One thing I think we can all take from 2020 is how important self-care is. And not just in a pandemic! Self-care will look different from one person to the next but finding the things that make you feel good, happy and positive are important.
Self-care is something that is very often overlooked, but it can help to improve your mental, emotional and physical health.
By becoming more aware of things that may bring down your mood, you can start implementing things into your daily life to help you deal with these fluctuations. A self-care routine, whether that be a morning routine, before bed routine or even just daily or weekly routine, can help keep you on track
What Is Considered As Self-Care?
While there are many things that are considered self-care, if you're looking for inspiration, a few of our favourites are:
Yoga (obviously)
Listening to music
Journalling
Going for a walk
Meditation
Breathing exercises
Talking to someone
Eating a healthy meal
Find those things that make you feel present, at peace and light. Notice them. Make a note of them. Write them down. And make more time for those activities!
Little things, over time can make a massive impact on your outlook, your daily attitude and overall lifestyle. Until you spend time on self-care, it is hard to understand the changes it can truly have on your life.
Making A Routine
Once you have spent a little bit of time thinking about what your idea of self-care looks like. Pick 2 or 3 of these things and start implementing them into your daily life. Start with small steps: try adding in little activities that don't take too much time. Perhaps one in the morning, one mid-day and one in the evening. There is no use putting pressure on yourself to try and do a million things.
It could be something as simple as putting your favourite music on when you wake up, spending 10 minutes writing about your day or making time for meditation before bed.
Benefits of Self-Care
The benefits to doing things that make you happy might seem obvious but sometimes it helps to remind yourself that the reason for doing them is to:
Improve your mood
Reduce stress and anxiety
Create inner peace
Lead a happier, healthy life
By delving in and becoming more aware of the things that help boost your mood, you can become more open about the importance of looking after yourself. The more we talk about and promote self-care to each other, the happier we could all be.
We are living in a time where everyone is busy, all of the time (at least we were before 2020). This means that we aren't taking time for ourselves, to reset, recharge and relax. Taking care of ourselves is the most important thing that we can do. Especially in tough times, our minds can wander. That's expected. But being in control and knowing how your mind works is a power we should all have.
