Back to the Basics
Step #1 on the Journey Towards
Creating A Personalized Self-Care Routine
Personal Care: the Mind-Body-Spirit Trifecta
So let's start with the personal care, to me, this means the care you put into your "personal" being. This is the care you give yourself; emotional, physical, and spiritual comforts. This can present itself in many different practices, from meditation, to affirmations, to yoga, to unwinding with a cozy blanket, to spiritual devotion time. It's not about doing it all; it's about doing what works for you, in your lifestyle, in your preferences, in your beliefs. The important part is that you are proactively doing things to improve yourself, mind, body and spirit. Not to sound cliché, but the trifecta of personal care hits comfort for your mind, your body and your spirit. We give so much of our time caring for those around us and, can too easily allow this time spent to fill our schedule, causing us to forget to take time to care for ourselves. It is a foundational piece of Self-Care, one we should afford ourselves as easily and as compassionately as we offer it to others. This Mind-Body-Spirit Trifecta is the perfect foundation to begin to build your Personalized Self-Care Routine on top of, even when it feels impossible to balance all of life's demands. Make time for your comfort, it matters.
*If you are in Danger or Crisis we encourage you to Get Help. You are so worth it. You are loved and worthy. Don't wait.
Please Contact one of the resources linked below
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
Call 1-800-273-8255
National Domestic Violence Hotline
The NAMI HelpLine can be reached Monday through Friday, 10 am–6 pm, ET.
1-800-950-NAMI (6264) or info@nami.org
or
Visit Their Website
Mental health difficulties like anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder can lead to substance abuse problems and, conversely, using substances can worsen mental health conditions in some people. Dual-diagnosis treatment can help address both issues simultaneously. Learn More @ MentalHealth.net
Need help breaking free from addiction? 1-866-306-4086 Call 24/7 for treatment options.
Basic Hygiene: Begin A Ritual
Basic hygiene seems like a no-brainer, sadly however, it can be one of the first Self-Care tactics that deteriorates when life gets crazy and busy. Don't let yourself fall into this destructive practice. Basic hygiene practices like bathing or showering, brushing our teeth, washing our hair, moisturizing our skin, are all practices that encourage a clean and fresh approach towards living, and they should be practiced regularly. You should incorporate them into your morning and evening rituals daily. Hours easily pass, in and out of days and, before we know it we can miss one or more of these practices if we don't make a point to create rituals. A ritual is a lot like a habit, except it packs more commitment and conviction then a habit does. A habit is a repetitive practice, often times, that we develop without realizing or intentionally working towards. A ritual is entered into with intention and for a reason that we connect with on a spiritual level. There is an intentional rhythm and reason to each step of a ritual. If you haven't already established morning and evening rituals, to practice daily at the beginning and end of each day, then it's something I encourage you to implement to incorporate these basic hygiene practices, as well as the rest of your basic Self-Care practices. It does not benefit you to skip these practices, so work towards developing rituals that take into account your specific needs, preferences and practical abilities.
*If you struggle to financially afford basic hygiene, feminine & personal care products please email me @ dazzlingdomesticdreamer@gmail.com with "Dazzling Basics Request" in the subject line and your Name, address & personal request in the contents. I would absolutely love to encourage you & send you a small Dazzling Basics Bundle to help you on your journey towards creating your Personalized Self-Care Routine to get in touch with your Dazzling Diamond!
Basic Nutrition: The Secret Energy Boost
Nutrition is your fastest way to improve energy. If you are lacking in energy, your nutrition is probably a key component to the shortage. A well rounded diet will fuel your body and your mind to allow you to successfully enter into your tasks with the ability to endure. Now, I will be the first to admit that this step can get overlooked as a whole, and sometimes the junk food tastes good, or the comfort food is needed regardless of the calorie count. I am not saying there can be no exceptions. Rather, I encourage the exceptions, on occasion, when unavoidable or necessary, but those situations need to be the exception. The rule needs to be to succeed at consuming a well rounded diet that hits all the nutrients your body needs. I specifically label this basic component to your Self-Care Routine as Nutrition and not Diet for a reason. I have come to the firm belief that the only real way to achieve success over basic food battles is to throw away the "diet" mentality and make peace with food, adapting healthy eating as a lifestyle. This step isn't even intended to produce weight loss, it is solely intended to produce a basic foundation for your nutrition. Beginning to break bad food patterns and eliminating wasteful energy sabotaging selections from our food repertoire in many little ways, can change the entire Self-Care game in BIG ways.
