“Talk to yourself like you would someone you love”
Brené Brown
Self-care isn’t an indulgence, but an absolute necessity if you want to stay healthy – physically, emotionally, and mentally.
We tent to focus on other things – work, school, friends – rather than ourselves, but giving yourself a little TLC can have far-reaching effects to your overall wellbeing.
Here are 10 easy self-care tips to keep you happy and prepared for whatever life throws at you.
- Exercise – move your body, stretch, go for a run, do some yoga. Do whatever you can to bring awareness to your body and give your body (and mind) the workout it needs.
- Read a book – reading a book allows you to jump into someone else’s world for a short time. We all need this space to de-stress and learn something new. Give your mind the gift of thought and imagination.
- Have a massage – massages ease our muscles and relax our bodies. They also give us an opportunity to focus on the sensations in our body instead of running the hamster wheels in our brains.
- Write a grateful list – gratitude is a perspective that changes our worldview from one of scarcity to one of abundance. Write down what you’re grateful for in your life instead of only focusing on what you don’t like.
- Bake or cook for yourself – in a world where fast and easy options like Deliveroo exist, it can be easy to see cooking as another chore. But in reality, cooking can be a mindful or social experience with a huge sense of satisfaction at the end.
- Walk in nature – taking a walk has been shown to reduce anxiety and depression, while also improving your fitness levels. This is something just about everyone can do – you don’t need fancy equipment or an expensive gym membership, just head to your nearest park.
- Visualise – visualisation is a great way to focus your mind and control your emotions. As well as being highly meditative, visualisation can allow you to mentally ‘rehearse’ and prepare yourself.
- Turn your phone off – phones are one of the most useful inventions – possibly ever – but they’re also incredibly distracting. Reduce stress and increase focus by turning your phone off for short periods.
- Go to bed early – sleep is your body’s way of recovering, which is why it plays such an important role in your overall wellbeing. Aim for 8 hours of undisturbed sleep every night to ensure that you’re consistently performing at your best.
- Clean and clear clutters – clearing clutter in your physical space will help to clear it in your mental space, too. Have a therapeutic cleanout and watch what it does to your mood.