At the beginning of every year, most of us make resolutions that we would take better care of ourselves. But that euphoria quickly dies off just as February arrives. Leaving us to wonder, “why do we fail so miserably at taking care of ourselves?” Experts have identified significant reasons including, time and social media.
1. Time
The truth is that practicing self-care isn’t easy. Most of us are extremely busy, having stressful jobs, and simply don’t have time (for ourselves). And I don’t fault you, (I’ve been found guilty too). Trying to keep up with life can be hard, there are too many things waiting to be done for you to want to take a break. From your job to the grocery store, to the house, to helping your kids with their homework, keeping up/updating online life and social media, to catching a few hours of sleep, to dropping the kids off at school and do the job again. Rinse, repeat. All-year-round. A lot of people don’t have the luxury of time to take a break and re-energize.
2. Social Media
Studies by therapists and self-help experts have blamed social media as the leading cause of the failure by a lot of people to take better care of themselves. According to an article by Tech Engage, which I found quite interesting, studies by Facebook showed that users were happier when they quit social media. LOL!
The main issue for some people is that they are stuck to their phones all day and have no time to do anything else. Some people have online businesses, social media blogs, and large followings and feel the need to keep their social media presence alive all the time. Being offline for some hours seems like an insurmountable hurdle for these people and lots of other people, which prevents them from taking a much-needed break.
The importance of self-care and wellbeing in human life can never be overemphasized. We tend to want to take care of every issue and everything, but then it comes down to taking better care of ourselves, a lot of us fail miserably.
Self-care is vital for well-being, both mind, and body and are essential for a better quality of life. We need to take better care of ourselves, physically, nutritionally, mentally, emotionally, socially, and cognitively. Self-care is not exclusive to just one thing; it could be seeing a therapist, taking a day off everything, yoga, or anything that makes you feel relaxed and rejuvenated. To be able to do this I know we have to be able to clear our schedule and be in the right frame of mind to relax.
It’s a digital world now, and everything is evolving towards making life as easy as can be. A friend introduced me to Self-care, self-help, and productivity apps that help you clear your schedule faster, accomplish tasks, and help you stay balanced as you navigate this journey called life. You can literally have them on hand in your pocket via your phone. So, In addition to sleeping better, reducing stress, making positive affirmations, eating healthy, I would recommend you meditate, Go offline. Spend a day tech-free, fix a problem yourself, exercise, relieve stress, and read a book. And here are some tools to help you achieve these goals.
1. Headspace
Headspace is a great self-care app that helps you meditate and keep your mind healthy and clear.
For me, I have both an online and offline business, this can be overwhelming sometimes and can cause me to shut down completely, I would switch off my device for days, ignore deadlines and lock myself indoors because I was just overwhelmed with everything. Then I sought help and discovered; I was doing too much without rewarding myself with a little care, not giving my mind time off or caring for my wellbeing. That was when I found headspace.
With its very soothing and relaxing guidance voice, you can find some general meditating under the Basic meditations. For a quick meditation fix, you can find short meditations. There is also specific meditation guidance tailored to different situations such as stress, relationships, sleep. The meditation voice behind Headspace is so soothing; I already feel relaxed and soothed just writing about it. It would make you feel more relaxed and at ease in no time.
Headspace is free, but to get access to hundreds of more meditations, you would have to subscribe.
2. BHIVE Nectar
BHIVE Nectar is a self-help app that helps clear your schedule and make times for you to go off and take care of yourself. Sometimes the best step towards self-care is to just go ahead and create time!
Nectar helps solve the problem by taking your social media tasks away from your hands and giving you enough time to step away from the daily online grind of finding relevant content and posting on your social media. It is a platform that automatically searches and posts smart trending news on whatever time/topic you choose, on your LinkedIn and Twitter for you. There’s no work required. You get an exclusive 14-day trial by signing up. The app is web-based, so no download or credit card is required for the trial. This app is useful for professionals in Real Estate, Finance, Business, Legal, Administrative, Social, and other spaces.
