4 Simple Ways To Squeeze Self-Care Into Your Busy Lifestyle

However, trendy and self-indulgent the word ‘self-care’ might seem, it’s actually a pretty essential ingredient within our lives.

Without it you’re on a slippery slope to overwhelm, frazzledom or waving your white flag for mercy. When it comes to maintaining your healthy mind, body and soul, self-care ticks all the boxes. But let’s be honest how the heck can you easily squeeze self-care into your hectic day when you’re a hard worker. Always busy giving everyone and everything your all.

We See Your Struggle.

We know you have every intention of keeping your health and wellbeing on track. But when it comes down to it, this fast pace of life can just seem – well – all a bit too much really, can’t it?

You don’t even have time to go to the loo, let alone relax in a bath or shower.  Too busy to even eat a meal some days, never mind prep a healthy one.

10 minutes out to meditate sounds like bliss, but so does a full 8 hours sleep if you could get it!  And let’s not even get started on exercise – you know it’s important, but it just doesn’t feel like there is enough time or energy left in those overcrowded 24 hours!

We totally get it and wholeheartedly understand that some days you probably feel like you don’t even have time to breathe. Leaving you thinly-spread, dog-tired and on a bad day – short-fused.  But, while you move mountains to keep everyone else’s world’s turning, who’s actually looking after you?

Pssst… the answer should be ‘you’!

Here’s the REALITY; if you live an overstretched life (and who doesn’t these days) you actually can’t afford NOT to have time to practice self-care.

WHAT…but I really don’t have time, we hear you say?

We thought you might say that, so we’ve gathered up 4 ways to help squeeze more self-care into your day.  Every little bit helps, right?

1. Make Time For You

In a nutshell – this means schedule it!

Unless you’ve got money to outsource your endless list of chores, errands and just general everyday responsibilities; scheduling is the only arsenal you’ve got if you truly want to make self-care a priority. 

At the beginning of your month or week (whatever suits you best) check your diary for gaps and fill it with the words ‘self-care’. This might be 5 minutes, 1 hour, ½ a day to a full week (if you are that lucky), whatever time is realistically available to you, use it! Then use the questions we’ve thrown your way below in the ‘give yourself what you actually need’ tip, to help you plan how you’re going to fill your self-care time. Then stick to it – no crossing it out or double booking!

2. Give Yourself What You Actually Need

Now that you’ve actually made time for self-care, you now need to decide what self-care actually means to you. Self-care is essentially about meeting your personal needs at a humanistic level.  One day it could be that you need to connect with loved ones, have quiet time or a bit of relaxation in the bath and another time it might be that you need energising through catching up with friends, going to the gym or moving and grooving to your favourite tunes.

When it comes to meeting our self-care needs, everyone is different and no one method best suits all or the same person each time.  However; what remains the same for all of us, is the need to check in with ourselves to discover what we need to remain well and how to adequately meet those needs each time.

Two smart questions to help you achieve this when you’re scheduling self-care time are;

• What do I need within my life right now?
• What action am I willing to take within the next 7 days to bring me closer to meeting that need?’

These two simple questions will quickly help you discover what fundamental needs are requiring your undivided attention and exactly how and when you’re going to meet them.

3. Get Tough With Your Boundaries

That’s right, it’s time to STOP saying yes…well to others anyway!

We know how epic it feels to help others out, especially when they are so appreciative of your gesture. However, when it leaves little time or resources left for yourself, you need to switch from boundless to boundaries.

Choosing to ignore those feelings of saying ‘NO’ to yourself and ‘YES’ to others, can lead to over commitment, resentment and yes you guessed it; stress. And let’s be honest those are not great attributes to bestow upon yourself after going out of your way to help others. If you truly want to stop over committing to an already hectic schedule and claw back some much needed ‘me time’, here are three worthwhile questions to start asking yourself before saying yes to others; 

• Is this something that makes me feel good?
• What will I gain & what will I lose if I say yes?
• What is the worst that will happen if I say No?

With these 3 simple questions you’ll be cultivating more ‘me time’ before you know it!

4. Give Your Self-Appreciation A Boost

Batting off the trials and tribulations of each eventful day can naturally become wearing – eroding your energy, confidence and happiness levels.  An easy and effective way to practice self-care without eating into a chunk of your day is by practising self-appreciation.

Taking a few moments daily to recognise your worth not only enhances your self-esteem, but re-energises and deters your mind from racing down the path of negativity.  All you need is two minutes a day tops to carry out the delightful job of boosting your appreciation. Got two minutes to spare?

Good, here are the steps to follow;

• Set yourself the challenge of pausing for just 2 minutes. 
• Take a slow deep breath in and out.
• When you’re relaxed and ready, place your attention on three things that you can appreciate about yourself.
• Repeat daily!

Self-care doesn’t have to take up lots of your time. Build what you can into your daily, weekly or monthly routine. Reminding yourself that little is always better than nothing.

Disclaimer: The information contained on this Site is provided for general educational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease or health condition. Please consult a qualified health care professional to diagnose your health condition and prevent self-diagnosis. We do not dispense medical advice or prescribe or diagnose illness. Read full medical and health disclaimer.