Self-Care for Beginners
The Importance of Self-Care
Self-care is not selfish.
Self-care is vital to being a well healthy and balanced person. This lets you face whatever life throws at you without breaking your stride.
I don’t know who needs to read this but… the last year-ish has sucked a fat, hairy dick. Life is challenging as is. As a black woman there’s even more absolute bullshit we face on the regular. Once you throw in a global pandemic, the isolation of quarantine, watching friends & family members die it’s become insufferable!
There is no better time to F O C U S on a self-care routine if not now. Right. Now! Sis. Please do not let self-care get overlooked in the chaos of your day to day. Start small. This is something I’m learning from the book, Tiny Habits by B.J. Fogg. (I highly recommend this book)!
What Is Self-Care?
Self-care is defined as any activity that is intentionally meant to care for our mental, physical, emotional, and even spiritual health and wellness. Certain activities like a bubble bath or working out are common self-care practices. The less popular view of self-care means taking care of yourself physically, emotionally, financially, sexually, mentally & all the ways! Is a savings account self-care? YES! Is a vibrator self-care? YES! If it makes you a healthier person all around, it’s self-care!
You can take all the relaxing bubble baths in the world but if you are willingly & actively functioning as a co-dependent —for example— the peace from the bath prolly won’t last longer than the cheesy Lifetime movie you watched while taking it.
When you are at your F U L L best; you can work, interact with friends and family, and do all the things you need and want to in a day. There’s a certain level of peace to living in the aforementioned ways that most find elusive.
Obviously our needs will look very different, but here’s a few self-care activities to try out.
Self-Care Practices:
Yoga. There are so many free Yoga tutorials on YouTube. Not to mention a thriving community of black women practicing Yoga. My absolute fave on the gram is @YogaAndMahogany.
Take a hot bath to relax. Add oils. Lots & lots of oils, bath bombs & bubbles. My fave to drizzle in is Now’s Vegetable Glycerin Oil. It makes your bath water feel like butter. Just so smooth. I live for it!
A hot cup of healthy tea. Drink this as a part of your night routine. I’ve been using this Rasberry Leaf Tea which apparently reduces migraines for older women like myself in Perimenopause. But also reduces cramps & helps fertility.
Journaling. I use an (iPhone) app called Little Memory which only allows me enough space to write a sentence or two. Reducing the pressure to pour out my guts page after page. I used to do that but now I simply do not have the time.
Meditation. I LOVE the Omvana (iPhone) app. There’s an infinite selection of facilitators, topics, time spent meditating & even background sounds. Some days, I might choose a full 35 minute session. Other days I have 3 minutes & thassit. Today I dozed off to a meditation called Power Nap. They have it all!
Spirituality Practices. Prayer for me is a sacred habit. I will never stop. I pray out loud or in my head, wherever I am, any time of day.
Get a massage. This requires the schmoney honey. I haven’t paid for a massage in years. But, if you don’t have a disposable income ask a friend with some strong hands!
Give yourself a self-massage. Also, there’s tutorials for this on YouTube!
Listen to calming music. I LOVE the “Intense Music for Studying” playlist on Spotify.
Cut down on screen time. I recently did this a few weeks ago. I went from my usual 3 hours per day to a little less than hour. Admittedly, I’m a heavy user. But even cutting back in these ways made me feel so much better!
And many more.
Why Is Self-Care Important
Adding self-care practices to your life has many benefits, Sis. Even taking 3 deep breaths for 90 seconds per day is proven to have long-term affects on your mental health. That’s literally less 3 minutes, so don’t tell me you don’t have time.
Self-care is shown to reduce stress. In addition, many people feel that making time in their lives for self-care practices improves their own mental health. Many people also report greater levels of happiness in their daily lives when incorporating self-care practices.
Taking care of yourself can also improve physical health. In addition to self-care on a personal level, self-care is a factor when facing illness, disease, or disability. Many health care professionals are adopting an integrative health care style approach that includes checking in with patients to help them seek balance in all aspects of life. This helps people facing illness or disease recover faster, better, and more successfully overall.
Tips To Practice Self Care In Your Life
Get enough sleep. I simply could not emphasize this enough.
Balance your commitments and priorities.
Make a weekly schedule. I struggle with this constantly. It' is an ongoing battle. But when I rarely do figure this out, everything in my life goes so much better.
Say no to optional tasks or events you don’t want to take on. BOUNDARIES ARE VITAL!
Stay on top of your mental health. When was the last time you saw a therapist?
Exercise. Any movement will do!
Make quality time for friends and family. This is a non-negotiable. No one can live an isolated life while claiming to be practicing self-care. We need one another! Desperately! If you’re looking for a healthy community of BIWOC learn more about our membership group, #BWBfree.
Making space for self-care in your life provides great benefits to physical and mental health. Some aspects of self-care are personally enriching and fun.
Self-care is not selfish; it is vital to being a well healthy and balanced person. This lets you face whatever life throws at you without breaking your stride.
With so much love & grace,
g
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