What are some simple self-care things that we can do?
Eat well and hydrate. Serving your body means serving yourself. It’s not always easy to take the time to sit down and eat or get away from the working environment or distractions. The main thing is to work towards it. Even achieving this for one day a week could mean fewer gut problems, anxiety, headaches, and stress.
Eat food which serves you. Make sure that you’re not simply loading on wheat-based carbs. These tend to raise your blood sugar for a minute and then leave you with a dip and often feeling drained. Remember that vegetables contain carbohydrates and also provide many vitamins and minerals (B vitamins, Vitamin C, zinc, magnesium and iron) for energy. Also add in good quality protein to fill you up.
Hooray for hydration. When we’re dehydrated, we’re robbed of fluidity from every area of our body. That includes our brain. To stop feeling fuzzy, light-headed, and dazed, try aiming to drink 6 (150ml) glasses of water a day. To liven things up think of adding lemon, lime, orange or having an herbal tea. These all refresh, not dehydrate or overstimulate.
Manage your relationships and set boundaries. It’s important to recognise that relationships are always a two-way thing. This means that there should be some form of reciprocity. You don’t have to, nor should you be the one who always does everything for everyone with nothing in return.
Bring in restorative support. Simple practices like yoga, tai chi, qi gong, meditation, deep breathing, gentle walks or even swimming can help us to stop for a minute. This aligns our brain and body, so we don’t feel so tired, wired or jittery. This can also be effective for recognising pain and tension and helping us to release it.
Bring in more of what you like. When we’re caught up, we can lose the sense of this. It can be reclaimed though. Start by simply asking yourself ‘what do I like doing?’ or ‘where do I like being?’ and ‘where does it feature in my life?’. Now can you bring a bit of that (or more of it) into your life?
Maybe it’s having your morning coffee outside in the garden, even in the cold. Or it could be telling everyone in the family that you desperately need some me time (and will be a much nicer person). Then carve out the time to have a bath, go to a class or even for a walk.
Make it a practice. Again, this can be tough because doing these things once or twice can feel luxurious or even fun. But being disciplined and doing them regularly can stir that voice that tells you that you’re being selfish. It’s not. Book in your self-care time as if it’s an appointment. Put it in the diary and make it non-negotiable.
It may also help to write down what you’ll gain and once you’ve done it, what you did actually gain. This trains your brain to associate your ‘like-thing’ with reward. Every time you do it, you’ll get that slight dopamine hit in a good way and you’ll want to do it again.
Of course, all of this takes time, patience, and continuity. Putting these things in place can be beneficial though not only for you, but also those around you. It starts by you making one small change or at least working towards it. But it could change everything from chaos and anxiety and feeling out of control to being calmer, having more mental space and inner freedom.
Main photo by Anna Dziubinska on Unsplash
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