No matter what season of life you are in, self care is a priority. Maybe you’re job is intense mentally, emotionally or physically. Maybe you are a mom raising little children or teenagers. Maybe you are just trying to juggle it all, the truth is if we don’t take the time to rest and breathe we will want to run. Let’s build a life we love, not one that we regularly want to escape from. So, today we are talking about self care. And don’t be fooled, this doesn’t mean you have to stop eating meat and sign up for yoga, not that I’m against either of those, but taking care of yourself has many different roads, and you have to find the one that tailors to your needs.
As we read God’s word, you will find in the first 2 chapters of the Bible, rest was created by God and is important to God. It says, “By the seventh day God had finished the work He had been doing; so on the seventh day He rested from all His work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because from on it He rested from all the work of creating He had done. ” Genesis 2:2-3 What I love about this is God worked very hard. He was creative, He was passionate, and He was disciplined from day 1-6, but He spent one whole day resting. And He blessed it and made it holy. The truth is we are blessed when we rest. When you rest, you give your heart, mind, and body time to refresh, time to rebuild and time to relax. This is key to running your race. And I promise, you cannot run if you cannot rest. God saw rest as a Holy thing. So when we rest, God sees it as holy, now don’t you think He will replenish you when you rest?
10 Tips for Self Care
1. Epsom Salt Bath
Some of you might be saying, “how in the world will I have time to take a bath?” All you need is 20 minutes. Fill up your tub with warm water, epsom salt and an essential oil like lavender for relaxation. Epsom salt is made up of magnesium sulfate, and it is known to reduce inflammation and flush out toxins, while increasing the circulation of blood flow. This is a great idea for self care because it not only heals you physically it also relaxes you mentally.
2. Mental Break
When you have lunch, or before you go back into work. Sit in your car or at your desk and close your eyes for 5 minutes. Don’t scroll through social media, don’t let your mind rattle off all of the “To-Do’s” you have left. Just be, pray and fix your heart back onto Jesus. Regain the heavenly perspective. When we do this, it put’s all things in their right place.
3. Be Selfish
Now this is a great self care idea, do one thing that makes you happy. Some of us are so busy serving others that we go through a whole day and realize we haven’t really done anything for ourselves. So, whether it is your cheat meal for the week, going to the park, the beach, on a bike ride. Wandering a store you love, or laying on your bed listening to music. Do the one thing that will fulfill you right now in this time in your life.
4. Stretch
Stretching is something people often neglect to do, whether they are finishing a workout or not, stretching has many health benefits. Stretching improves flexibility to the muscles around the joints which will allow them to function at the optimum level and improve posture. It reduces the chance of injury and improves the blood and nutrient supply to muscles.
5. Get Some Sun
Getting 15 minutes of sun each day not only is healthy for getting your daily dose of vitamin D, which most Floridians are lacking in believe it or not, but it actually releases serotonin. This will boost your mood, help you relax and inhibits pain.
6. Journal
Don’t let this one intimidate you, not everyone likes to write I get that, but this doesn’t need to be a “Dear Diary” journal where you write pages and pages. You could simply write down your blessings that could be as simple as one word. Write down the good things and the God things that happen throughout your day. Write down how God provided financially, relationally, emotionally, spiritually and physically. Writing these moments down will allow you to physically see with your eyes how blessed you are, and it will also remind you of the Lord’s love for you which will keep you in the right mindset and right perspective, which has the power to change your attitude about your present season of life.
7. Unplug for an Hour
No matter what your life looks like this is a must. A study was done on how social media affects people, and 86% said they felt emptier and deprived after being on social media. Wow, that is powerful and so true. We usually feel like we are missing out on something, somewhere or someone when we are scrolling through other people’s highlight reels. We feel a sense of an inability to measure and discontentment fills our hearts and minds. The power to unplug for an hour is freeing, and it will bring your attention back from what is secret to what is sacred.
8. Practice Grounding
I have talked about this before but there are many physical and mental benefits to this practice. There is profound research available to you about the benefits but there is evidence that it can lower free-radical damage, stress and pain. The best part? It’s free and it can be done anywhere at anytime! Get aside, take your shoes off and walk barefoot in the sand or grass. Make this a priority for self care treatment and you will feel the benefits.
9. Create a New Habit
I love this quote, “What if instead of trying to fix your whole life you just start adding good things. One by one you let your pile of good things grow.” You know sometimes the best way to take care of ourselves is to finally do “that thing” that we have been wanting to add to our lifestyle. Maybe it’s waking up 15 minutes earlier, reading before going to bed, or flossing our teeth more regularly. Set a goal, start small and create a new habit.
It reminds me of the scripture, “5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 2 Peter 1:5-8.
10. Skin Care
Most of us are in a hurry and we often neglect our biggest organ, our skin. Take some extra time once a week and exfoliate your skin. Do a face mask, hair mask with coconut oil and moisturize with a good toxin free lotion. Take some extra time to take care of yourself physically.
These are just a few ideas, pick one or two that meets your needs and being implementing them into your weekly schedule. These little things are actually big ways you can take of yourself in the midst of your life. So slow down, take a deep breath and don’t forget about you.
For more health tips and lifestyle ideas go to https://drserrano.me/home
Excellent advises that I will try to follow, thank you, God Bless you