Do you understand the importance of taking care of yourself? The reason why in order for us to give our best to those we love we must ensure we are doing the same for ourselves? Do you know what it means to take care of yourself?
I’ve been guilty of this for years and honestly, I’m tired of feeling this way!
I’m tired of feeling as though I’m giving so much more of myself to others, and very little to myself. I’m tired of feeling like I’m not appreciated for everything that I do, especially when I know it’s my own vices speaking to me. I’m tired of routinely doing all of the right things just to feel as though everything else is falling apart.
I’m tired of believing I’m not enough, and not giving myself enough room to grow into the best version of myself. I’m so tired of circling the drain of hopelessness, but I can’t seem to overcome this feeling no matter what I do.
Does this sound like you? Believe it or not this was me not too long ago. For years I carried this type of mindset with me everywhere I went and with everything I did. No matter how hard I tried I struggled severely with believing that I was more than enough as an individual to conquer the world on my own terms.
It wasn’t until I made the commitment to take better care of myself when this mindset began to change. Once I changed this mindset the whole world opened its doors for me, and once I took off running, I never stopped.
If you carry this kind of mindset with you currently it’s time to break free of the chains holding you back from growing into your full potential. How do we break free of this torture mindset? By taking better care of ourselves.
I’ve got 9 tips to help you get the done job!
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It’s time to break free!
You want to know how to better take care of yourself so that you can grow into your full potential? I wish I could tell you it’s such an easy process but the reality is it’s not! There is a lot of inner work that needs to be done in order to help you get there.
Before we dive into my tips, I want to first let you know why I believe it’s so important that we take care of ourselves.
Yes, taking care of ourselves allows us to give more of ourselves to others, but it also allows us to be able to have space to grow. I feel all too often we reach a point of comfortability and the desire to continue to grow and expand in all areas of our life becomes stagnant.
We get comfortable in the relationship, comfortable with our daily routine, comfortable with the goals we are setting, comfortable with the social groups we are a part of, and comfortable with our everyday way of living.
Of course, there is absolutely nothing wrong with being comfortable, but when we become too comfortable, we unknowingly began to limit ourselves in so many ways.
We limit ourselves in our goals, in keeping our relationships interesting and alive, in being spontaneous, and even in challenging ourselves to just be better. When this happens, we lose the drive and motivation to grow beyond our limits.
With no drive or motivation, you are not able to see beyond what is right in front of you or within your reach. If that’s what you want and you are 1000% content with where you are in life right now, then that’s great! I’m happy you’ve reached a fulfilling point!
If you’re not and you still want so much more for yourself, know that it’s possible. It may not seem like it now but I promise you it’s possible. In order to take that vision of yours and turn it into reality you have to first start making yourself a priority.
Take a hard look at how much of you, you are giving to yourself compared to what you are giving to others, and decide what needs to change in order to create balance. Decide what area of your life you need to start putting more of an effort into in order to take better care of yourself, and then proceed to make it happen.
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Socialize more
The people who make up our life is so important. We need social and emotional support at various points throughout our life, and for some throughout the day. When we are in need of such support, we want to make sure that we getting it from people who genuinely care and want to provide it for us.
These past couple of years I have come to understand the importance of having someone who is willing to listen when you need to be heard, and console you when you need to be centered.
Surround yourself with good like-minded people and be in constant communication with them. Talk to them daily even if it’s just to say “hi”. Plan fun activities to do with each other, even if it’s just having a movie night at your house. Introduce them to your family, open up to them about your life, your goals, your dreams, and trust that they will always be in your corner.
I know we all like to believe that we are so much stronger on our own, but we’re only as strong as the people who make up our life allow us to be. Sometimes that means you have to first be vulnerable before you can be shielded from all the bad, and that only happens once we become comfortable with frequently socializing with others.
Journal
This is no secret of mines. I talk about journaling all the time and I highly encourage you do adopt this habit right now! Journaling is so much more than just putting your thoughts on paper. When you journal, you are recording your life story, your truth, and you’re leaving a way for yourself to personally track your growth.
Journaling in a lot of ways can be very therapeutic. You have a safe place to write truthfully and unapologetically how you feel, and everything good and bad you experience. Doing so not only releases any built-up negative emotions you may be holding onto, but it also allows you to be able to grow from those experiences.
This is the kind release you can gain through journaling and it’s only the beginning. The possibilities are endless as to what you can really do when you take the time to record your life, and have your truth to tell when the time is right.
Rest
I can’t stress this enough! If you ever find yourself having a debate about whether or not you should stay up late and try to accomplish something, or go to bed and make another attempt at it tomorrow, choose tomorrow. Always, always, always choose tomorrow.
