With the holidays behind us, now is the perfect time to restart self-care routines. It is all too easy in our busy, modern world to fall behind on the daily routines we carve out for taking care of ourselves. The extra stress of Covid, taking care of our loved ones, keeping up with our jobs and other activities can keep us very busy focused outward. When the telltale signs of personal neglect appear like increased anxiety, sleeplessness, depression or illness, it is our body telling us it’s time to focus on ourselves.
Take a few minutes to read the following simple suggestions on how to restart self-care practices. You’ll be glad you did.
Start Small
At some point, we realize that our self-care regimen has vanished or nearly vanished from our daily routine. We think, okay I’m going to restart self care routines today by picking up where I left off. This may work for some people, but others might discover it feels to hard, too challenging to change courses again quickly. Like dieting, we often need to ease our way into a healthier lifestyle, cutting back slowly on unhealthy eating habits.
Instead of returning to where you left off jogging, swimming, drawing, meditating, or doing whatever other self-care activities you enjoyed, try starting small. In fact, consider starting from the beginning! Pick one small activity you enjoy, like reading a good book each night before you go to sleep. Simply commit to read a chapter each night, and pat yourself on the back when you do. You’ll find success breeds success and before you know it you’ll be back in the groove.
Get Help to Restart Self-Care
If you are recovering from an illness, surgery or some other extreme event in your life, you may need the assistance of a professional to restart self-care. This is even more important if you needed the help of a medical malpractice attorney. In other words, asking for help is self-care. Whether you need full time care or someone to run errands for you, restart self-care by picking up the phone and asking for what you need. Going it alone is not always the wisest thing to do!
Do Your Best
You’ll note that we stated “do your best” rather than “do everything perfectly.” There should be no reason to feel like a failure or depressed about your life as long as you do what you can do to take care of yourself. It’s okay to be feel happy and content just knowing you’ve done your best.
Be Thankful
Once we recognize that we need to restart self-care, it’s no longer necessary are advised to keep dwelling on why we stopped int he first place. Life happens! Take a few minutes throughout your day to think of one thing you are thankful for. It can be small. It does not need to be a momentous ting. You will begin to notice that when you do express gratitude for what is, your spirits will lift and it will become easier to restart self care. The things in your life that you are thankful for might include: being alive, friends, a new grandchild, the sunshine, a blossoming plant, the fact that you’re taking steps toward better health and wellness, that you have a place to live and food to eat. Each day you take the step to be thankful you will find your list is growing longer and longer.
Life is good. Sometimes we just have to pay attention to why we enjoy a little more than what we don’t. Not only that, but positive thinking connected with gratitude can lift your mood. This makes it just a little easier to be happier and at peace.
