Self-care and taking time for yourself are so important for your well-being. Don’t drive yourself to over exhaustion! In this lesson, we discuss how self-care can help you be more productive and protect you from burnout. We also provide you with some morning rituals that you can practice to take some time for yourself and ultimately, have more energy!
Self-Care
Being kind and compassionate to yourself.
Self-care is all about being kind and compassionate to yourself. It’s knowing when you’re running low on energy and resources, thus, taking a step back from this to replenish rather than draining yourself and getting burnout. It’s not something to be ashamed of, because self-care is such a crucial part of our physical, emotional and mental well-being.
Now you may be wondering why is self-care so important? How will it make you more productive and avoid burnout?
Below are some reasons we have identified:
- Gain a better focus and hence, productivity. When you learn not to over-extend yourself and really focus on the things that matter, this allows you to be more concentrated and thus, more productive.
- Improve your physical, emotional and mental well-being. Self-care helps you to take some time to rest and rejuvenate your body. It also manages your stress levels, which is better for your immune system, emotional and mental state.
- Boosts your confidence. When you feel good, it will show and come outwards in the way you act. Meeting your own needs sends a positive message to yourself and to those around you. You value yourself and ultimately, come out more positive. Know more about who you are.
- Allows you to discover more about yourself. You understand what your body, emotions and mind needs. You also give yourself more time for self-reflection. This allows you to understand why you do things in a certain way and what you can improve.
- Have more to give to others in return. It’s a common misconception that self-care is selfish. But that’s not true at all! When you take of yourself, you replenish your resources, coming out more productive and energetic. Thus, you have more to give to others. Having compassion for yourself and giving that compassion is like filling a bucket, you need enough for you and for others!
Now that we’ve gone through why self-care is so important, let’s go through some rituals you can practice in the morning to better take care of yourself and have more energy for you and for others:
- Meditation allows you to clear your mind and take moments for yourself to breathe. This is a great way to feel centered and feel better throughout the day!
- Go for a run, light jog or a short walk when you wake up. Take the time to absorb your surroundings and take it slow.
- Have a nice bubble bath. This will allow you to feel refreshed and pampered. Mix in some good essential oils and you will feel well taken care of.
- Keep a daily journal, where you write down your emotions and thoughts. Be totally honest and just let it flow! Sometimes writing it down is a good avenue to release.
- Eat a healthy breakfast. This is the most important meal and will set the tone for the rest of your day. So make sure you get a good, balanced breakfast in there and watch how such a simple act makes you feel better!
Taking care of yourself is not so much about fancy actions. You don’t have to splurge, although you can do so once in a while, really, it’s the simplest actions that we incorporate in our lives every day that dictates how well we care for ourselves. When you start caring, watch how you will come out better and ready to conquer!
Tip: Online Courses in Work-Life Balance
To learn more about how you can practice a good work-life balance, check out our course entitled Improve Your Entrepreneurial Well-Being. If you're a mom, we also have just the course for you! Our course entitled Make It as a Mompreneur goes through how you can balance your family life and business.
