Dizzy has another guest post to share with you all today, all about how to take better care of ourselves. 🙂 xxx
Life is challenging some days and you’re likely busy juggling many tasks and responsibilities at once. However, it’s no reason to put yourself last and disregard your needs.
It’s important that if you want to feel good that you take better care of yourself. Discover ways you can do so and then notice the positive impact it has on your life, mood, and appearance. Remind yourself that you matter and that it’s never selfish to put yourself first and be kind to yourself.
1. Make Self-Care A Priority
Take better care of yourself by putting self-care at the top of your to-do list and not pushing it off for another day. Make it a priority so that you can feel wonderful and look and feel your best. Wake up early to exercise if you have to or take a few days off of work if you’re feeling overwhelmed. Set up a spa day at home and invest in products such as The Ordinary skincare that help your skin appear glowing, keep you healthy, and enhance your overall beauty. Pick at least one self-care activity to perform each day and you’ll begin to feel more like yourself and full of energy.
2. Unplug from Technology
Another way to take better care of yourself and improve your mental health is to take time away from using technology. Make it a point to unplug regularly and throughout the day so you’re not always staring at a computer or phone screen. Instead, use your free moments to spend more time in nature or catch up with a good friend. Unplugging from technology will give your mind and eyes a rest and will help you see that you have more time in your day than you initially assumed.
3. Make Time for What You Love
Life is meant to be lived and will be more fulfilling if you’re doing what makes you happy. Follow your dreams and passions and do more of what you love daily. Find a career that uses your skills and challenges you. Participate in hobbies that force you outside of your comfort zone and allow you to experience personal growth and development. Make time for fun and games and to be silly even though you’re an adult. Take better care of yourself by freeing up your schedule to focus on yourself and your desires.
4. Practise Work-Life Balance
Working is important and gives you purpose but it doesn’t mean that’s all you should be doing. Take better care of yourself by practising and committing to having a greater work-life balance. Set boundaries at work and home and don’t take on more than what you can handle. It may help to work from home a few days per week or to schedule a trip every so often and remove yourself from your work responsibilities. Avoid letting work take over and run your life and make sure you take charge of your schedule and how many hours you’re dedicating to work and play.
5. Rest & Get More Sleep
You can improve your life and take good care of yourself by making more time for rest and sleep. Lack of sleep may make you crabby and moody and negatively impact your health and wellness. Get in the habit of going to bed and waking up around the same time each day to get on a schedule. Don’t be afraid to put your feet up throughout the day and rest and slow down for a few minutes when you’re feeling tired. Find positive and healthy ways to relax in your free time and work on reducing your stress and calming your mind. Rest and sleep will help you recharge and you’ll have more energy to carry you through the day.
6. Learn to Say No
Sometimes all you have to do to free up more of your time and feel more in control of your life and schedule is to say no to others. Learn to say no to those who request your time and energy when you don’t have it to give. Not only turn offers away when you’re busy or tired but do so without feeling bad or guilty. The more you do it the easier it’ll get and the better you’ll feel. It’ll help you create more balance in your life and you’ll discover that you feel happier and more relaxed when you don’t spread yourself too thin. Avoid putting pressure on yourself to do it all and socialise when you feel like your time would be better spent indulging in self-care activities.
I am still uncomfortable with the language of “self care “ , while I agree with so many of the points, self care jangles as it sounds so narcissistic .
I’ve never thought of it like that! Do you call it anything else instead? 🙂 And how are you doing? xxx
I am fine. Trying to do more walking and cycling which helps hugely, but is tiring.
What to call it?
Making time to be calm I suppose, not filling my head with bad news, or even too much news about other people through social media. Being silent and letting go helps more than anything . Stay well,
I too am trying to do more walking and cycling (static bike in front of the telly 🙂 ). And I think making time to be calm is a perfect way of referring to it. I always needs to make more time to be calm. xx Stay well too. 🙂 xxx
These are some great tips – clever Dizzy! It can be easier said than done to take advice, even our own, when it comes to self-care. I find that when I most need to take care of myself is exactly when it’s most difficult to, often because there’s not enough time in the day. Trying to find that time, no matter what, is important. And of course you might eek out a bit of time with your 6th tip and empower yourself along the way by saying no to a few things! xx
I agree, it can be hard to find the time. Some days I seem to sleep so much, there doesn’t seem to be time for the other things! But I do feel better when I do do them. 🙂 I hope you’re doing ok Caz. 🙂 xxx
Thank you! Six very practical tips… very greatly acknowledged, ma’am! Thank you, ma\am.
