“The Declaration of You will be published by North Light Craft Books this summer, with readers getting all the permission they’ve craved to step passionately into their lives, discover how they and their gifts are unique and uncover what they are meant to do! This post is part of The Declaration of You’s BlogLovin’ Tour, which I’m thrilled to participate in alongside over 100 other creative bloggers. Learn more — and join us! — by clicking here.”
This week’s The Declaration of You tour the topic is… “SELF-CARE”
We all know how important it is to take care of ourselves but unfortunately we don’t always have the time and money to pamper ourselves to feel relaxed BUT, not every type of pampering and self-care method requires both of these…okay maybe a bit of your time but not always monies!
We’ve got to learn that there is only one of us and we need to take a little time out for our sanity and to recharge our batteries otherwise, how will we create all the wonderful things we dream about if we don’t have the energy?!
The moment I let myself go and picked myself back up again…
After going back into full time education a year ago plus having a business to run, I forgot about myself and was running on about 4 hours sleep, junk food and caffeine! I was paying for my gym membership (at a not so cheap gym) and not even using it because I felt too tired to go but had enough time to plonk myself infront of the tv at the end of the evening, needless to say I didn’t feel good about myself or the way I looked. Even though all my hard work paid off (receiving a 2:1 BA (Hons) Graphic Media degree – whoop whoop go me!) I just wish I took 20-30 minutes out of my hectic day for myself so I didn’t let myself go and have to work twice as hard in the gym now to get myself back into shape! It’s not just about getting into shape, eating well and exercising has changed my life in many ways, my thoughts aren’t as cloudy/foggy as they used to be and I don’t feel as stressed out as I used to be and I generally have a more positive and can do attitude towards my life!!!
Here’s a few tips about SELF-CARE…
Selfish – being selfish isn’t always a bad thing, it’s really really important to take 10 minutes for yourself just to chill out, relax and have some ME time. You can do a lot in 10mins, you can… go for a walk, have a little snack, read a few pages of your favourite magazine or wash your hair if you haven’t managed to do that in a while lol – anything that doesn’t involve a phone, a computer, emails or other people. Trust me you will feel great by doing this!
Eating – it’s so so so important to take care of yourself and eating the right foods is where it starts! Ditch the sugary snacks that give you a fake pick me up and introduce natural foods to your diet like fruits and veg, green will be your new favourite colour once you start eating healthily. If you’re stuck on ideas of what are good foods google some reciepes (Google knows everything – apparently!).
Live/Laugh – we only have one life so live it! Or as Drake says YOLO (you only live once!) and it’s so true, forget about the what if’s or I’ll start tomorrow, make a change TODAY! No matter how big or small the change, just make it for YOU because, until you are happy being you, you can’t make other people happy. Embrace your life for what it is and even if you don’t feel like you’ve achieved much in your life, write a list of all the things you feel you have achieved and write a positive comment next to each one and you will see just how far you have come. Also, laugh your way through life, it’s good for your health – read some funny jokes, watch a funny film or do some laughing yoga!
Focus – it’s way too easy to lose sight of what you want in life, especially when you feel you have to please other people or compete with them. Remember what you want out of your life and what your goals are, otherwise you will just stress yourself out and forget what you want out of life!
Connect – with people, this is a good way of keeping sane, especially if you freelance and aren’t around people all the time. There are plenty of ways to socialise with people, especially via the interent through blogs – just remember to stay safe and not give out too much information to people you don’t know.
Ask – for help when you need it, there’s no shame in this especially if it takes a load of pressure off you. Even if it’s the littlest thing like help with loading the dishwasher after dinner, directions or how to use a computer program. If you don’t ask you don’t get!
Revamp – it’s so easy to get stuck in a rut by wearing the same old clothes, wearing black all the time, living the same routine day by day. Why not spice things up, you dont have to go crazy but you can treat yourself to a bright new outfit to lift your mood, or instead of that boring ham sandwich you have for lunch every single day, why not get out of the house/office and try something you’ve never had before like sushi – you may surprise yourself by just how much you like it! There’s so many things you can do to revamp your life, redecorate, change your hairstyle, listen to new music, get a hobby the list is endless!
Exercise – again like eating well, exercise is a key part of looking after youself. No-one is saying you have to hit the gym everyday or beable to run a marathon, it’s just whatever you can manage with your lifestyle and current levels of fitness. I recently heard a gym instructor tell a nervous gym newbie to take it at her own pace and if that means she can only manage 3 minutes on the treadmill then so be it. At the end of the day 3 minutes of exercise is better than no exercise at all and the more you do it, the more you’ll beable to increase how much you can do.
Just remember it’s all about SELF-CARE and OWNING your life!!!
Think about how you take care of yourselves, don’t know what to write about? Feel free to use these prompts to get you started! Or, if you’d like to take a different route, you could create a video, a painting, a comic strip, a collage… anything that relates to the topic at hand!
Self-Care:
- How often do you make time for self-care?
- What doe your self-care routine consist of?
- It’s often very difficult to put ourselves first. How do you let that go and take the time you need to put yourself at the top of your priority list?
- How are you mentally, emotionally and/or physically kind to yourself on a day-to-day basis?
- What’s your personal declaration around self-care?