If you want to look and feel your best, have a lot more confidence, and shine, then, no matter how busy you are, you need to find time for a little self-care. Giving yourself some attention is not something you should feel guilty about, even if you do have children to consider. The fact is, we are in our best minds and able the make the best decisions for ourselves and our families when we are rested and feel good.
If we do not spend a little time and money on ourselves, we can become more and more stressed and burnout. This is not good for anyone, not you, not your children, your partner, your family, your colleagues, etc. So, it is important that you create for yourself a self-care regime that helps you enhance your quality of life and enjoy the moment more. To help you out, here are a few ways you can do that:
Practicing Gratitude
A great way to boost your mental health, focus on the positive things in your life, break away from negative thinking, and to perform a little self-care is to practice gratitude. Practicing gratitude is a way of becoming more aware of the good things in your life and allowing the happy feeling that these good things generate within you to infiltrate your mind and subconscious and, therefore to become a happier and less negative person. It is a pretty easy practice to get into. All it takes is some time and the willingness to try. The best time to do it is generally in the morning after you wake up. This is because it is a way to set yourself up for the day on the right foot. It doesn’t really matter when you do it, but the morning also tends to be when we are able to focus the best. After work is generally when we are tired and just want to switch off. So, in the morning, think of three things in your life that you are genuinely grateful for. Concentrate on these three things in turn. Really try and generate a good feeling and let that feeling lift your spirits. The longer you can do this for the better. It is a way of brainwashing yourself to become more positive, and over time you will notice a difference. Your whole life will become to look a little brighter, and you will be so much better for it.
Mindfulness Techiques
Like practicing gratitude, mindfulness techniques are about changing your thought patterns to make you a more relaxed, calm, and happy person who exists in the present. This is opposed to living in regret of the past and anxiety about the future. This is something that we all do to a laser or greater extent, and mindfulness techniques are a way to train yourself to let negative thoughts go and focus on your surroundings. Taking a walk in the countryside, or in a park, is a way to do this. Feel the breeze on your skin, the smell of the flowers, and the beauty of the things around you. Really notice the world. Another great way to practice mindfulness is through meditation. Meditation only needs to take about ten minutes, but you can reduce stress and help bring about a new perspective on life. You can learn a basic meditation technique pretty easily. All you need is some peace and ten spare minutes. Close your eyes and concentrate on your breathing. Try not to think of anything, but if a thought does emerge, then you just need to let it go without adding weight to it. The trick is to not let the thoughts spiral and let them float away as if they were never there. The more you can do this, the easier you will find it not to focus on negative things. Clearing your mind is a difficult thing to achieve, and it does take some practice, but it can help you in so many ways.
Sleep
Sleep is potentially a much underrated self-care therapy. Not sleeping enough over a sustained period can really affect you in so many ways. You will feel tired, obviously, and this is an all-encompassing feeling. You have a lack of energy; you get headaches; you can start putting on weight, you may even develop some serious health conditions, and a lot more. Sleeping also affects the way you look. When you are sleeping, the body gets to work repairing any cell damage from the day, it eliminates toxins, it also turns short-term memories into long-term memories, and a lot more. If you are not sleeping, then these important bodily functions cannot happen, and you become filled with toxins; your cells aren’t being repaired properly, and this can lead to wrinkles. If sleep is an issue for you and you do not have young children keeping you awake, then you need to address the issue. One reason could be that your sleeping space is cluttered. Clutter can cause stress and anxiety, and this can affect your circadian rhythm. Another reason could be that you have the wrong duvet and pillows. It may be time to upgrade these things to ones that are more cooling, or warmer, etc. Your lifestyle may also have a huge influence on your quality of sleep. Anyone who drinks coffee or tea too late is not going to sleep well. The same goes for people who drink alcohol too close to bedtime, or smoke cigarettes. If you do have an actual sleep issue, then a doctor may be able to prescribe some sleeping pills to help you develop a new sleeping pattern. Don’t let sleep issues run too deep, as this will affect your quality of life.
Get Treatments
A great way to give yourself some self-care is to get some treatments. These can be anything from a day at the spa, a facial, hair color and cut, and spray tan to cosmetic surgery. It may feel a little indulgent to have a spa day, but if you have a stressful life, you need some time to unwind and relax. Also, if you are unhappy about your appearance anyway, if you have discolored teeth, why not have a tooth whitening treatment? Just being able to smile with the stress of worrying about yellow, or crooked teeth is such a relief. This makes you feel a lot happier and more confident. If you have always been concerned about the size of your breast, breast augmentation surgery is a relatively normal procedure these days. Another popular treatment is lip filling, so why not talk to lip filler expert, Arash Akhavan M.D. If you have something that bothers you, why not find out if there is anything you can do to fix it? You have no idea how much better you will feel when the things that make you self-conscious are no longer a worry.
Connect with People
Do you spend any time really connecting with people? It is important that you have some real human connection to help with your emotional and spiritual health. Perhaps now is the time you start saying yes to all those social engagements rather than declining them, or maybe if you are quite lonesome, you should join a group or some social club to meet new people and connect. Another way to meet like indeed people is to start a hobby. What are you really interested in? Do you love writing? So why not join a creative writing class? Have you always wanted to learn about a certain aspect of history? Then why not sign up for a history class? Or do some reenactments. When you start to look, there are a lot of things out there for every personality type. So, decide what you really want to do, and start doing it. A hobby is a great way to build your social life as well as improve your life in many other ways too.
Exercise
One of the best ways you can practice self-care is to develop an exercise regime. Exercise has so many health benefits. This is in terms of both your physical and mental health. Exercise can make you healthier by boosting your immune system, by pumping blood around the body and organs, and bringing nutrients to them, including your skin. Your skin actually can appear younger through regular exercise as you are constantly detoxifying it and giving it a cycle of nutrients. Exercise is good for your mental health by increasing the levels of serotonin and dopamine in the brain. These chemicals are involved in your mood and your reward sensations. They are the things that make you feel good. Exercise can also reduce pain and make your body stronger so you can combat the signs of aging better. Working your muscles can prevent osteoarthritis, for example. Exercise can also prevent other illnesses like diabetes and some cancers. So, it is important that you start exercising to benefit from all these positive things.
##
