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How Your Self Care Routine Improves Your Mental Health
This post will highlight 5 important aspects in which why having a self care routine improves your mental health significantly. These are some of the tips I have given my students, when I felt they needed a little TLC. I have also personally used them when it comes to my own mental health struggles. As always, let me know what you think and if some are familiar to you, or if you have other ways of ensuring your mental health is being addressed in your life.
Also, don’t forget to check out the PRINTABLE OF THE DAY section at the end of our post!
We know that taking care of our mental health is just as important as our physical health.
Thanks to the pandemic, governments are finally taking their citizens’ mental health very seriously. Notably that of the younger generation. The various lockdowns have played a major role in shifting people’s mindsets about mental health, and have actually helped in giving people the safe space to talk about it more freely.
As an educator, I believe that it is also my role to reach out to my students and touch base with them, and see how they are doing – beyond the classroom. That aspect of their life isn’t usually something most teachers need to focus on, but I strongly believe that helping young people set up self care routines and guide them in taking care of their mental health, can only be beneficial for them in & out of the classroom.
It’s no use having students be physically in class, but mentally their focus is elsewhere! I will gladly dedicate a portion of my class time to ensure my students are doing okay, and then have them be 100% in their work, rather than dive right into coursework and only have them being 30% responsive!
Furthermore, our mind and body are so connected that when our mental health suffers, our physical health is sure to follow in the form of sickness and stress.
Routine self-care plays a big role in making sure you develop good mental habits that will keep you operating at 100% – if not 110%!
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5 Ways Having A Self Care Routine Improves Your Mental Health
1. You finally know who you are:
Figuring out who we are is a hefty task. Sometimes, once adolescence passes, we have a better idea who we are, sometimes it takes longer, and sometimes it takes a lifetime for some!
When you allow yourself to practice self-care on a routine basis, you become more in touch yourself – your feelings, emotions, things you like and don’t like.You begin listening to your body and setting necessary boundaries.
You begin to re-connect with old passions and discover new interests as well.
When you start giving your mind and body the care you deserve, a world of possibility opens up because you know who you truly are.
Remember that the choices you make are yours alone. You are the only one who can decide what is good for you. Don’t mistake what others may be doing as the next best thing!
Be your own person, be fiercely authentic and never question what feels right for you, even if sometimes that choice doesn’t always seem to be the norm, or the popular one.
You are a strong and independent individual and once you become aware of your potential, your body will inevitably follow your mind’s lead. Your best life – that is, the one you want to live – is just within your reach!
2. Your outlook becomes much more positive:
Self-care is all about bringing positive change to your life.
By slowing down and being more intentional with your time, you’ll begin to appreciate life on a greater level than what you ever have before.
The more you put yourself first, the better you’ll feel and the more confident you’ll become. Your attitude is bound to improve, and your future outlook will be that much brighter.
It’s much easier to look at the world through a lens of gratitude and optimism when you feel good and have confidence in yourself.
By being more open to good things happening to you, you also exude these good vibes, that in turn leads to being a great leader & role model.
As an educator, being a strong, positive role model is highly important to me. I can’t imagine giving Little C or my students advice to look after themselves, when I am not doing it for myself.
Consequently, looking after yourself has so many powerful benefits for your mental health, and a positive outlook being one of them.
3. You become less stressed:
We aren’t always able to avoid stress in the fast paced, chaotic world we live in. However, we can make it a little easier to handle by allowing self-care to be a part of our daily routine.
Taking care of your mind and body through adequate sleep, a good amount of exercise and healthy nutrition is great way to combat the stressors that come about in life. Through routine self-care, you’re able to a build up a resilience that can get you through even the hardest of times, simply because you’ve got a full tank, physically and emotionally.
One of the ways you can ensure your routine self care is going to be super effective is to identify what is causing your stress. All the stress-reduction techniques in the world are of little value if you don’t find the cause of your stress.
Procrastinating over getting to the core of your stress, isn’t going to help you. Sometimes biting the bullet is easier than floundering and fluffing about.
Rip that band-aid off and once you have found the core of your stress, your life is going to take a turn for the better!
In most cases, you’ll be able to determine what is stressing you out. There are situations where you become anxious, and you are not sure why. Hopefully, it is a temporary condition. Should it become more long-term, consider getting some help before it gets out of control.
As mentioned above, another way you can help your self care routine, and reduce stress, is to get enough sleep! Your rest is primordial when it comes to your self care routine and it’s not something that you should take for granted.
If you don’t get the right amount of sleep, your mind cannot be at its best. You won’t function properly and may make some serious mistakes. Unfortunately, stress can cause people to stay awake at night. However, getting the right amount of sleep can help eventually reduce your stress levels.
Here are 5 super simple ways you can start sleeping better, consequently improving your mental health.
To get better sleep, start exercising on a regular basis. While exercise may give you energy throughout the day, when you go to bed at night, it will help you to sleep better. You will have a quality sleep as well. Some people find that exercising in the evening causes them to be wired, and they can’t get to sleep. If you fall into this camp of people, consider doing your exercising in the morning. This way, you’ll use that energy burst throughout the day and will give you time to become tired.
