Balance Your Life: Take Care of Yourself

Self-Care has never been more important than since the onset of COVID. In March of 2020, COVID started sweeping through the US and we found ourselves in a new, surreal world. Most of us working from home, many having to juggle homeschooling and work. The days got longer and longer, with people working well into the night because dedicated work hours went out the window. I have no children, but I was working from 7 am until sometimes 7 pm with hardly a break in between, simply because not having to commute meant I could spend more of that time behind the computer instead of caring for myself.

Then, in May of 2020, my boyfriend and I both contracted COVID. It manifested as allergies for me and gastro-intestinal distress for him. We only knew we had it because we lost our senses of taste and smell. And what did I do? Rest? No! I worked every day as if I was 100%. I didn't feel all that bad. I was mostly tired, so I kept plugging away. Net-net, it took me much longer to get over COVID than was necessary.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who did the same thing and in today's blog I want to share some simple ways that you can incorporate more self-care into your life today. Now, doing them once will not do the trick. As with most anything, it takes consistency for you to start reaping the benefits. High performers understand that better than anyone. Consistency, having the right mindset and implementing the right habits helps them balance their professional and personal lives and live their life in a way that nurtures their health and relationships.

Self-Care strategies

Women are natural-born nurturers, but it is important to nurture ourselves as well. It is in our genes to care for others, and this can lead us to neglecting our own needs. If we do not take care of ourselves first, then how can we show up fully for everybody else? There are 3 ways in which you can take better care for yourself.

1. Take care of your body

When we are physically exhausted, it is nearly impossible to get anything done unless you have deep, deep reserves you can tap into, and even those aren’t inexhaustible. The good news is that there are many simple things you can do to take care of your body

• Drink plenty of water: the recommendation is to drink half your body weight in water, not soda, not caffeine, just pure unadulterated water. What does that look like? If you weigh 150 pounds, then you should aim to drink 75 oz of water a day and more if you exercise. We use a Zero filter at home and always keep a stash of glass water bottles in the fridge, so we always have some fresh water on hand
  
  
• Get 7-9 hours of sleep: Some ways to help with that are…
  
  • Get outside in the first hour of your day. Whether it’s a cloudy or sunny day doesn’t matter. The point is that even through the clouds, you will get the lux hit you need to kick off the regulation of your circadian rhythm
  • As dusk starts to fall, switch off overhead lights and turn on desk, table lamps and lower the overall intensity of the lights. This will help to kick start your melatonin production and get you ready for bed
  • Establish an evening routine that works for you, and which will trigger your body to realize that it’s time for rest. It can include anything from meditation to stretching, to taking a bath. Whatever works for you and stick with it
    
    
• Move your body: You don’t have to do the same thing every day. In fact, variety can help you stay motivated and engaged. I’ve never been a fan of exercise. In fact, I’ve avoided it pretty much most of my life until I turned 50 and stuff started breaking down… Joints felt stiffer, I felt achy in new places. The piper finally came knocking and told me I’d played enough, and it was time to get to work. I’d never until then found any exercise that I really enjoyed. Then, I found kettlebells. I started training twice a week for 30 minutes. As I started to feel stronger, I added a 3rd day. The funny thing is that now, I’m also adding walking on the day following the kettlebells. And I’ll tell you what I realized. I am walking with more confidence than ever before. I feel like I can take on any challenge because I feel I am strong enough to do it. So, find what works for you and stick to it. There are so many options, from free to expensive. My recommendation would be to make sure to include some type of weight training as it helps to balance hormones, along with brining you all of the other well-known benefits
  
  
• Eat healthy foods: Eat to feed your body AND your brain. About 1-2 years ago, I noticed that I was getting a lot of brain fog after lunch. After doing some research, I realized that I had a gluten intolerance which contributed heavily to feeling exhausted in the afternoon. I started eating less and less of these foods and found my energy remained more consistent throughout the day. Around the same time, I went on an elimination diet. I discovered that I was allergic to eggs! Eggs were always my go-to food when I didn’t know what to eat and my breakfast of choice. So, become a bit of a detective, start looking at your habits and figure out what your core behaviors and foods should be. From there, you can fine tune. Next level training? Eat without any distractions, just simply being absorbed in the act of eating and slowing that process down

2. Take care of your mind

Our mental health has never taken more of a hit, nor has it ever been more important to take care of it.