So much of our energy, emotions, and brain power rely on our sleeping schedule. If you’re the type who is not consistently sleeping anywhere from 6-8 hours a night, this needs to change now! When we rest, we are allowing our mind and body to have a chance to recover from all that we put it through during the day.
Even if you don’t do much during the day, so much of our mental, emotional, and physical health rely on sleep. It’s necessary to give our bodies a rest and a chance to be able to rebuild any energy that we may have exhausted for the day. If you have a hard time falling asleep early at night try this trick.
Instead of going to bed later wake up earlier than usual. This will give yourself more hours during the day to do more, and exhaust yourself more, that way when nighttime comes you are in bed earlier. I do this daily and it works every single time.
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Treat yourself
Plain and simple treat yourself. For years I struggled with rewarding myself whenever I had accomplished a major milestone in my life, I achieved a goal that was deeply meaningful to me, or I had a rough month and needed a special pick me up. This was because I had always thought of such an act as selfish.
It wasn’t until I began to really make bettering my mental and emotional health a priority when I started to understand that this wasn’t the case at all. In order to truly love and appreciate ourselves we have to be willing to reward ourselves when the shoe fits.
If you reach a major milestone in your life, reward yourself. If you achieve a goal that you having been working towards for a while, reward yourself. If you’ve had a rough couple of days, weeks, or months, rewards yourself.
The only way we can truly give our best selves to others is when we take the time to love on us, unapologetically, in ways that should never be expected from others. Treat yourself. Reward yourself. In whatever way makes the most sense for you!
Create a schedule
Having a schedule of some sort can be helpful in a lot of ways. Some of the ways are in knowing specific routines to follow for the morning, during the day, and at night. You can see what specific activities need to be completed on specific days, so you don’t run the risk of overwhelming yourself with doing too much in one day.
Schedules help to keep my anxiety and stress levels super low. This is because you learn to let go of the pressure of having to constantly go above and beyond. You learn how to focus on the here and now and accomplish all that you can. without over-doing it, in one single day.
It’s a great way to clear your mind of clutter and to instead just have a clear picture of where most of your energy is going to go for the day, and where you have more free time to invest in other activities.
Needless to say, it can help to create structure in your life and that structure will allow you to be able to see areas where you are lacking the self-love and self-care, and areas in your life where you are simply just doing too much.
Take a break from social media
Do not be afraid to unplug every now and then. This was a lesson I had to learn at the beginning of 2020. When COVID happened and the world went into a panic, I found myself sucking in every bit of emotion that was being thrown my way. I was constantly overwhelmed with emotions and was losing hope, motivation, and even the desire to try to resume my life in a normal fashion to the best of my ability.
It wasn’t until I made the decision to just unplug when all this changed. As someone who was never a big social media person to begin with, I found that spending even less time on social media did wonders for my mental and emotional health.
There was so much that I was able to focus on and do that didn’t require me having to entertain or busy myself with social media. I know social media is a way for us to feel connected to one another, and that’s a beautiful thing, but it’s also ok to step back and find other ways to connect with people that don’t require your phone. I encourage you to explore these many different ways.
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Stretch
I love stretching! I started stretching as a way to release my body of built up tension. I try to stretch all the time. When I wake up, before and after a workout, and even before I go to bed.
This can help you take better care of yourself by helping you understand that you are one with your body, and you are stuck with your body for life. In order feel, look, and perform at your best you have to take care of your body to the best of your ability.
Stretching is just one way you can accomplish improving the relationship you have with yourself. I encourage you to discover other physical activities that can help you do the same.
Listen to podcasts
Podcasts are so therapeutic and informative. I started listening to podcasts last year and I’ve honestly been hooked ever since. I have found this to be a great way to decompress, escape to a more educational and open-minded space, as well as connect with people on specific topics.
Listening to podcasts has also allowed myself to grow in ways I never thought possible, such as with my career goals, my health and wellness goals, expanding on my dreams, and even in ways I can improve the blog for you guys.
There are tons of podcasts you can listen to, to start your podcasting journey today. The top two I would recommend as a start are Listen Hunnay and Pretty Big Deal.
Listen to your body
Lastly, listen to your body. Your body will always tell you when it is in need of being taken care of. Don’t ignore the aches and pains, the fatigue, the lack of concentration, or the lack of energy. Don’t downplay your negative emotions, your loss of interest, or the decrease in your drive and motivation.
Pay attention to everything your body is telling you and then adjust accordingly. Your body knows when you’ve been pushing it too hard or you haven’t been giving it enough time to rest. It knows when you’re not eating right, you’re not exercising enough, or when you are stressed.
Listen and give it what it needs. This is by far the best way you can take better care of yourself. I hope these tips help you and give you some ideas on where to grow in your life. Do you have any tips to share?
-Xo
Kimora