All About Self-Care and Why it Matters

You only get to live one life in the body you have. Only one. So why isn’t taking care of our one body, both physically and mentally on the top of our ever growing to do list?

I know, life gets crazy and you need to save time somewhere so what do you do? Skip the gym, your nail appointment, taking time to get ready, proper nutrition, meditation time or whatever else you enjoy doing for yourself. However, you can only go on for so long without taking the time to take proper care of yourself. Eventually exhaustion and burnout will take over and soon you will be operating like a zombie.

Ancient Greeks believed that self-care was a way to make people more honest citizens whom were more likely to care for others as well. Ever heard the saying “You can’t love others until you love yourself.”? I think that the Ancient Greeks were onto something.

During nursing school, I totally forgot about myself and focused on my almost unbearable to do list and the extremely high expectations that I had set for myself. I went from someone who loved working out and fulling my body with proper nutrition to someone who rarely went to the gym and ate a whole pizza every week. I forgot about myself both physically and mentally. My Junior year of nursing school was the worst. I was dealing with low energy, a shoulder injury, Brady being deployed, dogs to take care of and the list goes on. I simply felt like I was going to snap and crumble into pieces at times. At the end of the school year, I did some self-reflection and realized that during the chaos, I forgot about taking care of myself.

Since then, I have made it a goal to always involve some kind of self-care into my day and I would like to challenge you to do the same. Here are some simple self-care ideas to get you started:

Take two minutes each morning to practice deep breathing and meditate.

Take some time freshening up in the morning shower, wash your face, shave. Whatever you need to do to feel your best

Take yourself on a little date go get lunch, a smoothie, half hour massage.

Read a book

Go for a walk, run, bike ride, or hike.

Stretch

Call family or your friend

Be kind to yourself stop negative thoughts and replace them with a positive.

Listen to your favorite music or podcast.

Simply do nothing. I often sit on my deck, listen to the birds and watch my dogs run around.

Craft (or if you are like my husband, go work on a vehicle).

Go to yoga or hit the weights.

Go to bed early as well as occasionally sleeping in.

Go get Ice cream or whatever treat you fancy.

Take the time to fuel your body with proper nutrition.

Spend some time with your friends.

Paint your nails.

Self-care is simple. It is simply ensuring that you take the time to do something you enjoy each day. Self-care will improve both physical and mental health. Take my challenge and do something for yourself each day for at least one week and see how you feel.

What do you like to do in order to care for yourself? Leave me a comment 🙂