I thought I’d share my 5 self-care tips to help you get through difficult times.
If you follow me on Facebook, you probably saw we had a fire at our house recently. I won’t go into too much detail; there was a fault in the oven (it wasn’t my cooking!). Luckily the fire alarm went off, so I had enough time to grab my little girl and run out of the house before it filled up with smoke.
Check your fire alarms people!
Or ask for a free fire safety check by the fire service. If we hadn’t done this I might not be here writing about it.
Anyway, immediate drama aside, it’s been a stressful couple of weeks and things still aren’t finished. All of my work plans have gone out of the window, but surprisingly I’m not feeling too bad.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve definitely had a few emotional wobbles and done my fair share of snapping at people. On the whole though, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. So I thought I’d share some of the things I found helpful, in case it could help you too. As with everything it takes practice and I’m not perfect at any of this!
1 – Be mindful
I still struggle with this, but it really does help to take a step back and ask yourself how you feel. Take the time to be aware of what’s going on around you as well as how you feel physically and emotionally. Once you’re aware of what is going on with yourself then it’s easier to move forward. It also helps to consider other people’s thoughts & feelings so you can take into account their needs as well.
2 – Focus on the positives
I’m a big fan of the art of gratitude. In difficult times it’s easy to get caught up in the negatives and take for granted all the things we’re lucky to have. I have been battling with thoughts of what could’ve happened and how much worse it could’ve been. Being aware of these unhelpful thought patterns and reminding myself how lucky I am, has kept me going. Focusing on even the little things can help – the new oven that has been installed has got two shelves where the old one only had one! Also in every difficult situation there is always an opportunity to learn about yourself. Usually that you’re more resilient than you think!
3 – Re-evaluate what is important to do
Regarding work I hoped to get done, I’ve had to prioritise the most important things and trust that the other things will get done eventually. In terms of sorting out the house, like cleaning our soot-covered kitchen utensils, I’ve focused on taking one step at a time. It’s easy to look at an overall project and think it’s too much. You can get overwhelmed and end up doing nothing. Then things get more and more difficult. In this case it’s good to find a quiet space (I kept hiding in the bathroom!) and ask yourself the following questions:
- What is it that you want to happen?
- How can you make that happen?
- What is the first step that you need to take?
4 – Be kind to yourself
Another thing was remembering to take care of myself. When you’re focusing on sorting things out it can be easy to forget basic self-care. If you get to the end of the day and realise you haven’t had enough to drink. Or you haven’t even brushed your teeth… Then you can end up feeling even worse about things. But not just basic self-care. Try to do nice things for yourself, like have a soothing bubble bath or hide away from it all to enjoy a hot chocolate. It won’t just help you feel better, sometimes things just fall into place when you take time out to look after yourself.
5 – Ask for help
I was lucky I had a lot of support from friends and family. For example, several neighbours stepped in to offer use of their freezer for our frozen food while the electrics were off (and it was over a week in the end). Sometimes we think that we need to do everything ourselves, but this can end up making things more difficult. Plus it can drag things out in the long run too. It can be hard to ask for help. But just chatting with someone you trust can help you see solutions and can make things seem easier.
How about you? Think about what you can do to help yourself get through difficult times.
How you can work with me to feel better, ditch dieting & enjoy your food again.
Need help to ditch dieting forever? Want to eat normally again AND lose weight healthily ..? While still enjoying the cake & chocolate? Hell yes!
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Great article 🙂