Try to avoid using alcohol in excess. Although this seems counterintuitive as alcohol makes you sleepy, it causes you to fall into a deep sleep. You then wake up in the middle of the night and have a difficult time getting back to sleep. Without the alcohol, your sleep will be more even and allow you to sleep throughout the night. If you feel you must have alcohol, don’t have more than one drink.
See a doctor if you have sleeping problems that persist. Not getting enough sleep can lead to a decline in your health. Sleep recharges the body and allows it to function properly, including building up antibodies to fight off diseases. When you are deprived of sleep, a bunch of problems can arise because of it.
Hopefully, if you do resort to seeing a doctor, he will find solutions that are not drug-dependent. This may help your sleep problems in the short term but doesn’t do much to fix the reason why you are not getting sleep. Press your doctor for alternative solutions if drugs are being prescribed.
Consider learning meditation as that can relax the mind. It’s much easier to get good sleep when the mind is relaxed than when it is thinking about all the problems you are facing. Meditation won’t solve those problems. But, getting to sleep can help you to come up with solutions faster.
Eating at the proper times during the day and eating the right kinds of foods, can help you to sleep better at night, as well. If you have a heavy meal right before you are going to bed, you could suffer from indigestion, which will not lead to a good sleep at all.
These are simple & very accessible ways in which you can get your sleep pattern back on track and pave your wave to being more mentally strong and balanced!
4. You develop healthier relationships :
The less you love yourself, the more toxic your relationships will be.
This is why self-care is so important – it’s the act of showing yourself love in simple little ways, every single day.
By doing this, you’ll start to embrace who you are, and you’ll attract people who mirror that.
With a little self-care, you’ll be able to give the best possible version of yourself to every relationship you have.
Being able to develop healthier relationships, you have to learn how to recognize negative friends. Once you have established who they are, you can slowly pry yourself away from them.
No one deserves to be put down, or have their ideas undermined all the time!
By loving yourself more authentically and being proactive in the manner in which you practice your self care, nothing will stop you in attracting the right types of people who can elevate and bring the best out of you, and you out of them!
5. You Feel More Confident
Your confidence level is determined by how you feel about yourself and your situation. If you tend to put everyone else’s needs ahead of your own and neglect yourself, most likely your confidence is going to suffer.
It’s like telling yourself you’re not worthy of the attention.
This is where self-care comes in.
When you make time for things you enjoy and place your own well-being at the top of the priority list, you’ll be happier and more self-assured.
Practicing self-care produces positive feelings and helps you maintain a healthier, more confident relationship with yourself and others.
With better self confidence comes with the feeling that you know you can be or do anything. For some people, it is a higher sense of self-esteem, while others believe it is more about what they can achieve than who they are.
No matter what confidence means to you, here are 5 helpful tips for improving it:
1. Try Visualization Techniques
Visualization is when you close your eyes, get into a calm and quiet state of mind, and visualize what it is you want. You have probably done this before if you are someone who daydreams, or when you try to think of your perfect scenario when you are laying down at night to go to sleep. Just think of something you want, whether a feeling or reaching a goal, and visualize it. If you are working on your confidence, this might be getting a big promotion, feeling good about your body or looks, or having others praise you.
2. Become A Selfie Bombshell!
Yes, selfies can help with your confidence! It may seem a little superficial, but if you have low self-esteem, it might be an adjustment to see pictures of yourself. But over time, you start to see all the amazing, unique, and beautiful traits that you have. Take lots of selfies, from different angles, in different clothes and environments, and with different types of lighting. Get creative, get bold, and get outside of your comfort zone. The more you see yourself in every different scenario and angle, the more you see how unique and beautiful you really are.
3. Get Better at Accepting Compliments
If you are someone who gets shy and awkward when someone compliments you, it can actually harm your confidence in the long run. Now is a great time to start practicing how you accept compliments. It doesn’t have to be complicated; a simple thank you will suffice. But don’t be afraid to be genuinely appreciative of compliments, and never say “no” or deny what they are complimenting about you.
4. Become Aware of Your Own Strengths
Your inner strengths are just as important as your physical traits; embrace them! Make a list of everything you are good at, even the smallest of things. Maybe you make really good scrambled eggs or you can solve a Rubiks Cube in only a few minutes. You might be good at creative and artistic activities or have achieved fitness goals. Your strengths might be kindness and compassion, or not being afraid of confrontation. It doesn’t matter what it is. If it is important to you, something you are good at, it’s worth feeling confident about.
5. Be Careful Who You Surround Yourself With
Unfortunately, there are some people who can be toxic to your confidence and make you feel worse about yourself. If you notice trends where you tend to feel worse about yourself after spending time with certain people, it’s time to let them go or at least try to spend a little less time with them.
The Takeaway
When you take care of your mental health, through routine self-care, the positive effects ripple down through every area of your life and make a huge impact on the direction your life will take.
I sure hope this post inspires you to become a bad A self care aficionado!!
Feel free to hit me up with your comments! You know your gal will be reading and responding to all of them!
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