10 ways to add Self-care to Your Busy Life

Everyone is so busy in thier lives that the idea of adding self-care can be overwhelming. What kind of self-care can you add in your life that will help you without taking any more time? Read on to see 10 great ways that you can add self-care without taking any more time because you just don’t have time to give.

I know I don’t have anymore time then anyone else, and my time is stretched thin. I wanted to add more self care to my routine but I wasn’t about to add anything that took time because I just didn’t have it. I started to look at my life and found that I could create routines from what I was already doing and improve them within the time that they already took. Let’s go look at these tips.

What is self-care?

Self-care is the desire and ability to treat one’s self in such a way that they are valuable and important. The challenge is that self-care has been presented as skin care and pedicures, massages and stuff that only those with extra time and money can do. this is not the truth, but a marketing myth to get you to spend money of the things that they are sellling. Skin care, massages, and pedicures are great is you can afford them but many people in our country and our world cannot afford to indulge in these luxuries.

Why do people ignore self-care?

For me my ignoring of self-care didnt come on all at once, but instead it came on little by little because I was not prioritizing my own mental and physical health. I was so busy trying to keep up with what I thought a mom is supposed to do, with high expectations of myself that quite frankly were impossible. Why do we set these expectations? We set them because we grow up watching television and seeing movies that have these great episodes that present a problem and then 30 minutes later the problem is solved, we watch the kardashians tell us what self-care looks like, and we buy in that woman are supposed to have, what ever they need done to be able to look like they are 25, when they are really 50. I had impossible standards because I bought into the myth of the american dream at the level of millionaire. I bought into the idea that I was smart so I was supposed to be successful, which meant wealthy. I had to realize I am unique and that no matter what, my needs, values and standards are mine, not what is being sold to me by media, including social media. I went from frustrated to compassionate, from feeling worthless to realizing all the things I have accomplished and taking value in that.

10 Easy ways to add Self-care to Your Busy Life

Here are the 10 ways that you can add self-care without it taking your precious time away.

Tip 1: Have Self-Compassion

We all do it, we mess up. We stub our toe, the dog eats the report we just finished and printed on the last of that really nice paper you had, the cat dumps water all over you just as your ready to walk out the door, you spill your hot drink all over the frint of your blouse just before you lead that important meeting and you don’t have a spare, and on and on it goes. Catastrophe happens. The clay melts and the paints dry out and we are left with a big fat mess, and all the big fat messy emotions that go with it. Then we strap on the boxing gloves and start pummeling ourselves because we are normal human beings doing the best that we can, but decide thats just not good enough.

What if there was another way?

What if instead of beating yourself up because you are not super woman with the perfect kids, perfect hair, perfect body and perfect at your job you say to yourself, “wow that really sucked. I see why your mad.” That seems normal and healthy to me. It’s didnt always.

Instead of seeing red and going “oh my gosh whats wrong with you”, why not try some self compassion. I was totally missing that self- compassion thing. I was totally playing the what if game for others, but I gave myself no quarter, no matter how bad things were around me. In the middle of the worst storms I would beat myself up and put myself down. Why? I had these huge expectations and I put this rule on myself that I had to get it right the first time.

When I stopped being my own bully and started being my own best friend I showed myself compassion and stopped strapping those boxing gloves on to beat myself up.

How to Apply this?

Next time you find yourself beating yourself up or getting things wrong imagine you are your best friend and tell yourself what a friend would say, rather then what you would normally tell yourself.

Looking for an expert in Self compassion?
Click here to visit self-compassion.org and learn more

Tip 2: Improve what you are eating by 5%

Every where you look they tell us eat better but its hard to know what that means. Should i add protein powder to everything? how about a scoop of fiber powder? In the end what are you supposed to eat. In reality the right thing to do is begin cutting our processed foods.

