The New Year often signals a desire to make personal development “To-Do” lists and commitments to improve our way of life. Is taking better care of yourself at the top of your list this year? Being focused and dedicated to your overall health and well-being is an extraordinary endeavor. If you’re on this path, we applaud your efforts! (And we’re glad you’re here, reading this blog!)
Many initially get excited about lifestyle changes but lose enthusiasm when life’s demands come knocking! And they always do, right?! So how can we better prepare ourselves to achieve our healthy living goals this year?
Your success, or failure, may lie within the routines around your
self-care and self-soothing activities.
Do you see self-care and self-soothing as the same? Lumping them together is not uncommon, but they are quite different. Let’s take a look at both!
Self-Care:
Self-care involves nourishing yourself physically and mentally. Self-care is being mindful, exercising, unplugging, and getting enough sleep. It’s checking in with your mental health, catching up with friends, and nurturing your important relationships.
Self-care ensures your nutrition is on point and you’re supporting your gut health by getting enough fiber! (Nudge, hint, nudge!!)
It’s also taking time for activities that enrich your body, mind, and spirit, like meditation, living in gratitude, and connecting with nature.
Self-care is centered on your overall well-being inside and out.
Self-Soothing:
Self-soothing activities can be rewards you give yourself when you have been through a tough week or accomplished a goal. They can also act as coping mechanisms to help manage overwhelming feelings, stress, and anxiety. We tend to gravitate toward things that soothe us when we feel anxious. (This can be a good or a bad thing.)
Self-soothing is very important. Still, many self-soothing activities can
sabotage our efforts in the self-care department!
Sabotaging self-soothing activities can include binge eating unhealthy foods, withdrawing from your support system, vegging out on the couch for hours, or spending too much time on social media. These activities might feel good in the moment but often leave us feeling worse and can potentially cause health problems.
We may justify these things as “self-care” or “taking a time out,”
but don’t get yourself caught up in a sticky wicket and
undermine your self-care efforts!
Ask yourself:
“Do these activities enrich me?”
“Are they helping me achieve my healthy living goals?”
Lean towards healthier self-soothing activities like reading, writing in a journal, taking a hot bath, or watching your favorite uplifting movie! (Check your self-care list to see if those activities might serve you better, like calling a friend or preparing a healthy meal!)
to your overall health and well-being,
by all means, enjoy them!
We hope you take an in-depth look at your routines involving Self-Care and Self-Soothing. They may hold the key to your stick-to-itiveness! Making a few tweaks to your routine can help you achieve lasting healthy lifestyle changes.
Get to know your gut microbiome on a more personal level.
It will truly change your life!
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