I always talk about self-care being important and give ideas of self-care but how many of you actually take the time to care for yourself? Why should you find time in your busy life to get that bubble bath in or get your nails done?
I know how difficult it can be to find the time to sneak in even the littlest forms of self-care. Between taking care of kids, cleaning the house, cooking dinners, working, and every other thing life seems to throw our way, I understand it’s overwhelming thinking about adding one more thing to the schedule.
With being so busy I know that we are quick to neglect ourselves but that’s just what you are doing, neglecting yourself which is going to lead to consequences that can make life even more difficult.
So here are my 6 top reasons why self-care is important and why you need to be making time for it today!
1. It doesn’t have to be extravagant: It’s not as hard to find time for it as you may think! Self-care doesn’t have to be a full-on day at that spa (even though that sounds wonderful), it can be as simple as a candle-lit bath or having 5 uninterrupted minutes in your bedroom so you can breathe. So, find something small to give yourself every day that helps refill your bucket, even if it’s just a little task that may mean nothing to someone else. If it does something positive for you, do it!
2. It’s a great example for your kids: If you have the little munchkins running around, you’ll be the first to want them to take care of them in life. You don’t want to see them burnt out and running on fumes, so teach them now how to self-care properly! You can also show them self-care by helping them self-care on rough days. A bath with bath salts is a great way to help your 4th grader relax after a stressful day. Teach them early how to be mindful of their own wellbeing!
3. You can’t give people your best when running on fumes: Being a super parent, or whatever your title is, weighs on us all. We want to give our best but can you give your best if your bucket is empty? Imagine you have an inner bucket, and when you practice self-care it puts a little more water into it, the days you are stressed and running around it empties it a little bit. Now, what happens to that bucket if you continue to pour out but never replenish? It gets empty and you will be running life on nothing. Which means your family is getting a worn-down version of you. They can’t get the full greatness of you if you are empty.
4. More productive when your bucket is full: It’s hard to get off the couch to do anything when you’re completely run down. This is why it’s so important to do anything that fills your bucket back up. Even if you manage to get some work done, I promise you could do so much more if you just took a second to take care of yourself.
5. You’ll produce poor work quality: This is at work or at home, the quality of your work will be weak and underwhelming. Imagine missing out on an opportunity at work because you were feeling burnt out, but it could have been avoided with 5 minutes of special care for yourself. It would be so frustrating! So, save yourself the frustration and regret by starting your self-care regimen today!
6. Avoiding full-on burnout: I think it’s safe to say we’ve all experienced a full burnout at some point in our lives. This can look different for everyone, for me, it usually involves a full mental health crash as well. For me it’s the inability to work (burned through pto before I was self-employed), housework goes to the wayside, I don’t cook anything beyond ramen or chicken nuggets, and I just can’t function for a few weeks.
The recovery from a full burnout can take so much time and there are typically negative consequences to it. Also, the regret of knowing that had you have just taken a little time leading up to it, you could have avoided this full-on crash.
In conclusion, self-care now is easier and less time-consuming to do than recovering from a crash after no self-care.
So, start NOW, quit putting it off. You will be quick to neglect yourself so make your plan for today’s self-care. What will it be?
You got this!
Much love,
M
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