Small Acts of Self Care

I had that Corporate Finance dream job.  I felt I was making a difference in my organization and that the work I was doing mattered.

But, I was on the road sometimes three out of every four weeks a month for at least four days a week.

I was beginning to feel as if my personal life was slipping away, on hold for my career and my personal happiness was on a downward spiral.

I said, ENOUGH.  I made a decision to start setting boundaries and to reclaim myself, to refocus on taking care of myself, so I would be able to show up for myself, my family and my job.

I needed to make certain my priorities were in the appropriate order.

As part of that mindset change, I leaned on a series of spiritual tools that I had been taught, but neglected.

I used these tools with the intention to create a more satisfying and lower stress life.

Some days, my spiritual self care got the short end of the stick.  But I knew I had to find ways to build it in.  Even if it was five minutes at a time.

Then I realized that I was actually doing a great deal of self care; but I was looking at it as a burden, a “have-to”.

Are You Giving Yourself Credit?

You might be like I was, not recognizing that you are not giving yourself credit for the amount of daily self care that you do.  And then you beat yourself up because you think you aren’t taking care of yourself.

So let me ask you, today did you:

• Wash your face and put on your make-up?
• Take a quick shower or bath to prepare for the day?
• Put a bit of thought into what you are going to wear?
• Put on clean clothes?
• Say a good morning to God or the Universe (even a quick one), expressing thanks for the day?
• Feed yourself and your family breakfast?
• Pack them and yourself lunch?
• Or give them lunch money?
• Leave the kitchen tidy?
• Reach out to a friend to let them know you were think of them?
• See the flowers along the side on the road on the way to work or on an errand?
• Notice the birds outside as you prepared for your day?
• Allow that person, who just had to get in front of you, do so without too much fussing (cursing)?
• Take a quick minute to acknowledge a couple of things that were gifts or blessings in your life?
• Smile at someone for no reason? Your family, friends or coworkers?
• Stop and take a couple of deep breathes?
• Take time for lunch, preferably AWAY from your desk, even just a few minutes?
• Take a few minutes to look at yourself in the bathroom mirror and really see yourself and notice you looked pretty great today?
• Take your shoes, your heels, and feel your toes in the rug? Or better on the grass?
• Clean up your desk before you finished working, so you’d start in a clear, uncluttered space?
• Feed yourself and family dinner?
• Join some friends for some companionship, some sisterhood?
• Prepare for tomorrow, lay out your clothes or check your calendar?
• Write your feelings in a journal?
• Wash your face and brush your teeth before bed?
• Put down the phone or computer a little bit before you went to bed?
• Plan for a bedtime that would allow at least 7 hours of sleep?
• Say Good Night and/or Thank You to your Higher Power, God or Universe?

Each of these items are an act of self care.  While you may not yet recognize it or you see some of these as small insignificant things, each and every one of these are legitimate acts of self care.

We often fail to give ourselves credit for all of the self care we do daily.  When you start to add them up, it adds up to quite a bit of self care on a daily basis.

Stop and Relook at What You are Doing

You just need to stop and look at what you do through a slightly different perspective.

In re-framing segments of our busy lives, we begin to see that we are really taking care of ourselves more than we give ourselves credit for.

With that realization, we can take a few more deep breaths and get off our own case.  When we do that, we actually begin to lower the stress levels that come from our personal “have tos”.

When we build a reserve of self-worth as a result of caring for ourselves, we have more resilience for dealing with the rest of the things that life brings us.

Look at your life, from another perspective.

Where can you realign your “have-tos” and transform them into daily self care get tos.

Refocus on how you can take a daily task you are already doing and convert in into a mini self care pamper routine.  Some of it is mindset with no additional effort except acknowledge to ourselves it is pampering!

While this won’t eliminate all the stress in your life or change your family or your career, it can change how you look at your life and help you see how you really are taking care of yourself.

If you would like to have a conversation, a discovery call about how you can reframe your thinking and have more comfort in your life, contact me for a complimentary 30 minute conversation by clicking here.

Stop, take a deep breath, smell the flowers and smile, you pampered woman!

Ciao,
Sheri