How to Start a Self-Care Habit
How do we start a self-care habit? This seems like an easy question but it’s not so easy to answer. There is often talk of self-care and how we need self-care. The question is how do we apply it in a personal way to our lives? How do we reduce the “noise” in our lives enough to allow us to find personal self-care?
What is Self-Care?
According to the dictionary self- care is defined as
“The practice of taking an active role in protecting one’s own well-being and happiness, in particular during periods of stress.”
That sounds simple enough. Take an active role in protecting our health, well-being and happiness, but in reality how do we accomplish it? I find that it is a struggle to start a self-care habit and keep it in place. The pace of life keeps getting faster, there seems to be so much to do and so many competing interests.
Discover What Brings Restoration
To start an enduring habit of self-care the question we need to ask ourselves is “What brings me joy?” We must find the things in our lives that bring restoration, mental rest and relaxation. This is different for each of us.
For many of us, especially those who are extroverts, being around other people can be very restorative. It can bring feelings of renewed energy and joy. But for those of us who are introverts, time away from high stimulus environments and people is the best way to recharge. It’s having time to be by ourselves, “to shut off” that brings true renewal. This being said, we don’t need to put ourselves in a category. We must build awareness of ourselves, knowing what we need to help us find true restoration.
Personally, creative time is what truly brings me restoration. This restoration comes in more than one way. I love art journaling and continue to work on my fine art skills but those are not the only source of creative restoration. I play multiple instruments and am an avid photographer. The creative process is important for my self-care. Hours can go by and I barely notice because I’m so engaged in creativity.
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Prioritizing Your Time
We all have more than one role in this world. Our identity shouldn’t just be in what we do for work. We may be a spouse, a sibling, a parent, a friend. With each of us having these multiple roles, how do we fit self-care into our lives?
We must make the choice to prioritize our time to develop a self-care habit. This isn’t always easy. It’s so easy to be sidetracked by unplanned situations. Creating a self-care habit that we can maintain long term can be very challenging.
Building a self-care habit doesn’t have to take a lot of time. It can be as simple as putting 15 minutes a day of uninterrupted time in your calendar. Maybe it’s using your lunch hour at work to do your self-care activity. Perhaps you can do this activity when you are waiting to meet someone. We must find ways to fit it into our lives.
For my personal self-care, I create moments throughout the day for restorative activities. Since artistic expression is the core of my self-care, I carry around a small journal, pens, pencils and an eraser in my purse. This allows me to take self-care moments at any time throughout my day.
I will pull out my journal to do sketches when I’m meeting friends who are running late. It’s great when you are waiting for an appointment. Instead of those times of waiting being something that brings frustration or anxiety, it can be an opportunity for self-care.
Being Purposeful With Your Time
One key to being successful in a self-care habit is to be purposeful with your time. I used to feel that I never had time for self-care, I was working long hours and had a long commute. I had many moments of feeling like my life was work, eat, sleep and repeat. I felt resentful and trapped in that life, but one thing I wasn’t willing to admit to myself at the time was that I had made a choice.
We must make the choice to be purposeful with our time. We need to carefully assess the situation, understanding that every time we say yes to one thing, we say no to something else. There is always so much to do and there can be so much pressure.
Do we decide to be purposeful with our time by asking ourselves “What is this time giving us?” Is it bringing joy or is it bringing with it exhaustion, depression and anxiety? We can so easily fall into patterns and it’s hard to break out of them. We need to choose self-care purposefully and realize that it might require some sacrifice. This may mean saying no to things you really wish you could say yes to. It’s choosing what life we want to create, what life we want to live. At the end of the day, it’s our choice, not others.
Just Try
Falling out of a self-care habit is easy and can feel even harder to get back into it again. We must continue to try and keep trying until we succeed. It’s not about having the perfect self-care habit or waiting for motivation. Keep trying and with trying the motivation will come.
Self-care must be seen as important. By finding restoration and caring for ourselves, it helps us be better spouses, partners, parents and co-workers to those around us. That is something that we all need in our daily lives to bring us joy and purpose.
What About You?
Do you have a strong self-care habit? If so, I’d love to hear what it is! I would love to hear your impressions on this article and how you are working to find self-care in your daily life. Please comment below of contact me directly. I’d love to hear from you!
