Love Yourself - You are worth it

“Self-care” seem to be all the rage, social media is full of memes  like  “You can’t pour from an empty cup…..take care of yourself first.”   but how many of us are actually doing this right.   Taking care of your self is a lot more than occasionally grabbing a bit of  “me time”  just  before you  completely lose  the plot,  or  collapse  with stress  & exhaustion.  ​

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 ​I speak as someone who learnt the hard way what a lack of self-care can do.  6 years ago, just finishing my Personal Trainer training, I was a single mum of teenage girls, stressed, stretched  to the max. financially  & timewise;  I had a  healthy diet, plenty of exercise, ( too much in hindsight)  but also drank  far too much coffee  and got  no-where near enough sleep.  This combination took its toll.  On the day of my last exam (after I’d passed J)  I collapsed, developed intense allergies to  many everyday  things,  including my own sweat, and  was bed ridden for a couple of months,  then  very weak and in need of much rest, for a several more.   I had plenty of time to learn about what had happened to me, and more importantly what I could do about it. 

I’ve learned the hard way to treat myself better, to organise my life so that my health and happiness is a priority.  I won’t lie it’s hard. I’ve had to get organised, and anyone who knows me, knows how that is not my natural state of  being ! But you are so worth putting in the effort to making your life work better for you, so you don’t  NEED that holiday , that spa day coz you can barely stand by the end of the month.

I think to really learn to love and appreciate yourself, you should a nurture  yourself  like you would  a child ,  be kind & loving,  feed them well,  make sure they get enough rest to replenish, repair and recharge.   Be encouraging,  don’t put them down,  do fun things that they enjoy doing. Simple stuff, but we do tend to forget to make time to do  these basic foundations  of health and self-care for ourselves.

Instead we find ourselves rushing around till we almost crash.   STOP!  Put in a little work to  sort your stuff out and break that cycle.

Some practical self-care tips. 

Get organised:  Plan ahead where you can:  
                                                                                                                                                                   
This helps with everything else,  so you don’t constantly have last minute stress. 

Good nourishment is so important to your health happiness energy levels and ability to function

But when you’re running about all day long or working hard you don’t always have time to cook for your-self & end up eating convenience or crap food avoid this by                                                                 ~  Cooking  big  batches, freezing  single serve sizes for  days when you’re not going to have time to cook. ~  Make a pot or 2 of “keep in the fridge food”   at the beginning of the week :   My current  favourite is quinoa,  & a tray of roast veg.   They can be eaten again on another day, used for on the go lunches;  in salads  or  as a soup base.   When you get home later than planned or are too tired to think,   you can whip up something in minutes   & still get good nourishment.

Get a sensible but realistic  bed time and stick to it

It is really worth working on this , even more so if a mother and even more so if single.  (a shocking 47% of single mums do not get enough sleep… )    See last month’s article for lots of tips on how to develop a good bedtime routine and sleep habits.

Say nice things  to your inner child

Forget angry partners or horrible bosses, often the things we tell ourselves  are the worst.  Stop! Change the negative nonsense  in your head :-                                                                                                ~Affirmations &  mantras  can help,  as can limiting your exposure to  media that constantly tries to makes us feel bad so we buy more things to make ourselves  feel or look better.

Get a Cleaner

I f you earn more than a cleaner, then surely there’s something more productive or fun that you could be doing? If a cleaner really isn’t an option then get your kids or partner to help out with household chores/ making dinner etc. It’s good for them.  They will cope. 

Do the work,  make some changes,  live a happier healthier life,  make 2017 truly better year;  because YOU are worth it! 
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For a healthier happier you …..Fay  Xx