To honor May as Mental Health Awareness Month, I wanted to share a couple podcasts and blog posts to help highlight this topic. In this week’s podcast I touched on how to make mental health a priority, my go-to coping skills for mind and body, resources, and how to reach out to others who may be struggling.
Today I want to get back to the basics with a look at self-care and creating healthy habits.
15 Practices
Over the past few years I’ve pulled together these practices to help build a steady daily foundation:
- Restful sleep
- Warm bath
- Deep breathing
- Mindful movement
- Journaling
- Gratitude
- Positive self-talk
- Mindful eating
- Goal review
- AM/PM rituals
- Digital down time
- Creative play
- Meditation
- Loving connection
- Stay hydrated
Download this PDF
Although this may seem like a lot to squeeze into one day, some of these activities are part of your daily routine. For example, we’re eating, thinking, bathing, breathing, sleeping, moving, and drinking already, so what if we turned these actions into a way to practice deep self-care?
When you find yourself feeling off, anxious about life post-pandemic, or snippy, come back to these 15 basics. Does one (or a few) of these need attention?
By taking care of ourselves and tuning into our mind and body’s needs, we’re better equipped to tackle the curveballs thrown our way.
Next steps
Track these healthy habits over the next week and note what needs more love. Sometimes we realize our sleep has been off (no wonder we’re snippy!), we’re not moving enough (releases endorphins), or we’ve been living on processed foods (impairs brain function).
When I’m sluggish, I can usually track it back to what I’m eating or practices I’m missing such as journaling or meditating. The good news is that these practices can be fairly quick fixes to get back on track. The tough news is that it takes time to pause, tune in, and notice what’s missing. And it’s important to know when to reach out for professional help.
Making ourselves a priority can improve mental, physical, and emotional health. Which practice(s) can you get started on today? Your future self will thank you. Bisous. x
PS Want to learn more about these 15 practices? I explore each of these deeper in pp. 150-157 of Year of Tranquility.
