3DubWellness
  • Home
  • About
  • Work With Me
    • Wellness Program
    • Rodan+Fields
    • Essential Oils
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Home
  • About
  • Work With Me
    • Wellness Program
    • Rodan+Fields
    • Essential Oils
  • Blog
  • Contact

Learn to take care of yourself first…

4/18/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
“When I take time for myself, I feel guilty.”

How many of you can relate to this statement? A client of mine said this to me, and it made me realize how true that is for so many of us. I talked about the importance of self-care in a previous post, but hearing that made me think that it needed to be addressed again. Because, in reality, most women feel this way.

We, as women, want to DO IT ALL! We want to work outside of the home, we want to have and raise children (which includes homework, getting ready for bed, getting them ready in the morning, etc.), we want to cook healthy meals for our family, we want to have a clean home, we want to have clean laundry, we want to work out, we want to be the “perfect” wife…and we want to do it all without any help!! Whew – I’m tired just writing all that! So when you throw in this idea of self-care – you know, taking time out of your day to take care of YOURSELF – women are like, “What?! You want me to do what?!”

But think about it…if you are going, going, going all day, every day, and you have ZERO downtime for yourself, how long do you think you’ll be able to last before you hit the wall, or worse, have a big explosion of emotions (because we tend to hold those in, too!)? If we run ourselves into the ground, we can’t possibly take care of everything and everybody else. Right?

But this is counterintuitive for so many women. We think that we are being selfish if we put ourselves first, and then we feel guilty because something else might not get done. The laundry might not get done; the grocery shopping might not get done; the house may not get cleaned; the beds may not get made; we might not get our workouts in (*gasp*). But let’s really think about this…will taking 5 to 10 minutes a day to have a cup of coffee on your back deck really ruin the rest of your day? Will taking a nice, hot bath at the end of the day when the kids are in bed really set you back?

It’s so easy for me to say to someone, “You need to take more time for self-care.” But how does one actually go about implementing that? I think, for many people, self-care equates to a couple hours set aside just for yourself. When, in reality, self-care can be as little as 5 to 10 minutes just for yourself.

There are so many things one can do to get that much needed self-care – give yourself a pedicure, or better yet, go get a pedicure (yes, this takes a little longer than 5 to 10 minutes, but it’s so very much worth it!); meditate for 10 minutes (there are great apps that talk you through it…no thinking required!); drink a cup of coffee/tea on your back deck as you’re enjoying nature; take a hot bath; read a good book (not for school or work!!); watch a movie (without working through it); listen to music and dance around the living room; get a massage (believe me, this one does WONDERS for you…mind, body, and soul)!!

Self-care is anything that you *love* doing JUST FOR YOURSELF!! It’s time that you set aside for you to replenish your energy, take a breather, calm your mind, and then go back to your everyday life feeling refreshed. Because, let’s face it, we all could use these “breaks!” We give and we give and we give to our families, friends, co-workers, etc. But let’s not forget to give to OURSELVES! We are just as important as everyone else! And believe me when I say that everything else WILL get done! And if it doesn’t get done today, it will still be there tomorrow.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that you should throw everything to the wayside and do nothing, but I am saying that not everything (unless there’s a deadline or a priority) needs to be done RIGHT THIS SECOND. And all of us can spare 5 to 10 minutes to ourselves…because in the long run, believe me, it will be beneficial not only to you, but to your significant other, your children, your friends and family, your co-workers…to everything.

And start small…schedule 5 minutes a day to just sit and be by yourself. Put away your phone, iPad, computer, your electronics…grab your coffee, tea, green juice, and just sit (outside preferably). Smell the fresh cut grass, hear the birds chirping, feel the sun on your skin, taste the yummy drink you’re enjoying. Just be…for 5 minutes. And notice how different you feel when you go back to your daily routine.

What are some of your go-to self-care practices? My latest one has been a hot Epsom salt bath at the end of a long day. It has helped me tremendously since I started doing it. There really is nothing compared to taking time out of your day to take care of yourself…I promise, you will see huge benefits when you start taking care of yourself first!

