Self-Care: Mental Health and Stress Strategy 5

It feels like the term self-care has been thrown around a lot lately. To me that is a great thing! I am a HUGE advocate for self-care. I even made a free email course on it and would love for you to check it out and see how it can help you.

In this miniseries of mental health and stress I really wanted to get my point across that self-care is a very important part of the plan. I’ll get into that in a bit. We’re also going to touch on different ways you can do self-care in your lives.

Why Self-Care?

This part could go on and on forever. 😊 I’m going to stay simple and just say why not?

Regarding your mental health and stress, it will most definitely improve both of those things. You might be a bit more stressed once you start to dedicate some time for you. But that will go away, or mostly go away.

The benefits will outweigh the little amount of stress. In fact, I found that the little stress I felt when giving myself some me time went away. I also felt less stressed about so many other things over time.

That’s what’s it is about people! Feeling less stressed. Feeling less crazy.

Giving yourself some self-care will lessen your stress. It will also improve your mental health.

When I’m consistently doing some form of self-love, I am less anxious and less depressed. Two major wins!!

Self-Care is NOT Selfish

I don’t care what you think or say, self-care is not a selfish thing. I’ll go so far as to say it is selfish to not give yourself much needed time.

Think about it. You give your all to your kids, your work, your spouse, your family, your friends, your church, your service, your house, your, your, your…. This list could, and does, go on forever!

One major thing missing is YOU!

How in the world are you going to make it if you never give your all to yourself?

News flash! You won’t!! Hate to break it to you. But, my friends, you will break and crumble.

Ideas To Help You Get Started

List Time

Make a list of all the things that you enjoy and bring you happiness. You might start to see a pattern in the things you are writing on your list, that’s okay. Don’t worry about what randomly pops up in your head. Write it down.

After you have done a brain dump, I want you to look at your list. Do you see themes? Are there some that take around the same amount of time? Or how about the free ones? The ones that cost money.

Start looking for similarities. This is where you are going to start to “group” them into themes or sort into like items. You can make a master list in any of the following ways:

• Group by like ideas
• Group by time frame
• Group by money
• Group by whatever you feel like 😊

Having a master list will help you when you are in a rut and need some ideas.

Schedule Self-Care

When I was first trying to give myself daily self-care, I had a hard time with finding the time to dedicate to me. I’m a mom of 5 kids and it can be hard to say no to my kids. Or saying no to so many other things that demand my time and attention.

The more I made time for me, the easier it became. There were times that I scheduled it in. When it came time, it was sometimes hard to switch gears. But always worth it.

Put a reminder in your phone, write it on your calendar, tell your spouse, get a babysitter, or switch kids with a friend. There are many ways to get a bit of self-care in, especially if you schedule it in.

I found it easier to schedule time for me when Eddy was home. Nap time or after the kids are in bed are also a great way to make it a part of your daily life.

Self-Care Ideas

The following is a list of some things that I consider self-love and self-care and some things that others have told me they consider self-care. Other people may not. That’s okay! This list is not an end all. Use it to spark some ideas. Use it to think, heck no I don’t like that idea. Haha! For me that would be sewing. I always seem to mess something up and get frustrated.

• Exercise
• Yoga
• Breathing/Meditation
• Sunshine – sit, walk, play outside
• Reading
• Napping
• Watching a show
• Sewing
• Crafting
• Painting
• Listening to music
• Playing an instrument
• Talking to a friend
• Massages
• Anything at a spa
• Going for a drive
• Any hobby that makes you happy
• Baking
• Eating
• Girl’s or guy’s night out
• Shopping
• Serve
• DIY projects
• Writing
• Play games
• Play with your kiddos
• Dance
• Date night with your love
• Punch the pillow or punching bag
• Scream into a pillow
• Write happy thoughts or things you’re grateful for
• And so many more!

I truly hope that I was able to help open your eyes about the importance of self-care. It’s not selfish, it’s not a waste of time. Please put some love and energy into you and make time for you.

I would love it if you would please share this post with anyone that may need to hear these things. Please pin on Pinterest and share on social media. I’d greatly appreciate it and you! What are your self-care favorites? Share in the comments.

Xxx, Steph

Catch up on my other 4 strategies (breathing, meditation, yoga, and exercise) and my other posts about stess and mental health (mental health and stress how they are related and What you need to know about stress.)