Practicing Self Care
The craze all over social media right now is 'self love' and the importance of taking care of yourself. I mean who doesn't want to feel good, look good and just live an all around good and healthy lifestyle. I'm sure everyone does. And I'm also sure that everyone does what they can to achieve this. But its definitely not easy. We are all super busy with work, school, kids and what ever else we have going on that it is not always easy to take the time out of our crazy schedules to practice self care. But I can say from experience, it is important to. No matter how busy our lives become we should always take time to replenish and refuel. Especially with the daily stressors we encounter. However, it is also important to be realistic with our time (and budget). It's obviously not feasible, for me at least, to be going to the spa on a daily. And I honestly don't have enough time every day to be doing a high intensity workout for an hour. So with everything else in life, self care should be done in a meaningful but also realistic way. That's not to say that any one practice holds more benefit than the other. Because honestly, its all the same! If it feels good to you and it makes you happy then mission accomplished. :) YOU TOOK TIME FOR YOURSELF...and that is what truly matters. So I thought that I would share a few of my self-care practices with you guys in hopes that they will inspire!
1. A lavender bubble bath with some good old 90's R&B and a tall glass of WATER!
I bet most of you thought I was leaning more towards a glass of wine...lol! But nah, I honestly really do enjoy a nice tall glass of water, maybe even lemon water, to stay nice and hydrated for the duration of my bath. The bath tub in our master ensuite is pretty big, and super cozy. Once in awhile I really enjoy lighting some candles and just vibing to some old school r&b love songs, while I soak up all the lavender goodness. Ryeon laughs at me every time btw, buttt I love it :). My lavender infused bath consists of; lavender epsom salts (that you can literally get at Dollarama), some lavender bubble bath and a few drops of lavender essential oil. Lavender is known to be a great muscle relaxer, and it just smells (and is) so good and calming. So this self-care practice is beneficial to your health, and you also feel super relaxed and calm afterwards. Definitely a WIN-WIN in my eyes!
2. Do a HOMEMADE face mask.
Honestly this one is pretty straight forward and a super easy way to get you feeling rejuvenated and hydrated. With these Canadian Winters we kind of almost need to do things to keep our skin moist and hydrated. I'm honestly not a fan of buying cheap face masks, because for me and my sensitive skin they just end up burning my face and do not feel good at all! And if you read the ingredients some of them definitely consists of chemicals that you should not be putting on our skin. With that being said I'm also not a fan of spending a ton of money on face masks from like Sephora or what ever either. Sooo, I would suggest making your own! It can be as easy as mixing up brown sugar, honey and olive oil in to a paste and applying it to your face as a scrub. Or even just tumeric mixed with coconut oil! Avocado is also a good add in ingredient. Once you have an oil, and a couple of meaningful ingredients to go with it...you've got yourself a face mask! Honey is a staple for me because it carries so many benefits like softening, brightening, moisturizing and even clearing up the skin. In the picture below I mixed up some avocado, honey and olive oil. I left it on for about 10-15 minutes and my skin felt amazingggg after wards. In any case, natural ingredients are always a good idea!
3. Work it out!
Staying physically fit is actually so good for us in every sense. But honestly I know that as easy as dedicating 1 hour out of a 24 hour day sounds, for some (like myself) it's still not always possible. So if I can't get in that complete full hour I will try and break it down in to at least a half an hour work out, or break it up even further in to intervals of 10 or 15 minutes. I'll basically just try and squeeze it in whenever possible. Like I'll literally be playing with Maya on the carpet in our living room and then just break out in to a set of booty workouts; which she usually partakes in and makes it so fun and cute. But ye honestly it is super hard to find the time, but it is time worth finding. Being physically active now can prevent us from further developing serious chronic illnesses later on in life. So it is basically preventative care for yourself. And ensuring that you get that heart rate raised above your individual threshold is so important and makes all the difference. It doesn't have to be super intense. I honestly do all my working out at home, and then when it's nicer I take it outside. But yeah super important for your overall health and happiness.
4. STRETCH or do some yoga.
The importance of this one came to me after having experienced some things that just messed up my back and neck muscles. And then also once I became a mother. Because all of that lifting and bending over to change baby and what not can really be damaging if you're not practicing proper body mechanics. Even if you incorporate stretching or a few yoga poses in to your workout, like before or after. It feels good and relaxing and you are also enhancing the circulation of your blood throughout the body. Once again, this too can be done in the comfort of your own home and with kids, most times lol. Youtube has some great yoga videos as well so no need to go out and buy a membership somewhere. I'm just saying.
5. Engage the brain.
Read, Write. Do a puzzle. Do a word search. Put down your phone and talk to people. Socialize. Play a board game like Scrabble even Monopoly, who cares. Do the things we use to do as kids. Just try and continue to use your brain in the best ways, because it is so important. In today's society where we are all so caught up in technology it kind of seems so hard to just put our devices down. But it is necessary to. Trust me I will be taking my own advice on this one as well. I can do better myself. But also if you are in school and continuously learning that is great too, your brain loves that!
QUICK HEALTH FACT: Exercising both the body and mind can prevent you from developing Alzeihmer's disease later on in life!
6. Just go to the SPA.
This last one I honestly just felt like my body needed it, although I really did have to force myself to go. I feel like as women, and as mothers especially we sometimes feel guilty to be doing things for ourselves. But honestly it is super necessary to. We put our all in to making sure our kids and families are good that we forget to really take care of ourselves. Sometimes you just have to treat your self without feeling all the guilt. My mom has definitely taught me about the importance of taking care of yourself so that you can better take care of others. It only makes sense. So anyway, I went to this spa called the Millcroft Inn. It's honestly a beautiful place, my mom brought Maya and I there last year for the first time. Its in such a cute and quaint little town that's really not too far, but you feel like your super far and detached from the busy city. They have the outdoor baths, an indoor pool and steam room, a cafe and of course the spa where you can get a massage, facial and what ever else. I went alone and had such beautiful ME time. The day was actually really nice and sunny so that was a major plus. I definitely felt like I could conquer what ever came my way afterwards. Although the spa visits definitely are not done often, I do crave to go at least once or twice a year.
I think it is important to stress that no one is perfect (myself included) and that things come up and days, maybe even weeks go by and you just don't have the time. But on the bright side, if we implement these practices in to our lives and they begin to form in to little habits, then eventually you don't even have to think about doing them. It just becomes a part of your daily routine. So guys I hope you are going to leave this post with at least one of these practices in mind to do in the near future. And if you have any of your own rituals or practices you'd like to share, please do!
Thanks for stopping by,
Shezel