Take a moment to imagine a cup. The cup is filled with energy — as you spend time taking care of family, friends and work, you pour energy out. If you don’t pause and take time to replenish that energy and practice self-care, you’ll have nothing left to give.
Being self-aware is the first step in building your self-care plan. Knowing yourself and how you react to stress can help you identify positive behaviors to lean on, as well as negative ones to avoid. Use our reactions to stress worksheet to help you reflect.
Next is identifying ways to practice self-care and making time for them. Self-care comes in many forms — physical, mental, emotional, environmental, recreational/pleasure, spiritual, relational/social and workplace/professional. Exercising, reading or catching up with a friend are all examples of setting aside time to “fill your tank.” Use our self-care assessment to explore these categories and learn new ways to practice self-care.
It can be difficult to set aside time for yourself, especially during a busy day. Remember that taking just 10 minutes for yourself can make you a more thoughtful and focused individual who is better able to problem solve.
It’s also important to note that self-care isn’t synonymous with self-indulgence. Sometimes it involves saying no to staying out late so you can get a good night’s sleep or taking time to meal prep so you are ready to tackle a busy week.
The USLI Slainte team is here to assist you by offering numerous resources to use on your self-care journey:
- Sign up for Daily Chair Flow Stretches that you can do right from your desk! We offer these Monday through Friday at 11:10 a.m. ET and 2 p.m. ET
- Listen to meditations for a quick reset throughout the day
- Access our exercise library, which is filled with cardio and strength workouts
- Check out our dinner menus for inspiration for healthy recipes
- Access our stress relief challenge to help build better habits
Make the commitment to take time each day to invest in yourself!
