Incorporating Self-Care Into Your Daily Routine

A little self-care can go a long way toward improving your mood and turning a bad or stressful day around.  Here are a few things you can do to set yourself up for a better mood and to center self-care in your day-to-day life.

• Get Enough Sleep. Set your alarm to go off about an hour before you need to get into bed. Turn off all electronics, turn down the lights. Set your thermostat to a comfortable overnight temperature, if you’re able to. Avoid eating too late. If it helps you to calm down, get in bed with a good book. Getting a full night sleep is vital to waking up in a good mood. You will feel energetic and much more willing to start out your day without resentment.
• Get in Some Movement or Exercise Time. Physical activity is known to release endorphins to the brain. Endorphins are hormones that are responsible for making you feel happy. Find time for whatever type of movement gets your endorphins going–whether that’s a hard gym workout, a walk around the neighborhood, some dancing, or restorative stretching.
• Stay Hydrated. Dehydration can be responsible for headaches, dry skin, fatigue, and dizziness. The standard rule of thumb is to drink either half your body weight in ounces of water or try to drink 8 glasses or 64 ounces of water a day. Raw veggies and fruit can also be hydrating.
• Take Your Breaks.  Don’t pass on fitting in a work break where you can. Use this time to relax and focus on something else that makes you laugh or just sit down and breathe. If you work for yourself, try to schedule in 10 to 15-minute breaks at least every four hours.
• Ask for Help.  Asking for help can be challenging for some people but you should never be afraid to ask. Ask your friends and family to help you out every now and then to relieve some pressure off everyday tasks. More than likely they will be happy to help. If you are finding it hard to take care of yourself don’t be afraid to ask a professional either. Mental health is the most important.
• Learn to Say No. If you are overwhelmed, too busy, or just don’t want to do something saying no is perfectly fine. You have permission. Taking on too much work or doing things you don’t want to do leads to poor quality work and some unhappy people. Don’t do that to yourself. If you keep everything scheduled you can easily look at your calendar and say “No, that date doesn’t work for me”.
• Decompress. Take time out each day and relax. Get away from people or go get a massage, some coffee, or a cup of tea. Your time to decompress is important to a good attitude.

Feel free to adjust these ideas to your own individual needs and remember to make it simple. Some people find great comfort in knowing that they can take care of themselves, get away, and practice self-care without guilt because it’s something they have a right to do.

Create a Self-Care Survival Kit

A self-care survival kit is a personalized box of fun things to use to pamper yourself. When you are feeling sad, stressed, or just feel like it, pull this box out and enjoy. The survival kit will help you loosen up and just relax and feel a sense of self-pride. Making a kit can be just as rewarding as using one. This can be a fun activity to do with friends and family or even just by yourself to unwind.

The first task that needs to be done when creating this kit is finding a box or basket to put things in. Buy colorful markers, glitter, and ribbons to decorate the outside if you want to. This can be super creative or just simple. Decorate until you are happy with the way it looks.  Now it’s time to figure out what items to put in the survival kit. Essentially you want to fill it with anything that makes you feel good, brings a smile to your face, or relaxes you.

A good way to help you get started is by using all five senses as you fill your kit. Let’s look at a few ideas:

• Sight. Photos of loved ones, a favorite book or magazine, a list of affirmations, postcards from friends and family, or adult coloring books.
• Smell. Scented candles, incense, or essential oils in a scent that you find relaxing or invigorating can be a great addition to a self-care kit. 
• Hearing.  Favorite music playlist, an audio book, or a list of your favorite videos on YouTube.
• Touch. Anything that you can feel and want to touch. Avoid textures that make you uncomfortable. Cleansing or moisturizing facial masks, foot scrubs, calming lotions, stress ball or extra paper or a journal to write poems or thoughts. Silly putty and kinetic sand are other great stress relieving toys.
• Taste. Little treats like a piece of chocolate, a couple of pretzels, or nuts can go in your kit if those are snacks you enjoy; gum, flavored lip balm, mints and tea bags are also good options.

Add as many items in each category as you like. If there are certain categories you don’t care for feel free to avoid it. Maybe you want complete quiet when doing these activities so you might add in some ear plugs instead of music. You want to feel excited when you open this box so make it worth it.

Keep this box somewhere you can see it every day and easily get to. Don’t hide it away. This box is a way to remind yourself that you need time for you. The more you see it the more you will remember that you are just as important as everything else going on in your day. Eventually, it will become a good healthy routine. 

I hope this gave you some good ideas to inspire you to make self-care a part of your everyday life! I understand it can seem challenging, since I definitely still struggle with carving out time for self-care–I’m still working on putting together my “kit” but so far have added books, card games and affirmations–but don’t stress about it! We’re all a work in progress and the idea isn’t for self-care to be one more thing on our “to-do” list but rather something that brings us calmness and joy.  So, keep working on those small ways to make self-care a habit and feel free to share in the comments what daily self-care means to you! 

In the spirit of self-care, I’m taking the “extra” 5th Thursday in August to recharge, so there won’t be an August 31st blog post next week, but I’m excited to resume in September with a new theme.

