by Loretta Stevens
Loretta is Co-Chair of MHC’s Development Committee, a Mental Health First Aider, and one of the #31DaysofWellness fundraisers.
Did you know?
Did you know that sometimes, the only way to really be able to make time for self-care is to lessen the amount of time or energy that you are giving away to other people? Our national affiliate, Mental Health America, put together an informative guide entitled “Taking Time for Yourself.”
There are many tips that Mental Health America shares to help create healthy boundaries and take time for yourself. Here are some of them!
Accept yourself as you are. Remember that you are running your own race. Try not to compare your life and what it looks like right now to anyone else’s. When you start comparing yourself to others, it’s easy to feel inadequate, which makes it hard to even take the very first step in self-care. Instead, try your best to accept the person that you are and where you are in life right now.
Focus on the basics. Sometimes being an adult is not easy and it can feel impossible to get even the littlest things done. Taking time for yourself doesn’t necessarily mean treating yourself to special things. One of the most important things you can do is focus on steps to ensure you’re living a healthy lifestyle. Showering and brushing your teeth every day, eating nutrient-rich food, moving your body, and getting good sleep are all building blocks of good self-care.
Find what makes you happy. If you’re caught up in taking care of all of your responsibilities — rather than taking care of yourself — you may not even really know what kind of self-care you need. What works for someone else may not work for you. Take time to think about what things you can do to make yourself feel happy or accomplished and include them in building the self-care routine that makes the most sense for you, your schedule, and your health overall.
Check out the rest of their tips for self-care at https://mhanational.org/taking-time-yourself.
