Self-Care : How to Take Better Care of Yourself Every Day

It’s easy to get caught up in our routine and endless to-do lists. Practicing self-care on a day-to-day basis should be a priority to avoid feeling tired, drained and run down. Find out the 8 ways you can practice self-care on a daily basis, some don’t even take any time at all! 

Isn’t it funny that even though we might know something, we don’t do it? For example, you know you shouldn’t be on your phone before bed, and yet, here we are, at 11:30 P.M. scrolling through Twitter (guilty!).

Even though I know what I SHOULD be doing to practice self-care on a daily basis, there’s a stronger pull towards working on my goals and my to-do list. But this has gotten me into trouble a lot lately.

If you read my previous post about managing anxiety, then you know that I’ve been in a cycle where I push myself beyond my limits by going to the gym even though I should probably go home and rest, or going to bed too late because I want to work on the blog just a few more minutes.

Yes, I need to work on that. And even though I know part of the root cause of why I over-do it all the time, I haven’t been able to crack the code on how to overcome the emotional aspect of it.

In the meantime, I’m going to be more mindful about consistently practicing self-care on a daily basis. I’ve committed to it, so it’s happening (again). So far, it’s been going well, and the funny thing is that the minute I implement these steps, I notice a significant difference in how I’m feeling physically and emotionally.

My sleep is more restful, I don’t feel like I’m holding my breath all the time or holding tension in my shoulders. I’m able to stay more level headed when something ‘bad’ happens and I’m more able to go with the flow and not get worked up if I don’t have my weekend planned to the hour (because yes, when I get stressed out, I need to control what I can, which includes my schedule…I know, I sound like a maniac).

Here are the daily self-care practices you should implement every day but that have a big long-term impact on your mental and physical health. Show yourself some self-love and find the self-care practices that work best for YOU and commit to them on a daily basis. Consistency is key!

{ Self-care tip #1 | Spend extra time on how you look }

Let’s get back to basics: when I put effort into how I look, I instantly feel better. It’s a ‘fake it until you make it’ mentality. Self-care is both external and internal. How you feel on the outside will affect how you feel on the inside and vice versa.

If you are wearing an outfit that makes you feel confident and pretty, how will you stand, behave, feel? My bet is that you will feel damn good about yourself and you will have a little pep in your step, which will help you feel better about yourself.

What I’ve noticed about self-care is that everything is linked. Start with one thing and there’s a domino effect; you will start implementing other self-care practices and it will drastically impact how you’re feeling in the long-term. Try it out tomorrow and let me know how it goes!

{ Self-care tip #2 | Take deep breaths throughout the day }

This is something that I consistently write in my Habit Tracker because it’s an easy, on-the-go habit that calms me instantly.

I like to be in ‘preparation’ rather than ‘reaction’ mode. I don’t want to wait until I’m stressed out of my mind to practice deep breaths, but rather take deep breaths throughout the day so that I can feel the cleansing, calming and soothing effects it can have.

This self-care practice has become a habit. I find myself automatically deep breathing when I start feeling a bit stressed about something and it instantly helps me bring myself back in the moment, it brings oxygen to my brain to help me think more clearly and rationally about the situation.

** Bonus Tip ** Let’s try it together right now – take a deep and slow inhale, hold your breath for at least 5-8 seconds, and then exhale slowly. Repeat once or twice. How do you feel? Did focusing on your breath help you bring yourself back in the moment?

{ Self-care tip #3 | Be active & get your body moving }

I’ve become one of those people that needs to get a good sweat out to feel better. One of my favourite things to do on a Friday after work is to hit the gym so that I can leave all the built up energy from the week and step into the weekend feeling lighter (both physically and metaphorically!).

But I know that I tend to over-do it. There were times where I was EXHAUSTED or was too sick and I should have gone home. And yet there I was, lifting weights at the gym, which really, is just plain stupid because I need to give my body some rest.

So instead of pushing myself constantly to go to the gym, a way to practice self-care every day is to make sure that I’m moving. I have a weekly objective for the gym, and if I’m too tired, I make sure that I’m walking enough and moving enough, which can simply mean a quiet yoga session at home.

Being aware of what your body needs is an important component of self-care because you don’t want to constantly deplete your physical energy. As long as you’re getting a minimum amount of movement, it’s okay to take a break and just go home to rest.

{ Self-care tip #4 | Eat well }

When I eat well, I feel better. There’s no going around it. Yes, an occasional splurge is always great – who doesn’t love a good pancake drowning in maple syrup or Nutella? I know I do!

But generally speaking, the better I eat, the better I feel on the inside – I can feel my body working better, I feel less sluggish. I can feel that the food I’m eating is fuelling me.

