The Journey to Self-Care 2017
So it has got to that time of year where hormones are all over the place, mood swings are inevitable, morale is at an all-time low and self-care is seriously neglected. So why is it that during winter we neglect ourselves the most? We do we stop taking time out of our day to journal? or paint our nails? or even to run ourselves a bath? Why do we continuously strip ourselves of the things that we love the most? Why?? Because for many of us we lead busy lives, right? It is sometimes incredibly hard to take a simple 30 minutes out of our day to run ourselves a bath when we could be in and out of the shower in 10. We assume that we are saving ourselves those vital extra 20 minutes that could be better spent elsewhere?? Wrong. By not allowing ourselves time to wind down and have "me" time, we are ultimately contributing to self-neglect.
Now, hold on all is not lost here, we still have time to make amends. Starting with making time for ourselves, and when I say "make time", this can be anything from spending the afternoon de-cluttering your bedroom/work space to sitting in a nail bar all day getting manis, pedis and everything in between. Hey, if you want to spend however much on yourself then DO IT, and please do not feel guilty for doing so. We are allowed to treat ourselves from time to time, after all we are only human so you do you boo - no judging here.
Now I realise that "self-care" for some isn't as easy as "just getting yours nails done" but I do think that it is a contributing factor in making yourself feel better and improving your self-esteem, because if your nails look cute then you automatically feel cute! Maybe for some of you it may be that you take up a sport/hobby that you've always wanted to do and you practice it regularly until you have mastered it.
I think that it is equally important to take time off social media too, sometimes we get too dependant on it and take things too seriously, when in reality the majority of what we see isn't even real. Instead, hit up your bffs invite them over, get the cheap Aldi wine out and the movies on. Now, I always find that spending time with my friends makes me feel 10x better and helps me to get out of my bad mood.
Meditate, Meditate, Meditate!!!
I cannot praise this practice any higher and the best thing about it is that you don't even have to be religious in the slightest to meditate. All that it involves is taking time out to sit in complete stillness and practice your breathing techniques. Before, I got into meditation I didn't think that much of it and didn't believe that it could play a vital part in altering my mindset but it really has! I currently use an app called "Calm" which is on the app store and its super easy to follow along.
Recently, I have used meditation a lot to help me de-stress and feel less anxious about my uni deadlines, also it has allowed me to feel more grounded and appreciative with my life. If you are generally speaking, a negative/pessimistic person then meditation is something that you definitely need to try, it will allow for clarity and increased self-care.
And yes, this process may be short for some of you and for others it may prove tiresome and longer but definitely stick with it. The important thing to remember here is that some days you will have down days and this is okay. Society
somehow convinces us that we look weak for struggling from time to time, but this is all apart of the process to self-love and self-care. You need to envisage yourself as a golden beam of light, everything that shines out of you is pure and radiant. Your body is a temple and you must treasure it with everything you own.
Please do not neglect yourself and please look after yourself
Ps. Keep at it and keep faith, change doesn't come straight away but you will notice improvements if you implement these practices into your daily lives.
Thank you so much for reading my blog post, lately I have been inspired to write semi-motivational blog posts in hope that it will help one of you or even to encourage you all to look after yourselves better.
Love Leah xx
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