Self-care tips for busy people
How to make more time for yourself
Do you find yourself constantly caught up in all the things you have to do as an adult - juggling work, responsibilities, trying to stay on top of things, maintain relationships, have a social life, make sure you eat and still look after yourself? You want to do things that help you grow but find yourself getting caught up in daily life, being stuck on autopilot and just going through the motions. We’ve all been there.
Imagine if it didn’t have to be like that. Imagine a life where you not only get shit done, but also create space for your own wellbeing and growth. Imagine feeling so grateful and in love with your life because you’re doing things that are meaningful to you, you have a purpose, feeling well rested and calm.
This is all available to you.
I’m going to provide some actionable and practical self-care tips and ways you can start to make some time for yourself as a busy person. It’s all about including moments of self-care, mindfulness and reflection into your daily life. You don’t have to spend hours doing it for it to be effective. It’s time to embrace self-care and create space for your wellbeing.
Resistance to self-care
You may already feel some resistance coming up around self-care - reasons as to why you can’t, why you just don’t have time. Let me start by saying your thoughts aren’t always true. They’re based on your current reality and model of the world. We can so easily get caught up in our thoughts that we start to believe them as absolute truth. However, they’re not necessarily a true representation of reality. Your thoughts are usually a story you are telling yourself to help you make sense of the world.
So if you think you don’t have the time, it could be useful to try looking at it differently. When you start to build awareness around your thoughts and understand that they aren’t always true, it can have such a huge impact.
I guarantee that there will be things you can stop doing or do less of that aren’t supporting you or making you feel good, to replace them with things that will. If there was something that immediately came to mind when you read that, then you already have somewhere to start.
Why is it so important to prioritise your wellbeing?
Wellbeing is about feeling balanced, content and in control of your life. You have your physical, emotional, spiritual and mental wellbeing. Each of these may be at a different level for you right now, and it’s important we do things to look after all of them. If you thought about how your current wellbeing is for each of these, what would your answer be?
When you start to prioritise your wellbeing, you create the space to show up as the best version of yourself. It’s not just about being the best version of yourself though, you deserve to rest. You don’t have to be productive all the time. Taking care of yourself isn’t a luxury, it’s a necessity. Self-care is not selfish!
There are so many benefits, including feeling healthier, calmer, balanced and content, being able to deal with challenges and difficult times, reduced stress, better sleep, reduced illness, feeling grateful day to day, experiencing more joy, better relationships and so much more. It has a positive and long lasting impact on all areas of your life!
You don’t even have to spend hours on self-care for it to make a huge impact. The most practical thing you can do is to include moments of self-care into your daily life. It’s all about trying out new things to start, finding out what lights you up and makes you feel good. You might try some things that don’t work for you, and that’s fine!
Self-care tips for busy people
Look at how you’re spending your time
Start to become aware of everything you do each day. Write this down if it helps. Once you’ve done this for a few days, look through your list and see if there’s anything that’s really not supporting you, that you could do less of. Then do less of that thing and make some more time for yourself. Could you spend 15-30 less minutes on your phone every day? Maybe you could go to bed earlier and spend some time reflecting instead. Or could you do something in the first 10 minutes of your day that will set you up for the day?
Be aware of self-sabotage
Rest is necessary. To spend time doing nothing, relaxing, and nourishing yourself. However, there are times when you may be using this as a way to avoid doing the things that will help you grow. You might feel like you can’t be bothered to spend 10 minutes journaling. Why is that? Are you putting it off? What are you gaining from not doing it? There might be a deeper reason as to why you’re avoiding doing that thing. This is called self-sabotage, and is often the reason we procrastinate. Use that as an opportunity to reflect and grow!
Incorporate self-care into your daily routine through habit stacking
Small changes in your daily routine can have huge results. Think about how you can bring self-care practices into your daily routine in a way that doesn’t feel overwhelming. What habits and routines do you do every single day that you could add self-care to? How about making your morning cup of tea into a mindful practice where you really tune into the present moment, or doing some gentle stretching straight after you brush your teeth in the morning? There are so many ways you can go about this.
Commit to a ‘bare-minimum’
This will look different to each person. It means committing to an absolute minimum that you will do each (or most) days. For one person it could mean 5 minutes of breathwork on waking up, for someone else it could mean journaling before bed, or taking 5 minutes at lunch time to do a short meditation. Commit to your minimum, and notice the impact this has. Then if you have a day where you have some more time, you can create that space to go deeper.
Set boundaries
You may need to set boundaries with yourself AND others. You are allowed to say no to people, and it doesn’t make you a bad person. We are all entitled to boundaries to make sure our needs are met. What can you start saying no to? Personal boundaries are also important. You won’t always have the motivation to do the things that help you grow, so sometimes you need to put boundaries in place with yourself and just do it. The motivation will usually follow.
Celebrate your progress
Make sure to regularly reflect back on your journey and how far you have already come. Any progress is worth celebrating. Be proud of yourself for doing things to support your wellbeing! It doesn’t matter how small that progress is, when you take a moment to look back and celebrate that, you are also setting yourself up for future success, because you can see the positive impact it has had on you.
Self-care ideas
Now that you know the importance of wellbeing and how you can start to make more time for self-care, you might be wondering where to start and what to do.
Here are some ideas of things you can do for your mental, emotional, physical and spiritual wellbeing. Remember, it’s all about finding what works for YOU! Have some fun with it and try different things.
Mental wellbeing
Set boundaries, read a book, set long-term and short-term goals, learn something new, spend less time on your phone, spend more time with loved ones, get creative, go out with friends, listen to music, pay attention to your thoughts, do some arts & crafts
Emotional wellbeing
Try breathwork, try EFT tapping, somatic movement, journaling, practice self-compassion, dance to music, try cold therapy, talk to people about how you are feeling, hug someone you love
Physical wellbeing
Go for a walk, do gentle stretching, try yoga or pilates, spend time outdoors, go swimming, eat nourishing food, take naps, get a good nights sleep, make time for rest, drink plenty of water, go for a massage or massage yourself
Spiritual wellbeing
Gratitude journal, meditation, reiki, manifestation, declutter and clean your space, sit in silence, protect your energy, visualisations, create a vision board, connect to your intuition, grounding, take a salt bath, pull an oracle card
As you can see, it’s so important to prioritise your own wellbeing. When you start to do that, you will really start to notice a difference in how you’re feeling in your day to day life.
Remember that self-care is a necessity. Even in the busiest of schedules, it's possible to create space for yourself. By incorporating it into your daily routine, you can start to prioritise your own wellbeing and experience more of the good feelings in life.
I invite you to follow some of these tips and start prioritising self-care. If you want somewhere easy to start, I have something for you..
If you’re ready to make some time for self-care, watch my FREE self-care workshop replay to slow down, reconnect to yourself and give you a little boost. You will not regret it!
Release & renew: Self-care and relaxation workshop
A workshop to help you slow down and reconnect to yourself. Release the energy that is no longer serving you and invite in a renewed feeling of wellbeing. You’ll finish this workshop feeling relaxed and calm.
In a world full of distractions, it's so easy to become stressed out, overwhelmed and disconnected. This workshop is for you if you want some time to recharge.
If you are interested in working together 1:1 to shift your mindset, prioritise your wellbeing and make lasting positive changes in your life, read about my 3 month 1:1 life coaching programme or book a free intro call with me today.