With love and wellness,
Whitney
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014

    Categories

    All
    1 John
    2015
    21DaySugarDetox
    21 Day Sugar Detox
    6 Months
    Accountable
    Accutane
    Acne
    Adventure Race
    Affordable
    Alone
    Antibiotics
    Anxiety
    Ashamed
    Asthma
    Atlanta
    Back Deck
    Back Pain
    Bad Days
    Bane Of My Existence
    Baptism
    Baptized
    Beautiful
    Beautiful Daughter
    Believer
    Benefit
    Bio-individuality
    Birds
    Birth Control
    Blame
    Bloated
    Boulder
    Breakouts
    Break-up
    Brother
    Business
    Busy
    Cacao
    Calmer
    Calories
    Caveman
    Celebrate
    Certification
    CF-L1
    Challenge
    Charleston
    Chef Boyardee
    Chirping
    Chocolate
    Chocolate Chip Cookies
    Christ
    Christian
    Christmas
    Church
    Clear Headed
    Coach
    Coffee
    Colorado
    Comfort Zone
    Complaining
    Cookies
    Cooking
    Courage
    Crazy
    Crossfit
    Crossfit Takeover
    CrossFitter
    CTO
    Dads
    Daily Mantra
    Dairy
    Dance
    Day 1
    Defects
    Delta
    Dentist
    Deployed
    Depressed
    Dermatitis
    Detox
    Digestive Tract
    Dinner
    DoTerra
    Easter
    Eating
    Effective
    Enemy
    Energy
    Epsom Salt
    Errands
    Essential Oils
    Exercise
    Exhaustion
    Facebook
    Fairfax
    Faith
    Fake
    Family
    Fear
    Flabby
    Flaws
    Flossing
    Fly Burger
    Foam Roll
    Focus
    Food Journal
    Forever
    Franklin
    Fraud
    Fraudster
    Friends
    Friendships
    Gluten Free
    God
    God Parents
    Grace
    Grandparents
    Grass
    Green Juice
    Grounding Blend
    Guilty
    Gym
    Habit
    Happiness
    Happy
    Happy New Year
    Health
    Health Coach
    Healthy
    Hobby
    Hobson
    Home Essentials Kit
    Hormonal Imbalances
    Hormones
    Hot Bath
    Hump Day
    Hunches
    Hungry For Hope
    Husky
    IIN
    Imperfect
    Insomnia
    Instincts
    Institute For Integrative Nutrition
    Institute Of Integrative Nutrition
    Intuition
    Joints
    Klutz
    Larabars
    Lavender
    Lessons
    Love
    Massage
    Medication
    Meditate
    Meditation
    Mercy
    Metabolic Blend
    Mindset
    Mistakes
    Moderation
    Mom
    Money
    Mood Swings
    Mothers
    Mother's Day
    Moving
    Muscles
    Music
    Nashville
    Nephew
    Never-ending
    New Year's Eve
    Nutritional
    Oregano
    Over-extend
    Overindulging
    Overwhelmed
    Paleo
    Parents
    Patience
    Peace
    Peanut Butter
    Pedicure
    Peppermint
    Perfect
    Perfection
    Personal Trainer
    Pizza
    PMS
    Positive
    Prayer
    Program
    Progress
    Pugs
    Quinoa
    Ramen Noodles
    Read
    Reading
    Rejuvenate
    Relationship
    Relationships
    Relax
    Relaxed
    Religion
    Reset
    Resolution
    Responsibility
    Rest
    Sacrifices
    Safe
    Salvation
    Sangria
    Saving
    SC
    School
    Self-care
    Self Love
    Silence
    Sinner
    Sins
    Sister-in-law
    Sleep
    Step-parents
    Stressed
    Stretch
    Suffolk
    Sugar
    Sun
    Sweet Treats
    Tea
    Teach
    Tennessee
    Thanksgiving
    Thoughts
    Times Square
    Toned
    Tough Mudder
    Toxic
    Trader Joe's
    Traveling
    Trust
    Unhappy
    Vegan
    Vegetarian
    Victim
    Virginia Beach
    Week
    Weekend
    Wellness
    Wellness Advocate
    Whole30
    Whole Food
    Wild Orange
    Workouts
    X-Corps

    RSS Feed

Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
© 2015 by 3DubWellness. All rights reserved.

Please Note: I do not provide the services of a licensed dietician or nutritionist, information received should not be seen as medical or nursing advice, and is not meant to take the place of seeing licensed health professionals.
Photo used under Creative Commons from Premnath Thirumalaisamy