National Self-Care Day..

It’s a thing! I didn’t even know it, but I’m happy and I’m gonna show it.

Done rhyming - promise.

National Self-Care Day was on July 24th, but I think we should remember it on other days too.

…

Self-care..

It’s a loaded term, guys.

People hear it and they get overwhelmed at the thought of all the planning, the time away from doing “more important” things. I can just feel your muscles tightening reading this.

But here’s the thing..

You can’t pour from an empty cup.

You could try, but only the dust is going to fall out of there - because I’m assuming it’s been a while since you took the time to plan your self-care.

Let me give you some examples of EASY self-care additions to your life. Are you even ready for how SIMPLE these are going to be?

Stay Hydrated

water is my friend, people. And it’s yours too. Aaand, yes this is definitely an example of self-care. If you don’t keep your body hydrated, it won’t be able to do anything for you AT ALL.

MOVE.

Any movement - go for a walk while you’re on a conference call, crank out a few pushups before you hop in the morning shower, foam roll for 5 minutes when you get home, or stretch while you’re watching TV. It is truly that easy. These are things you can work into your day with little effort.

- Breathe -

PROPERLY. Yep, there’s a way you can mess that up. The wrong way would look like your shoulders climbing toward your ears on the inhale - you know, when you’re taking a BIG breath in. Yeah.. don't do that. Instead.. take a 4 count inhale with the focus being on expanding your ribcage to the front, back, and sides. The exhale will be a 6 count SLOW breath out. (How slow can you go?!)

*You may be wondering why the specific counts on the in and out breaths - when we breathe in quickly we are exciting the “fight or flight” response of our nervous system - you’re making your body think it needs to be on high-alert when it doesn’t. The SLOW exhale sends the message to the nervous system that it’s ok to “rest and relax”.

Brain Dump

This simply means sitting down with pen + paper, and writing down ALL the things! Every last one - to call your mom, handle Amazon returns, clean the bathrooms, call the new client you had on Thursday.. Everything. All these tasks and reminders that periodically pop up in our brains take up space. If we can give them a home outside of our minds, we free up that space - to be present, to be creative, to be lighter.

Set a timer for 10 minutes, and write quickly! You only need to write the thing down, nothing needs to be decided at that moment for how to handle it.

Meditation

And finally - once we’ve unloaded our minds, we give it a chance to exercise. Once again, set a timer for 10 minutes (at least). Sit comfortably, close your eyes, and focus on your inhales & exhales until the timer dings. You’ll feel refreshed and calm.

Every day should be a self-care day.

You can't pour from an empty cup.