Do you feel overwhelmed? Or as if there is not enough time for yourself? Is your mental health suffering because of it? Despite keeping healthy habits, life can still become too much and push you down. One of the best ways I’ve found for counteracting these feelings is a self-care day.
What is a self-care day, you may ask? It means TREAT YO SELF. Yes, this is a day all about you. Take the day off of work, the gym, drop the kids off at Grandmas, tell your spouse to find something else to do, because today is all about you.
Start the day whenever you want, sleep in or wake up early. I like to start my treat yo self days with a lavish breakfast for one (the diet can wait a day). I always find myself obsessively planning my days, and on my self-care days I want to get away from that. So, I start the day with a clean slate, instead doing whatever I feel like at the moment. My last self-care day consisted of a trip to my local art museum, a shopping spree, a fast food dinner and a bottle of wine. I allowed myself to indulge in the things I had no time for or felt I was restricting myself from. However, everyone’s self-care days look different. Instead, you may feel like getting a massage or a pedicure, eating an entire cake and then going skydiving! In all, it can be whatever you want it to be.
The important part of the self-care day is to keep a positive attitude. If you are overly conscious about your spending or calorie intake, it can make the day feel like a crime. That is something to avoid, so it’s critical to practice a positive attitude. This can even be transcribed into your day-to-day life. At the end of the day you should feel satisfied and happy.
This self-care day can help you restart. It can be a deviation from your normal schedule, so you can be reminded that not every day is the same. It as well can be a reminder of the things you can have in life. Sometimes we all need these reminders.
It is significant to note that a treat yo self day should not be done more than once every few months. If you find yourself doing this often, it could mean you are indulging in an unhealthy way. If you’re unhealthily indulging, then the day loses its purpose and instead can take a toll on yourself.
It could also mean that you should change your everyday habits, if you feel the need to restart so frequently. If you feel the need to have a break every few weeks, it could mean that you have too many daily stressors. If so, it would be productive to find ways to eliminate stressors in your life, so you don’t feel the need to restart as often. Or it simply means you are struggling to break bad habits and are using a self-care day as a way to indulge them.
If you find yourself having multiple self-care days in a short amount of time, it would be beneficial to look inwards. Take a moment to assess yourself and what would be best for you.
In all, a self-care day is a day dedicated to yourself. Take this day to indulge in your cravings and create a healthier headspace.
What do you do for your own self-care days? Let us know in the comments!
