Well, we’re one week into our Self-Care Challenge! How do you feel? Did last week’s challenges stretch you? Did you try something new? What was your favorite activity last week?
If self-care isn’t already a part of your daily routine, can you see how beneficial it can be? If daily self-care is a part of your routine, did you try something different last week? What did you notice? As I mentioned last week, some may think of self-care as unnecessary “fluff” but self care actually has very positive benefits – it helps us perform better at work, it improves relationships with others, it improves our emotional well-being and our physical health, it helps us handle stress more effectively, it prevents “burn out”, boosts our immune system, and enhances self-esteem.
Remember that creating an ongoing self-care routine doesn’t have to be complicated. Choose one or two simple things that you do each day for self care (start the day with deep breathing and meditation, end the day with a cup of herbal tea and writing in your gratitude journal, for example; or start and end the day with some Jin Shin Jyutsu self-help); and one thing that you do each week that requires a little more effort (perhaps a weekly foot zone session, or take turns with foot zone, massage, pedicure, and Girl’s Night Out). What you do isn’t as important as doing something to refill your bucket. It’s very difficult to fill another’s glass when your pitcher is empty.
Here are your Self-Care challenges for the next week. If the challenge for the day doesn’t feel comfortable, it’s ok to switch it up, but stretching beyond your comfort zone can actually be very healing and rewarding.
Day 10 – Drink half your weight in ounces of water today
Day 11 – Sit in nature
Day 12 – Take a bubble bath
Day 13 – Create your own upbeat playlist (for some ideas, here’s my upbeat playlist)
Day 14 – Take yourself on a date to a museum
Day 15 – Sing out-loud
Day 16 – Write down 3-5 things that you love about yourself.
Here’s another infographic that I really liked. Self-Care doesn’t have to be rocket science.