Practice self-care every day means being aware of what you’re putting in your body and how it’s making you feel. I know the foods that make me feel sluggish and bloated so I generally avoid them. Since following the Body Love Approach, I’ve figured out what works best for me when it comes to breakfast and I’m still learning how I like to ‘build’ my meals so that I feel satisfied without being left hungry (or should I say hANGRY).

A balanced diet will be different for every person so just take the time to figure it out and for goodness sake, don’t do what I do and put unnecessary pressure on yourself! Life is about a balance, listening to your body and enjoying food instead of feeling guilty about it.

{ Self-care tip #5 | Positive self-talk }

I’m very hard on myself. I don’t allow myself to make mistakes or to deviate from a plan. But constantly being hard on myself, talking down if I don’t do something or if I haven’t made the progress that I want or not completing my to-do list… I mean… what the heck is the point of THAT?!

Practicing positive self-talk is an important part of self-care because it will determine how you will care for yourself. If you’re tired and you need to go home rest, will you be able to really to rest if the whole time you’re feeling guilty and telling yourself you should be at the gym instead? (Real talk cuz that’s what I do sometimes…ok oftentimes).

Positive self-talk means first being honest about how you’re feeling, acknowledging your own emotions, working through them and then finding an appropriate solution to the issue.

It excludes any negative words and judgment on yourself, but really trying to get an unbiased view on the situation so that you can figure out what you need to do right now to feel better and what you can change for the future to avoid the same thing from occurring again.

Going back to the example of the gym: instead of feeling guilty that I didn’t go to the gym and went home, wouldn’t it be so much better if instead I acknowledged that I’m physically (and maybe emotionally) too tired to have a good workout and that I would benefit more from going home, taking a nap and doing a light yoga session instead? And in the meantime, making sure that I’m eating healthy so that I stay on track with my health goals. Doesn’t that sound so much better than insulting myself?! (and yet here I am, still doing that sometimes. Oups!).

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{ Self-care tip #6 | Taking time to reflect }

A big part of self-care is to make the time to reflect on your progress. It doesn’t have to take more than 5 minutes, but there’s a lot of benefit to taking a few moments and looking back on your day because it’s fresh in your memory.

Ask yourself questions: How did you feel today? Were you mindful? Did you feel happy and centered? What made you feel stressed? Are you physically and/or emotionally tired? What are the positive habits that you practiced today? How can you do better tomorrow? What can you do to take care of yourself for a few minutes? What will make you feel better? Can you schedule some self-care time in the next few days?

All these questions are important because you will learn more about yourself, what self-care practices have an impact and which ones don’t, and you’ll start being more aware of your stress triggers and figure out how you can be better prepared to handle them.

{ Self-care tip #7 | Me-time }

“Me-time” is taking a moment where I can tune out and do something mindless or something that helps me feel inspired and empowered.

Again, if you take time to reflect on what YOU need to include in daily self-care practice, you will learn what are the activities and habits that help you decompress.

Depending on my mood, me-time can be putting YouTube in the background and browsing Pinterest or Bloglovin’ and catching up on my favourite bloggers. It can mean listening to music and working on my Bullet Journal, or going out with my hubby and having quality time together. Regardless of what it is, determine what you enjoy doing and helps you relax and schedule it every day, even if it’s 5 minutes.

{ Self-care tip #8 | Meditation }

I was on a good roll with meditating every day but I kinda got off track and I haven’t been able to be consistent with it. It felt like too much of a commitment.

Until I realized that meditation comes in many forms. Meditation is to be in the present moment and being able to be with your thoughts. I take moments like washing dishes or cooking as moments where I can meditate in silence. I am mindful of what I’m doing and try to be in the present – I’m not thinking about my to-do list for the evening or what happened at work that day. I simply focus on the task at hand.

The next step that I just added recently in my daily self-case routine is to listen to nighttime meditation stories on the Calm App. This has helped me tremendously in fall asleep within 10 minutes but also having more restful sleep. This is a habit that I’m going to keep up because it has had a huge impact on my energy levels which then in turns helps my emotional management! Told you, they’re all connected.

{ Self-Love Lesson }

Invest time in yourself and create an effective self-care routine that you practice on a daily basis. You will see instant and long-term benefits.

When you take care of yourself, you are showing self-love because you are prioritizing your well-being, which will give you more physical, emotional and mental energy to work on your goals and take care of others.

Get access to this EXCLUSIVE goal-setting resource library where you will find action-based guides, inspiration, tips, worksheets and resources that you need to help you create and build your dream like so that you can SLAY your goals!

CLICK BELOW TO GET INSTANT ACCESS!

 

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