Love yourself to be the priority in your life and that can be the most challenging thing in a world where we are told to put everything and everyone before us. Consider the following:
Are you taking enough time for you?
Do you prioritize yourself!
Are you always saying yes to everyone else?
Does that leave you feeling alone or perhaps even resentful?
Are your personal needs met?
It’s so easy to forget to engage in self-care and prioritizing yourself when there seems so much to do every single day. Just taking a look at your to-do list, phone messages and emails can leave you overwhelmed and wondering how you are going to fit everything into 24 hours in the day.
And as much as I like to say I have mastered self-care and managing my priorities, I still fall off that wagon of getting all the things done in a day.
When my son was first hospitalized in 2007 and even the years to follow, my health (emotionally and physically) were not number one as my focus was about keeping my son alive and making it through college, while still raising kids in a blended family and keeping my relationship alive.
How can you move from being everything to everyone and start being who you need to be for you?
- Decide you deserve to be a priority
- Decide how you will spend it
- Evaluate the things that waste your time
- Learn to say no!
- Ask for help!
- Schedule the things you must do
- Commit to me time daily and make it a ritual!
We talk about nurture and self-care all the time but what sometimes you don’t even know what that means!
Self-care in its simplest form means taking it easy, take a break, do things that you love.
Self-care is doing things that feel good to your body and soul at that moment and time.
Self-care is acknowledging you can’t be everything to everyone!
What they mean to each of us, can differ from individual to individual.
Self-care is just allowing you some downtime from the daily hustle and bustle of work, parenting and whatever else usually keeps you overwhelmed. It’s a time to connect with yourself and allow your body some peace so it can rejuvenate itself. It is also a time to step away from your goals for just a moment because constant non-stop focus can lead to frustration and having you wonder if it’s all worth it in the end.
And this can look so very different for everyone and I want to share with you some of the things that have worked for me over time.
- Make time for food that nourishes your body and soul. How much junk are you fueling your body with that leaves you tired and exhausted? How much fresh food do you eat to really give your body what you need? When you feel good, the soul feels good because it knows you are taking care of yourself.
- Exercise in some way through yoga, walking, running, Zumba, dancing or whatever call you to move your body. Allow it to feel good. It will help you from becoming to still and it’s just good for you to feel positive especially if you have been feeling down.
- Make bedtime a priority allowing you adequate rest time. For me, this is about 7-8 hours of sleep. For you, it could be a bit less or more. The important thing is that you rest your body! And do this consistently every night.
- Do one thing you truly enjoy. Write, paint, crochet! Do it because you will feel amazingly good afterward for having done it. If you only have time at the end of the day, get in the habit of looking forward to spending time in moments of joy.
- Connect with nature. Go outside, hug a tree, walk barefoot, sit in the sun. Allow yourself to feel the wind and the sun rays on your skin. Surround yourself with nature in every way.
- Practice gratitude throughout the day for each moment. For the raindrop that falls to nourish the earth. For the driver going too slow in front of you to keep you safe and quite without the speeding ticket. For the paycheck, you earn to provide a roof over your head. For life and the opportunity to experience it. Be grateful.
Self-care is respecting you enough to make time to be with just you.
Honoring who you are through the good days and tough days will help you learn to love yourself more, teach others that you are valuable and life will start to feel a whole lot better.
Don’t know where to begin to love yourself to be the priority? Let’s connect and hash out what putting yourself looks like for you and how you can start doing it more.