We all go through times in our lives when we are so busy that we completely forget about self care. Between deadlines at work, taking care of kids, paying bills, making meals, and so many other responsibilities to juggle, it can seem almost impossible most days to fit in time to take care of yourself too.
It’s pretty ironic, but the busiest seasons in life are the most important times to be sure we are taking proper care of ourselves. Doing small things to help yourself feel refreshed and taken care of is a great way to help fend off burn out.
Here are 24 ways to take care of yourself when life is busy:
- Listen to some music and relax
- Schedule downtime in your calendar. It might sound counterproductive, but it’s a wonderful way to make sure that you aren’t over-scheduling yourself and to give yourself some time to unwind and relax a bit. It also forces you to sit down and prioritize to curb your busyness. My family typically does Sundays as “no plan” days. I highly recommend it!
- Write a list of things you’re grateful for. It’s easy to forget how blessed you are when you are feeling run down and ragged.
- Paint your nails or do another small beauty treatment to feel a bit pampered
- Delegate – get family involved with the household chores, or ask a co-worker for help with a project
- Get more sleep
- Keep in touch with your friends
- Stretch or do a bit of yoga
- Say no to anything that you don’t care about
- Get some sunlight
- Cook in large batches to cut down on the amount of time you need to prep nutritious and delicious food
- Ask family or friends for help when you are feeling overwhelmed – you don’t have to do it all on your own!
- Take a deep breath. I know it sounds slightly ridiculous to be reminded to breathe, but this really helps me! Sometimes when I am feeling really overwhelmed, simply stopping to take one big deep breathe and focusing only on that forces me to calm down and re-focus myself and my energy.
- Go for a walk
- Take your vitamins
- Eat a balanced diet for some sustainable energy
- Rest your mind
- Try to cut out distractions – Facebook, tv, phone, you name it. Being fully present is a great gift to give yourself!
- Outsource where possible to give yourself a break – hiring a cleaning service, gardener, or babysitter for an afternoon
- Take a hot bath or shower and try to mentally let go of everything for those few minutes and just focus on the water
- Light a candle
- Use essential oils – I really enjoy putting a few drops of lavender or peppermint oil in the bottom of my shower. It helps me to relax and mellow out like I would in a bath (when I don’t have the time for an actual bath).
- Put on an outfit that makes you feel confident
- Slow down and enjoy the simple pleasures in your day
What are some small ways you can take care of yourself to help you through all the busy seasons of your life?
I listen to music on nights when I really need to relax before bed. I should definitely try to go for a walk more often!
Music is one of my favorites too! I really recommend the walks as well. It sounds like such a small thing that wouldn’t make that much of a difference, but it’s probably my top way to feel like I’m taking care of myself. Especially now with the Little Miss, it’s something I can do for me on those crazier cranky baby days that also appease her. Win-win!
Excellent ideas! You’d make an excellent life coach, or the owner of a day spa. 🙂
Aw thank you Kay! Haha maybe a life coach is my calling someday, I initially went to school for psychology before I switched to marketing, so it would be right up my alley! 🙂
This is a great reminder Christina! I have been running a hundred miles an hour for a couple of weeks and I needed this. I think for me the challenge is resting my mind from time to time. I have started taking a long walk with my dog most afternoons. It has helped a lot!
I can imagine that you’ve had a crazy busy time with getting your book published 🙂 Now you can enjoy the fruits of your labor though and take the time you need to unwind a bit!
What a great list. I must say taking care of yourself sometimes means you allow yourself some chocolate!
I’m with you on that one Kirsten! Devout chocolate lover over here 🙂
YES! I love this so much and really needed this today. We just moved into a new place and have been needing to fix a lot of things– rotted plywood, plumbing, etc.– and life has just felt super busy and exhausting. Self-care is so important, and we tend to skip it during the times we need it most!
Exactly Daisy! It seems to always be the last thing on our minds during those particularly busy seasons of life. Good luck with the renovations!
It seems counter-intuitive, but running a couple miles can do wonders when you’re busy. I find myself tired and stressed quite a bit from various responsibilities, but when I make time to work out I feel a lot better.
That makes sense to me DC! Exercise helps me feel rejuvenated too. Although I’m not a runner (wish I was!), I find that walks have the same effect on me.
Great list!! I love listening to music in the afternoons, going for walks in the evening, lighting candles and eliminating distractions!! I got rid of FB a few months ago and haven’t missed it at all. I feel like I have so much more time to be with my girls and just be present in life. That one change made a huge difference for me 🙂
Love posts like this – thanks for the encouragement!!
That’s awesome that you haven’t missed it Sarah! I still have Facebook, but deleted the app from my phone so that I don’t go on nearly as much anymore.
All excellent ideas! I need to do #3 right after paying bills;0) We go to sleep with lavender diffusing. I ran out of lavender but didn’t tell the hubby. He said he had really weird dreams and didn’t sleep well. I like to call it my own little experiment to make a believer out of him;0)
Haha I love your experiment Jayleen! I have been contemplating buying a diffuser myself, but do really enjoy a few drops of oil in my shower when I’m feeling particularly wound up or stressed out. It’s an instant stress reliever! 🙂
Great list! I love lighting a candle, self-pampering by painting my nails, taking a walk with my dog, listening to music and also meditation. I will have to try essential oils in the shower; I love that idea. I’ve really been enjoying reading your blog, Christina! You have such a refreshing outlook and style, so thanks!
I highly recommend the oils Jennifer, it’s wonderful! 🙂 Thank you so much for the kind words, it means so much to me knowing that my writing is being enjoyed (and actually read). I really appreciate it!!
Man, what a great list! I live by my calendar, so I definitely have to schedule downtime for myself. And you’re right about the sunshine! It can be so refreshing!
Thanks Chela! Sunshine can work magic, I swear. I also really recommend scheduling downtime – it’s helped force me to slow down so much.
Sitting down with a book always helps me. But what I really need is to get better at saying no and also delegating.
My husband has good intentions, but he’s always reluctant to try something he doesn’t know how to do. I need to push him more on that (I’ve been better about it lately) and not just sigh and take care of it myself and be annoyed at him.
Since I’ve been doing that more, I’ve been less stressed. Still, that’s not enough. I need to learn to relax and take care of myself, rather than just stress-eating.
It’s a work in progress.
I am still working on saying “no” quite a bit, but have drastically improved over the year. I feel like that alone has really helped me to spend my time only on things that are a priority to me.
I love your tip on scheduling downtime! I always feel like there is more to be done, and I end up feeling anxious if I feel like I haven’t done enough things for the day, so trying to ‘do nothing’ just makes me feel worse. If I schedule it as a ‘to do’ though, I think I will be quite happy to do it!
I am the exact same way Amelia! Thanks for sharing 🙂
I’m the last one that should be giving this kind of advice (since I never do a good job of it) but stay hydrated!! Especially because then it’s so much easier to have a glass of wine at the end of the day too 😉
Haha I love that piece of wisdom Mrs. Maroon! Staying hydrated is probably the one thing I am consistent about doing to take care of myself. I have a weird fear of being thirsty….I’m an odd one 😉
Great ideas! We love the resting on Sunday, too. Caputos makes a huge package of two giant subs wrapped in butcher paper. There is enough for giant sandwiches on Sunday and lunches for Monday. Huge time saver and worth the $14! I love putting some essential oil in my water. It feels a little luxurious and refreshes me.
Thanks Susan! Oh yum, that sounds absolutely amazing. We’ve been really into infusing our water with cucumbers and lemons lately. Such a nice change of pace and something that really does feel like such a luxury 🙂