Love's a game, wanna play!? Now a lot of Taylor Swift fans or swifties will recognize the above sentence. But I feel swifty or not, this is a game we recognize and play with or without someone, All the time! Now today I am talking about self-love and self-care and how we treat ourselves. I for one am my harshest critic and I can do with being a bit nicer to myself. So this year, I have decided to actually try to be nice to myself and a little less harsh on myself. Both by physical practices and mental, mindful practices.
Self-love is actually a tricky territory and can mean so many different things to each and every one of us! But here are 5 things I am doing that fall under the self-care or self-love category for me personally. And would fall for you too if you were anything like me. Well, a person who is a bit too caring about what everyone else wants and expects from you and someone who constantly puts themselves at the end of the priority list every single day!
I read, researched, and evaluated my daily and long-term habits and then decided on 5 of these practices! Let's get into it and I'll explain what led me to decide on these.
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Dry brushing
Starting off the list with a physical self-care ritual or technique. I have been trying to stick to dry brushing quite often since last year but wasn't very successful, so this year making it a point to include this quick way to stimulate my system.
Dry brushing is a very ancient technique for the well-being of your entire skin, not facial skin though. Read all about how to dry brush and the benefits of it here. This Forbes article was the most helpful for me when I started out. Hope this helps too. However, I discovered this practice on Pinterest first and then did my research. I particularly enjoy Dry brushing because it is quick, effective, and makes me feel energized for the day after a quick bath. Perfect for the days when you have a thousand things to do, because this entire process hardly takes 5 minutes.
I use this dry brush, as it has a long handle and helps me reach my back etc easily. You can use anything that you have already, maybe an old rough towel!
Gratitude journaling
I did not honestly give much thought to this whole thing of vibes and energies and mindset till early last year, but since it was a topic of conversation many a time with people, I thought of actually reading about the practices around manifestations, gratitude mindset, etc.
To my pleasure, I actually enjoyed learning about these and did give gratitude journaling a try for a couple of weeks, and then onwards, I was sold. So this year, It is my focus to focus on the good and be grateful for it. Now this is a mental self-care that I was to focus on. There are many journals available, but I started out with a plain notebook and it is working out just fine!
Weekly skincare and hair care routine
And we are back to the physical self-care technique! Because I think there needs to be a balance as well and physical ways to care for yourself are the most tangible ways to do something for yourself.
Why I have included this in something for self-care? Skincare and hair care are the most indulgent things I can do for myself regularly, regardless of the products used an hour spent looking after yourself weekly makes you feel good and pampered for the long run!
I usually stick to my CTM basic skincare routine and I basically don't have a haircare anything, so that I will work on and develop and actually focus on my skin concerns now that maintainenance is covered.
Eating mindfully
I eat my feelings. Not a good thing when you are also concerned about your health. This ends up being a vicious cycle of guilt trips and eating my feelings. Then this ends up taking a mental toll on me. Now this is all about controlling, and it is difficult when it is influenced by feelings.
Eating mindfully is a tricky one, let's see how I stick to it. Have been successful sometimes but not so successful most times, but I am working on it.
Staying connected with close ones
There is this meme I had seen, that read "You either get a response from me in 2 seconds or 2 months, there is no in-between", which applies to me completely! And above all, my friends and family have outright threatened to not keep in touch with me cause I am challenged when it comes to replies on any messaging app! This is to keep my social health better and make sure I stay on track with things.
Comment and tell me what are your steps to a better you!?
Love,
Priyanjana
