3 Simple Acts of Self-Care Anyone Can Do
Stepping back, the idea of self-care seems like an obvious thing to do for ourselves – the same way that we all eat and drink to live and survive. However, it’s also the easiest thing to neglect – especially when we’re buried by chores, work, responsibilities and life in general.
On top of this, the day and age that we are living in always feels too fast and always makes us feel left behind. So we thought we’d just give 3 simple acts of self-care that you can do today that doesn’t require much to start. These 3 things are also great if you feel like slowing down in a fast world.
1) Embracing silence – the first one is the simplest one to do (or rather what you don’t do) and it is to remove any forms of sound in your surroundings and to simply bask in the silence. This means turning off your music or background noise (videos, TV shows etc) when you are working, relaxing, driving or even showering. We should be clear in saying that there is nothing bad in listening to music or background sounds but in removing them, it gives your mind some space to wonder and pay more attention. If you feel bored, try to look, take in and appreciate all that is around you. You’ll be surprised by how relaxing it can be.
2) Tune out – It has become a modern habit to check your phone and go online when we wake up. Thinking about it, it is sort of humorous that as soon as your mind goes from unconscious to conscious, the first thing to do is to overwhelm it with huge amounts of information: photos, videos, words, opinions. Imagine waking up and instantly stepping into a room of talking people – not ideal. Tuning out and avoiding online creates the same effect as the first step – it frees your mind from interruption and gives it space to wander elsewhere…to better places.
3) Writing by hand – the third and last section was meant to be titled ‘journaling’ but on second thought, journalling can feel intimidating and be seen as a commitment. So we thought the better and simpler one is to just write things by hand. All you need is a pen, paper and a personal space and not much else. Just write anything you feel like writing and remember that you are the only one that will read it. Unlike typing on an electronic device, writing by hand slows you down and the tactile feel of pen against paper feels like an antithesis of the fast information age. And from there, you might habituate this and venture to journaling.
