Self-Care Do’s and Don’ts
How To Be Balanced, Energised and Connected in your Self-Care Practice.
Do you want to have more balance, energy, health and connection in your life?
PRIORITISE YOUR SELF-CARE.
As with all aspects of our wellbeing, there are things we can do to ensure we take the healthiest and most helpful approach.
That’s why I created a checklist of DO’s and DON’Ts for you to implement and reflect on to supercharge your self-care rituals and habits.
Here at Wellbeing Explorers, self-care is defined as:
Mindfully taking time and care of yourself in a way that ensures you are healthy, happy and able to fully engage with the world as your highest-self. Self-care entails self-reflection, self-compassion and self-awareness in order to understand, prioritise and have knowledge around your needs.
Check out 17 tips, ideas, practices and priorities of do’s and don’ts of self-care below.
1. DO take the time to prioritise what you need, how you feel and how you would like to feel.
2. DO include activities that make you feel good as self-care e.g. exercise, eating healthily, good quality sleep.
3. DO think of self-care as taking you from 0 to +5, not -5 to 0 (i.e. for flourishing not just stress/ illness prevention)
4. DON'T use self-care as an excuse to avoid connection; prioritise both! You can be both flourishing in your self-care and have flourishing relationships.
5. DO practice setting healthy boundaries and communicate them in a way that is clear, compassionate, calm, simple and timely.
6. DO prioritise and keep in mind self-care in your moment-by-moment experience.
7. DON'T put pressure on yourself to be in 'action mode' with your self-care.
8. DO think about multidimensional self-care (mind, body, relationships, connection to environment etc.)
9. DON'T over organise your self-care practice.
10. DO activities to de-regulate your stress response in your body e.g. gentle breathing, walking in nature.
11. DO create time daily to practice self-care.
12. DON'T create hard, driven objectives or goals with your self-care.
13. DO include others in your self-care, as well as solo practices.
14. DON'T use time that you are practicing self-care as an excuse to burn out the rest of your day.
15. DO use self-care as sacred ritual time with yourself. Think relaxed, calming, compassionate, restorative and energising.
16. DO celebrate when you feel good!
17. DO know what works for you. Spend time getting to know yourself, your needs, and your circumstances to put in place rituals that support you to multidimensional wellbeing and flourishing.
P.S for extra effect try using the Wellbeing Explorers self-care intention/ mantra:
Self Reflection Questions:
What has resonated most with me from this list of Do’s and Don’ts?
What will I commit to implementing in my self-care practice?
What will explore more and seek more knowledge of?
What have I learnt about my self-care practice reading this list?