Nectar has a mindful aspect to it because it allows a lot of social media addicts to disconnect from the social space without entirely being inactive. This would now create enough time for you to do activities towards making your body and mind happy and balanced.
3. Movical
This is a personal favorite because I am a tech person that always gets stressed out with tech problems. I feel pleased including this because I know first-hand how stressful and distressed I got when I had a locked phone issue. Not suitable for your mental or emotional wellbeing in this digital generation. And there is hardly enough time to seek out professional help.
This self-help tool is a web-based app that enables you to take care of your device technological issues without having to take time out of your busy schedule to seek out someone. There are lists of phone models; all you have to do register for an account and get code from professionals to unlock, repair or reset your phone within minutes. You can solve your technological needs with just one click, go on movical and follow the steps to register and get access to your own personalized control panel without the hassle of going to the repair store. It takes a few minutes to solve your tech issue, and you are back to your relaxing day. I had to add this because it has proved really handy and helpful for me.
4. Magic Workout
Don’t have enough time to go to the gym? I know, some people do not have enough time left in their day to squeeze in a visit to the gym. Gym visit can be like luxury time. With this app, you can dedicate 3 minutes of your time daily to get in a bit of instructional exercise and keep fit on the go.
The whole point of self-care is to stay healthy, in both body and mind. While you are taking care of the mind, do not forget your body too. This app is great because it breaks down exercises into simple, easy, and progressing moves. You have a few seconds in-between to take breaks, and the whole daily routine doesn’t take much time. As you progress daily and get used to it, the time increases little by little until you are quite the expert and happy with the results. It even makes multiple days challenge and keeps count of calories estimated to have been lost and your consistency. I feel rewarded every time I see how far I’ve come. It’s a real morale booster.
You can even start a fitness challenge with a friend. Don’t get overly competitive about it; make it fitness fun, no pressure at all.
5. Happify
Happify is a self-care app that helps help you reduce stress and manage negative feelings and thoughts. The name says it all really. It’s a really great app that is fitted to a lot of emotionally downing situations we experience a lot. Whether you’re dealing with a stressful boss, insensitive co-workers, or just having a bad day, this app with its science-based games and activities helps you stay positive and takes care of emotional well-being. There lots of categories depending on what would best soothe your situation. You can find self-confidence building categories or build your mindfulness through meditation. You can use the app for free, but to have access to additional features, you would have to subscribe.
6. AnyBooks
I feel pleased adding it to this list because I absolutely love it. LOL! I love reading, I’ve always loved reading, and so I’m always looking to convert more people into readers. When someone sent me, my favorite author, Mary Higgins Clark’s book as a gift via this app, I found app love.
There is an excellent collection of books here to keep your cognitive and witty state active and healthy. Mental and Cognitive wellness is very important, and my routine when I start feeling stressed includes reading a book or two to relax and rejuvenate me for more tasks and activities. You can download the app, which is free and gives you access to books which are uploaded by its users. I have done a lot of relaxing on this app.
In conclusion, Self-care and self-help are not selfish. Do not feel guilty to take care of yourself. Taking just a few minutes of the day to focus on, you will make you feel better physically, mentally, and emotionally. And always remember to reward and treat yourself to a special reward after you’ve accomplished something. This could be a spa and massage day, binging on Netflix and your favorite dessert, buying something for yourself, etc.
References –
Shape – https://www.shape.com/lifestyle/mind-and-body/how-make-time-self-care-when-you-have-none
Tech Engage – https://techengage.com/study-shows-facebook-users-happier-quit-social-network-month/
Bustle – https://www.bustle.com/p/7-self-care-apps-to-help-you-stay-balanced-in-2019-15643553
Did you find helpful self-help and self-care apps on this list? What is your self-care and self-help routine? Let me in on it.