Blog Friday 19th May 2023
Self-Care Tips
Good morning, guys and gals, DK here with another daily blog. Today, I’d like to talk about self-care. What is self-care? For me it’s all about having enough energy for the day to do the stuff that makes you happy. Also, it’s about maintaining the drive and motivation and just generally being in the right state of mind to get through the day and life. So how do I get energy and maintain the right state of mind? I’m no guru in this field but I’ve come up with few things that seems to work for me, and I’ll list them below:
- Sleep: You’re all probably familiar with the concept of sleep. When I get a good night’s sleep, it’s like having taken a smart pill. I usually get up at 4am, which means I go to bed at 8:30pm. I used to go to bed at whatever time I felt like just watching TV or scrawling down the phone screen and kind of doze off. Few years back, I decided to give my self a little routine and become my own drill sergeant. So I started going to bed between 8-9pm even on weekends. This has few practical benefits. When you go to bed early at night, you tend to get up quite early and feel fresh as the morning dew. So you could get up at 4 or 5 am and use that time to engage in self-care activities. For me, the first thing I do when I get up is write my daily blog. It takes few attempts at first, cos the last thing you want to do in the morning is to write something. But believe me when I say, something about writing your thoughts in the morning that gives you kind of a buzz and energises you. I also exercise to get my body moving in the morning. I also write down any ideas that come to me for my T-Shirt store. These things are harder to do later in the day as there are too many distractions, you know. So, when you get up super early in the morning, you have three to four hours to focus solely on yourself. At first, you won’t see the point of it. But if you stick to it for six months, a year and few years, you won’t look back. Another benefit of sleeping early on weekends is, you don’t waste money going out to dinners or where ever. I’ve done the whole going out and easily spending couple hundred dollars on bs and coming home stinking and broke. The solution, go to bed early and wake up fresh and pocket full of coins. Well, it’s worked for me for the past few years. I hope all this is making grammatical sense as I’m just punching the keyboard in a flow state right now. So give it a try dudes and dudettes as sleep is actually pretty important on how you set the tone for the next day.
- Food: This is another important aspect of self-care. Y’all are all aware of eating healthily so I won’t get into diets and stuff, as I’m not an expert on macro and micro nutrition blah blah blah. I’ll just talk about what’s been working for me. I used to gorge on pizzas, burgers, soft drink etc for years, and at the same time wanting flat abs at the same time. That was the definition of insanity and pipedream. So slowly, with lots of failures, I changed my eating behaviour. So, by keeping on the right path generally, I’ve learnt to embrace the natural whole foods like real meat (doesn’t have to be super lean or anything), lots of veges, lots of water and cooking at home. Nothing healthier than cooking your own whole and natural foods. I actually enjoy making my own steak and sauteed vegetables at home now, rather than going to a restaurant. I also found that portion size is a big factor in maximising your satisfaction from your meal. I really enjoy the taste of vegetables now instead of some junk food. But most of all the thing I love about eating clean is the amount of energy I get the next day from the clean healthy dinner the night before. Another benefit is being in shape. Ninety percent of your waistline is what you eat. There are too many upsides to being in shape to list here: looking good, feeling good, getting a second look from a member of the opposite sex anywhere you go, the list is literally endless. I also do the intermittent fasting, which is a whole other thing which I’ll talk about in another blog. So, give healthy eating a try, as I highly recommend it.
- Gratitude: This is another kind of obvious thing, but having a sense of being thankful to whoever put us here has a big effect on how your day progress. I’m not saying just walk around all day with the delusion that you should just be thankful and ignore all the bs that come your way. All I’m saying is, I put things into perspective and pull myself in every time I encounter something that tests my patience, ego or whatever. For example, when I’m driving and someone cuts me off suddenly or I’m at the shops and the line is super long and the cashier is taking their sweet ass time, I just remind myself that no one died and this moment will pass. I try not to let small things get to me is all I’m saying. For me gratitude isn’t about just being thankful, but keeping things in perspective.
- Taking Time To Do What You Like To Do: This is a major aspect of self-care. I try to take time out to do something I like on daily, weekly, monthly and yearly basis. On daily basis, I like going for a walk around the local park or the beach and breathe in the fresh air. Sometimes, when there’s a good movie at the cinemas, I like to catch the film on the big screen. Now that the world is fully open, I’m planning a trip to NYC, my favourite place on earth. So these are some of my self-care activities I do to keep my energy levels up and the mental health on track you know.
These are just few things that come to mind for my personal self-care. It might be different for other people but I really believe that by sleeping enough hours, eating good food, doing stuff you like and having a sense of gratitude and perspective, you’re on your way to having a good foundation for a good life. Anyway, I rambled on enough. Talk you tomorrow 😊
Peace