Do you care about your Self-Care?

Self-care is something we all know we ‘ought’ to prioritise.  But do you really care about your self-care?

If you’re like me, self-care usually the list thing on the ‘to do’ list at the end  of each week… that is, of course, until your body begins to protest by way of illness or dis-ease, and will insist on you taking rest and tuning INto you.  Does this sound familiar?

This is why we need a self-care plan. A self-care plan is an intervention tool that keeps you from being completely sucked into the vortex, saving you when you find yourself standing on the precipice gazing into a dark abyss. It’s a fail-safe, created by you, and filled with your favourite self-care activities, important reminders, and ways to activate your self-care community – even virtually. 

Making sure our own needs are met is as important as taking care of those we love most. When turning your attention toward yourself feels challenging, there are simple ways to move through the discomfort.

Here are my top three reasons to get on top of this plan, as early as you can (please don’t put it off!):

1) Customising a self-care plan is a preventative measure. By designing a roadmap that is unique to you, in moments when you’re NOT in crisis, you’re directing your best self to reflect on what you may need (and have access to) in your most challenging moments. The reality is that only YOU know how intense your stress levels can get and what resources are available to you. Write that sh*t down.

2) Having a plan takes the guesswork out of what to do and where to turn in moments of crisis. From a mindfulness point of view, it helps you respond instead of react to the situation at hand. When you have a plan in place, you’ll feel more in control of your circumstances and life won’t feel quite as chaotic. (It also makes it easier to ask for help from those you share your plan with.)

3) A self-care plan helps you stay the course. You’ll find it far easier to stick to your personal care strategy and avoid falling into the trap of making excuses. Having a plan helps you establish a routine, ensuring that you and your self-care partners don’t wind up in isolation, but rather check in with each other (even if it’s virtually these days), hold each other accountable, and share the responsibility to support one another. 

Here’s a sample of one of the many meditations I personally deliver as part of my Calm Your Farm program. It’s designed to give you one full month of short and impactful guided meditation practices to integrate into your daily routines and into your life, and ultimately to set a foundation for continued and sustainable practice. When you register, you have lifetime access to these guided meditations to enjoy whenever you want, where ever you are. You’ll get an oasis of calm in this library of guided meditations that will help you sleep better, manage your stress, reduce anxiety and feel more clear and calm in everyday life. Click here for more details

Self-care is simply the process of taking care of your well-being. Self-care is a highly recommended practice for every human – and is doubly so for those who are recovering from or still facing some sort of challenges in life. It is personal and there is no one-size-fits-all plan for achieving it.

In simple language, a self-care plan is a process of writing down (in your calendar) the activities that would lead to or maintain a state of well-being. It involves listing out routines and activities, with time stamps and constraints. It is about planning how to go about your daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly life in the healthiest way possible.

To successfully tailor a self-care plan specifically for your own needs, you need to first understand a few things. Essentially, there are six (6) major aspects of self-care, which exist for the six major aspects of your life respectively. They include:

1. Physical self-care– this encompasses all activities that keep you physically healthy and fit.
2. Psychological self-care– these activities help improve your cognitive ability – your coordination, awareness, and openness to life experiences in general. It also keeps you clear-headed and enables you to logically address complex and convoluted events as they arise.
3. Emotional self-care – these activities help you enjoy the richness of experiences in your life, heal from unsavoury incidents, and also create positive spaces for more enjoyment of life. 
4. Spiritual self-care– these are activities that bring about a sense of meaning and purpose to one’s life. They are, perhaps, the most personal of all self-cares.
5. Social self-care– this involves the health of your relationships – family, friends, colleagues, and so on. 
6. Professional self-care– these are activities that you perform to better prepare you to work effectively and efficiently. It helps you stay focused and achieve more on your career path.

So to conclude, one major factor when it comes to self-care is being consistent with the plan and its execution. Self-care shouldn’t be a measure to correct the problem, but a preventive measure – it needs to be a way of life that should be embraced and prioritised.

Also, note that you can always adjust activities in the plan to suit your current situations. So, ensure to remain sensitive to the changes that might occur in your life.

Enjoy creating your self-care plan.  Let me know how you get on. 

I care about your self-care!

With love,