Hi everybody! In our weekly blog calendar, we are dedicating Saturdays to self-care days. A big part of being in a relationship is making sure that you are presenting your best self to your partner– and self-care allows you to do just that.
Even if you’re the busiest person in the world, treating yourself and taking even just 10 minutes to reset your mind is so necessary and important for your wellbeing. To kick things off, this week we have an article offering simple and inexpensive ways to self-care.
By Amanda McCash, EverydayDateNight
Zoom… zoom… zoom! Our schedules nowadays have us (metaphorically) running from one commitment to another. Whether it be running Zoom meetings, cooking dinner, making sure the kids are wearing their masks, or cleaning the house, we seem to always be BUSY. Even now when we are mostly confined to our homes, the stress of managing everything can be exhausting. In a time where we are spending most, if not all, of our time at home, it shouldn’t be so hard to find the time or resources to take care of what’s most important: yourself. Think about it! If you don’t take care of yourself, who is going to effectively manage what you’ve been working so hard to take care of? If we don’t sneak in those small moments, those small expenditures, every once in a while, we are going to fall apart. Here are 5 things you can do to maintain a healthy mind, body, and soul on a time (and financial) budget!
1. Take Walks
Whether you do it alone or with your loved ones, the fresh air, the exercise, and the space to think will do you a world of good. In the house, we can feel trapped, claustrophobic, isolated. When we’re able to step outside of our homes for even ten minutes, the release is so therapeutic. Our environment really has such an impact on our mood. Whenever you feel cooped up in a stuffy house, even claustrophobic with your family members, taking some time for yourself to cool down and reset will make your house a much more peaceful place to be.
2. Yoga
With all of the gyms being closed, it’s important to find a new source of physical activity– introducing: the world of YouTube workouts! Maybe start with yoga because it’s something that can soothe your nerves, take you to a level-headed mind space, and ease the moans and groans in your body from sitting at a desk all day. Skepticism of yoga is common; skepticism of e-yoga, even moreso. It’s turned into this seemingly pretentious activity that is often associated with green smoothies and pricey lulu lemon gear. But doing the videos online from home can really allow you to strictly focus on the activity, on each movement and how each movement makes you feel, without thinking of what brand you should be sporting or how you should look. Given enough time, your joints will feel looser and you will be noticeably more flexible and balanced. And it can really help relax your mind and ease tensions in your house caused by pent up energy. From there you should explore other types of YouTube workouts for cardio and strength. For twenty minutes, you can release pent up energy, release endorphins, lose that quarantine weight, and focus on nothing but yourself and your goals.
3. Food- Something Just For You
Moods always improve with good food. When we’re stuck in the house as we have been, it’s so easy to just fall into a routine of easy meals, food that’s not truly satisfying, but gets the job done. But it’s important to remember the joy that food can bring you. Think about a favorite food, one that may take some meal prep, or maybe some special ingredients, or maybe requires a call to your local takeout restaurant. It’s important to #treatyourself every once in a while. Allowing yourself to feel that satisfaction that only comes from eating that special something every now and then is a form of self care, one that is easily overlooked because it seems so small. But every small act that makes you feel good adds up to helping you become your best self.
For some tasty food options or articles on couples cooking, check out our blog on our Cooking With Bae Thursdays where we host challenges and display content on cooking with and for your significant other.
4. Find Something New
With quarantine, we have all had to stay in our houses, with very limited outside activity, and very little of any permitted outside activity is fun right now. So as we’ve stayed home with limited options for activity, we’ve gotten stuck in ruts. Watching TV constantly, playing the same games over and over, putting puzzles together that we’ve already done, etc. Allowing ourselves to get bogged down in this routine is creating a very negative space in our homes. Human beings need to be stimulated in new ways to maintain our happiness and keep us sharp. Finding a new hobby that fits within the confines of quarantine is a great way to keep from getting into those ruts, and keep from being bored or feeling negative. Knitting/crocheting, gardening, trying new recipes, and creating book clubs are all common examples of people trying to break out of their negative, repetitive cycles. Figure out what interests you, and then carve out a little time each day to spend time with it, nurture it, and let the new pathways ahead of you give you a more positive outlook. And you don’t have to do this alone! Find your passion and share it with the rest of your household to get everyone in on the fun. Care about yourself and then spread your methods to people you care about.
5. Take Time With Just Your Partner/Family Members/Whoever You Live With
Self care is also taking care of your relationships, making sure you’re presenting your best self to your partner and keeping healthy communication open. The only way to do that is to spend quality time with them, not talking about any of the stressors of the times and allowing your relationship to be bogged down by them, but by keeping your relationship fresh by talking about and doing the things that made you fall in love in the first place. Take a few moments each day to remind your partner of that love. It feels good to love and be loved. If you take the time to manage that connection, it creates a happy and healthy home environment, and that in turn makes for a happy and healthy headspace.
Taking time for yourself is something that everyone feels guilty about, but they shouldn’t. Self care is so important, and moderation is key. Hopefully these 5 easy items will make it a little easier to keep your mental health up and everyone, including yourself, happy.
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