Imagine - You walk into a beautiful lobby, filled with colorful flowers, peaceful colors and a light scent of lavender. The receptionist takes your coat, shows you to a changing room and hands you a thick terry cloth robe and slippers that you change into. You pass the sauna and steam room as you leisurely make your way to a chaise lounge close to the hot tub by the indoor pool. Someone offers you a cup of hot tea while you wait for your massage appointment. You sip your tea and listen to the quiet and then ? You Wake Up!
Can you see yourself relaxing like this? Maybe not! We all have such hectic and stressful lives these days that even imagining taking time for ourselves kicks the guilt trip into gear. With obligations to children, spouse, work and family, taking time out for you probably seems like a luxury for another life.
But the truth is, you need to take care of yourself before you can really do your best taking care of others. By taking care of yourself first, you create an internal balance allowing you to create more space to help others. Nurture yourself first so you know how to nurture others.
This is not selfishness. On the contrary, it is ensuring that you bring balance to your life so that you are able to more effectively share yourself and include everything you want as a fulfilled human being.
There are three aspects to nurture for balance:
Emotional/Mental: Your emotional and mental well-being is critical before you can help others. Feeling good about yourself, is important and necessary to helping others without draining yourself at the same time. Taking a mental break, relaxing and having fun will increase the joy in your life. Consider investing in your appearance with a new outfit or a new hairstyle, which can provide the type of nurturing that often leads to increased self-confidence.
Physical: Provide your body with the nutrition it needs to function properly. If you know you're not getting the nutrients you need, consider researching supplements to determine if they can assist you in maintaining your health. Taking time to relax and enjoy your food will contribute towards a more healthy digestive process. A healthy body also requires fitting physical activity into your schedule. Listening to music while walking the dog, gardening or doing chores, will help you relax while you burn calories at the same time. Just make sure you do something every day and that it's relaxing for you. And remember, small steps add up to big ones.
Spiritual: Developing and nurturing your connection with source provides your soul with nourishment and supports the other two aspects of a balanced life. Whether meditating, praying or attending church services, spiritual self-care helps you to find or reaffirm your purpose and keeps you in touch with your values. Take time to relax and be grateful for the many wonderful things in your life.
Nurture these three aspects of your life and invest in your well being so that you can continue to support others with a loving heart. Be kind to yourself so you can be kind to others. Whether it's an hour to get your hair done, yoga or meditation class, a long hot bath with no kids knocking at the door, taking the time you need to refresh yourself is worth it. By being more balanced, emotionally/mentally, physically and spiritually, not only will you benefit, but also so will those you love.
Spending the right amount of time at work and at home and at social events is critical to living stress free - and tired. This situation arises because people often have too many competing priorities and have not decided what for them is the correct balance in their life - at that time. The key is good time management.
Life changes and our priorities change - sometimes we have to give more attention to things that we would prefer not to be doing at that time. To put it another way: immediate priorities compete with more endurable goals.
What we can do is recognise this and plan a route to a changed situation. Even if we cannot change what we must give most attention to, the mere fact that we re-assess and confirm this (maybe only to ourselves) and then establish a timescale for future change will usually have a positive effect upon our morale.
If this is you, then stop, find half an hour and sit calmly - if appropriate with your spouse or partner - and address the following questions:
How much time do you spend on different activities? What do you value most - are you doing as much as you would like doing that?
How much time do you spend on "relaxation" activities, and then afterwards only feel like you have "passed the time" and wish you had done something else?
If when watching TV you sit and channel hop, then later you will probably feel that the time has been largely wasted. Do you do this at all?
Could you simply readjust your schedule to avoid spending time doing things you would not otherwise do? For example could you avoid traffic jams, or idling time whilst you simply wait for others?
Could you persuade others to adjust their schedule so that you can more easily align your schedule to avoid "dead" time?
Could you do chores differently, or at a different time, or with another person, or with some other distraction, so that they would feel a little more "fresh"? Could others help you - if you have children are they old enough to help you and would they benefit from taking some responsibility?
Could you rearrange jobs in order to do two things together?
Could you be better organised so that you save time - is your home well ordered or somewhat disorganised?
Do you delay starting some tasks because you do not like doing them . If so can you share that task with someone else, or could you do it whilst doing something else?
Do you feel that you have too little time to start and finish tasks, so do not even attempt to start? - typical signs of procrastination that can be overcome.
Are you in good physical condition? Getting sufficient exercise, sleep and a well balanced diet will improve your physical condition, which in turn will improve your general feeling of well-being.
Making individually minor changes to our day-to-day routines can significantly improve our situation. The examples I have provided are suggestons only. You should exanmine and tailor this to your own circumstances.
If this has struck a chord with you, don't just read and dismiss it. Commit to making some changes. A good start is to make an open declaration of intent - do it now!.
Both Stacey Brown & Brian Hazell are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Stacey Brown has sinced written about articles on various topics from Stress Management. Businesswoman, Friend, Collaborator, and Team player, Stacey Brown fulfills her Entrepreneurial Calling by offering a great service that enriches the lives of others. Together with other fellow BraveHeart Community members, her goal is to empower Women to. Stacey Brown's top article generates over 880 views. to your Favourites.
Brian Hazell has sinced written about articles on various topics from Time Management Skills, Stress Management and Time Management Skills. Brian Hazell MSc (Internal Audit and Management) was responsible for auditing strategic and business planning within a UK Government Dept and has founded and managed successful legal and financial businesses in the UK. As author of Time and Tasks Manage. Brian Hazell's top article generates over 4400 views. to your Favourites.