5 Keys to Jumpstart Your Self-Care!
Let's face it, you are busy, and you are taking care of a lot of people besides yourself! Yet, part of you knows that when you take care of you, you are in a much better position to take care of all those other people in your life!
Here are five keys to jumpstart your self-care regimen.
Key #1: Start with the End in Mind
A woman I know recently interviewed residents at a local retirement community. One of the questions she asked them was "What three things most contributed to the quality of your life?" Out of 25 men, average age 74, not one of them mentioned anything about work.
Yet so many people put their extra time and energy into that piece. I heard somebody say once that there are so many people working 80 hours a week at jobs they hate to buy cars to impress people they don't even like and buy houses that they don't even want. Could that be the definition of insanity?
What would you like people to say about you when they are thinking back on your life? What might you wish you had done more of? What will you wish you had done less of?
When was the last time you stopped and asked yourself: "What do I want?" "What do I value?" "What do I need to do to live that?"
Take the time to answer these questions for yourself right now.
Key #2: Create More Balance in Your Life
A life that you love is a life that is balanced in a way that feels good to you. If you think about major areas of your life like work, relationships, family, and personal development - how are you currently distributing your time and energy among them? And how happy are you with that distribution?
So many people put time and energy into work while they're at work, and then put even more time and energy into it at home by replaying the day endlessly, and even waking up in the middle of the night worried about it! They're giving many more hours worth of time and energy to work than they realize.
Here's a fact. The more areas that you have in your life, the less prone you are to crisis in any one of them. Have you ever noticed how differently different people react to losing a job? Some people deal with it and move on pretty easily while others just crumble. What's the difference between those two people? One person has made work such a focal point of their life that when it is gone, they are gone. Which person are you?
If your whole identity is built around one piece of your life and you lose that piece, what's left? For some people it is work, for others it may be a relationship. For others, it is parenting. They've formed their entire identity around their kids, and when they grow up and go off to college, the parent has no purpose, no identity left.
What areas of your life would you like to spend less time and energy on? And where would you like to spend more time and energy?
Key #3: Journaling
Journaling is a great self-discovery tool. When you journal, solutions start becoming evident. Patterns become clear. And you have those wonderful "aha" moments where things start coming together for you! It can even provide release when you are feeling painful emotions. If you don't really enjoy writing, no problem! Just speak your thoughts into a tape recorder instead. The idea here is to keep writing or speaking until you clear out all the "garbage" and start having some really great insights. Just keep at it, and I promise they'll come!
Key #4: Meditation
Sounds complicated, doesn't it? Here's the good news: You don't have to tie your body in a knot or chant repeatedly to reap the benefits of meditation! The main point of meditation is quieting your mind. Just sitting quietly for a few minutes and focusing on your breathing will do amazing things for you! Here is some more great news for you - the more you do this, the easier it becomes; and the benefits of meditation are cumulative over your lifetime. Take it from me, a recovering "Type A" personality -- the best piece of advice I ever received about meditation was that it is very natural for thoughts to keep popping in. Just gently "wave them away" when that happens.
Key #5: Take a Nature Break
I'm sure you have noticed that being in nature is extremely relaxing. In fact, one stress-relief technique is to go outside and stare at a leaf for a minute or two. Sound a little silly to you? Try it and I guarantee you will feel more relaxed. When you are in nature, you cannot help but notice the beauty and abundance that is all around us. Nature engages all our senses and reminds us that life is so much bigger, and yet also so much simpler, than we make it out to be. It is a great way to bring a new perspective if you are feeling out of balance.
Jumpstart Now!
How much longer can you keep taking care of everyone else without stopping to replenish yourself? Why wait until you are "forced" to take a mental or physical health break by some breakdown or illness?
I know you are already good at making other people's goals and desires a priority. Where are you falling on that priority list? Are you even ON the list?
It is time to put yourself back on that list, and while you are at it, why not put yourself at the TOP? Think about how much more love and energy you will have to help others if you stop and "put your own oxygen mask" on first.
Take a moment right now and think about one thing you'd like to do for you as a result of reading this. It can be a little thing, like taking a few minutes of quiet every day, or something bigger, like changing how you are distributing your time and energy among the different areas of your life right now.
Now make an appointment with yourself to do it! I know that when your boss asks you to attend a meeting or your kids have a sporting event, you make the time do attend, and you put it in your calendar. Are you doing the same for you? It might feel funny at first, but you can make commitments to yourself just as you do to other people!
