It’s fun to plan self-care days–literally, time for pampering that lasts the entire day. Sometimes even overnight. However, the opportunities to do this have been greatly affected by the pandemic, and if you’re working from home, you might actually have limited time to devote to self-care.
Does this mean you no longer have the chance to enjoy your time? It’s still possible if you follow these tips:
Actively Carve Out Time for it
You will always be busy, and a new task will always feel urgent, but before they take over your schedule, leave room for self-care. It doesn’t have to take up long. You can dedicate an hour to it, or twenty minutes if you’re really pressed for time.
Follow Through With Your Schedule
Unless there is a life-threatening emergency that needs your attention within the hour, you are allowed to take some time for yourself and practice self-care. You can also let everyone know that you are doing this so that they will not disturb you until you’re done. If you like to do your self-care routine in the bath, simply lock the door and play your favorite music. If you tend to stay in your room, put on your comfortable clothes to condition your body.
Savor the Time You Have
Don’t rush through the process. If reading is part of your self-care routine, immerse yourself in that book and let the characters jump out at you. If you prefer to go online shopping, take the time to compare the different sun screen for acne prone skin and sensitive skin that you see. Don’t rush to checkout. If you prefer to do some yoga, be intentional with the poses you do, and empty your mind fully. If you love cooking, enjoy your time in the kitchen by yourself and avoid multitasking. A show running in the background may seem like a good idea, but it will split your mind between two tasks.
Practice positive self-talk
Self-care is not just about acting on routines that are supposed to make you feel better and more confident about yourself. The way you talk about yourself should also be part of this, so that you will not feel guilty about taking the time to recharge and recuperate. If you’ve been noticing that you tell yourself you can’t do something, work on actively changing it to say that you can and you will. Even just 30 minutes of positive self-talk per day can do wonders for your confidence.
Ignore Social Media
It may be tempting to post an update telling everyone about your time for self-care, but the act of posting this takes away from you savoring the moment. Forget the likes and the comments. You are practicing self-care for yourself, not for the general public. And if you associate self-care with posting aesthetic photos, the underlying connection you will establish is that you deserve to get validation for the effort. This may backfire in the end when you don’t get that validation, which may make you feel like you’re not doing it right.
You deserve self-care. You deserve some time in your day when you just pamper yourself and think of your own wellbeing. Go ahead and start enjoying it, no matter how limited your time is.
