If you haven’t heard, I took the biggest fall during a recent hike last week. 😭I laugh about this because I wrote about going out and embracing nature, only to be slapped with some reality. Then somewhere someone is saying “see this is why I don’t go out.”
My knees taking the biggest, hardest hit from a tumultuous fall that skinned at least 7 layers away. I was out for at least a week. Bandages wrapped around and Neosporin at hand, I groaned. It means after work I would head home. Straight home. I had for months and may even a year had my life easily planned like that shampoo bottle. Work, yoga, head home, dinner, sleep, and rinse, repeat. That all changed.
The first few days felt fine. However, by the 4th day, I nearly had an overwhelming anxious feeling, which toppled over into a migraine, realizing with my bruxism (teeth grinding) and biting hard during sleep had increased in just two days.
During this week, I took time to reflect about how to make self-care more effortless than something to remember. Do we really need one more thing to add to our already busy lives? How can we make self care easy and simple?
Listening to a few podcasts during my drive to work, I found a few helpful things based on research to make sure you can utilize and maximize habits into self-care.
1. Make everything as convenient as possible. If you can set up everything ahead of time so that by the time the week is over, you have made life that convenient. Then you have mastered habit self-care in which you have paired everything in your life to self-care so that it’s almost like “everything fell in to place.” What the hell do you mean says the sarcastic guy in the back row?You may already be doing this. On Sunday, you meal plan your week and set all your meals ready (not only including your work lunch, but even your dinners at home with family). If you have kids, your kids pack for 5 days for lunches.
On Sunday, you lay out your clothes for the week so you can grab and go. Do this with your kids.On Sunday, you steep coffee so that everyday in the morning you have ice coffee to pour and go, especially for those hot days. On Sunday, you BUY dinner or make if you feel up to it for the family and stop by and fill up on gas for the week. On Sunday, you have clothes washed and ready for the week. On Sunday, you have game night with friends or family.This sounds overly complicated and is it worth it? It turns out that in New York Times Article* we value time like money. We are happy if we can save time. Doing all the tasks required for the week in one day saves the person minutes in the morning. I suggest Sundays because everything can be done and ready for the week. During the week, you aren’t searching for that dress shirt, or lost sock. You aren’t waiting for coffee to be made. You aren’t rushing out the door just to make a lunch. You save money but not buying out. You have a full tank of gas so that you can head home and rest without the added, make another stop during the week.
make it as convenient as possible
2. Spend money to make more time. “People who spent money to buy themselves time, such as by outsourcing disliked tasks, reported greater overall life satisfaction,” said Ashley Whillans, an assistant professor at the Harvard Business School.
Interestingly enough, hiring someone to help clean the house or ordering through PostMates or InstaCart Groceries gave the person greater satisfaction than those who did not outsource tasks. If you have never tried InstaCart, hopefully it’s in your area, but it does help you focus on at home while someone grabs your groceries for you. Again, the idea of convenience through time ideally provides happiness and self-care. The researchers explained that the participants felt less stressed and could focus on other tasks.
skip the grocery
Takeaway: if you have the money to spend on outsourcing some tasks, try it and see if it improves your overall mood.
3. Make reading a habit. It took me a while to realize the importance of reading. Some people are voracious readers like my fiancé who could read not only endlessly but superiorly fast. Me, on the other hand, depends on how captivating the book is for me. I can only read in 30 minute increments before I start to dull out and read words instead of visualizing what’s happening in the book.
a book a day kept brain my bae
So what’s the benies:
Based on Medium’s contributor Chad Grills, he says that it upgrades your mental OS, builds meditation contributing to peacefulness, focus, and clarity. In addition, if you have sleep issues, reading helps relax and gain better sleep throughout the night.
To make it habit, if you have a hard time finding time to read, the best time is before bed. You aren’t on your phone which already threatens your production of melatonin. Or to encourage family time, head to library, have your child pick top 3 books to read, then read a book with your child every night.
plan it out and build the anticipation
4. Plan a major vacation. Plan a vacation that requires months in advance of booking. Then spend a little time every week with your love one planning activities that you will do. Create an itinerary if you love planning and research blogs, articles, Yelp, and friend’s recommendations about the place. How is this a successful transforming self-care habit? Research has found that it isn’t the destination that makes you happy, it’s the journey. Based on a New York Times article, “the simple act of planning a vacation boosted happiness for eight weeks up until after the vacation ended.” The idea that a family can talk about it’s excitement every week leading to the vacation encourages cohesive bonding, anticipation, and happiness. The weekly habit has now become paired with a topic of interest to talk about. After all, the truth behind this self-care blog really isn’t just habits, but the relationships you bond and form with your loved ones that will ultimately transform your family.
Comments