04 May The Importance of Self-Care

As I’m writing this post in the middle of quarantining for COVID-19, I have a confession to make. I’m mega jealous of my many friends, colleagues, and students who seem to have found ways to embrace their home time with new hobbies, a better sleep schedule, and extra time to explore the great new shows on Netflix. I’ve yet to find a good balance or to feel settled. Even though I’m home all the time now, I’m feeling busier than ever and my normal go-to efforts for self-care need a reboot. Can you relate?

In honor of this struggle, I think it’s time to dedicate some blog writing to this matter. My hope is that reading this series of posts about self-care this week can remind you about why it’s important and can motivate you to put self-care at the top of your ever-growing to-do list.

Do you spend most days going from one thing to the next and just wishing that there were more than 24 hours in a day? Don’t we all?!

Here are two important questions to ask yourself:

1. How much time are you giving yourself each day to do something other than work or taking care of someone else?

If you know the answer to the first question is “not enough”, then answer this one…

2. Do you feel satisfied and at peace with yourself and your choices? When you do your work or you take care of someone else, can you be present in that work or that person because you know you’ll get to your needs later?

It is so easy to become overworked and overwhelmed, leaving no room in your schedule to do the things for yourself. If you too often see yourself skipping a workout, feeling burned out or stressed out, missing a fun girls-night-out (or in via Zoom, these days), missing connections with the people you care about, or ignoring your nutritional needs because your schedule is so jam packed, then it might be time to reconsider your priorities.

Say this to yourself over and over and over again…SELF-CARE IS NOT AN OPTION. In fact, it is essential for everyone at every stage in life!

One of my closest friends, Nakia Henderson — a renowned self-care expert and certified life coach — created an apparel line I’m obsessed with reminding of us this very point! Check out my cute tee and grab your own t-shirt, tank, or sweatshirt from her as well!

To keep up with life’s demands, self-care needs to be a priority. The more self-care is placed on the back burner, the quicker you will feel life’s overwhelming demands catching up to you. Self-care is vital for overall mental, physical, and emotional health, and should be considered an essential part of living life.

What does self-care look like? It’s different for everyone – and should be for you – depending on how you’re feeling each day, and with each season.

I’ll have more examples of what self-care looks like in the next blog, but for now, consider this…self-care can be SIMPLE and can be ANYTHING that makes you FEEL BETTER and brings you JOY!

If your image of self-care in your head involves you sitting in a lotus position meditating in a quiet room, or hanging out on a spa or nail salon, that’s fine, but it might seem harder to squeeze that in. You might be missing the boat on what you really need – maybe it’s meal prep time, or just 5 minutes to breathe, a break from your email to sip your tea and gaze at a magazine for 10 minutes, a walk around your neighborhood, a little Netflix binge on your comfy couch, a quick workout, an earlier bedtime, a bubble bath, or just catching up with a friend you’ve been missing.

Notice anything about the words I just bolded above? They all get to the same point…relax, boo! You need to chill! Your body’s central nervous system requires it to keep you going! Self-care is the yin to your go-go-go yang!

Self-care gives you the proper ‘balance’ you need to avoid being overworked by your job, school, and other responsibilities. Although these responsibilities are extremely important, self-care should not be thought of as less important.

Self-care gives you a chance to reflect on the day or nourish your body in the ways that it needs, whether it be exercise, food, rest, socializing or even a treat like a massage. Self-care reduces stress and makes you feel like you are worth more than simply a job or a due date. Finding hobbies and interests outside of work can be extremely self-fulfilling and give you more purpose to life. Additionally, self-care ensures that you will be more productive and mentally present when you are working.

Make a promise to yourself to include more self-care practices on a daily and weekly basis. I bet you’ll be way more productive and you’ll be surprised about how much better you will feel once you start!

What do you like to do for self-care? Share with me on Instagram and Facebook (@bonviehealth)!