“It’s not selfish to love yourself, take care of yourself, and to make your happiness a priority. It’s necessary.”
Mandy Hale
Practicing Emotional Self Care
If you're being overtaken with the enormous amounts of stress that seem to keep building as each day passes, it's time to protect yourself.
It's easy to wrap ourselves in the job of caring for others while completely overlooking the need to take care of our own needs.
Attempting to meet all the challenges that we face everyday can put us on the treadmill of urgent activity with no end in sight.
Over time, all the pounding can just wear you down.
To get back on your feet, practice a little self care to keep your batteries recharged and running smoothly.
Here are some steps you can take to build yourself up again.
1.
Manage Stress
Understand that stress can be a silent killer, sneaking up on you, day-by-day, without you recognizing how much stress you are actually under.
We may have to take periodic stress checkups to realize how much stress we are really experiencing. It's time to make concerted attempts to manage and reduce stress in your life.
We may want to take a time-out each day to counter the effects of stress in our lives.
To start the process, we can try relaxation techniques to increase energy, motivation, and productivity.
Some simple techniques to reduce stress could include:
Taking 5-30 minutes every morning for meditation or morning reflection.
Some people find that using imagery helps.
Here's how: find a quiet spot, close your eyes, and use all of your senses to imagine a deeply relaxing and peaceful scene.
Imagine a space that's meaningful and calming for you.
Try progressive muscle relaxation, where you alternatively tense and relax the muscles throughout your body.
Start with your forehead, eyes, and mouth, then work your way down.
Practicing deep breathing can be a great way to release stress and anxiety. Inhale deep breaths and hold for 10 seconds. Then release slowly.
Trying taking up tai-chi or practicing yoga.
Keeping a journal is a great way to unload the thoughts of the day in a constructive way.
Taking a hot bath or shower seems to wash stress right down the drain.
2.
Surround Yourself With Supportive People
The people you surround yourself with have a strong influence on you and how you perceive yourself.
Make sure those people are considerate, reliable, and supportive of your goals.
They can be friends, family, and others who make you feel good about yourself.
By all means, avoid people who drain you, belittle you, or stress you out. The damage they do to your well-being is too harmful to tolerate.
3.
Make Time For Fun
In stressful and overwhelming times, don't forget to carve out some time to have some fun.
Do something you really enjoy to take your mind off the day-to-day stresses. Fun and leisure are requirements for a balanced life, especially during stressful times.
Remember to engage in a variety of things for fun which could involve other people. Bringing them into the mix is fun, even if it is on a Zoom session.
Try one of these ideas:
Have a date night once a week with your spouse or with friends. For that, social distancing is not allowed. It's the connection that will keep you healthy.
Read your favorite book that your never had time to read.
Take a day to binge on your favorite series. Make sure you have some popcorn on hand.
Find a new hobby to enjoy, or rekindle one that you haven't visited in a while.
Listen to some old music that brings back some good memories.
If you can't find anything else to do, buy an adult coloring book and make your creative masterpiece come to life.
4.
Consider Counseling
When nothing you do seems to help you get on top of your challenges, don't be afraid to seek some professional help. Doing that is a sign of strength, not weakness.
Needing to talk to somebody doesn't make you broken, it makes you human. Put effort into finding somebody you can trust and connect with.
If you're not able to form a trusting relationship with your therapist, the arrangement won't be beneficial.
Counseling is beneficial to self-care because it:
Gives you a safe place to talk and process your thoughts.
Helps you deal better with daily stressors and worries.
Allows you to get an objective opinion.
Encourages you to live a better life by giving you tools and strategies to deal with the obstacles in life.
5.
Give Yourself Positive Affirmations
Using positive affirmations are very powerful tools because they release you from negativity, fear, worry, and anxiety.
When they are repeated over and over again, they begin to take charge of your thoughts, slowly change your pattern of thinking and ultimately change your life.
Encourage and validate yourself by saying something affirming to yourself each day.
Pick a phrase or saying that's positive, personal, and powerful, and repeat it until you begin to believe it.
Try one of these affirmations:
"Difficult times are part of my journey and allow me to appreciate the good."
"Every day, in every way, I am getting better and better."
"I can absolutely do anything I put my mind to."
"I’m in charge of my life and no one will dictate my path besides me."
"My life becomes richer as I get older. I will give my wealth away everyday."
"I am a great problem solver. I am a problem solving machine. I solve problems easily and effortlessly."
6.
Final 4 Tips For Improving Your Self Care
Put your own needs first.
It's not selfish to put your own needs first.
In fact, you'll be better able to help others when you've been focusing on your own health, both mentally and physically.
Ask for help when you need it.
For most people, it is difficult to ask for or accept help, no matter how much you need it.
Everyone wants to put up a “tough” front when they're stressed and feeling like they have to take care of everything. This approach will do nothing but drag you down even further.
Instead, let your friends and family help you, if possible.
To make it a little easier to ask for help, try these:
- Make a list of things you need help with.
- Avoid watering down your requests by being vague. Instead, be specific.
- Before you ask for help, consider the other person's abilities and interests. Are they knowledgeable, or interested enough to help you?
Say “no” and set limits with others.
Make sure you're not always the one helping everyone else out. You're only human ,and can't do it all.
Practice saying “no” to more responsibilities and saying “yes” to more opportunities for fun and connection with others.
Keep in mind not to apologize when you have to say “no.” Often times we place far too much stress on ourselves.
You don't have to apologize for refusing to take on anything too overwhelming that will compromise your own well being.
Practice time management.
Time management skills are essential to keep you less stressed and more productive.
It's important to balance the demands in various areas of your life in order to better care for yourself.
Creating your own time management system can actually help free up time for things you really want to do.
Here are some steps to get started:
Make to-do lists.
Schedule professional and personal activities using a calendar.
Set precise, realistic, and small goals.
Stop procrastinating.
Create a morning ritual and stick to it.
Conclusion
Our tendency to put others first can put us in a state of ineffectiveness when we neglect to put ourselves first.
Yes, it might sound selfish on the surface, but the stronger your are, the more you can help others.
- Self care, especially during times of stress, is necessary to become the most beneficial solution provider you can be.
- Keep yourself strong by learning to manage stress through relaxation techniques that get you centered.
- Maintaining a strong supportive system of friends and family helps keep your spirits high.
- Boosting your energy by bringing more fun in your life keeps everything in balance.
- You can use positive affirmations to keep your mind focused on the positive, and guarding your boundaries will keep you productive.
- If nothing else works, don't hesitate to seek professional help. A trusted ear is sometimes all we need.
Remember, you are the most valuable asset in this equation.
Take care of you first.
Question:
What do you do to take care of yourself during a health scare?
Let me know in the comments.
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