Congratulations on taking this time for you!
Here are five keys to jumpstart your self-care regimen.
Key #1: Start with the End in Mind
A woman I know recently interviewed residents at a local retirement community. One of the questions she asked them was "What three things most contributed to the quality of your life?" Out of 25 men, average age 74, not one of them mentioned anything about work.
Yet so many people put their extra time and energy into that piece. I heard somebody say once that there are so many people working 80 hours a week at jobs they hate to buy cars to impress people they don't even like and buy houses that they don't even want. Could that be the definition of insanity?
What would you like people to say about you when they are thinking back on your life? What might you wish you had done more of? What will you wish you had done less of?
When was the last time you stopped and asked yourself: "What do I want?" "What do I value?" "What do I need to do to live that?"
Take the time to answer these questions for yourself right now.
Key #2: Create More Balance in Your Life
A life that you love is a life that is balanced in a way that feels good to you. If you think about major areas of your life like work, relationships, family, and personal development - how are you currently distributing your time and energy among them? And how happy are you with that distribution?
So many people put time and energy into work while they're at work, and then put even more time and energy into it at home by replaying the day endlessly, and even waking up in the middle of the night worried about it! They're giving many more hours worth of time and energy to work than they realize.
Here's a fact. The more areas that you have in your life, the less prone you are to crisis in any one of them. Have you ever noticed how differently different people react to losing a job? Some people deal with it and move on pretty easily while others just crumble. What's the difference between those two people? One person has made work such a focal point of their life that when it is gone, they are gone. Which person are you?
If your whole identity is built around one piece of your life and you lose that piece, what's left? For some people it is work, for others it may be a relationship. For others, it is parenting. They've formed their entire identity around their kids, and when they grow up and go off to college, the parent has no purpose, no identity left.
What areas of your life would you like to spend less time and energy on? And where would you like to spend more time and energy?
Key #3: Journaling
Journaling is a great self-discovery tool. When you journal, solutions start becoming evident. Patterns become clear. And you have those wonderful "aha" moments where things start coming together for you! It can even provide release when you are feeling painful emotions. If you don't really enjoy writing, no problem! Just speak your thoughts into a tape recorder instead. The idea here is to keep writing or speaking until you clear out all the "garbage" and start having some really great insights. Just keep at it, and I promise they'll come!
Key #4: Meditation
Sounds complicated, doesn't it? Here's the good news: You don't have to tie your body in a knot or chant repeatedly to reap the benefits of meditation! The main point of meditation is quieting your mind. Just sitting quietly for a few minutes and focusing on your breathing will do amazing things for you! Here is some more great news for you - the more you do this, the easier it becomes; and the benefits of meditation are cumulative over your lifetime. Take it from me, a recovering "Type A" personality -- the best piece of advice I ever received about meditation was that it is very natural for thoughts to keep popping in. Just gently "wave them away" when that happens.
Key #5: Take a Nature Break
I'm sure you have noticed that being in nature is extremely relaxing. In fact, one stress-relief technique is to go outside and stare at a leaf for a minute or two. Sound a little silly to you? Try it and I guarantee you will feel more relaxed. When you are in nature, you cannot help but notice the beauty and abundance that is all around us. Nature engages all our senses and reminds us that life is so much bigger, and yet also so much simpler, than we make it out to be. It is a great way to bring a new perspective if you are feeling out of balance.
Jumpstart Now!
How much longer can you keep taking care of everyone else without stopping to replenish yourself? Why wait until you are "forced" to take a mental or physical health break by some breakdown or illness?
I know you are already good at making other people's goals and desires a priority. Where are you falling on that priority list? Are you even ON the list?
It is time to put yourself back on that list, and while you are at it, why not put yourself at the TOP? Think about how much more love and energy you will have to help others if you stop and "put your own oxygen mask" on first.
Take a moment right now and think about one thing you'd like to do for you as a result of reading this. It can be a little thing, like taking a few minutes of quiet every day, or something bigger, like changing how you are distributing your time and energy among the different areas of your life right now.
Now make an appointment with yourself to do it! I know that when your boss asks you to attend a meeting or your kids have a sporting event, you make the time do attend, and you put it in your calendar. Are you doing the same for you? It might feel funny at first, but you can make commitments to yourself just as you do to other people!
Congratulations on taking this time for you!
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