(Washington Insider Magazine) –
What is Self-Care?
Self-Care is the act of taking care of your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being through intention and aligned action. By doing so you’re able to prioritize yourself and your health to avoid burnout and being overwhelmed. There is a very hallmark image of self-care that includes luxury vacations, lavish spending, and plush spa days when in reality, self-care can be done simply without all of those extravagant things to prioritize one’s self.
Get Moving
The easiest way to begin to prioritize yourself is to add movement into your routine. This doesn’t have to be a strict gym schedule, rather the intention of adding movement and activity to your routine and finding ways to implement it. Going for a walk at the park to reflect and clear your mind, is just as effective as lifting heavy weights to release some anger or frustrations. Whatever is best for you in adding movement is what you should do, but bonus if you try something new!
Write It Down
Our minds tend to run a mile a minute and there seem to be constant tasks added to our to-do lists, when this happens grab some paper and write it down. Creating lists or even simply getting your current feelings out onto paper is a great place to start in prioritizing yourself. You’re able to analyze and evaluate your current situation, while also coming up with solutions to what you’re working through. Simply starting a list in the morning of the things that need to be done throughout the day or a reflection journal in the evening will allow you to prioritize some time with yourself while writing and will have a ripple effect on your everyday life.
Add Gratitude
Another place to start with writing it down and being intentional about prioritizing yourself is to add gratitude into your day. At the end of each day, you can begin with writing three things you’re grateful for each day or you can simply say out loud “thank you” when things are going well in your life. The more attention and focus you draw towards the things that are going right, the more positivity you will find coming into your life.
Anchor Your Goals
The final simple step in prioritizing your self-care is to anchor your goals. What that means is to find physical representations of your goals and to place them in an area where you’re able to see them every day. This can come in the form of a dream board, a goal outfit if your goal is to lose weight, or even a simple sticky note on your mirror to remind you. We often fall into the “out of sight, out of mind” issue, therefore by anchoring your goals you bring them into the forefront and are reminded each and every day how you’re prioritizing yourself.
Wrap-Up
As you can see, there are simple self-care habits that you can implement into your life without expenses including adding movement, writing down your thoughts and emotion, adding gratitude into your life, and anchoring your goals.
