Self care - selfish?

❓How much time to do you dedicate to self care❓

💭 Do you think it's essential or indulgent? Maybe even selfish?

For a lot of my adult life I thought spending time on myself was the latter - selfish.

I also thought I had to 'earn' downtime. I spent my life in a constant state of productivity.

Honestly? My sense of my own value was attached to how much I was doing and giving and achieving.

I was constantly switched on, in mode 'go'. I see other people living like this, too.

Now, this can be a useful state to be in for short periods. You'll get adrenaline to get stuff done. But it doesn't take long for it to turn in a habitual state of stress. And that is no good for our mental health. 🧠

We start operating more and more from our primitive mind instead of our intellectual one - and that's when life starts to feel harder. 😣

❣️ So why practice self care, and what is it?

Self care is any time you give yourself permission to do something that in the moment serves you, and only you, and that you enjoy.

It could be:

📗 Sitting with a book

📺 Watching your favourite movie

😴 Going to bed earlier

🛁 Soaking in a bath

🚶🏼‍♀️Going for a walk

💦 Drinking more water

💅Having a beauty treatment

🎵 Sitting listening to music

🎨 Doing something creative

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Spending time with a special friend...

...the list goes on.

🎠 Every time we stop and get off the merry-go-round of a busy life, we allow our mind to calm down. Levels of adrenaline and cortisol lower and we produce feel-good hormones instead.

The result?

We've essentially topped up our brain's fuel tank. ⛽ We are better able to cope with daily life. We have more capacity to be there for others.

⭐ So what self care can you plan into the coming week so you put fuel in your tank? ⭐ Sidenote: one of the great things I see as clients progress with solution focused hypnotherapy is that they start to place more value on their own needs. They start to practice self care. They do this because they start operating from their intellectual mind, the left prefrontal cortex. So, clients make the assessment for themselves that looking after their bodies and minds is a positive step for them. It's a pleasure to see this happen.