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Self-care is a necessary part of life that many people forget to pay attention to. It is important to take some time out of your days to take a breath and focus on yourself. The best form of self-care is to check in on your mental health. Having control of your mind and thoughts can greatly help in processing the world around you and what it brings into your life.
The first way you can incorporate self-care into your daily routine is vowing to take breaks and time off from work. This is important for creating a work and life balance. Overworking yourself can allow stress to build up and lead to an unhealthy climax. Taking small breaks during the workweek can greatly aid this stress. It is also important to differentiate the weekends from the workweek. Allowing yourself to relax and do things you actually enjoy on the weekends can recharge you for the upcoming week. If you can, try to use all of your vacation time to take small trips to unwind.
Meditation is another great strategy to find balance in your life. Stress besides work, such as hearing daily Covid-19 news, can also pile up and hurt you if you do not take time to decompress. Meditation can help you decompress while also sharpening your focus. Meditation trains your brain every time you practice it by working your Reticular Activating System, the system responsible for your ability to notice patterns and trends. Accessing this part of your brain can make sorting things out in your life much easier, rather than getting lost in the clutter your brain naturally generates. Meditation can also help you build a feeling of spirituality, making you feel connected to something bigger than yourself.
Exercising a little bit everyday can also lead to great results in your life balance. Groundbreaking research has showed that there is an inherent connection between the mind and body, meaning a healthy body creates a healthy mind. You can greatly improve your mental health by exercising regularly, even just a couple of times a week. Exercise can be anything that you enjoy, as long as your heart rate is elevated, and you are sweating. After a workout, your brain produces “feel good” endorphins that can act as mental medicine to help you destress and have more energy throughout the day.
Lastly, it is important to learn how to let go of things that you cannot control in life. If you have no control over a potential outcome you feel stressed about, acknowledge it and vow to not worry about it. Trust that you will be resilient no matter what the situation ends up being. Stressing about things that may never happen can greatly damage your mental health. Letting things go is a practice you may constantly need to remind yourself of, but once you do you will give yourself freedom to focus on the things you can control.
