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Self-care is so important! If you’re new to the blog then this is the first thing you should know about me. I place a high value on self-care simply because it has many positive health benefits. In addition to having many positive health benefits, self-care is by far one of the easiest ways we can actually take care of ourselves. While it does require time and effort, it also always revolves around something that you enjoy doing. So instead of feeling like you’re setting aside an hour of free time to do “work” or get “physically active for your health”, it often times feels as though you’re setting aside an hour of free time for personal use.
This hour of free time for personal use is the time that you actually use for personal use. Just instead of maybe sleeping or sitting on your phone scrolling through Facebook you’re doing something good for your health and wellness. This can include all areas of our health and wellness, such as our mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual parts, or it can include only one area. Either way this intentional hour you have chosen to use for engaging in self-care will be the hour to recharge yourself for the day, and motivate you to make a daily habit out of doing so.
There are a ton of reasons as to why I’m such a big supporter of engaging in daily self-care. I’ve even created a list of 50 of the best self-care activities anyone can do, but I’ll share my top 3 with you instead.
- It’s relaxing
It doesn’t matter what type of self-care you do or how you do it, when done right it’s so relaxing. It’s the perfect technique to take away stress, to recharge yourself of energy, to get a clear head, and help bring yourself to your center. Most importantly it’s the ultimate reminder of how precious our health and wellness are. It’s a gentle reminder to be good to ourselves. The more conscious we are of how we’re caring for all areas of our health, the more those critical areas will thank us and be kind to us in the long run.
- It’s fun
Self-care can be really fun when you take away the pressure to see results from it. When engaging in self-care your main focus should be on setting a positive intention that you would like to achieve when you’re done treating yourself to some TLC. For example, you could set a positive intention that after engaging in one hour of yoga, you will learn something new about the way your body moves that you didn’t know before. That way when you’re engaging in the yoga practice your full attention is on how your body is moving. When the yoga session is up maybe you will have learned something as simple as your ability to hold a plank position for 10 seconds, which may have been 5 seconds longer than what you were able to do a month ago.
- It’s personal
Perhaps the most benefiting thing about engaging in self-care is the fact that it’s completely personal. You choose the activities you want to engage in and for how long. No one gets to tell you how long you need to be focused on the present task at hand, unless you’re participating in a class like group meditation, in which the activity is still a choice you have made all on your own. Everything is on your terms and the only rules you have to play by are the ones that you make. This makes the practice of self-care carry a much deeper meaning than just “looking after my health and wellness”. It holds the commitment to be good to yourself simply because only you know the activities that are going to make you feel good about yourself.
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I know this seems a little silly but I promise, it’s all true. If you’re new to the whole practicing self-care routine I know exactly where you’re coming from! I was once there too, a very long ago. In fact, I spent most of my life not knowing a thing about self-care, what it looked like, and why it was so important. Upon learning a little bit about it at first glance I use to think that it was a complete waste of time, and that there was no point in engaging in such a practice because the results weren’t long lasting.
Man, oh man was I wrong! Self-care matters, it is important, it’s not a complete waste of time, and the results can be long lasting if you allow them to be.
Of course, all forms of self-care don’t have to be anything psychical, so if you’re not the exercising type you don’t have to become the exercising type to engage in effective self-care. Remember self-care is relaxing, fun, and personal. There are many different types of self-care you can engage in which do not require you to spend an hour working out. In fact, there’s a very easy solution to getting the most care out of your personal hour for engaging in self-care.
That easy and simple solution is by creating your very own self-care kit!
You’re probably wondering what a self-care kit is? Well to put it simply, a self-care kit is a basket or box of some sort where you store your favorite self-care tools. These can be things such as face masks/skin care products, your favorite movies, or even your favorite teddy bear that you like to cuddle with whenever you just need something soft to hug for 10 seconds or less.
Of course, you can fill your self-care kit with anything and everything that is comforting for you. Remember, the main goal of self-care is to be relaxing, fun, and totally personal. So naturally your self-care kit will look a lot different from someone else’s self-care kit. Now sure how to go about creating a self-care kit? No worries, I’m going to share with you the super quick and simple 3 step process about how you can create the perfect self-care kit for yourself!
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Step 1 – Find something to hold all your items
The first thing you are going to want to do is find the perfect storing box for all your self-care items. If you’re anything like me and are motivated by colors, patterns, and designs, then you’re going to want to find a storing box that fits those descriptions. If you’re not motivated by colors, patterns, or designs, or you don’t really have a preference, then anything that is appealing to you will do just fine. However, you want to make sure that whatever box you are choosing to store all your self-care items motivates you to reach for that box every time you intend to engage in self-care. You do this by making sure you box stands out among everything else in your home/space/area. The main goal here is to make your self-care kit box visually appealing for your eyes only.
Step 2 – Decide what to put inside
Since this is personal for you, you are going to want to fill this box up with things that fuel you in a positive way. Again, a self-care kit is completely personal so items you may choose to have in your box are going to be items that others may not have in theirs. No worries and definitely no comparisons! These items need to be things that bring you happiness and calm. Some ideas you can include in your self-care kit are:
- Your favorite color nail polish
- Your favorite book
- A scented candle (a relaxing and calming scent)
- Your favorite blanket
- A journal to journal your thoughts
Everything that is included in this box needs to be things that are calming to you. You’re going to want to be able to go to your self-care kit whenever you need a mental and emotional break from the world. So fill it up with some good things!
Step 3 – Find the perfect place to store it
You can’t just store your self-care kit anywhere. You have to put it in a place where it will be safe, and it won’t get lost among a bunch of other boxes you have laying around. More importantly you are going to want to place your self-care kit in a place that is relaxing to you, so ideally wherever you would like to engage in that hour of self-care. For example, I like to recharge and engage in my self-care activities in the comfort of my own bed. So naturally I store my self-care kit in one of the drawers right next to my bed. That way it’s already where I want to be when I need to take a break from the world, and I have a quick and easy access to it.
Are you interested in learning more about health and wellness? If so check out my FREE Live Well Health and Wellness email course where I’ll teach you how to create a personal and effective wellness routine for your everyday living.
Simple enough right? That’s literally all there is to! It may seem like something small in the beginning, but the more you use it the more you will begin to appreciate its existence. You’ll also see that as time goes by, and you discover more things to add to your self-care kit, your current one will either slowly become bigger over time, or frequently be replaced with new items.
Whatever your poison treat yourself to the gift of self-care. You deserve it.
Do you have a self-care kit? If so what’s inside it? Share with me in the comments below!
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-Xo
Kimora