If you haven’t noticed, I haven’t been off to the greatest start with publishing here on Mostly Morgan in 2018. Instead, I’ve been focused a lot on self-care.
If you read teen magazines or spend any time on Pinterest your idea of self-care might be different than mine. You’re likely imagining me doing yoga, taking bubble baths, lighting candles, and meditating.
While all of the above are legitimate ways to practice self-care, they can also be impractical when you’re busy and stressed.
Self-care can mean a lot of things, and what works for one person doesn’t have to work for you.
Personally? I can’t take a bubble bath if I’ve got a million things to do. It’ll only increase my level of anxiety and make me feel guilty for “wasting” my time. For me, they key of self-care is eliminating stressors.
If traditional self-care strategies don’t work for you, try a few of these methods.
Tidy up around your house
For me, my surroundings really impact my level of stress. If the sink is overflowing, my ferns’ leaves have shed all over the floor, and the breakfast bar is full of clutter I feel anxious.
Now, most people wouldn’t consider cleaning to be self-care. After all, you’re not relaxing or zen-ing out. But if living in a tidy environment elevates your spirits, providing yourself with that environment could be the type of care you need.
Better yet? Keep your place tidy so you don’t have to constantly be cleaning.
I recently bought The Joy of Less and The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up and have put a lot of what I’ve learned into play and my apartment has been so much neater and easier to manage for it.
Clean out your inbox
If you’re a busy professional, I’m sure you get inbox anxiety every now and then. Whether you’ve got a few emails that are going to be tough to respond to or dozens of emails clogging your inbox you have to work through, biting the bullet and getting this done will help relieve some underlying anxiousness.
I also love Unroll Me for getting rid of spammy emails I don’t care about, and Email Game for working through my inbox quickly.
Eat a healthy meal
I got bad around the holidays and have just recently cleaned my diet back up. The first thing I noticed? How easy it is to get out of bed when I haven’t been eating garbage.
I eat plant based which theoretically makes it easy to eat healthy, but treats like fried vegan “crab”cakes and cashew cheese macaroni every night start to weigh on you.
Just incorporating my favorite vegetables (like cherry tomatoes!) and fruit smoothies into my diet again have:
- Given me a renewed sense of energy
- Sparked my desire to workout
- Cleared my residual chin acne
It’s so easy to eat like trash when you feel like trash. W only get one body and it’s important to put good in to get good out. Primarily, we eat to fuel our bodies. The better the fuel, the more efficient we run.
Pssst! Live in NYC? I did a write-up on my very favorite (mostly!) healthy restaurant, Little Choc Apothecary in Williamsburg!
Take a moment to monitor your hygiene
I’m going to be a bit TMI. When I’m feeling down, my hygiene is the first thing to go and often the first sign that something isn’t right with my emotional balance.
Forcing myself to wash my hair and face and get out of my pajamas goes a long way. I usually hop in the shower every morning to wake myself up. When I’m dreading doing so, that is a signal that there’s a bigger underlying problem.
Make a plan
For me, I feel the most stressed when I feel that there are more responsibilities on my plate than there is time to accomplish everything.
The best thing I can do to relieve my feelings of overwhelm are make a list of what needs to get done, and plan out exactly how I’ll finish.
I start with the most daunting, overwhelming tasks. The ones that have been looming over me for the longest and have felt the most impossible. Once those are finished there’s an instant weight off my shoulders.
Reward yourself with traditional self-care
Once you’ve gotten rid of your primary stressors (aka the things that are making you feel anxious or overwhelmed), chances are, you still might have lingering feelings of anxiety.
Personally, that’s when I bring the more “cliche” methods of self-care into play. Now that you’ve got nothing left on your plate, a bubble bath or a nap might get you out of your funk.
What are your favorite ways to take care of yourself?
