You’re sitting in front of your laptop, it’s been a crazy busy week. Your to-do list is longer than ever, the admin keeps piling up and you can’t even bring yourself to look at the emails in your inbox. How do you make room for all of this? You put more hours in, you cancel plans with friends, skip a few gym sessions and you choose junk food over cooking.
Does this sound like you? Let’s be honest: We’ve all been there. And it’s not a fun place to be.
We live in a world where practicing self-care seems to be at the bottom of our priorities.
There is always something else that has a priority over our health, our wellbeing and happiness. But, it shouldn’t be this way. I don’t think I have to tell you that ignoring your personal needs is not going to get you anywhere in the long run. Especially not as an entrepreneur.
Self-care is important as it is beneficial for our physical, emotional and mental well-being.
“Do something every day that makes you happy”
Practicing self-care is a bit of a buzz phrase of late, however even taking 20 minutes after each solid time block of work, rather than jumping from one task to the next can make all the difference to our mental health and wellbeing.
Here are some easy ways to practice self-care to get you started.
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8 Ways to Practice Self-Care
1. Get moving
Regular physical activity benefits your health, helps you reduce stress, fight the anxiety, feel better, look better and sleep better! It’s the number one pillar for self care. I personally like to take breaks in between tasks and go for a walk around my neighbourhood – and sometimes include a detour to my favorite coffee shop!
2. Sleep
Now this is something most people don’t take seriously enough! But sleep can have a huge effect on how you feel both emotionally and physically. Not getting enough can even cause major health issues. But stress and other distractions can wreak havoc on our sleep.
So make a good night’s sleep part of your daily self-care routine. And if you’re struggling with this, I suggest you schedule your bedtime routine – No, I’m not joking! That’s how much I value getting rest. And you definitely should too.
3. Eat Healthy
The food we eat has the potential to either keep us healthy or contribute to weight gain or diseases such as diabetes, but it can also keep our minds working and alert.
Make sure you keep to a healthy diet by swapping your processed foods for things like nuts, green leafy veggies, legumes, blueberries and more.
4. Drink Plenty of Water
Water is an essential nutrient the brain depends on to maintain optimal function. When our brains don’t receive enough water, many negative effects can result, such as concentration and memory problems, brain fatigue and brain fog, headaches, sleep issues and more. So make sure you drink plenty of water, people! I try to stick to my goal of at least 2 litres a day.
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5. Have a Supportive Network
Ensure you have a support network of people who understand the realities of what you do in business. Often this won’t be our friends or family, but new people we meet in a business capacity.
Having a network of peers who are on the same journey as you is essential to not only your emotional wellbeing, but also your growth in business or career. Do you have that group of people you can turn to?
6. Get Creative
Being creative has benefits that are good for brain health and physical health. Creativity also helps us connect with who we are on a deeper level. Whether it’s making a cake or creating a pastel drawing, getting artistic allows us to feel mindful and productive.
7. Detox from Technology
Who else freaks out a bit every once in a while whenever the weekly screen time report pops up?! Yes, we spend a lot of time in front of screens. Definitely make sure you’re consciously taking time off from tech! Try switching everything off for an hour before you go to bed, it can really help to create some downtime.
8. Schedule Self-Care into Your Day
It can be hard for us all to find extra time. But it’s extremely important to plan regular self-care time. Block time in your diary for self-care.
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In summary the benefits of self-care are two-fold, first of all it’s essential to avoid burn-out and keeping us sane and healthy. And when we ‘switch off’ from business, it enables our creative juices to flow and this is where as an entrepreneur you will get your best ideas.
Start today practicing self-cafe and see what difference it makes!
Jade *