Self-care is so much more than just another trendy list of skincare tips and wellness advice. It’s a state of mind, an ongoing desire to work on yourself, not merely on your physical health, but on your mental health, as well as your emotional balance and stability. It takes continuous love and care to recognize the burden you carry every day and the little stress triggers that might be contributing to your poor habits or some form of self-neglect.
It could come from your environment, if someone you love doesn’t appreciate you, or it can come from within, as that nagging sensation that you’re not happy with yourself, your appearance included. To love yourself beyond your physique is essential, but you can simultaneously work on improving your looks through healthy changes in your lifestyle, while you practice mindful self-love and appreciation. Here are a few actionable bits of advice you can add to your self-care rituals.
Start your mornings with love
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Be your own creator of joy by starting your mornings with little rituals that will elevate your mood, boost your metabolism, and create a positive mindset for the day ahead. How about a lemon-infused cup of warm water? Or light stretches when you get out of bed to get the blood flowing?
You can start with a mindful meditative session to remind yourself of those confidence-boosting affirmations, and then make a cup of tea, and take some notes in your journal to process your emotions and your thoughts before you tackle the challenges that lie ahead.
Be mindful of your nutrition needs
You need different nutrition and a different approach to dieting in various stages of your life. When you hit menopause, you need to make sure your menu is filled with nutrient-dense ingredients, but you should also be mindful of those common symptoms that can cause discomfort, such as hot flashes, night sweats, and unwanted weight gain caused by changes in your hormones.
In addition to crafting your daily menu with care, you can take supplements for hot flashes and other menopause symptoms in order to alleviate the discomfort and feel good in your own skin. Based on natural ingredients such as probiotics for gut health, these additions in your diet can make all the difference in your self-care routine as well as your self-perception.
Take the time to be active
Exercise is one of the most empowering decisions you can make that will help you improve your wellbeing and your body image in one go. Instead of a haphazard approach, create a training schedule imbued with activities you genuinely enjoy, such as running, hiking, doing yoga, cycling, swimming, surfing, you name it – if it makes you happy, make some time for it during your week to boost your health and self-love.
Manage your social media use
Too much screen time is not just damaging for your eyes or your focus at work. It can also be detrimental to how you perceive yourself if you dive head-first into the comparison game that’s so omnipresent on social networks. Not to mention the filters, photoshopped images, and impossible standards that make you feel unworthy.
Use social media as your own healing tool, so select the right outlets to fill your feed with positive messages, and of course, who would want a day to go by without seeing a cute puppy video? Limit your daily time on social networks and make sure that you join communities and charities that have value.
Conduct the occasional reality check
Managing your expectations is especially important when you start out with unrealistic goals that continue to make you feel less worthy of self-love. If you’ve stopped comparing yourself to others, especially those filtered and altered images on social media, you should also find your own healthy, attainable, realistic goals to strive toward.
Whether you want to lose weight, gain some lean muscle and grow stronger, or you simply want to stand tall and have the posture that exudes self-respect, than create smaller goals to achieve that one, overarching achievement. Realistic goals should the at the very basis of everything you do, so that you know exactly what you can do and how long it will take to accomplish.
Bow out of toxic relationships
Photo by Joshua Rawson-Harris on Unsplash
Your body image and your mental and physical wellbeing all depend on a variety of factors. That means that the bonds you have with the people in your life can have either a positive impact on your life, or they can tear you down and wreck your confidence. When you feel that you’re being shamed for your looks or that someone is continuously making an effort to make you feel bad in your own skin, it’s time to leave those relationships behind and start spending time with people who appreciate and love you.
Make sure you rest enough
This is more than beauty sleep, although the benefits on your skin health and immune system are beyond measure. Your physical health, mood, emotional wellbeing, all the way to managing your cravings, getting a good night’s sleep is vital for your overall health. Plenty of consistent rest balances your hormones, helps your body heal after a difficult workout, and allows you to restore your energy. Make sure to get enough rest each night, and you’ll notice how your mood improves.
Some of those simple, small pleasures in life can be the most impactful ones for your mindset and your self-perception. While you work on staying healthy, you will learn to appreciate yourself more over time, and you’ll learn to love your own reflection in the mirror, with the extra few pounds, and without. Build your own little toolbox of self-care rituals with these bits of advice, and you’ll slowly build up your self-esteem to never crumble under societal pressure or unrealistic expectations posed in so many modern magazines. Your self-worth will be based on love and care alone.
Guest post by Sophia Smith
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