Our Top 10 Self Care Tips – A Guide to a Better You
We’re all busy: work, family, household chores, and more. Finding time to take good care of ourselves is often fleeting or non-existent. In this issue of Phantasy News, we give you 10 self care tips you can use to take better care of yourself every day, many of which only take a few minutes. And there are plenty more you can do; just Google “self care tips.”
tip #1 - self care is not selfish
Practicing self care is necessary, NOT selfish. It’s essential for physical, intellectual, mental, and emotional health and well-being. No one can do it for us. We have to take care of ourselves. Others can help, but it’s up to us to do it.
Model: Bessy
tip #2 - schedule it
We make excuses for a lot of things. Not having the time is one of the most common. Make time. For many of these self care tips, enter them into your calendar on your phone. Then stick to it. Don’t tell yourself “5 more minutes.” Save your work and do it. Work will still be there when you’re done.
breathe
Two to three times a day, take a minute and consciously breathe. Slowly and deeply, inhale through your nose, hold it for a count of 4, and exhale slowly through your mouth. Repeat until time’s up. You’ll be surprised how refreshed you feel.
tip#3
tip #4
get outdoors
When the weather permits, have your morning coffee, breakfast, or lunch on the patio, porch, balcony, or whatever outdoor space you have available to you. Soak up a little sun. Bask in it. Feel it on your skin. Let its warmth embrace you.
tip #5 - get your om on
Meditate. Meditation doesn’t take a lot of time. Even 5 or 10 minutes can help reduce stress. The key is doing it at the same time every day. It’s more likely to become a habit that way. For most people, meditating just after waking up or just before going to sleep fits their schedules best.
There are some great tips for beginners in the article, 12 Must-Know Meditation Tips for Beginners.
tip #6 - walk
Walking improves fitness and cardiac health, alleviates depression and fatigue, improves mood, creates less stress on joints and reduces pain, can prevent weight gain, reduce the risk for cancer and chronic disease, improve endurance, circulation, and posture, and more.
While it's recommended that you walk for 30 minutes or so, even walking for as little as 10-12 minutes has been shown to increase joviality, vigor, attentiveness, and self-confidence. Walking can boost your creativity too.
Walking is like a quadruple whammy. It's great for physical, intellectual, mental, and emotional well-being.
Take your furry child with you too. They'll love it and keep you company!
tip #7 - exercise
You don't need to invest a lot of money to reap the benefits of exercise. There are plenty of exercises you can do without any equipment other than yourself: squats, pushups, planks, lunges, burpees, jumping jacks, arm circles, mountain climbers, speed skaters, single-leg deadlift, calf raise, tricep dips, bicycles, crunches, and more. Need a little weight for those bicep curls? Grab a couple of cans of soup.
Not only that, there are variations of some exercises you can do to keep it fresh. For example, instead of regular pushups, there are wide pushups, narrow pushups, diamond pushups, and one-arm pushups, just to name a few.
There are lots of apps in the app stores with plenty of bodyweight exercises you can do, and they'll track your progress.
tip #8 - positive self-talk
Don’t be so hard on yourself. Quit putting yourself down. Change your mindset with positive thinking and self-talk. It builds confidence, improves your attitude, promotes self-love, reduces stress, and motivates.
Use simple, easy-to-remember phrases like:
- “I believe in me.”
- “I am worthy of love.”
- “I can do this.”
- “I choose to be happy.”
- “I am beautiful!.”
tip #9 - me time
At least once a week, draw yourself a hot bath. Drop-in a bath bomb or add some luxurious bubble bath. Add a few drops of your favorite essential oil for some aromatherapy. And finish it off with real or battery-powered candles and a glass of your favorite wine. Soak it all in. Reflect on the past week. Meditate. Read a book. Or just relax and chill.
If you have kids, lock the door, or partake after they’re in bed.
And schedule it!
tip #10 - do a boudoir session
This may seem self-serving, but we’ve witnessed immediate transformations in how people feel about and see themselves after having a boudoir experience with us. You’ll feel beautiful, gain confidence and self-esteem, and begin to love yourself for who and what you are.
Model: Bessy
Wrap up
Those are our top 10 self care tips. We think the most important self care tips are #1 and #2. It’s vitally important to remember that self care is not selfish. It is sanity. Decide what self care rituals you want to do and when you want to do them. The schedule them. Put your me time in your calendar with reminders and auditory alarms so you know it’s time for self care. Just like you don’t turn off the alarm clock in the morning, roll over, go back to sleep, and skip work, don’t shut off the alarm and continue doing whatever it is that you’re doing. Stop. Get up. It’s time for a little self care!
questions? comments? suggestions?
Do you have questions about the information in this month’s edition of Phantasy News? Is there something you’d like us to cover in a future issue of Phantasy News? Let us know.
