By Kathy Wiens
Five Steps to Develop a Self-Care Plan
If you looked at the ratio of the amount of care you to give to others and then to yourself, what would that pie chart look like. For many of us, especially women and caregivers, the chart might be pretty one sided. Some might wear this as a badge of honor, but does sacrificing our own needs help ourselves or others? This blog will look at what self-care is, what we are already doing, and how we can develop a plan to better our self-care.
What is self-care?
Self-care is simply caring for ourselves. Think of how you care for other things in your life: children, home, pets, garden, etc. We also care for our relationships with our partner or spouse, with friends and with our family and children. There are many other areas in our life that we care for, but the question today in this blog is how do we care for ourselves?
What Self-Care Are We Already Doing?
The reality is we do care for ourselves in many ways – we are caring for ourselves when we brush our teeth, bath, sleep, eat, drink water, etc. But often times those these thigs are done with out thinking about it. To really make self-care a priority it’s important to be aware of how we are practicing it.
There are many areas in which we can care for ourselves. These areas are physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual, social, financial and more. To make self-care a priority in your life think about each of these areas and how you are caring for yourself in each. For physical are you getting enough sleep and exercise? Are you eating well and drinking enough water? These are the kind of questions to ask yourself in each of these self-care areas.
Tips for how to develop and maintain your self-care plan.
1. Make self-care a priority in your life.
2. Set specific goals for your self-care practice.
3. Make self-care a habit. Do it consistently and keep going,
4. Start small. Don’t overwhelm yourself with a long list of self-care items. Start with one or two things and move on from there. Also, a small amount of self-care is better than none.
5. Set boundaries around your self-care practice. As in tip number one, part of making self-care a priority is to set boundaries so you can continue your self-care routine.
Caring for yourself is not selfish. Rather it is a necessity of life. We can not give to others if our own tank is empty. Valuing yourself is important to being emotionally heathy and well-rounded. When you are living your best life everyone benefits.