Self-care is mindfully doing simple actions every day in 8 different areas of your everyday life. It involves engaging in different activities to maintain a level of overall health that improve your well-being. Today, I’ll suggest actions that you can take to make your physical self-care a routine part of your everyday life.
Kalli Felt that Something Was Off
Kalli collapsed into her favorite stuffed chair. She felt exhausted—emotionally and mentally. What was wrong? Her coaching business was thriving. She loved interacting with her clients and providing them advice and counsel that helped them see what they could do to solve their problems. But she felt drained instead of filled with joyful energy.
Why?
As she pondered, a thought came to her mind, “… chances are you’re neglecting self-care somewhere. And it’s yelling at you.”
“Oh… now I understand. But where am I being neglectful?”
She reviewed the areas:
“My spiritual life is excellent. So is my social life with my husband, children, and church friends I interact with every week. Financial is the best it’s ever been. And our home environment is positive and increasingly Christlike. I love that.
“My mental health is excellent as I research to gain greater understanding to solve emotional issues of others and write what I learn. And that’s improved my emotional well-being, too. That leaves physical…
“There’s the problem. I’ve neglected my exercise and sleep. Not enough of either one.
“So, why has that happened?
“Hmmm… I’ve been doing too much research in the evening when I should be sleeping.
“Why am I not sleeping?
“It’s my overactive mind. The questions of my clients are still being worked on because I haven’t scheduled a time to work on them during the day.
“And my lack of exercise has left my body with too much energy which has kept me awake when I should be rejuvenating in deep sleep.
“That also explains why I feel emotionally and mentally exhausted.”
Kalli has been running on overdrive for a number of weeks. Fortunately, for her, she has the understanding to examine her life and determine where she’s neglecting her self-care. She knows it’s wise to heed the warning signs and figure out what changes she needs to make. She knows that continuing her current situation will be harmful.
Mental, and emotional fatigue are indicators of prolonged stress in her body. And her health is now at risk. Frustration and feeling overwhelmed will soon follow. Then, the simple tasks will seem difficult to achieve, and she’ll become unproductive. She clearly doesn’t want to go down that road.
She quickly reformed her behavior and put exercise back into her daily routine—a half hour of aerobic exercise in the early morning and Jazzercise with her kids in the late afternoon just before they fix dinner together.
She began scheduling each question she had to research to the hour or two when the children were working on homework when they arrived home from school. That allowed her to easily break and help them as needed and not hover as they worked. The dance exercise was their reward when they all finished.
Kalli’s evaluation and remedies worked. She was no longer mentally and emotionally exhausted. Taking time to evaluate her self-care needs and remedy them quickly improved her life. Knowing the different areas of self-care allows you to recognize when you need to make changes to reengage in routine self-care. When self-care is working…
- You are rested and nourished in all areas of your life.
- You show up in your healthiest version of yourself.
- You maintain your mental and emotional health and well-being.
- You chose what actions work for you and make you feel good.
- Your commitment increases your productivity in all facets of your life.
Simple Ways to Practice Physical Self-Care Every Day
Physical Self-Care is arguably the one area we are most likely to think of when talking about self-care. It’s also the most critical because neglecting this area can affect all other facets of self-care. You can ensure that you maintain your good physical health by:
- Eating two or three healthy and nourishing meals every day using GMO free and organic or whole foods
- Exercising your body daily, using aerobic interval exercise like sprints or speed walking interspersed by walking for 30 minutes, or running and walking, or dance exercise—fast and slow
- Exercising using longer aerobic training such as jogging, running, swimming or bicycling for 30 minutes to an hour five times a week or mountain hiking for at least an hour daily.
- Using carefully chosen, recommended, quality supplements and vitamins to augment your diet impacted by your lifestyle
- Drinking enough water during the day to stay hydrated for your lifestyle
- Sleeping between 7-9 hours every night starting about 10 PM for the best rejuvenating rest for your mind and body
- Sitting or walking in the sun to absorb vitamin D in the spring, summer and fall and taking Vitamin D2 or D3 supplements or eating food high in Vitamin D year-round to provide enough Vitamin D for your physical health
- Spending time walking or meditating in nature to drain stress and emotional upset, relaxing your muscles
- Playing with your children three or four times a week for 30 minutes or more in aerobic games, sports, or dance exercise
- Having a soothing hot bath or shower relaxes tight muscles, lets you calm the mind, and drain away stressors from your cells
Choose what works best for you in exercise, play and eating as you strive to incorporate the best physical self-care for you to ensure you’re healthy. Make a plan to implement these actions into your everyday routine to make them a natural part of your lifestyle.
Next week we’ll go over a number of other self-care areas to promote personal well-being.