Avoid Burnout — 5 Easy Steps to Better Self-Care

“Self-care means giving the world the best of you instead of what is left of you.” Katie Reed

If you lead a busy, fast-paced life, it’s easy to let taking care of your body, mind and soul slip down your list of priorities. You might say, “I’ll go for a walk later,” or “I’ll make a doctor’s appointment tomorrow,” but then something else seems more important and you end up doing that instead.

Many of us, myself included, tend to forget that taking care of ourselves should be our first priority in our own lives. If we don’t take care of ourselves, we’ll start to feel tired, then exhausted and drained, and eventually burned out.

Make self-care a priority in your life by taking these five small steps.

1. Make Regular Medical Appointments

It’s important to have regular medical check-ups, so that any health-related problems that arise can be recognized and dealt with as quickly as possible.

Keep on top of your health by making and keeping regular medical appointments with:

• Doctor(s)
• Dentist
• Optician
• Other medical practitioners, both mainstream and complementary, depending on your needs.

It’s a good idea to make your next appointment at the end of your current appointment, before leaving your medical practitioner’s office, whether it’s for next month, six months or a year’s time.

Even if something comes up and you can’t attend the appointment, you’ll be able to change it to a more convenient time and date nearer the time.

If you don’t make future appointments, you’ll either forget to do so when the time comes, keep putting them off, or if you’re very busy, you’ll just let it slide down your list of priorities.

I’ve just had a long-overdue eye test — and yes, I kept putting the appointment off! One eye had actually got better, so I guess that’s good news, and the other had got slightly worse, so I need new glasses.

In the past, I would have moaned about the cost of new glasses but now I see it as a worthwhile investment in my future. If I can see better, I’ll feel better and be more productive.

2. Make Regular Hair Appointments

If you look good, you feel good. That’s why it’s a good idea to make regular appointments to have your hair trimmed, and styled and colored, if you wish.

If cost is a consideration, lengthen the time between appointments. For example, it’s fine to have a trim every eight weeks instead of every six weeks, as recommended.

3. Set Aside At Least 10 Minutes a Day for Taking Care of Your Body

No matter how busy you are, it’s important to set aside at least 10 minutes a day to take care of your body.

During these 10 minutes, do anything necessary to take care of your body, whether it’s applying a face mask, moisturizer and hand cream to your skin, clipping your nails, or washing and conditioning your hair.

4. Schedule Exercise

If you don’t make exercise part of your weekly routine, the chances are that you’re never going to find time for it. So, decide which types of exercise you enjoy and fit them in with your other weekly activities.

So, for example, you could:

• Go for a brisk 20-minute walk every lunchtime
• Go to an exercise class every Thursday evening
• Go swimming on Saturday mornings
• Go for a run or bike ride on Sunday afternoons.

5. Check in with Yourself

Two or three times a day, take some time to stop what you’re doing, close your eyes, take three deep breaths and check in with yourself.

How are you feeling? Happy, sad, anxious, tired?

Can you feel any areas of tension within your body? Perhaps in your shoulders or stomach?

If so, take deep breaths and visualize the air you breathe moving into these areas of tension and easing them. On the exhale, say “let go” so that you dissolve any tension and anxiety that may be present.

This brief check-in only takes a few minutes and can be done at your desk or during a break from work.

It’s also a good idea to check in with yourself for a longer period each day, perhaps early in the morning or in the evening.

During this time, you could:

• Write down at least three things you’re grateful for
• Reflect on the day — what went well? What didn’t go very well? Would you or could you have done anything differently?
• Write in your journal
• Sit quietly, meditate and/or do some gentle yoga or stretching exercises
• Read an inspiring book.

If you spend just a few minutes checking in with yourself during the day and ten minutes in the morning or evening, you’ll start to feel much better than you used to, less anxious, and more in touch with your feelings and your true self.

This will have a positive effect on the rest of your life, too.

You Deserve to be a Priority in Your Own Life

As you probably already know, if you don’t look after yourself, no one else will. If you don’t look after yourself, you’ll find it difficult, if not impossible, to look after others.

After a prolonged period of neglecting yourself, you’ll feel exhausted and demotivated. You may even get to the point of burnout — when your mind, body and soul say, “Enough is enough.”

To prevent burnout and enjoy each day of your life, whatever it brings, make self-care a priority, no matter how rushed and stressed you are. In fact, it’s even more important to prioritize self-care when you are particularly busy.

Remember the words of Buddha:

You, yourself, as much as anyone in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.