Thank you so much for your lovely comment. 🙂 xx
Great post. I know all of these things but I do need constant reminders to do them. So, thank you!
I always need reminders too! 🙂 Thank you, and I hope you are doing ok. 🙂 xxx
I am guilty of being online too many hours in the day and connected through work, social media, blogging – it’s not healthy for your eyes for all that screen time, your heart for all the sitting and not good sitting in one place the same way hours on end. I got frozen shoulder three years ago and after researching around, I learned to elevate my laptop one foot and use a wireless keyboard and move about and it helped immensely. If everything was fixable with such a simple means, we’d all be in a better place. I have been trying to get 7 hours of sleep per night – I never knew until recently, just how important sleep is to your overall well being. I keep forgetting I am 65, not 25 Heather. Thank you (and Dizzy) for your great suggestions.
I am guilty of being online too much too! It is partly because of work, but I find it really hard to not use the laptop or phone at other times too. And what is frozen shoulder? I’ve never heard of it before. xx I am glad you are trying to get more sleep. How many hours were you getting before? Dizzy and I always aim for at least 9 hours a night. 🙂 xxx
Well at the tail end of last year I was only getting about 5 hours of sleep Heather. I aimed to stay up every night until I finished in Reader and also responded to each comment. It got to be too much and I now only do one long post and one short (Wordless Wednesday) per week. I make an exception occasionally, like tomorrow, doing a short post to honor the friend who inspired me to start a blog. But I’ve pared down my postings. And my frozen shoulder was because I am here beginning at 11:00 a.m. every day for work (Monday through Friday). I have a laptop and have it sitting about one foot off the table and I use a wireless keyboard to type on instead of stretching over the keyboard with my hands. I helped immensely as I didn’t want to do physical therapy – my mom had PT and it did not help. I am online all the time too because I cancelled my cable 11 years ago as I really didn’t watch TV. So it is work until 5:30, then catch up on social media, then head to the blog and catch up here. All sitting in the same position – not good. But, had I known when I first started working from home in 2011 that I would still be doing this and not called back to the workplace full time at a full-size computer, I would have bought a proper chair, not just a kitchen chair pulled up to the table. That might have made a difference and not caused the frozen shoulder. I now get to bed by 10:00 p.m. and in the Summer I get up at 5:00 – 5:30 but when it rains I do sleep in. Once it is Winter and less walks, plus it doesn’t get light until much later in the morning, I’ll be sleeping in later. We need the sleep as we get older. I have finally drummed that into my head.
I had no idea that you got up that early! I am still snoozing away at 5am! But I am glad you are now getting more sleep. I think it is so important for all of us. Are you still using a kitchen chair when using the computer? xxxx
I do get up that early daily but in the Winter a little later as it doesn’t get light until 8:15 – 8:45. But now, especially in this hot weather, I do make sure I”m up at 5:00 a.m. to get out and beat the heat. I stopped going to bed in the 11:00 o’clock hour after your benefits of sleep posts and also learning being sleep-deprived can increase your blood pressure and be a cause of strokes. A classmate of mine from high school had a severe stroke on April 15th and was in the hospital 55 days to recover. She had a blood clot travel to her brain and is lucky to be alive.
I am sorry to hear about your classmates clot, is she ok now? xxx
She is doing much better Heather – in fact she took her first steps going up the stairs about two weeks ago. She was in hospital for 55 days after the brain clot and stroke on April 15th. She still is unable to drive but has improved vastly and has a great attitude about her recovery.
I am so glad to hear that your friend is doing better. 🙂 xxxx
Yes, she really is pushing hard to get her strength back. She worked for years as an x-ray technician, retired from the job as head sonographer at a big hospital and worked at a small pregnancy clinic just a few days a week. She is trying to return to that job, but has to be able to use both hands and also needs to be able to drive, neither which she can do yet.
P.S. – I just remembered I forgot to say that yes, I am still using the kitchen chair at the computer, but that’s not really a good idea and had I known I’d be working from home the rest of my 9-5 days, I’d have invested in a proper set-up for sure.
This was a brilliant post! I needed to read it!
Thank you. 🙂 I am really glad that you have found it helpful! 🙂 xxx