Play is Important at Any Age

“Go outside and play”– lots of us probably recall hearing that phrase, or something like it, during our childhood.  But the importance of play doesn’t end when we reach adulthood. Play remains a vital way to stay young and young at heart. Play is important at any age.

Play is a wonderful way to distract us from our busy lives. With so many things tugging at our time, it’s easy to forgo play for responsibility. This leaves little time to explore, create, and use our minds in valuable ways. Though we get older, it’s important to keep play a part of everyday life. We can all imagine the benefits of play for children, but many of those benefits apply to adults:

• Play improves memory and preserves the mind. Play can help stave off mental decline and keep our minds sharp. Learning new things, expressing ourselves in creative ways, and engaging in activities that spark joy help the mind stay clear and focused. As a child, play helps synapses form and the brain to grow. As adults, play helps prevent the mental decline that comes from being mentally sedentary.
• Play boosts creativity. Being playful is energizing and boosts creativity. The more you play, the more creative you become. Learning new techniques, tips, tools, ways to express yourself actually helps you grow mentally. It is refreshing to explore an interest and play around doing creative things that bring you joy.
• Play reduces stress significantly. Rest is wonderful when you are stressed, but play can be just as beneficial.  Doing an activity that is fun releases endorphins which help your mind and body feel good. Enjoying a fun activity and playing can improve your mental health.
• Play helps with self-discovery. Learning who we are is an evolution that comes from having experiences and learning new preferences. You won’t know if skydiving is a passion if you never jump out of a plane.  (Having said that–I’m not sure if I’m ready to jump out of a plane quite yet! But I’m always looking for opportunities to get out of my comfort zone, so I guess I should never say never to skydiving!) Play can help us discover who we are and what we love simply by getting out and doing something fun.

Being playful shouldn’t be limited to childhood. Having fun, laughing, enjoying activities and self-expression through play is important for children and adults. Engaging in play is important for babies, the elderly, and everyone in between. There is no age limit for having a great time. 

Defining Play and Finding Some Fun!

If you’ve been out of the habit of playing, it might feel daunting. What is play, anyway? According to Google, play is the act of enjoying an activity for personal satisfaction rather than a practical purpose. So, that means play could be anything. That might feel overwhelming when you’ve been far too serious for far too long.

Defining play is more than doing a Google search. Defining play for you means defining what sounds like fun in your mind. Then, it’s off to find some fun. What do you love to do when there’s no limits on your time?  You likely know the activities you enjoy when you have free time–the things you do that make time fly by when you’re having fun. If you already have a good idea of what play means for you, all you need is to find new ways to have fun with it:

• Try a new spin on your current pastime.
• Take a class or go on a retreat.  (I wrote a couple of months ago about how attending the Black Woman Leading LIVE conference and retreat was transformative for my personal life and my business.  And while I drew inspiration from the other dynamic, accomplished Black women at the conference, the couple of other times I’ve taken a solo “retreat” to relax and reflect on my own were just as nourishing for me.)
• Buy new equipment or tools.
• Join a group or find friends who love the same thing.

There are plenty of ways to find fun and make the activities you already love even better. What is something you’ve always wanted to try? People find a million reasons not to do the things they want. We talk ourselves out of the fun that could make our free time much more interesting and give us a new and satisfying opportunity for joy. It’s important to try new things that pique our interest.

• Trying new things expand your mind
• Trying new things create variety
• Trying new things spreads joy
• Trying new things sparks creativity

Don’t hold back from trying something new and fun that you’ve wanted to experience!

Playful Habits Keep Life Interesting

Life can be serious, and the responsibilities can pile up making it hard to feel playful. Don’t let the serious side of life keep you from holding onto a playful mindset. There’s room for fun and silliness in nearly all situations. Keeping a positive attitude and looking at the lighter side of life can help you:

• Avoid depression
• Build better relationships
• Encourage others

 All in all, a playful mindset helps you manage life by finding outlets to relieve stress through play. Developing playful habits can help you find the fun in any situation and model a playful attitude for those around you. Here are some playful habits that make routine situations more fun.

• Dance it out! Music is a universal language that everyone knows. Dancing is a wonderful way to build play into your everyday life. Start the day with music and dance your way through breakfast. Host an impromptu dance party after dinner with your family. Feeling stressed? Dance it out and encourage those around you to join in.
• Travel games. Driving in the car is a great opportunity to connect with your friends and family. Play fun games with one another. Try an I Spy game with younger children or a trivia game with teens and adults. Make travel time fun by playing in the car.
• Positive humor. Use positive humor to lighten things up. Make a habit of telling a corny joke every day and encourage others to join in. Listen to comedy podcasts, watch comedies on television, and use humor as an ice breaker when meeting new people.
• Silly vulnerability. Many people are afraid to be silly. They stay composed at all times and rarely let other people see them laugh. It’s important to be silly and vulnerable enough to look foolish now and then. Don’t let the fear of other people laughing keep you from having fun and letting loose. Practice being silly, laughing, playing, and having fun on a regular basis.

Being playful keeps life interesting and having playful habits normalizes a playful lifestyle. Make play part of your everyday routine. Engage your friends and family in silliness and fun so everyone can benefit from a healthy dose of play in their lives.  It’s an important part of self-care, and best of all, play doesn’t have to cost a thing!