5 Self-Care Mindset Habits to Develop in Challenging Times

When times are challenging - like now, and you're really busy, you can easily slip into a habit of putting everyone else first. But when you neglect your own self-care, you run the risk of not having the capacity to care for others, not to mention yourself.

Just think about yourself for a minute. You're already dealing with work, relationships, maybe home-schooling, meetings on Zoom and a whole lot of other day-to-day chores. You're running in every direction at once. How on earth can you fit self-care into these stressful days? 

Fortunately, it's easier than you think. Experiment with these five habits to choose self-care throughout your busy day.

1. Why Self-Care is Important?

Self-care isn't about me, me, me. At its heart, self-care is more practical. So you start by getting clear on what you need for you right now. To do this, you need to take a step back and notice when you feel irked because this is a message. This feeling is telling you you are not looking after yourself, not putting yourself first. Meeting your basic needs is at the centre of your self-care. 

2. Make a Plan for your Self-Care

Self-care is never going to happen by itself. Hint: Focus on one goal or habit you want to build at a time, because unless you are intentional, you will never make time for it. Plan on using your calendar and schedule time for yourself, then you are more likely to meet your basic needs. Start small by building in the habits which will help you the most. You can begin by adding regular exercise, a walk, a seven-minute workout, or something else you enjoy, choose a specific number of days per week. If eating more healthily is a priority, make a meal plan and write out your shopping list to keep you on track because then you will eat healthier. As you achieve one goal, only then add in another. The key is not to pile more on top of you; instead, you want to make it easy for yourself.

3. First Things First with Self-Care

How effective are you when it comes to prioritising? If you're like most people, just deciding where to begin can be difficult. Here you need to figure out the difference between important and urgent. 

• If something is important and not urgent, add it to your schedule.

• If something is urgent and not important, give it to someone else to do. Yah!

• But if something is urgent and important, do this first.

4. "No" Such a Useful little Word for Self-Care

Do you feel like you have to say "yes" to everything? Did you know; sometimes the best form of self-care is learning to say "no." By deciding what you are ready and willing to do and what you are not, you protect yourself from activities that will drain your energy and leave you with no benefit at all.

5. Focus on Small Self-Care Stuff

You might think the little things don't matter, but they do, because when you take care of the basics such as: 

• Making sure you get enough sleep,

• Practising good hygiene,

• Eating right, and

• Exercising,

then you will keep your body in tiptop form. And even better These habits also have a substantial impact on your mental health. 

When you're busy, it's so easy to forget these fundamentals. So when you decide, now it's time to take care of yourself, you need to be deliberate in what you do. Remember these 5 Tips, and it will go a long way toward keeping you healthy and happy, no matter how crazy busy you get. 

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