Establishing a routine for you to follow is one of the best methods to start your self care journey. There are many pieces to the puzzle, so establishing a routine until some of the actions become more natural helps set yourself up for success. Work around what you do have for commitments, but ensure you don’t sacrifice your personal self care time. It is the easiest thing to eliminate during a hectic day, but this should be the time that is not negotiable. Just like putting on an oxygen mask first on an airplane before you put it on your loved one, this is part of your daily survival.
Scheduling My Tasks
Start by identifying all of your daily, weekly and monthly tasks, followed by the time commitment each one requires. For the purposes of this exercise, we will assume there is a full-time job in the mix, and kids as those are the biggest time thieves we contend with regularly. Ensure the rest of your routine time is carved out to include self care activities.
Exercise
At a minimum you need some form of exercise. Try to get a 30-minute walk in daily, a short yoga workout, or 15 minutes of resistance bands if you’re short on time. If you are used to being more active, try to vary your workouts to keep things fun and balancing what you target. Not only does exercise improve your physical health, but it has been shown to be a great stress reliever and makes you feel better all around. Depending on the activity you chose, you can also build relationships. More importantly, you can get a sense of accomplishment if you work towards a greater goal.
Mealtime
Scheduling meal time should include prep and consumption. Rushing through meals not only gives you indigestion, but it defeats the whole purpose of the meal. You need to recharge your body and ensure you are following a good diet for you. Many cultures use meal time as a time to connect and truly savour the spread in front of them. Meal planning can be an essential element of your overall schedule. By being prepared in advance, it will reduce the daily stress of figuring out what to eat. Multiply this small stress for 3 main meals a day and snacks in between, and you are looking at a lot of wasted time and energy, and you reduce the likelihood of making bad choices when pressed for time.
Recharge
The recommended amount of sleep is 7-8 hours for most adults. You also need to remember to rest and take breaks throughout the day. Even if you get long hours of sleep, but you are not feeling rested in the morning, it means you are not properly resting. Ensuring you have a wind-down routine aids in better sleep. If it persists to be a problem, you may want to seek medical advice.
Reach Out To People
Relationships and connecting with those you care about is vital. Even if it’s a quick 5-minute call to say you’re thinking of them or a text to share a highlight from your day makes such a difference. You need to feel like you have connections in your life and belong to something. By having even one contact in a day with someone you care about, can make you feel loved. You can be surrounded by people, but if you have no profound connection with them, you can also be the loneliest person on the planet.
Journaling
Self care journaling time is also key for your routine. A time to reflect on what has transpired through the day and to focus on positive experiences, it helps give the day context and purpose. Over time, the act will call to you and the thoughts will easily pour over the blank pages. More importantly, it helps prime your brain for a successful start the next day. If you prefer to use pictures or draw, try art journaling.
Breathe
Schedule breathing time. Yes, that’s correct, breathing time. Something we all do and take for granted every day, but so essential to have a healthy life. Now more than ever, we’ve become aware of how precious it is to breathe clean air. Breathing does not take long to do, a couple of minutes here, a couple of minutes there. If you are into meditation or yoga, you may already be aware of your breath. But for the majority of the population, this is foreign territory. Aim for at least a total of 15 minutes spread throughout the day.
Creativity
Creativity needs to be a part of your day. Whether that be a new recipe you experiment with, learn a new craft, draw, paint, photograph things, you name it. By having an element of creativity scheduled into the day, it keeps your perspective open. It also provides a moment of mindfulness by shifting your focus to something other than your stressors.
Learn
A continual growth mindset is another characteristic that resilient people exhibit. In order to do so, you must make an active effort to be learning. This leads to more knowledge and awareness. The more you learn, the more perspectives you can see and overall makes you better able to tackle different challenges. If you are short on time, something as simple as learning a new word every day could be your activity. Try signing up for a class through a community college, learn a new language, or take online classes, the possibilities are endless.
Read
Literacy is one of the most powerful tools you can give someone. We have limitless resources online and bookstores with a wide array of topics for you to choose from. Read regularly, it is both good for the soul and your brain. A good story can transport you to another place and make you forget your troubles. Reading regularly allows you to see the world from a different perspective and grow your vocabulary. Why would this be important for self care? When we struggle to find the words to express ourselves, we get frustrated and often give up. Poor communication leads to many interpersonal arguments. The more you read, the more easily the words will come to you over time, and the easier it is to deal with challenging conversations.
Digital Commitment
Time devoted to being online should be considered throughout the day. When you will connect to your digital devices? By scheduling it in, you can minimize wasted time. You also make a conscious effort of what you spend that time on. Focus on apps and feeds that supports your self care and minimize stressors.
Volunteer Your Time
And finally, a task that can be added to your monthly schedule besides the obligation of taking care of your family and doing your job – volunteering. Helping others is an act that helps fulfill you. Finding a cause you care about not only ties you to a new network of support, it also adds to your accomplishments. Often times, it builds your self esteem by helping others. By scheduling volunteer hours once a month, you can limit your commitment, yet still feel like you have given back to your community.
Identify the tasks that make up your life and schedule them to create a routine.
Once you’ve created a schedule for your routine, give it an honest try. If it’s too rigid you may need to adjust it, but do push yourself to meet your self care needs. Having a regular routine will help ease some of the minor stressors in life so that overall things become more manageable. There are many tools you can use to help in the process like agendas, apps, and fancy calendars. But at the end of the day, you just need a piece of paper with your life on it.
Schedule what works for you. If you have commitments that you no longer want or need in your life, now is the time to get rid of them. You need to ensure you have time for yourself in the day. This is not being selfish. This is what you need in order to be fully there for others when they need you. And even if it’s just one hour you can grant yourself, the return will be plentiful. If that’s all you have, make it part of your wind-down at the end of the day to maximize the returns. Don’t go on social media and no screen time, to start slowing your brain down. Take time to reflect, tend to the aches, rejuvenate your spirit, and prepare for the conquests of the day ahead.
IMAGE CREDIT: Unsplash | Eric Rothermel.