You make dinner, clean the house, go shopping, pay the bills, do the laundry and that’s just a minute piece of what we do every day for our families. Hubby needs this, kids have to go there, the doing for others is endless. Don’t get me wrong, I love my life and the things that I do, but every now and then you need to STOP AND TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF.
Remember that list you made on January 1st?
Have you just gotten so caught up in everything you do that you’ve forgotten about them already? Didn’t you plan to truly take care of yourself in the new year? You probably spend a lot of time looking after everyone else and barely feed your own spirit, mind, and body. How much time do you really devote to yourself? To your well-being? It’s something that we are all guilty of – putting everything into everyone else and not realizing the toll it’s taking until we are completely running on empty.
It’s time to STOP and start fresh again and do a bit of soul-searching. Look within yourself, and be honest about what you see, whether it’s in your personal life or on the career front. This isn’t about setting goals or making resolutions. This is about committing to taking care of yourself.
It’s all about you!
You can get started with an online self-care test (scroll down for the one I used). The first thing to cover here is that you need to answer totally and completely honest. This is between you and yourself – self-care and the test, so you won’t get far if you can’t be honest. As you take the assessment, you will likely start to see where you are letting yourself down.
It’s also important to note that self-care doesn’t look the same for everyone. For you, it could be spending time with friends, it might be exercising more or making healthy dietary choices. In fact, it might be a spa day for you and your partner, it could be ditching the cooking and going out to dinner. We are all different and only you can really know what self-care avenue will serve you best.
What do you do too much of? On the flip side, what don’t you do enough of? That’s an excellent place to start your journey. Ultimately, self-care should be practicing things that make you feel better. So, if something that you do a lot of doesn’t do that for you, think about how you can limit that behavior or activity in your life.
Make that list!
This will likely put a bit more pressure on you, though, and if you know that you struggle with your goals, perhaps the best thing you can do for yourself is skip it. If you aren’t sure where to get started with your self-care habits, let me help. I have some ideas that might help you, no matter what area of your life you want to focus on.
Ways To Take Care of Yourself
- Instead of focusing on your past failures, shift your focus to new opportunities.
- Plan a challenging step, whether career or otherwise, and don’t worry about the time or cost.
- Spend time meditating and less time in the noise.
- Practice more hobbies and activities that you enjoy.
- Spend less time on activities that you’re expected by others to do.
- Make time to sit down with a good book.
- Spend time in nature and less time inside.
- Schedule time for your partner, family, and friends.
- Devote extra time to talking to your children about who you are.
So, what is it that you REALLY need in your life to keep the balance?
- Here’s the online self-care test that I used on Psychology Today.
