Do you think priotising your self-care as being selfish?
Do you put everybody else before you and what you need?
Check out these top tips to do your self-care with ease and a whole bucket of love.
Self-care doesn’t = selfish.
How about that as a revelation.
Too many women see doing stuff for themselves, totally for themselves as being really, really selfish.
Where does it say anywhere you shouldn’t care for yourself?
It doesn’t.
Yep, I get that having a family, at times they have to come first. At times, you have to make a choice to put other commitments before your own needs.
However, when everything and everybody else always comes first, and you come last – trouble central is potentially on it’s way.
I can personally vouch for that.
After having a long history of prioritising every woman/man/child and dog before me and my own needs, I knew things HAD to change. And they did.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not perfect in this area or any other area for that matter.
But, I do recognise for myself and every single person I work with, self-care needs to be a HIGH PRIORITY.
Putting yourself first, meeting your own needs – whatever that is or looks like for you – a green juice in the morning, a swim in the evening, an afternoon nap, writing a blog post that’s personal to you, talking to a friend, sitting in the bath, showering uninterrupted; anything thats totally for you and about you that will re-energise you in some small way. SO DO IT and KEEP DOING IT.
Here’s why self care is important (according to me!):
My theory and I’ve seen it in action when practiced, when we meet our own needs first, it translates as having more to give of yourself to others.
Sounds odd right…
Stay with me here.
Self-care, meeting your own needs, means when you do stuff for others, you do it with your whole heart.
You do it from a place of ease because you have filled yourself up first.
You do it from a place of selflessness. Because your own needs have been met.
You feel great, therefore doing stuff for others comes from a place of comfort.
And the resentment and resistance eases and disappears.
Here’s my top 5 tips to ROCKING your self care (and greatness):
Tip #1
Go old school – make up a time table. Create habits.
Sit down and look at what you’ve got going on in your life. Work out how much time you have by putting together an old school schedule.
Being time poor is every busy woman’s nemesis until you go old school.
Schedule in all your absolute have to do jobs and responsibilities.
Then schedule in your time. All the things you are going to do for you.
Write that stuff down in the time table, be really specific. No fuzzy maybe’s, just write it down.
You would never a miss an important with anybody else. So why would you miss a scheduled appointment with THE most important in person in your life, YOU.
Now, follow the schedule.
Tip #2
Give some of that responsibility away.
Now you have your schedule, take a good honest look and see if you can delegate any task in your diary. Too many of us have got in to the habit of thinking we can do it all by ourselves.
When reality is we don’t need to.
Learning to let go, saying f*ck it to controlling every element in your life is freeing.
Learning to delegate is an art form. It will potentially feel a little uncomfortable at first. But stay with it, I promise you, it will add to your self care and give others a shot at stepping up and being responsible.
Tip #3
Eat whole.
A personal self-care biggie for me (and for every single client I work with) is getting good whole food in you.
Good food equals good thoughts, good energy, good connection with yourself, and good connection with other people.
When we have great food, we work at a completely different level in life. Life is easier.
Perceiving yourself as being time poor when it comes to food means we need a plan to make life easier for you.
One Sunday a month (or another day of the week if that works better for you), dedicate the whole day to batch cooking food.
Make up a meal plan to make sure you stay on track, write it down, stick it up in the kitchen so you can share with everybody that needs to know.
Then batch cook and freeze in portions all the food on your food plan
This way, you get to eat good food and the family does too.
An extra tip, when you stick everything in the freezer, create an infantry to stick on the freezer door. Every time you take something out, amend the infantry.
It sounds super boring and dorky, but it works. You’ll always know what’s in your freezer and you’ll know what you need to stock up on for the next cook-up session.
Tip #4
Move the bootie.
So many women are either stood on their feet dashing around or stuck at their desk forming an entrepreneurs ass.
Moving your body has so many benefits.
Mind health is a key factor in moving the body. Your mood is boosted when you exercise – FACT.
If you are dashing around all day, may be try something that will help relax you. Many of my clients love yoga. It strengthens the body and soothes the mind.
Keeping the body moving can also prevent heart disease, type 2 diabetes and some cancers. It can also lower your risk of getting high blood pressure.
For those of you that want to keep an eye on your weight, exercise is good for that too.
When it comes to adding in some exercise into your life, keep it simple.
– A brisk walk 3 times per week.
– A bike ride with the family.
– A spinning class.
– Yoga..
What ever you decide to do, make sure it’s easily accessible and adds to your day and self-care rather than being another thing you need to fit in.
Tip #5
A green smoothie a day…
Yep, I LOVE a green smoothie. Don’t get me wrong, when I first started out on my own wellness road, the thought of slugging a big green smoothie was not making me jump for joy.
However, I now can’t let a day go by without having at least one in my day.
Green vegetables are the most under utilised veggies we have readily available to us and they’re PACKED with vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients.
Our bodies are crying out for good wholesome food. One green smoothie a day can pack in as much as 6 portions of veggies in one glass.
It will fill you up, and have you buzzing with energy.
In addition, calorie wise – dark green leafy vegetables are, calorie for calorie, probably the most concentrated source of nutrition of any food.
My simple green recipe is HERE
I promise you, try it five times and you will LOVE it. It tastes a heck of a lot better than it looks. After several days of this goodness, many people tell me they start to crave it. Imagine that… CRAVING GREEN FOODS.
Finally, if you can do one self-care thing for yourself, it’s breath.
Breath slowly, deeply and allow your body to fill it’s self up with glorious oxygen.
Slow deep breathing is underrated. When you practice this as part of your regular daily self-care, you will be helping your body clear its self of toxins, release tension, easing heightened emotions, supporting you to bring clarity to your mind.
Remember, self-care is an act of selflessness. When we do good self-care, we do amazing work in the world that benefits others.
Be your own Sheriff in making you self-care happen.
What self-care are you going to practice this week and for the rest of your life?
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