Too Busy for Self Care? Just pick one
If you are too busy for self care just pick ONE…
Hands up if you think of yourself as busy?
I think it’s fair to say that many of us feel as if we spend most days frantically juggling a great number of different tasks, whether that’s work, family or general day-to-day chores.
Our day to day demands can also increase in the lead up to the end of the year.
Now, put your hand up if your own self-care is one of those things you juggle? Not so many of us do that one, I bet.
But, in order to ensure that you can continue to function at your best, it’s vital that you look after yourself.
Protect your ‘me’ time
Self-care is something that too often gets neglected when you’ve got a to-do list as long as your arm but without it you’re just not going to be your best and your health will suffer.
Whether it’s for just five minutes or one hour, make sure you block out some time in your diary each day to do something that supports your physical or emotional health.
Here are just a few self-care suggestions that can be achieved quickly and easily.
Pamper your senses
Have a quick look around your house: does what you see, smell, hear, taste and touch increase or decrease your anxiety levels?
Decluttering and detoxing your environment is a very simple way to help bring peace and calm.
Sight
A disordered room can really cloud clear thinking and having a quick de-clutter every now and again is guaranteed to improve your view and reduce your stress levels.
Make sure there’s at least one place in your house that makes you happy: a serene bedroom, a cosy chair with a view of the garden or a home office filled with inspirational pictures.
Smell
Stale odours, whether from cooking, pets or blocked-up drains, can have a negative effect on your happiness but a burst of a favourite scent will do wonders to improve your mental health.
Whether it’s via baking bread, fragrant room and linen sprays or fresh flowers, sweet-smelling surroundings will immediately raise your mood.
Taste
We know that what we eat has an effect on our overall wellbeing.
Too much of the bad stuff and we’re going to feel sluggish and slow – but lack of sugar doesn’t have to mean lack of taste.
Keep pre-prepared bowls of fresh, colourful fruits and vegetables handy to snack on between nutritious meals to keep you feeling energised.
The healing power of touch is well-documented but if you haven’t got time to get to a therapy practice then why not indulge in a quick self-massage?
There are lots of helpful tutorials online to help you get the hang of this and a wonderful array of organic essential oils that will aid your quest for relaxation.
Hearing
Calm the noise around you by taking a moment to choose a gentler soundtrack.
Sit down, close your eyes and practice mindfulness to birdsong, a storm in the rainforest or a crackling fie
With the internet at your fingertips you can temporarily transform your surroundings to anything you like!
Freshen up
Spending time outdoors is a great addition to any self-care plan.
A soothing walk in the fresh air (and sunshine if you’re lucky) can reduce feelings of anxiety by slowing your body down.
Lowering your heart rate and blood pressure leads to decreased cortisol levels therefore aiding a feeling of calm, improving your mood and helping you gain mental clarity.
And if you haven’t always got time to get out then you can bring the outdoor in:
Open your windows whenever you can and fill your home with plants to improve air quality and reduce headaches and fatigue.
Get creative
Using your creativity is a perfect way to fit a little bit of self-care into a busy lifestyle.
Research has shown that activities such as drawing, gardening, cooking, sewing or playing an instrument – i.e. activities where you lose yourself for a while – can have the same calming effect on your body as meditation.
Creativity also promotes the production of neurons, which are vital for a healthy central nervous system.
Relax, recharge, restore
Starting early or staying up late may give you more hours in the day but if you’re not getting enough sleep then you’re not going to be at your most productive.
Approximately eight hours of quality sleep each night will give you more energy and better overall health.
You’ll also improve your memory and ability to learn and have greater focus, enabling you to be more effective at getting the important things done.
And when you switch off, make sure you really do ‘switch off’: phones, tablets, anything with blue light should be kept well away from your bedroom.
Stay in control
While we can’t safeguard against everything the world throws at us, we can take steps to ensure our busy routine doesn’t overwhelm us. Regularly scheduling in self-care allows you to stay in control of stress.
I hope you have found this useful.
Now remember if you are too busy for self care – just pick one and why not leave a comment below to let me know which one you are going to do.
Until next time,
Take care of YOU!
Louisa
Hello, Thank you for being so positive and that you have your two feet grounded in your life’s work.
I do a gratitude list on my iPad each day. never knowing what I am grateful for until I read it over.
Do you ever come to Worthing for anything..
Hi Mauraine, Thank you for your lovely comments. Gratitude list are great – I think of 3 things every day that I’m grateful for – so nice that you write them down. I’m not due to do any events in Worthing any time soon…hopefully I will get to Sussex again though so I’ll let you know.