we want to or not. Self-care gives you the quiet undistracted time to find out –

1. what really makes you happy right now

2. what you don’t like anymore

3. what are your preferences, &

4. your present vision of what you want from life.

Related:

Relaxation techniques: Fun stress relief activities

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Tips to find time for self-care

Ellen Burgan of If It Brings You Joy hits the nail right on the head when she says “The airlines tell you to put on your own mask first so you are then able to help others. If you’re not breathing oxygen, you’ll be no good to anyone else… Love yourself in order to love others.”

If you’re saying, ‘I surely know that, duh…but, who’s got the time? Have you seen my crazy schedule?’, then, I hear you. It would even be probably safe to say that I’m at the very front of that line. But, when you decide to invest in yourself, improve yourself & grow, then you get creative with your solutions.

Here’s what helps me. These self-care tips will help you squeeze out time from your busy schedule to do at least one thing to take care of yourself:

• Believe in the conviction that self-care is not selfish & prioritizing yourself helps you carry out your duties & responsibilities more efficiently.
• Use the pockets of time you spend waiting in line, traveling or doing chores to do those little things that add to the quality of your life. Listen to something motivational, do your breathing or Kegel exercise, be mindful of your posture, learn something new if it’s safe to concentrate on your phone screen, and so on. Just get creative with your ideas & have your options handy.
• Realize that you don’t have to do everything perfectly. It’s very easy to use up extra time to go over things again & again, tweaking them even when there’s no need just to convince yourself that you did the best in the time available to you. Instead, snatch up those extra bits of time & use it replenish your mental & physical energy.
• Put your complete focus on the tasks on hand. That way you’ll be able to finish them efficiently sooner, leaving you with time to take care of yourself. However, the key here is to put only that much on your plate that you can realistically handle.
• When chalking out your monthly plan or daily to-do list, chalk in time for self-care as something non-negotiable. Believe me, it’s the first thing to get thrown out at the hint of a time-crunch.
• Take a self-care day off from work. Give whatever reasons you feel would work. If you feel guilty, remind yourself that this mini rejuvenation break will only help you perform better & more efficiently.

Along with the 15 self-care ideas you find below, check out these smart self-care cheat sheets with 60 more ideas that you can do whether you have less than 10 minutes or 30 minutes to spare. Nourish your mind, body & soul without compromising on your routine.

Related:

Self Improvement Tips: 7 Essentials to Excel in Your Personal and Professional Life

The Complete Guide – How to Set Goals and Achieve Them

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Self-care tips for mental health

Why is it important

Just as taking care of proper nutrition for your body is super important, so is nourishing your mind. The functioning of our mind & body is so closely related that when you take care of your mind, your physical health too starts improving visibly.

The glow on your face is as much related to your healthy body as it is to your mental peace & happiness. Mental spring cleaning & detox will help you handle stress better on a daily basis so that it doesn’t turn into overwhelm.

Research shows that if you look at a stressful situation as a challenge rather than a threat, you handle it better. Where does self-care come in this?

When you take care of yourself, you develop resilience, a better sense of self-worth & resulting confidence,  a brighter outlook on life, & freshly charged up to take on challenges.

Examples

These self-care tips are just to help you get started. Try them out, select the ones working for you, keep adding your ideas to the list & basically create a mental self-care vault for yourself.

• Re-ignite an old hobby or just get a new one. Start something that you would enjoy. Doesn’t need to be anything too creative, even the ‘old boring idea’ of doing bigger & bigger puzzles would work just as fine.
• Phase out & daydream whenever it’s safe to do so & however often you like. You never know what brilliant ideas might come out once you give your brain space & off-duty time to do so.
• Keep aside some stressing relieving time at the end of every day.
• The time-tested candle-lit bubble bath soak & soothing music hasn’t stopped being effective. Give it a try. A cliché for self-care or not, it still works wonderfully well.
• Start a brain dump diary. It literally de-clutters the brain transforming all rushing thoughts into written words on paper.

Related:

5 realistic & effective coping strategies for stress

How to Deal with Anxiety & Stress During the Festive Season

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Self-care tips for body

Why is it important

Ever had a cold or flu that made you believe you were dying? Sometimes migraine too makes me feel like that. So you understand how much taking care of your physical health is connected to your quality of life.

