Taking Care of yourself is a real challenge, especially when you are at your lowest. I have been there, prioritising everything else, but me. As I allowed and put myself on the low priority shelf, my health begun to crumble. I won’t sugar coat it. It was hard and it’s taken me some time to climb. I continue this journey and now also help and share with others.
Looking after yourself when you are well is prevention, but let’s not forget those days when we just “can’t be bothered.” Connect with the feeling why, understand where the low energy is surfacing from. Install a “pause button.” Allow 5 minutes to focus on “ME.” It may seem ridiculous taking these 5 minutes when you feel extremely rushed or busy, but the pay off is worth it so much more than you think. It allows you to catch your breath, reflect, and unwind. Whatever you were doing, it still be there, “work will not miraculously disappear, but you have a chance to refocus, shift your energy, rebalance.
Learn to look after not only your physical but also mental, spiritual self. Accept that some things take time, after all good quality wine needs time to age. In a same way, as we go through life, we acquire wisdom through experience.
5 minutes revitalise me tips:
1) Listen to your favourite song, however loud you feel like it, if you can get away without the headphones, even better. Engage in movement and sing your heart out if you like, smile. Embody these actions. Engaging multiple senses will help you physically rebalance and clear your mind. Play back of course if you love the feeling, build that emotion, energy up and release.
2) Hydrate and change the environment for example from inside – out. Stroll through your garden or have a coffee on the patio. Listen to the birds, become an observer and admire the beauty and quarkiness of this planet.
3) Download meditation app and learn to connect with your breath to ground yourself and ease and learn to manage stress. There are countless studies pointing out that taking the time to seek what’s within, we begin to embody attention, creativity, compassion. We align more with whom we are – an authentic self. Oscar Wilde wrote “be yourself as everyone else is already taken.”
4) Use your rebounder or outdoor trampoline. Loads of fun and a great energy booster for the whole family.
5) Light a candle or incense stick, pick up a book, magazine or even listen mindfully to your favourite podcast.
6) Stroke your furry friend, dog, cat, a rabbit or a fluffy pillow and concentrate how it feels against your fingertips, gliding through it. Take 5 deep breaths. Studies tell us that when we gently stroking animals, our bodies regulate the blood pressure, therefore supporting cardiovascular system to work efficiently, reducing cortisol. We learn how to manage emotions such as anger, frustration, empathy.
7) If you feel overwhelmed learn to say “No” rather than “Yes”. It’s ok to say “No” or cancel or adjust your plans. You are your number 1 priority and in order to help others you need to be well, you need to be number ONE. So next time when your body indicates have a break – take it and be unapologetically you. #selfcare X