• Meditate: meditation is a great way to achieve peace of mind. Yet, quieting our monkey brain sounds simple, but it isn’t. If your brain is like mine, it often feels like the ball in the pinball machine, going from thought to thought until you finally tilt. But the more you do it, the more you’ll notice the pin ball isn’t flying around as much. There are many apps available to help, such as Calm, Headspace and others. If you’re on a budget, there are many free meditations to be found on YouTube. If you have the luxury, run yourself a nice, warm bath and meditate in the bath
  
  
• Stay away from the news: Who needs that kind of negativity in their life! If it’s important, you’ll hear about it. But if you’re someone who cannot stay away, then monitor how much time you spend on the news. Try giving this activity no more than 15-30 minutes out of your day, then go back to doing something productive, or relaxing, or engage with others
  
  
• Be mindful of how and how much you consume social media: Depending on what you’re doing, SM can be very toxic. If you’re using it to compare yourself to others, do yourself a favor and stop! Stop comparing someone’s highlight reel to your behind the scenes. It will leave you feeling inadequate and miserable. If you’re using it as a way to market your business or of staying in touch with people that are far away, then go to do what you need and pop out again, lest you get sucked into the siren’s call
  
  
• Take time to daydream: Sometimes one of the best things we can do for our sanity is…. NOTHING. Not a thing. Zip. Zilch. Nada. Society would have us believe that if we’re not in constant movement, we’re not progressing. But when you’re always on the go, always striving, always pushing, it can leave you feeling drained. So, schedule some time in your week, month, year, where you are doing nothing. It will help to reset your clock

3. Take care of your soul

Humans are social individuals. Socially distancing, although critical these days, is negatively impacting our health. And in addition to that we seldom take time for feed our soul. Hopefully these tips will help you do just that.

• Talk to a friend or family member: Remember when you were in High School, and you called your bestie when you were feeling down? We might be all grown up, but the need to reach out and share the things that weigh on us hasn’t changed. Or, you can have some fun with friends and family members: Go out to dinner, watch a movie together, or take a walk around the neighborhood. Those connection points will feed your soul
  
  
• If you can’t talk to anyone about it (whatever IT is), journal. It’s one of the cheapest and best therapies available to us. It helps us get our thoughts clear. One of the techniques that works well is to write a letter to ourselves from the point of our best self/friend. Why do people confide in you and ask you for advice when they are going through a hard time? Because you give sound advice. How about taking some of that sound advice, as objectively as you can for yourself?
  
  
• Listen to music that makes you happy: Do you have a happy playlist on your phone? I’m working on mine. There are always those songs that make us feel good when we hear them. They make us tap our feet, sway our hips, put a smile on our face even when we feel like crap
  
  
• At the same time, sometimes we need to cry it out! Remember it’s OK to be vulnerable. We’re not robots. We have feelings and at times, we need to evacuate them so we can make room for good things to come back in. So, make your sad playlist and when you feel you need to, close the blinds, turn on the music and have yourself a good cry (*whispering*…. Nobody needs to know...)

Final Thoughts

Taking care of yourself is a choice you get to make every day. Sometimes it’s hard to find the time and we may not get to it daily, but the benefits are well worth our efforts. When we take care of ourselves, we are better able to take care of those around us, whether family, friends, or colleagues. We become more productive in all areas of our lives and silently inspire others to do the same.

So, here's this week's challenge: How can you carve out some time daily, weekly and monthly for yourself? Give yourself the gift of respite, so you can show up as a better you for the world to enjoy and for yourself to have peace of mind.

That’s it! As always, if you have any thoughts about this week's challenge, please leave them in the comments section below! I’d love to hear your feedback and even better, how you plan on integrating small, meaningful self-care moments into your life!