Take time for self! One of the things i’m a big proponent of is self care. Several years ago, I got very clear with my self about what was bringing me joy and what was causing me unhappiness. Thus, began the tedious task of de-cluttering my life. Here’s the thing, we carry around so much baggage, and if we don’t deal with them, they accumulate and begin to weigh us down. Before you know it, our backs are bent and our heads are always hanging down, because that baggage is on top of our shoulders; that baggage we never bothered to deal with. And so they just stick around making us physically and mentally ill.
The side effects of physical and mental clutter can be successfully managed when we have sound strategies in place to deal with the daily grinds of life. Optimum spirituality, good nutrition, movement, contented career, healthy relationships and outlets for fun and creativity will ensure better overall health and lifestyle. These are all areas I addressed in my quest to shake off the constant, heavy burdens that were bearing me down.
I’ve made my needs a priority. Taking care of me means i’m better able to take care of everyone else who is depending on me. If i’m not at optimum health, then others won’t receive optimum results from me. Thus, a must is to incorporate self care practices into my daily life; 110 of them are available for you, here.
It’s simple really. Well, now it’s simple, but it wasn’t so easy initially, because I was so used to inhaling the days as opposed to savoring them, I never had time to enjoy or appreciate anything good about what any day had to offer. But, I wanted better and found a way to get better. Now, I have an arsenal to help me through any given, undesirable situation on any given day, and one such arsenal is My Self Care Calendar, which I use as a reminder to take moments for self care each day of the week. And i’m committed every single day of the year.
I created this calendar to keep track of my self care dos, but last week I googled self care calendars and I found one by Kriscarr, (learned of her two weeks ago from Gaberielle Bernstein), which included sections for Affirmations, and feelings at the end of the day. Methinks ’twas genius, so I redid mine to include an affirmation section.
My Self Care Calendar includes two daily “self dos.” Basically, you do two things for your self, daily. I made it two, because I’m absolutely certain I can do two things. And like I mentioned earlier, the affirmations section, which were inspired by Kriscarr’s planner.
Again, if you need ideas for self care practices you can view 110 of them Here is a copy of My Self Care Calendar for your printing pleasure, here. Take good care of yourself beauties.
Dixie Lincoln- Nichols is a biological science educator, health and wellbeing consultant and Qigong instructor. Her work has been featured in media outlets like, Oprah Mag, SELF, Yahoo and more. She is the founder of Inside Outer Beauty Market, a multi-cultutal retailer curating and creating products to support the body inside and out. Visit the site at www.iobeautymarket.com
