When we think about our daily routines, it usually involves never-ending to-do lists, stress and anxiety. Between school, work and making sure family, friends and everyone around us gets what they need, there's an important person that tends to get left out of the equation: you.
This is where self-care is super important, not just for our physical bodies, but for our mental and emotional health as well. Yet, most of the time, it’s often overlooked for the millions of other tasks we are required to do during the day. So I challenge you to take some time, just a little each day, to show the most important person inyour life the extra care and affection you deserve.
1. Send yourself some positive vibes
It’s no secret that your worst critique is often yourself, which can really wear on your self-esteem and mental health. So take a few minutes to find what you love about yourself, get a little awkward, and share it aloud with your reflection. Even try complimenting those parts of your body or personality that you tend to put down. Yes, it’s just a compliment from yourself, but I promise, if you keep it up you’ll have a hard time putting yourself down.
2. Meditate
Meditation doesn’t always have to be a great spiritual journey. Meditation is a great way to destress and take some time to reset. If you wake up in the morning and immediately think of that ever-growing to-do list, take a few minutes to sit and quiet your mind, then tackle the day one task at a time. The great thing about meditation is that it can be done anywhere, at any time. Just allow yourself a couple minutes when things become overwhelming, or even if you just need some quiet "me" time.
3. Treat yourself
Who says you can't buy yourself a little gift every once in a while? Treat yourself to something as simple as fresh flowers or as lavish as that new watch you can totally afford but have been terrified of splurging on. You deserve it! Just make sure not to go too crazy, stressing over being broke will not help your mental health.
4. Get creative
Journaling is my personal favorite when it comes to my mental self-care. But maybe writing isn’t your thing. So take some time to do something creative that you love to do. Do you like to draw or paint? Sing or dance? Maybe you find comfort in building elaborate castles from your nephew's Lego set, or baking batches on batches of cookies. Whatever it is, do it! Allow yourself to work out that right side of your brain and just create something for the heck of it.
5. Don’t forget your physical body
Yes, self-care also involves taking care of your actual body, like eating healthy and staying active. But it doesn’t have to be this daunting task. Try to start the day with a walk, or exchange a glass of wine for a bottle of water. Who doesn’t feel like a champion after donning some running shoes and taking walk or finishing an entire bottle of water? The little things we do for ourselves add up.
6. Be grateful
Pick three things a day that you are grateful for in your life. Write them down, or say them out loud. Learning to appreciate the things you have will create a grateful heart, and you’ll learn to appreciate all the wonderful things around you a little better, instead of focusing on the negative all the time.
7. Speaking of negativity, purge it
Do you have to continuously scroll through negative posts on your Facebook or Twitter feed? Are you friends with people you don’t know who are a little TMI in all of their status updates? It’s probably time to purge. Next time you are scrolling through social media and you see something you don’t like, unfollow, unfriend or block. Don’t just scroll past it day after day, eliminate it. The small, tiny, insignificant seeming posts and updates can add up and start to irritate you, so don’t let it. Trust me, you’ll feel so much better when you get those are off your timeline.
8. Unplug
I know I said purging negativity from social media is a great form of self-care, but so is taking a time out and unplugging completely. Take some time away from all the screens and let your mind, and your eyes, relax a bit. Take a bath, read a book, do some journaling. You don’t need to be 100 percent connected to the outside world at all times. Focus on the you, the here and the now.
9. Share love
Be honest, how good does it feel to get compliments? Like, really good, right? It also feels pretty great to know you’ve made someone else feel amazing. So take a little time and give a bit of extra attention to your friends and family. Tell your best friend you think she has the best sense of fashion. Tell your older brother that he’s the reason you love music so much. Let others feel like they are important and significant. Yes, you might get some compliments in return, but you also get the joy of knowing that you were able to make their day a little bit brighter, that you are able to have that sort of impact on someone else’s life.
10. Be your bold, strong, beautiful self
The most important self-care tip I could ever give is to be yourself and love yourself. You are a beautiful person, inside and out. You’re worthy of kindness and respect and love, at the very least from your own mind. Once you step into that knowledge, that you are someone who deserves the best, you will be someone who shows others that they, too, deserve the greatest from themselves.
