The majority of us don’t spend enough time looking after ourselves or making our lives happier. We confuse self-care and happier life with hard work, earning money, fancy clothes and fancy things.
Some of us even put self-care on the back burner because we confuse it with saving up money and planning a month-long Yoga, meditation retreat – the build-up which creates more stress, anxiety and leaves us feeling less happier for it.
Overthinking and planing your “self-care” often leads to feeling run down. In reality, taking some time and focusing on yourself can be as simple as taking a leisurely stroll with your favourite flavour of ice cream – WITHOUT worrying about calories or your hand covered in melted ice cream, because you deserve it.
During COVID-19, when many of us have more free time than we know what to do with, self-care and self-improvement and finding ways to make ourselves feel happier seem to be the last thing we focus on. Instead, we share notes about how stressful life is and how being at home is a punishment.
In fact, this is possibly the best time to focus on yourself, self-care, self-love, personal development and finding cheap, free ways to make you feel happier. Below are 6 simple things you can start immediately to move forward on your path to self-care and well being.
1. Create Your Action Plan
Self-care practice is meant to be unique to you. Don’t fall victim to mimicking what someone else is doing because it looks cool, or catchy. Instead, take time to do something every day for yourself.
Make a list of daily activities you would like to practice to take a break from the rat race and reconnect with yourself. Choose any of the self-care practices below and practice it on a regular basis, or anything else that may occur to you.
2. Be Happy
Well, that’s the whole reason for this article but we know, it’s easier said than done. If you needed any other incentive, research has now shown that being happy is directly linked with feeling healthier. Happiness triggers feel-good hormones in your body that reduce stress and anxiety, and those hormones in tune also make you feel happy…ier.
Another medical advantage of being happy is that it may even prevent diseases including heart disease.
Find a simple daily ritual or memory you can bring up that makes you happy. And since smiling is contagious (no scientific data on this one) pretty soon you will be surprised by filing happy people.
3. Meditate and be happier and freer
The easiest and cheapest (FREE) way to do good for your mind and body is through meditation. All you need is a few minutes of focus and quiet and you can relieve stress and be happier.
Because of the calm and centeredness brought on by meditation you will become more compassionate towards yourself and others and have increased emotional stability. All of which naturally steer us towards having a more fulfilled and good qualify of life. Meditation is easy to do and can be learnt through practice over time, the best part is you can do it during your lunch break and its benefits continue even after you’ve finished.
Mediation, it’s something we all can do.
4.Dance Your Way to Self-Care
One of the best ways to let loose is to just get up and … let loose, do a crazy dance, you’re not on dancing with the stars so no one is judging you. Let loose, shake your labs and feet and be free.
An improvised dance routine like this will not only burn calories but will lead to better mood, body image and self-appreciation. This will translate to a better quality of life, lower risk of mental health issues. All that dancing might also make you some funky mates which is only ever a good thing.
5. Feel the Positive Vibes
Everybody needs their own soundtrack, if you don’t have one here’s an incentive to start one. Research shows that listening to happy music assists in stimulating creative thinking.
Additionally jamming out to good music can lift your mood, make you feel positive, motivate you to exercise and lead to improving physical and mental health.
6. Eat More Fruits and Veggies
Bring the colours and vibrancy of nature onto your dining plate. Eating more fruits and veggies is a great way to practice self-care all throughout the day. My eating different fruits and vegetables we can get all the necessary vitamins for our organs.
Some examples are that berries boost our brain health, peppers may reduce the risk of Parkinson’s disease and spinach, broccoli and leafy greens are good for our digestive organs and cleanses our blood.
The benefits of fruits and vegetables are endless and you can find these on many websites. Here’s the best way to cook them for preserving nutrients. Neat.
These 6 points are things that you are already familiar with or do sometime during the week anyway. By making them an incorporated part of your well-being routine and knowing that these aren’t just casual timeouts but actually doing you amazing benefit and you will enjoy them and look forward to them more now.
