As seasons are starting to change, it is important to remember to take care of yourself. Life is busy. School is in session, work is work, and taking the time for self-care can be put on the back burner. Not only is life busy, but it is going to get chillier outside and darker at night earlier as summer passes on by. For me, when it starts to get colder out and darker earlier, I tend to lose motivation in certain areas of my life. It is easier for me to just get out of bed, brush my teeth and then go about my day until it is night time and I brush my teeth again and get back into bed. I tend to forget about the fun rituals that I do that make my morning and night routine enjoyable! I have come to realize that it is the little things in my life that truly make me happy. I feel better as I go throughout the day knowing that I am taking care of myself. With that being said, I want to share some of my self care acts that I try to do daily or weekly. Some are time consuming and some are not but they truly make a difference for me!
The first act of self care that I have started to do in the morning is my gratitude journal. This is very new to me, as I have just started it recently. It has taken some time to get into the habit of completing it every morning and night but I do enjoy it when I remember to write in it. I feel it is a helpful before starting my day to remind myself about what I am grateful for and how I can make today great. It also asks me to provide a “statement” of the day that I will tell myself through out the day. The end of the day prompt is a nice reflection of the day which helps me go to bed in a good mood ready to take on the next day. Now, don’t get me wrong, I have bad days and this always doesn’t help, but I do think it has been a good thing to integrate into my morning routine.
The second thing I do is get my body moving. As someone who has struggled with getting in movement throughout the day and loves to lay on the couch, I have made it a priority to have some sort of movement during the day. Self care doesn’t always look like long showers, eye masks, and lighting a candle (I do all of those things). Exercise can be a great act of self care. It helps in improving my mental health and makes me feel better when I am having a rough day. If I don’t get to the gym, because it does not always fit in my schedule, I make sure to take my dog for a walk and play with him a few times a day. Sometimes we need to just lay on the couch all day, but I have really enjoyed movement throughout my day and it puts me in a great mood!
There is a wide variety of small things that I do throughout the week as forms of self care. As I said previously, I enjoy doing eye masks and taking long showers. I enjoy reading whenever I have down time because it is my form of escape from reality. I light candles so much that I typically burn through one a week! I watch my favorite tv show over and over again. You would think it gets old, but it doesn’t! All of these little motions that I do brighten my day. With fall approaching, I look forward to taking time out of my busy, stressful schedule and go to pumpkin patches, get my favorite fall drink from Starbucks, and go shopping for a new cozy sweater. I hope that I have inspired you, reader, to take the time this season to take care of yourself. Integrate self care into your routine as much as you can without it stressing you out. I hope that I gave you ideas, time consuming or not, that could possibly add even just a little excitement and joy to your day. Take care of yourself and embrace the seasons changing.