Its easy to feel like you’re lazy and unproductive if you’re not working nonstop. Unhealthy amounts of sleep and caffeine are glorified as signs of hard-working, motivated individuals, especially on social media. On the flip side, spending days laying in bed scrolling through Twitter and calling it “self-care” is equally unhealthy. As someone who often totters on the line between these two extremes, I’ve been working on curating a routine that ensures I’m completing all the tasks I need to and still allows for a decent amount of me-time.
- Ask yourself if it’s ACTUALLY self care
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Too many times I’ve fallen into the trap of taking a day (or 4) off from my responsibilities in the name of self care. But these days often end up doing more harm than good; I end up falling even more behind, and then feeling anxious about being so behind. It became clear that in taking so much time off I was doing the opposite of taking care of myself and was simply running away from my responsibilities.
So if the answer to this question is truly yes, then don’t feel bad about taking time off for yourself.
- Schedule free time into your day/week
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Laying in bed for a day watching Netflix with a face mask on feels a lot less irresponsible when you’ve planned to do it before-hand. While you probably won’t be able to do this on a regular basis and still be as productive as you can be, planning a full day off every once in a while takes away a lot of the guilt that you may experience if you don’t plan it in advance.
- Engage in short activities as opposed to day-long ones
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Self care doesn’t always have to look like a full weekend of elaborate activities for the simple reason that you may not have the time or resources to do this regularly. Scheduling quick activities into your week is might be all you need to feel like you’re taking care of you and listening to yourself. Spending an hour reading or painting your nails one evening, or journaling for a few moments when you can are just a few examples of self-care rituals that won’t prevent you from getting through your to-do list.