I live far from a typical grocery store so I get caught up in the shelf stable game of the local little shop. It makes me feel so yucky when I eat all that cardboard processed junk, but its the only thing around. When I improve what I am eating I know I am taking better care of myself and I feel better too. I have more energy and I am less irritable. It would be impossible to think that I could eat 100% unprocessed food, but I know when I make choices I can add unprocessed or minimally Reading labels can take time at first but lots of great foods have no label because they are natural foods.

How to Apply:

Add fruits, veggies and unprocessed foods to each meal.

Tip 3: Figure out what you are doing sitting that you can do standing

Less then 3 percent of people are truly active, sitting less then 4 hours a day and participating in vigorous activity. Most people sit on thier bottoms and do things. We sit to do laundry, use convenience items so we can sit while things are cooking, sit to do work on our computers, and sit and watch entertainment. I used to sit to do everything. The more I sat the less energy I had. The more I push myself to get up and do things the more energy I have. So finding the things you are already doing that you can do standing. How much should you stand? For me I adapt depending on the day, If I have more pain I may stand less then on days that I have less pain. On days I don’t stand as much i try to at least sit up straight and work to stretch to help heep my body limber.

How to apply this:

Begin to stand when you are doing things that you could either stand or sit.

Tip 4: Add a savings that rounds up your change

When you hear about finance you hear about save, save, save. Saving can be really difficult though. two ways that savings becomes mindless is to let the bank do it and your payroll send it to your savings automatically.

I used to have 0.00 savings. I know me. If I can see it I can spend it. So I had to find a way to at least begin to save a little to get my motivation up. I started with my bank account, using the round up option for change on my purchases. I then chose a totally separate bank, a short time later, that had no fees, and started a savings account. I have 10% of every check sent directly to that account. Voila, I don’t see it unless i inentionally look, and I am saving money for the times I have an emergency, like when our washer broke down.

How to Apply this:

Check with your bank about a round up from your purchases into a savings.

Tip 5: Be curious about your values

Nutirionists would say you are what you eat. I would say you are what you value. If you value nutrition your going to eat nutritious foods. If at the moment you value the pleasure that the food your looking at can give you more then the nutrition value, then your going to eat what gives you pleasure. You are what you value.

I value feeling good. I also value being self reliant. These two things don’t always play well together. This used to cause me lots of heart ache because I didn’t understand what I valued, I only knew I wanted to feel good and be self reliant. Once I explored those values I could see how my values lead to beleifs that at times got me in trouble, with a capital T. Getting in touch with your values can be a fun thing you can do as you go along your day, creating a sense of curiousity of ,”hmm, I really want this. It is making me feel that. I wonder what it is I value that is creating these feelings”, and letting your mind open to what it could be.

How to Apply this:

Get curious about your values and what your actions, choices and feelings are showing you about what you value and how those values could be at odds with each other.

Tip 6: Add Mindfulness to a current routine

Theres been tons of talk about this mindfulness thing. Some people call it being present, but why is this a needed skill in your self-care journey? When we are mindful it means we let go of the past, stop trying to see the future and stay present in the moment that your in. Mindfulness is the way to work on accepting what is going on in the present time that you are in and feel whats going on in your body. You may feel tired sooner, but its because your actually opening yourself up to the feeling of tired, not that you had more energy before. You may become aware that your bored, or thirsty or a myriad of other things that ou didn’t realize before.
For me I realized I was sad and bored. At first I fought with the feelings. I mean you who wants to be sad and bored right? Then I realized that acknowledging the sad, and bored then opened me to seeing the realities and decide how I can change things rather then staying stuck trying to cover up my sad and bored with anything and everything that comes up.

How to apply this:

Pick one time of day you would like to be mindful of what you are doing. Set an alarm. Deliberately keep your mind on what you are doing, being present and allowling your mind to stay with the task. If thoughts com in just let them, don’t engage them or worry you aren’t good enough. It takes practice and ou will gently allow yourself to become more mindful the more you practice.