Those few extra cups of coffee, sitting hunched over your computer for hours, skipping meals, & late nighters can suck out a lot of your energy & efficiency. But, changing these habits & lifestyle mistakes take time. What you can do is take care of yourself whenever you can to limit the harm & maybe even change these habits into good ones bit by bit.

That’s why your self-care ideas should also include things to nourish your body. Allison from All For The Memories has some simple tips to take care of yourself. I also like the way Molly Kumar of Easy Cooking With Molly makes enjoying your mealtimes a part of self-care.

Examples

Here are a few self-care tips that you can use whether you spend most of your time in the office or at home. If you can’t spare much time to take care of yourself (don’t we all?), check out these cheat sheets with loads of self-care ideas that take less than 10 or 30 minutes.

• Switch to healthy snacking with nuts, fresh fruits, fruit chips, healthy cookies and so on instead of the usual fried & carb-filled variety.
• Opt for herbal tea instead of coffee whenever you can. Spike your bottled water with a few sprigs of mint & a couple of slices of your favorite fruit.
• Close your eyes & focus on a few reps of relaxed breathing. You might be surprised how often we forget to breathe when stressed out with work. The reduced oxygen in our body doesn’t help our performance either.
• Walk bare feet for 5 minutes even if it’s only around your office chair. You’d be amazed at how good it feels connecting directly to the ground with your feet when done with full focus. Plus, it’s good for your feet to have a few minutes of freedom breaks during the day.
• Do some shoulder stretches & neck flexibility exercises every couple of hours if you spend most of your time at the desk. Even if you don’t, shoulder stretches with help with correcting & maintaining good posture.

Related:

Simple Exercises for Time-Crunched or Lazy Days

Posture: How to Improve it for Enhanced Wellness

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Self-care tips for the soul

Why is it important

Taking care of yourself isn’t just about caring about your physical or mental health, but of your emotions too. Just as relaxation is good for your body and mind, so is happiness for your soul. It puts the spark back in whatever you do, keeps you running on full power.

Troubled emotions can drain you of energy faster than most physical exertions. Ever felt tired and physically drained out after dealing with a tense situation or handling grief? If yes, then you’d know how big a part our emotional wellbeing plays in maintaining our quality of life.

A self-care retreat sounds like a fabulous idea at least when it comes to taking care of your soul. But, the catch is, most of us do not have the time or spare money to spend on it. I like how Casey Cromwell of Casey the College Celiac has a very novel approach to it. Plus, she presents it in a very flexible & do-able format.

Examples

Different self-care ideas work for different people when it comes to emotional health. But, to give you an idea & get you started on how to take care of your soul, here are a few things that usually work.

• Get into your comfy pajamas & cuddly house shoes. Relax in your favorite corner of the house with a bowl of comfort food.
• Re-read your favorite book.
• Enjoy a movie marathon evening-in with your all-time favorite movies.
• Do something that makes you happy, but you generally don’t do. Like, trying out a new style of makeup or jumping in puddles out in the rain.
• Soak up the sun, puzzle out cloud shapes, watch the rain making the leaves dance or just enjoy some quiet stargazing time.

Related:

How to be happy – Choosing happiness as your reality

How to Use the Power of Positive Thinking – Overcome Limiting Beliefs

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Are you taking care of yourself

Are you now convinced to prioritize taking care of yourself more? One can’t stress enough the fact that self-care isn’t selfish. It’s not only for the benefit of your general wellbeing, but also for how efficiently & effectively your can perform your duties & take care of those who matter to you.

Remember to nourish your mind, body & soul with whatever time you can snatch from your crazy schedule because you deserve much better than a life lived half-heartedly, pushing through exhaustion & mental clutter.

All the ingredients are right there in front of you. You just need to have the heart to love yourself enough to reach out & grab those. Make time for yourself, it’s a non-negotiable if you want to give your best to every day & every effort – that’s the key to happiness & success.

So tell me, how often do you make yourself a priority & take care of yourself? Which self-care tips do you like, the jiffy ones or those you can relax over on a weekend?

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