Self-Care Made Simple

Self-care. It has been a real buzzword the past few years. Now it has been said before but it bears repeating that self-care is not selfish. Self-care can be big, luxurious spa days, weekend retreats, or long international holidays. However, we cannot always engage in these large gestures of self-care. And we certainly should not be starving ourselves of self-care until we get to the big, juicy, self-care sessions. That would cause quite a bit of damage to your well-being.

Self-care is something that can be built into your ordinary life. It is giving yourself breaks to eat meals, drink your water, and take a deep breath. It is stretching between meetings, stepping away from your desk, and treating yourself like someone you want to care for.

Self-care checks in with yourself regularly. Checking in with yourself honestly addresses the emotions you are feeling, addresses how your body is feeling, and allows you to work through challenges. Making sure that you give yourself time to do this is essential to well-being. Even if it starts with simply 5 minutes a day. Scheduling (and adhering to) breaks to do a grounding exercise, to journal your thoughts, or replenish your body and mind with a glass of water can be the difference between a healthy and unhealthy lifestyle.

Self-care is treating yourself like a person; not a machine. In fact, we treat machines kind of rough sometimes. We sometimes yell at the computer when it stops working or even toss or phones in aggravation. However, there is something we do with technology much more often than we do with ourselves and that is intentionally powering off and powering back on again. If our phone is glitching or laptop is frozen, we often opt for the reset. Power off then power back on again. If you can use this concept for yourself, things can look quite different. It only takes a few minutes to do this with our devices and we can do this with ourselves too. Walk away. Drink the water. Sit or lie down for a few minutes. Write, draw, sing to yourself. Do something to pull you away from the stressor and give yourself a break.

For simple, short, and creative ways to take these self-care breaks, check out my book "Art & Writing Prompts for Self-care," which is available via Amazon in paperback or as a digital download on my Teachable school.