Tip 7: Up your water game

Water, water, everywhere and no one wants to drink. Oh water, sweet water, cool and refreshing but I would rather have a soda. I would rather have anything except water. I am awful at keeping myself hydrated if I have to dirnk water. I finally found something that gets me to drink more water, and I will share more about that in another post, but I feel so much better getting more water in my routine.

Water is vital and we tend to not drink enough. When i was nursing my babies I would make myself drink more, and would have a water bottle with colored hair ties oround it. Every morning I would move all the hair ties to the bottom of the bottle then each time I filled the bottle I would move one of the ties to the top of the bottle. By the time I was done with the day i had drank enough water to keep myself hydrated. It helped me drop the baby weight, and have the energy I needed to care for my baby, and later on babies and kids. This applies to women who aren’t nursing, or don’t have kids as much as to women that do!

How to apply this:

Pick a water bottle, grab some cute hairbands. Everytime you finish the bottle move the hairband and congratulate yourself. keep going til you meet your goal.

P.S. If you are worried about having to run to the bathroom all the time know that it only lasts a couple days, then your adapts. At first your body is saying “yeah, lets clean up!” and taking advantage of the extra fluids.

Tip 8: Savor the things you love

Ahhh Savoring. What a wonderful gift God gave us in the ability to savor. Think about when you walk into the house and you smell your favorite food cooking. You stop and savor the smell. When a man walks by that wears the same cologne as your husband and you savor the memory it brings up. When you see a beautiful sunset and stop and savor the beauty of it. Savoring means slowing down and taking a mental photo or memory file of the moment, it means enjoying the time or experience to the fullest.

I used to run through life as a human doing rather then a human being. When I chose to learn to savor life that meant I had to learn to slow down and learn to be. It was difficult at first, but once I began to gain experience I found that it was a rewarding experience and I began adding savoring in whenever I wanted to show gratitude and create a memory from something I was experiencing.

How to Apply This:

Slow it down and make it last just a little longer. Pretend you are taking a mental photo of the experiences, or tap into the difference sensations goin on in the moment to make it fuller and brighter.

Tip 9: Add an aroma

A Rose by any other name would smell as sweet. Shakespeare said it and I know its famous. Its also very true. Roses smell amazing, Many things smell amazing. Essential oils give us the chance to add a beautiful scent to our lives. Essential oils can give us releif, something to look forward to and so many other things. I love to add essential oils to my lotions, I have necklaces and bracelets that hold essential oils, and i like to spray them on rugs and sheets. It gives me a lovely way to complete or begin a routine.

If you are interested you can start with a simple diffuser and one or two oils and give yourself a nice experience here or there.

Get an essential oil necklace or bracelet and douse it with your favoite oil in the morning, that way you can give it a sniff (covertly!) every once in a while during the day.
Some of my favorite ways to use essential oils you can find here.

Tip 10: Reflect with gratitude

Last but not least is to reflect on your day with gratitude. Find three things you are grateful and make it part of your daily ritual. Or you can look forward to three things with Gratitude. When you bring gratitude into your life you look at things differently. You are activating the part of our brain involved in rest, relax and retain (as in learning), and you can help to releive the stressors of life. Reflacting with gratitude about yourself can also help you have more compassion when you are going through a tough time. Things like, ” I am so grateful that when the people at work were frustrating me with expecations I was able to soothy myself and understand that of course I was upset, and thats ok. The situation is frutrating and things will change soon enough.”

Find things to be grateful for. Find a gratitude partner and send them the things you are grateful for, then they can send you thier and you can be grateful together. Want to know more about Gratitude as self care? click here now

Conclusion

Self-care doesn’t have to take your time or resources, and can add so much to your life! Things like reflecting with gratitude, savoring, and drinking more water all can help us take better care of ourselves. We can also help others with thier self care as well by sharing with them little things we learn while we take better care of ourselves.

Having these little golden nuggets of self-care added to our lives also help us be able to do more for others.

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