A Simple Self-Care Routine to Change Your Life
A Simple Self-Care Routine to Change Your Life
Why Your Mental Health is Important
Your brain is consciously making decisions ranging from a smaller scale of everyday tasks in our personal life to a bigger scale of decisions in our work life. Throughout the day, if we aren't taking the proper steps to take a break, our mental clarity in the decision making process, awareness, and mental energy will decline. When this happens, we can start feeling sad, lazy, tired, upset, and irritable. Making sure you are taking proper breaks and have a secure self-care routine will help regulate your emotions much better.
Taking care of your mental health is a huge step towards improving every aspect of your life. It helps us feel grounded, be our better self in our work and personal life, and develops our self-esteem and self-respect.
Life-changing Mental Routine
When you are first starting off in your self-care and loving journey, keep it simple and short. The key here is consistency. Regularly doing your simple routine then adding to it will be your roadmap to your ideal self-care routine. The following are a few habits you can use to start off your self-loving routine:
1. Plan for Daily Me-Time
At the end of the day, find some time to just focus on yourself. What do you like to do to relax? For me, it's lighting some candles, incense, getting into some soft pajamas, and reading a book before bed. When I have a bunch of thoughts circulating around my head, a thorough deep brain dump helps me get everything out before bed. Journaling also helps me release. When I have time before dinner, I also count going to the gym as my me-time because it helps me clear my mind and focus on the exercise for that mind-muscle body connection. Drawing for art therapy also helps me express my emotions and get everything out if I'm feeling emotional that day. Art is also my creative hobby! What are some activities and hobbies you can think of that you can do to allocate for daily me-time?
2. Exercising is Good For Your Mental Health
As I mentioned earlier, working out for me helps me clear my mind. But did you know, exercising regularly for around 30 minutes a day not only can clear your mind but also releases endorphins which trigger positive thoughts and feelings! Exercising also directly impacts your self-esteem because when you look good, you also feel good--aka confident, strong, and accomplished.
3. Get Rid of Distractions and Take Actual Breaks
Before you sleep, think of all the things that distract you during the day. Plan on eliminating those little distractions throughout the day, such as mindless scrolling through social media and swap those moments with real breaks that allow you to actually relax.
The reason why we keep mindlessly scrolling and watching random videos online is because our brains are still being stimulated in those moments. We aren't getting an actual break. Taking a real break is going for a quick 10-15 minute walk outside, getting a workout in, meditating, calling your best friend, running a quick errand that doesn't require your brain or much energy, taking a shower or bath, and anything you can think of that sounds relaxing to you. Don't be afraid to experiment!
So next time when you wake up, don't just mindlessly start scrolling because this will leave you feeling negative after waking up. Instead, think of getting rid of the distractions the night before or early in the morning. That way, without the distractions, it’ll be easier to focus on staying on track to living your best life!
Set Long-term and Short-term Personal Goals
It’s important to know why you’re working hard or why you’re doing the things that you do. By setting long-term goals, you’ll be motivating yourself to persevere and keep on working towards your end goal. Setting short-term goals, on the other hand, is a way to pace yourself and celebrate the small wins.
It's important to set personal improvement goals to feel as though you are heading in the right direction. It is reassuring to know that everything you do is make you a better person. A self-care routine is also a personal growth routine. Learning to pace yourself, take breaks, and setting small to large goals helps us stay grounded and reassured that we are operating at our best self. You got this, Queen. I believe in ya.