The Well Woman Self Care Guide

Self-care comes in different ways for different people. In the end, it is about living your happiest, most peaceful, and best life. Self-care is knowing your limits and not pushing yourself to the point where you both physically and mentally cannot handle it anymore. It is knowing your worth and leaving somewhere or someone because you know you deserve better. Remember the only requirement for self-care is that the focus is on you.

Here is the ultimate guide to self-care.....

1.Take care of you first - always!

On a plane, when the flight attendants are doing their safety demonstration they always tell you to put on your life saving equipment first. This might not be the best advice in business, team sports, relationships or many other areas of life, but it holds a great deal of significance to your personal health, peace of mind and happiness. In fact, how you care for yourself may well determine your ability to function in an increasingly busy world.

2. Give yourself an intentional break daily.

A partner in Well With Her Soul, Candance Greene has coined a ministry called “Peace Breaks.” A peace break is 15 minutes of mindfulness meditation and self-care. You may feel pressure to be everything to everyone, but there is only so much one person can accomplish. Increase your energy and stamina by giving yourself a timeout. All of us need time to recharge our batteries and self-care is often the best thing you can do. Candance Greene is the owner of Cherished Flight.

3. Get enough rest each day.

Good sleep is essential for optimal physical, emotional, and spiritual health. Insufficient and inconsistent sleep can increase irritability, moodiness and poor judgment. To remain at the top of your game, it’s recommended that you get at least 7 hours of sleep each day. What is your average per day?

4. Get a journal and write intentionally.

The process of intentional journaling gives stressful thoughts another place to reside, another place they can live besides your brain. Once those thoughts have been expressed, they often lose their strength and impact, which will allow you to mentally relax. Writing in your journal a few minutes before you go to bed can help release the stresses of the day and put you in a restful state of mind. This can increase the amount of sleep you achieve.

5. Get at least 30 minutes of fitness.

Fitness is not only for exercising your muscles, but also your mind. Exercise has been proven to increase the levels of glutamate and gamma-aminobutyric acid that are responsible for chemical messages within the brain and strengthening these is directly linked to regulating physical and emotional health. Take a bike ride, do yoga, or go for a run as daily self-care.

6. Just say NO and don’t feel bad about it.

I had to learn to start saying NO.  It was challenging at first, but then like all things, with practice it became so easy.  I held strong to my mantra of “being a NO to them, is being a YES to me.” I regained my sense of self worth.  I regained my passion, my mission, and my time. Life was good. I really enjoy saying NO now. It comes off my lips so freely. Try it for yourself.

7. Practice aromatherapy

Aromatherapy is the practice of using natural oils extracted from flowers, bark, stems, leaves, roots or other parts of a plant to enhance psychological and physical well being. Essential oils can be used in many ways. They can be swiped on your wrist, underneath your nose, or your neck. They can be put in a diffuser, which dilutes the oil with water and sends bursts of the oil into the air, or they can be put in an essential oil burner – which works a lot like a candle melt, you put the essential oil in the top, and a candle on the bottom to warm the oil.

8. Take a relaxing bath or meditation shower

We are all ‘connected’ and online 24/7. This can often take its toll on the nervous system, making us stressed, exhausted, and more susceptible to illness. One of the best things about having a bath or meditation shower is that you can choose to leave your phone out of the room, and whilst you’re relaxing in the water, no one can get at you! This is the perfect time to practice deep breathing and meditation, and even make the most of the huge benefits of essential oils you might add to the water. As a DoTerra advocate, I have access to all of the goods (Just contact me). Good oils to use while bathing are lavender, sage, eucalyptus, or frankincense.

9. Burn candles

There is power in lighting candles. If you prefer a candle look for Lavandin oil in the fragrance notes. This is from the same family as the lavender plants and has been linked to combating mental strength and depression. So, go on, run a bath, light some candles and breathe.

10. Get a massage or acupuncture

Frequent Massages and Acupuncture can be used as both preventive and responsive self care. Many people book weekly, biweekly or monthly sessions to use as a healthy preventive method of self care that keeps them feeling more relaxed, better able to cope with stress, able to sleep more soundly or experiencing less pain. Others are so relieved they can find time to pop in for either treatment on short notice for any number of things: relief after a stressful day, fatigue, a headache or migraine, acute pain, etc.