How I practice self- care
Self-care is what keeps me sane, without self-care I cannot look after anyone else and as a coach that is everything that I do so essentially if I get it wrong, I cannot do my job. This is a distinction I think is important for anyone who works in the health and wellbeing space to get. Self-care is the foundation for your business.
So, are you looking for inspiration for how to practice self- care? Here are the things that I do to look after myself on a regular basis.
1. I meditate three times a day. Meditation occurs morning, afternoon and night. The morning meditation sets up my intention for the day, the afternoon meditation resets my mind and energy for how I want to turn up in life. I find this particularly helpful when transitioning from work to personal relationships while my evening meditation aides in providing a peaceful sleep so I feel the benefits of all my daily efforts. When I don’t meditate I really feel off balance, the tension in my back and shoulders (where I store a lot of my stress) rises, I get headaches more often and I find myself having less patience. Meditation doesn’t often go for long periods of time, my afternoon meditation usually goes for 5-10 minute while my morning and evening meditation is for 20 minutes. On the days were I don’t get my 3 in because I’ve been too busy or not made time for it I find that meditation time frames blow out and I end up needing 30-45 minutes of meditation to get the same effect. This is why whether I need it or not on the day I meditate anyway.
2. Exercise. Every day I make a point of exercising. In the past it always had to be the same kind of exercise, intense and heavy but nowadays I appreciate my body more and I mix things up. Often, I start my days with Latin dance and a weights session and end it with at the very least a walk. The Latin dance is especially helpful on days I feel like I’m in a funk and I need to lighten up as they make me giggle and they take the emphasis off how you need to look or how many repetitions or weight you need to achieve and instead simply let you enjoy movement.
3. Do something that gets me out of my comfort zone. For me this something is aerial yoga. I have only started it this year, but it’s taught me a lot about trusting your body. It often challenges me to get out of my head and just do things instead of thinking about what I’m going to do next which is incredibly powerful. My yoga teacher says, just let go and my head says ‘you can’t’ then the teacher says ‘do it’ and I go ok well I won’t know if I can’t unless I do it, so I do it. I often look incredibly goofy, sometimes I face plant, other times I probably look like some sort of retarded, twisted pretzel but I turn up for myself, learn something new and embrace seeing what my body can do and you know what- it continually surprises me and I love it. There are definitely many benefits from this activity and its why I keep going back.
4. Reading. Years ago in primary school a librarian gave me one of the crappiest books to read (I’ve even tried again as an adult and its terrible) and it killed my desire to read for pleasure. Since University I got my thirst for reading back but being in business and one that’s focussed on personal development took it to a whole different level. I love reading and learning more on a regular basis, I’m never mentally bored and I’m never not learning new thing about myself and that is why I enjoy it so much. Admittedly I read more self- help than I do business books but I do believe it’s the personal development behind a business owner that makes them more successful than those who don’t do it because they have greater awareness, can connect to others on another level and can share what they have learnt in the process as well and that is a journey people enjoy hearing about.
5. Travelling. I love to travel, and I’ve been lucky that when things have changed, health issues, natural disasters or human caused disasters in the world, I’ve still had the capacity to see the world whether it’s a small trip in my own state or redirecting to other countries. Travel is self- care for me because it always teaches me more about myself, helps me to learn new things, understand new cultures and again it takes me out of my comfort zone. For those that don’t travel I think you need to find that thing that gives you exposure to people from different cultures that isn’t work based because it will change your perspective on life. My life is rich because of the stories I’ve met from others I’ve met. Travelling often may seem to outsiders like it is an unnecessary expense but viewed from this lens it never is. I also wouldn’t be who I am today without being in a country without a support network and needing to be that person for myself, I don’t think enough people have a self-care habit that forces them to rely solely on themselves.
6. Journaling. THIS has literally saved my life. Journals have enabled me to say how I am feeling for my life whole, when people judged me, when people didn’t listen, when I didn’t feel like I had a space to be crazy, when I didn’t just allow myself to be my complete self and more recently it provided a place to put my biggest dreams, goals and fears I intend to break through. My journal is like a best friend who never leaves me. In fact, one of my good friends from London dubs me the Aussie Bridget Jones for all the journals I have and how unashamed I am of who I am haha!
7. Sleeping 7hours minimum. This is probably one of my most important self-care habits. Lack of sleep reduces my productivity and energy so much and puts me on the back foot for the following day. Watching television late is not worth the lack of energy that I feel especially when my body normally wakes me up at 4.30am for exercise. So, I suppose sleep is more than just one self-care habit, it’s the glue to a healthy life because when it breaks down everything else does. Now do I break my own rules? From time to time yes of course I do but I add a buffer…if I won’t get enough sleep because of an event the night before I ensure I have time to make up the lost hours in a nap throughout the day, this way across my day I have not actually lost any health because I balance it out. Do this if you have fun plans, you don’t want to remove your fun.
8. Live life on your terms. I’m 34, single, no children, I don’t own a house, I’ve dyed my hair twice in my life and added a wave to it once. I am the epitome of someone who doesn’t bend to the ‘shoulds’ of life. Yes I have heard MILLIONS of suggestions from people about what a woman my age ‘needs to be doing’ but these are other peoples’ opinions, they have nothing to do with who I am and what I want out of life. I have ZERO regrets about travelling over 20 countries, living on the other side of the world and not owning the fanciest things to enjoy the things I wanted to enjoy in the world. What I have done in my life has made me HAPPY. Make choices daily that are for you. I could have got married at 21 if I didn’t care who I married and if I was worried about being an old lady who was single, I could have had kids before 30 if I was freaked out about being called a geriatric by people. I could have bought a house and had colossal debt and rendered myself capable of short overseas trips but the ability to tell people ‘I have this stuff’ but I didn’t want to. I wanted to quality of life. If you have done the latter and you want to change things now, CHANGE IT. It is your life. Those that love you will join the journey even if they don’t understand it.
9. Surround yourself with people who have a growth mindset. Self-care is done on its own, but esteem and confidence are impacted by those we choose to spend time with. Get people in your circle who want to be better versions of themselves, who admit when they are wrong, who believe in two- way relationships and who challenge you to be better. They won’t always be people that tell you that you are right, but they will tell you how you can become a better version of yourself and will support you at all stages of your life and that’s more important.
10. Get work life balance because work doesn’t matter more than life and life doesn’t matter more than work. Work and life will impact each other so stop making them compete with each other and instead value both of them equally. If you are working in a career that doesn’t align to your values change it. If you are lucky enough to run your own business where you created the business based on your values, being congruent with yourself in work and life is really important for both to be enjoyable.
