My Definition Of Self-Care

When we talk about self care, people may think it’s selfish or self indulgent activity. Actually it’s not! In this world, where everything is so fast pace, we tend to loose our focus. Our priorities also get lost somewhere in between.

Self care routine or self care time gives you a tiny window in your busy life to retrospect your routine, day to day life including your physical, mental, and emotional health.

Most of us actually struggle to add self care in our daily routine. We give priority to other things over self care. You may be little ignorant when it comes to self care or really have no idea what it is about after all.

I’m a firm believer in creating a daily routine that helps take care of different elements of your life including your mental and emotional well being. When I make time for my mind, body, and soul on a daily basis, I can practice self-care in a super simple and easy way.

Since last year, I started out my self care journey, I thought I had a pretty good idea about what self-care is and what it is not. But honestly, it took me a while to get around it and create my own self care routine.

When you’re scrolling through Instagram or Facebook and seeing other people self care journey, you feel inspired by it. It’s obviously not a bad thing to be inspired by other people working hard.

But you also need to be smart about your strategy. It’s important to do things with intention, not just because you think they should be on your to-do list.

Think about ways you could find a better balance between action and relaxation.

Below are few things, I started adding in my routine. You can take inspiration and start adding in your daily routine too. Why wait, let’s dig in.

1- Time to reflect — Most of us lead busy life with work, family and other daily struggles. I started out to have half and hour in early morning only to myself without doing anything. I just drink my cup of masala tea or coffee and just relax. I focus on reflecting my day and look forward to get on with it.

You can have anytime in a day or early morning or before going to bed to reflect your hard work and your accomplishment through the day. Try to keep a journal and write down your thoughts and feelings. It’s actually very therapeutic.

2- Outdoor Walk — Walking out really helped me to brighten my mood and reflect my own actions on certain aspects of my life. There have been days when I felt overwhelmed.

I started with 30 mins walk outside near my apartment everyday and you know what, I actually started enjoying it and now I really look forward for my walk every single day.

Add outdoor walk or any activity that you like in your daily or weekly routine. Listen to pod casts or music or just walk in silence. You will definitely feel a sense of calm in your body and mind. Also you get to notice small things around you that you might have missed or never saw before.

3- Journal/Diary — You can keep a journal for yourself to write things like what your goals are, accomplishments and what you’re feeling. It seems a lot of work but actually it’s not.

Start with a gratitude journal. Make a habit to write at least two or three things you’re grateful for everyday and revisit them time to time to reflect your own journey. You’ll feel accomplished and satisfied.

4- Don’t Over Commit — This one is important. We tend to see other people doing bunch of things in their day and assume we can do it too. Of course you can do it, there is no doubt at all. However if you think, you can reduce 10 pounds in a week or month, may be you can or may be you can’t.

Things takes time and you can’t see changes over night. So it’s important what your goal is and most important is how you can achieve it. It definitely require self control, discipline and commitment to your goal.

If your goal is to reduce weight. Start with a simple work out routine, start adding healthy food habits in your meal. Learn your own body and mind. Make progress each day and appreciate your self that you have come this far.

5- Keep Things Simple and Achievable — I try to keep things simple and easy to execute, so that my brain can process them without thinking too much.

If you don’t know how to add vegetables in your diet. First, try adding one fourth of your meal portion with vegetables or fruits or add a fruit in your snack instead of eating processed snacks.

Start your day with a glass of lukewarm water with honey and lemon. Once you start making these small changes in your routine, you’re adjusting to make bigger changes.

6- Don’t be Harsh On Your Self — I have days, when I don’t feel like working out or eating lots of junk food. But good thing is, I always bounce back to my routine. If you miss your work out any day, take rest or do some light yoga or just a slow walk. It’s alright to take a mental day off.

Learn to accept your own body and mind and listen to it without being critical.

If you want to eat pizza, go for it. But next day come back to your routine and if you follow healthy diet, you may not crave for it after all.

I love eating fast food. Now after 4 months of lock down, I don’t crave eating anything other than my veggies and broccoli ( confession- I used to hate it )

7- Press Pause And Slow Down A Bit — Yes, you read it right. We all hustle and try to do many things at a time. I’ve always tried to juggle a million things at once. There was a point when it all became too much. I thrive with variety in my work life. I felt like I was constantly in hustle mode up until very recently.

It’s important and take a step back and pause for a moment. Reflect your routine, your action and prioritize your day to day things. I’m all for creative energy, and I recognize that it comes in waves.

Sometimes I stay up late doing work because I’m inspired, but actually it’s not part of my routine.

It’s rare to hear a success story that involves a solid balance between work and personal life. Instead of trying to mimic everyone else’s life, I think it’s important to try and achieve better levels of balance. I’d like to believe it’s possible to be successful without hustling yourself to the ground.

8- Learn To Love Your Imperfection — We are all human and may not be perfect in what we do everyday. If we learn to love our imperfection with a pint of humor, we will see the gift of our lives and will be free for love and for life itself. Remind your self that it’s okay to be imperfect.

We all are flawed and learning to do better everyday. Accept yourself and others for who they are. Once you accept and start caring about yourself, you will see you’ve been perfect for this whole time and think how you missed to notice it earlier.

Protect your mental health by setting healthy boundaries and giving yourself time to recharge. Seeing a therapist is a great way to prioritize your mental health, or you can start a yoga or meditation practice.

Whatever you can do to protect your own mental well being, take the time to do it. If you’ve been dreaming about getting a massage because they leave you feeling relaxed and rejuvenated, go get a massage!

To be honest, our health and overall well-being is not a one-sided thing. Our physical, mental, and emotional health are deeply connected and work together to create harmony or discontent in our lives. When your body is unhealthy, your mind might suffer.

If you’re not fueling your soul, you might have trouble finding the physical the energy to do anything.

Let’s add a new self care routine in our life and see how it’s going to change our physical and mental health. I am going to add 10 minutes of quite meditation everyday in my routine. What are you going to add, do let me know.

Be Bold

Be Courageous

Be Your Best