In today’s day and age, it is all about the hustle. Most people not only work a full time job, but also have side-hustles to tend to outside of work hours. On top of that, we have families to take care of and social activities to participate in. It’s no wonder many of us eventually burn out! The best way to avoid this burn out is to consistently take care of ourselves with a self-care routine. To ensure you maintain peak mental and physical wellbeing, try integrating the following steps into your self-care routine
Sleep well
Thanks to our smartphones, we are all constantly at the beck and call of our bosses, leading many people to check their emails even when they’ve clocked off or work late into the night. What you need to do instead is honour when you are tired. The moment you start to feel tired, prepare to wind down for the night. Some easy ways to improve the quality of your sleep include turning off electronics about an hour before your bed time, reading a book, sipping some herbal tea and investing in a quality mattress or more affordable mattress topper.
Get moving
With many of us spending our days at a desk, it’s certain that we don’t get enough physical activity. While it may seem like a drag to do it at first, exercise is vital for taking care of the body and mind. However, make sure to choose forms of movement you actually love. There’s no point dragging yourself out to the gym if you find it to be excruciating, or sitting in a yoga class if you find it mind-numbingly boring. That would be the opposite of self-care!
Make sure you do push yourself out of your comfort zone, but don’t overexert yourself. Aim for 20 minutes of activity a day, from dancing in your living room to going for a walk in your lunch break. Soak up those endorphins!
Just breathe
You might be wondering why “breathing” is on this list, as it is the most basic activity of them all. In reality, many of us do not breathe deeply enough, always being on edge and so only taking shallow breaths. Instead, try breathing deeply from your diaphragm and see if you can follow the breath throughout your body. Whenever you feel yourself tensing up, take a one minute break to breathe deeply and feel your body unwind.
Plan ahead
Humans tend to pretty bad at meeting commitments to ourselves, but will bend over backwards to make our bosses, families and the rest of society happy. If you find that you always neglect your own needs, try scheduling your self-care routine into your day. Slot self-care activities into your calendar and set reminders to ensure that you treat these commitments to yourself as seriously as you do your work, family or community commitments. Maybe you need to schedule 30 minutes in the morning for exercise, or set a reminder for when you need to put your electronics away and pick up a book instead.
By establishing a self-care routine, planning ahead and honouring your commitments to yourself, you can steer clear of burnout and instead enjoy a healthy and balanced existence.
