I recently allowed myself to take an entire week off to just dedicate to self-care and making a list of self-care ideas for the future. While I am truly grateful for the amount of work I’ve been getting, I have been overwhelmed with everything that’s been needed to get done, burning the midnight oil all weeknights and most weekends for an entire month, cooped up at home trying to get everything on my tick list sorted out before the next deadline.
I allowed myself to succumb to my crazy hectic schedule until I realized I wasn’t being as productive as I thought I was. Just busy, tired and irritable. Enough was enough. So last week I told myself that I would enjoy the next seven days by nourishing my mind, body, and soul by doing things for myself, not anyone else, that made me feel happy, content, and fulfilled.
1. Get a haircut. It’s amazing how a new hairdo can make you feel all shiny and new. Savor the entire experience – from the relaxing wash with a soothing scalp massage, to the process of getting a hair cut that gives you time to decompress, to the warm blow dry that rounds off your time at the salon. Appreciate the freer, lighter, newer version of you. Along with a haircut, I also decided to treat myself to a new hair color instead of just touching up my roots, going for a darker shade of brown to match the cooler holiday weather.
2. Go to the spa. As a special treat, I paid a visit to Marina Bay Spa and lifestyle Club (the gorgeous new spa behind the Mall of Asia next to the ferry port) for a few luxurious hours of time just to myself. I booked their signature package, which included a body scrub, 90-minute massage, access to their wet and dry sauna, as well as their small, healthy buffet. If you don’t really want to spend on a spa day, you can recreate the experience at home with a scrub followed by a long, hot bath, sit around in your bathrobe with a cup of tea, and put on relaxing music. A trip to Lush beforehand might be a good idea, as well!
3. Help someone. I realize this has nothing to do with you per se, but it feels good to help without asking for anything in return, so I added it to my list. Whether it be buying lunch for a stranger, helping someone with their groceries, or offering to do the dishes, random acts of kindness makes you stop and think of how else you can be of service to others, getting out of your own headspace and forgetting about your problems b putting others first.
4. Write down your thoughts. I like to plan out my week the old fashioned way – by writing it down. I don’t really have a set schedule, as I have three different businesses with different needs, so I use a Moleskine planner to jot down my appointments as well as any tasks I need to get out of the way for the week, and make time to write down my list of to dos on Sunday evenings, so I can get a birds eye view of how my week is going to look and prepare for it. There’s nothing worse than waking up in the morning trying to remember what you had planned to do for that day and feeling like you didn’t get everything you wanted done.
5. Check in with your emotions. Something I learned from Eckhart Tolle’s The Power of Now is to constantly check in with my emotions, especially when they’re negative. Whenever I feel frustrated, annoyed, or angry, I try to take a step back and observe the emotion from a third person point of view. “Why am I annoyed?” “What is this really about?” “Why am I being so unreasonable?” Observe the feeling, acknowledge it, then let that shit go. It really is as easy as that, sometimes.
6. Spend time with happy people. Do you have friends or family who you feel are beacons of life and positivity? They radiate optimism, and no matter how shitty their day turns out to be, they are mindful enough to always see the silver lining in even the most challenging situations? Yes, them. Hang out with them more. Be aware of the energy they let out and find out what makes them tick. I used to have a friend whose idea of bonding involved hours of whinging and whining about every little thing, I felt just as tired and frustrated as her after our chats, and I felt just as grumpy, even if I was having a pretty good day. Sad to say, we don’t hang out as much anymore. And that’s alright.
7. Stroke a pet. This is my absolute favorite thing to do when I’m feeling low and really is one of the best forms of stress release! When I was deep in my hole of depression a few years back, adopting a rescue was the best decision I had ever made. He was a small, Japanese spitz who just wanted to snuggle and sleep next to me every chance he got. Their enthusiasm if infectious and spending time with them will leave you more relaxed and less preoccupied with everyday worries. So whether it be a dog, cat, hamster – they all have the same effect.
8. Get positive feedback. Towards the end of the week, I finally made the time to join a coaching session at I Am +Limitless, and would you have it, our topic for processing was to discuss our wins for the week. So I shared my mission for self-care and was met with fantastic positive feedback, acknowledging that taking time off for myself was a good choice to make, and that I should do it some more.
9. Learn something new. I breezed through three books on Audible, listening to Dan Brown’s Origin and learning more about art, got professor Yuval Noah Harari’s thoughts on the future of the human race from his book, Homo Deus, and took in Gretchen Rubin’s The Happiness Project like a sponge, with copious notes to create my own Happiness Project for next year.
10. Plan a two-day holiday for next weekend. It needn’t be expensive, either! Turn off your phone, tell people you’ll be away, and then do something new in your own town or nearby. I live in the south, so a trip to Puerto Galera is always a good option for me, or visiting a nearby farm in Laguna, or exploring one of the historical cities of Cavite. When the weather gets a bit cooler a day trip to Luneta Park for a little picnic with friends and the dogs is definitely in order!