Are You Snoozing Self-Care? 3 Self-Care Tips for Busy People

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Welcome to Wellness Wednesdays! (I just made that up, but why not?)

You know you have that self-care activity planned. You’ve been meaning to start that meditation practice. You’ve been meaning to go on that walk. You’ve been meaning to take out some time to paint.

Alas, your to-do list is too long and you are too busy, so so you just ‘snooze’ it for later.

Sound familiar?

You may be aware of self-care practices that you can do to help you on low-mental health days. You might know all about the importance of self-love. You may know everything there is to know about gratitude (btw, I am holding a 21-day Gratitude challenge for those SERIOUS about kick starting their positive mindsets! Have you signed up?)

BUT it is all useless, if you snooze your self-care. 

Self-care is just like physical care. You can’t do work out once a year, and expect the results to remain. It’s an ongoing process. In fact, it’s a lifestyle.

The Trap

If you’ve been hanging out with me long enough, you already know what self-care means and how important it is. You’re thinking “Get to the point!”

What I’ve noticed, though, is that knowing about self-care isn’t enough. You need to act on it. It is so easy to start working and forget to stop, especially when you are extremely passionate or motivated to reach your goal. If you are a blogger, solopreneur, or even an employee eager to climb the corporate ladder, you have big dreams that you can’t wait to achieve! I get it.

But, there is one crucial truth of life you are forgetting: your productivity and quality of work reduces as you keep hustling. As a result, you will keep getting more and more tired, stressed, and burnt out, while your work suffers.

And that is why, self-care is actually a productive strategy. And if you are working towards something close to your heart that requires a piece of you in it (if you are an artist, or you are building your business), you require self-care even more.

But I get it. As busy high-achievers, we often get down to work and then forget to do anything else. Or we just feel like there is too much to do to take a break. So here are 3 tips to practically self-care in your day.

Don’t have time right now? Save it for later! 

1. Schedule a Self-Care Date

Whenever you plan out your day, whether that is before bed, once a weekend, or each morning, schedule in some time for self-care. Put it in your calendar, and make it a non-negotiable. Think about it like a meeting for yourself.

Pro: This method helps you take time for self-care no matter what.

Con: This might not be result in the most efficient work flow for your body. For example, you might have a lot of energy when your self-care is scheduled, or vice versa.

2. Be Mindful of Your Needs

Set a goal to be more mindful and periodically check in with yourself and your energy levels. This is tricky because you need to be quite self-aware and intuitive.

A good starting point is to check in each hour with yourself. Assess whether you need a break or some different kind of mental stimulation.

Pro – This is more aligned with what your mind and body needs.

Con – You can easily get caught up with your work, and keep pushing yourself and saying “I can do it, I can do it” when you actually need a break. Or, you could begin taking too many breaks (basically cover up laziness with the excuse of “self-care”).

3. Attach it to an Event

This method is a combination of the previous two options. Take a week or 10 days to be extra observant and in tune with yourself to see when your energy depletes in a day – maybe a set time of the day (at 12 pm) or maybe correlated to an event (after a call with a client). Make note of that and then schedule a non-negotiable self-care activity for each day, related to that event/time.

Conclusion

Depending on your work style and personal preferences, one method might work better for you than another. The thing with self-improvement is that there is no ‘one-size-fits-all.’ You have to experiment and have enough self-awareness to be able to decipher what works best for you.

So what do you think you will try? Share any other tips that you have for incorporating self-care in a busy schedule!

If you are struggling to fit in self-care in your schedule, and you are feeling overwhelmed and burnt out, you can benefit from getting some support from an outside perspective. Book a call with me, and let’s see if we can get you moving in the right direction!

This is not a sales call. This is just a fun call for us to see where you might be stuck and how you can move forward. 

Pin for later! 🙂