* If you suffer from a specific food addiction or eating disorder we encourage you to seek professional help from a trusted Doctor, Nutritionist or Phycologist to begin the journey towards healthy eating habits. Use the links below to take a step towards a healthier tomorrow
Food Addiction Treatment information Eating Disorder Treatment Information
Basic Rest: It's More Than Just Sleep
Sleep. This is a non negotiable element to the most basic version of a Self-Care Routine, but as I type this on the cusp of midnight, with a new day rapidly approaching, I am not oblivious to the fact that, sometimes, just sitting in the quiet of the night or early morning can be a refreshing change of pace. The thing is, sleep still needs to happen, even if not in the most "traditional" hours for it to take place. Don't beat yourself up about how "traditionally" you execute this piece, or any of the other pieces, in your Self-Care Routine. I don't call it a Routine because we want uniformity. I call it a Routine, because in your personal life, you should come to a Routine way of approaching your Personalized Self-Care. Sleep is a part of your Self-Care Routine that can easily have catastrophic effects on your health, well-being, and motivation if skipped altogether. Being sleep deprived is dangerous on so many levels. Proper hours of sleep must be included into your routine, wherever and whenever you get it in, so that your mind and body have the ability to rest & recover from the effort they put in, sustaining you while you do your best to run them ragged each day. The thing is though, this basic step in your Self-Care Routine is labeled Rest instead of Sleep because, when you are sleeping is not the only time you should be affording your mind and body to rest. If you wake up every day and just hustle and grind from the moment your head lifts to the moment it lays, then you are leaving out your spirit entirely. How do you connect yourself on any spiritual level when you are running through each day? Life is not a sprint. It's not about getting to the finish line fastest. It is a journey. One that should be traveled over time and, with intention, in the moment. Let yourself rest occasionally, it's perfectly acceptable. In fact, it's more than acceptable, it is the 4th and final piece of successfully achieving Step #1 - Back to the Basics in your Personalized Self-Care Routine.
* If you suffer from Insomnia we encourage you to speak to your Primary Care Physician and discuss with them
exploring the options below today to get you to a more restful state of living.*
You are capable of Amazing things!
Now that I've laid out the foundation and, covered the basics for creating a Personalized Self-Care Routine, it is important that you evaluate your current practices and, be honest with yourself about where you stand in regard to each of these basic practices. This is not designed to be a shame session where you come down on yourself for not measuring up. This is an evaluation of where you are as you enter into this journey. Do not judge yourself or the reasons these basics may have slipped out of practice. Do not dwell in the results of your evaluation, they are your beginning. From there you will start to build practices and rituals personalized to the healthy methods that work best for you on your #JourneyToDazzling! To help you start your journey, I've included a
I know personally, when I came to this point in my journey, I was actually quite surprised at how poorly I was executing the basics. Now, I could have doubled down on failing at these practices and, I could have added a shame party to the mix. Instead, it acted as an eye-opening realization to me that, whether intentional or not, I had placed myself at the bottom of my own priorities, to my own detriment. I have personally always struggled with good Self-Care practices in seasons past, out of guilt. Guilt that prioritizing myself meant I was selfish and valued myself over everyone else. I believed that if I wanted to be a "good person" I wouldn't worry about my needs at all and, instead, I would pour all of that focus and energy into other people and I would be provided for in return. In my backwards logic, I thought if I poured enough into the world, the world would pour back into me and we would all be filled up. In theory, I still understand my old logic, however, in practice I learned how very wrong my thinking was. That thinking implies that the world around me is doing the same thing, not worrying about themselves; which in the majority of cases, they aren't, and in the cases where they are, they shouldn't.
In order to have anything to pour into others, you must first be filled. You must also keep filling yourself, otherwise after pouring out into the world, you will find yourself empty again. The foundation & basics laid out here for self-care are just the beginning. In the next few weeks I will lay out my other steps to creating a Personalized Self-Care Routine that really works for you, but until then, I encourage you to get Back to the Basics of Self-Care and start refilling your cup again!
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Now go take sometime and take care of you!
