What do you think of self-care? It takes too much time? It’s expensive? You don’t enjoy any of that stuff?

We all have a lot on our plates. The more we have to do, the more important self-care is. Self-care is NOT optional. It’s a hell of a lot more than spa days, hour-long candle-lit baths, and I don’t know about you, but it’s also not about manicures for me either (in fairness, that has a lot to do with the fact that I can barely spend an hour sitting still in a chair getting my hair cut, let alone any longer at the salon!).

Self-care is for mental health.

For me, it’s all about clearing out my head and an important part of my work-life alignment. I take the time each morning and evening to set myself up for me. What we think, is how we feel. Because of my illness, I can sometimes have terrible nights and wake up in a grotty mood, even though I’m a morning person! But, just because I woke up grumpy, doesn’t mean I have to stay that way.

I try to tidy my mind the same as I tidy my house. There’s good reason why they say you can tell a lot from someone’s mind from the state of their house and/or cluttered desk = cluttered mind. I do have some disagreement with this, though, as a creative I can’t always work with a completely tidy desk, and take inspiration from the items I have around me, but you get the point.

Everything that goes on in my head is my choice. So, I choose by:

In the morning:

• Journalling, clearing out my head, being mindful of my thoughts.
• Planning my day.
• What I want to accomplish today.
• Where I can find pockets of time in the day for myself.
• What I’m grateful for.

It is so much easier to be positive after the process.

At the end of the day I like to wind my brain down to help sleep better, and I take a few minutes to consider:

• did I accomplish what I wanted to?
• what about tomorrow?
• what went well?
• where did I create my feelings and energy from, especially who or what I reacted to…

A few ideas to take five minutes for yourself:

• Making a hot drink and spending a couple of minutes just smelling it. This works well with coffee, and peppermint tea.
• If you love sparkling water, buy some, and have lemon with it. I love sparkling water, but not so keen on the plastic bottles, and have invested in a machine instead.
• Use a hand cream or shower gel you love the smell of. Lemon is my fave.
• Putting on your make-up, or styling your hair.
• Cuddling your pet, partner, or kids.
• Light a candle/wax melt that you love the smell of.
• My mum counts to ten. I do the same, but smiling and singing the numbers.
• Take a few deep breaths with your eyes closed.
• Eat nourishing food.
• Give thanks for a few things you’ve received in your life, especially the not-so-good, there’s always a lesson to learn.

Please let me know your ideas in the comments below.

If there’s something that doesn’t feel right, or it may be something that you’re not really liking about yourself, take time to figure it out. Make feeling better a priority.

The care you give yourself and how you react to situations is your responsibility, it certainly isn’t selfish, so I ask you –

how can you care for you today?