Why Self-Care Needs to be Scheduled Into our Lives
In the western world, it has become the norm to run at 100 miles an hour all the time! I am guilty of living this way for the majority of my 20s. I have always tried to squeeze the maximum output in a day, running around on empty, neglecting all the signs to slow down.
Stress is inevitable in anyones life, it is natural, and part of being human. Our body is incredible and was built in a way to best survive when in danger. When we feel stress it affects the sympathetic nervous system and prepares the body to fight any perceived threat.
However, our bodies are not meant to feel stress as often as we do. It is unlikely that we are being chased by a lion or a bear, however our body reacts in the same way from a stressful email from a colleague or a triggering post on social media.
With this in mind, it is so important that we prioritise our mental health. We need to be able to shift our narrative and not let our thoughts take over the show. An effective way to boost your mental health and manage stress is by incorporating self-care into your weekly schedule.
What is self-care?
I wanted to start off by defining self-care. I think TV shows and Instagram have glamorised it to eating ice cream on the couch, watching television or to be honest just being lazy! Self-care is defined as the deliberate and intentional use of activities and habits that relieve stress.
Self-care when done correctly stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system. This returns the body to a recovery state and eases fear and anxiety in that moment. Self-care practices prevent you from building too much stress, and better prepares you for challenges that come your way.
Why we need to schedule self-care into our lives
As I mentioned before we are in this “hustle” culture environment. This comes with a lot more stress which is detrimental to our body. It creates inflammation, impacts our mood, can mess with our hormones, reduce our ability to recover from infection, causes digestive issues, aches and pains in the body to just say a few!
Just like we book our pilates classes in for the week, we need to schedule in self-care. Self-care doesn’t have to take all day, it can be just 10 minutes. From my own experience, if we don’t pencil this in we never seem to get it done.
What self-care looks like to me
I am the self proclaimed self-care queen now! Once you start getting into the routine of it, it is just second nature. I personally love saunas, daily meditation, drinking 3L of water, journalling, feeding my body with home-cooked meals and walking in nature.
When my work schedule is extremely demanding, I still find time for a few of these rituals every week. I show up better not only to myself, but to everyone around me. We all enjoy being surrounded by stress free people, so let it be a goal to live a more calm and present life by adopting these practices.
Find what works best for you
When we don’t manage our stress it gets stuck in our bodies, we bottle it up until we eventually explode. We feel fatigued, are irritable and honestly are just not enjoyable to be around.
We need to all find what works for us. Self-care is bio-individual. I’ve created a 30- day self care check list with many options for you to try. Schedule it in everyday, and I promise you will feel a lot calmer, be more productive and an all around happier person.
