4 Tips for Maintaining Self-Care During a Busy Work Week

This is a guest post by Bash Sarmiento

Amid all the hectic chaos of everyday life, be it at work or with family and other responsibilities, it’s normal to forget that in order for one to function properly, one must pay attention to health and wellness. Self care is something easily swept under the rug, but is actually an essential part of maintaining a well-oiled machine.

Self care does not have to be the lavish and luxurious massages, yoga sessions, out-of-town beach trips, and shopping sprees for the most comfortable loungewear or whatnot that one might think of when we hear the term. While they’re all undeniably great, it does not and should not take so much out of the pocket to be able to practice basic self-care.

There are a ton of simpler, more cost-effective ways to practice self care in the middle of jam-packed work schedules. In this article, we gathered some of the most simple self care practices you can consider and adjust based on your schedule and budget.

1.Set your priorities straight

What self care is really about is knowing what your needs and priorities are at a given time period. When scheduling or crafting your self care regimen, ask these questions: what needs or issues do I want to be addressed first, second, third, and so forth? What activity will help me the most given these needs or issues?

This technique will help you in making your self care regimen more purposeful and productive. Who says self care does not contribute to efficiency? It’s actually what enables efficiency in the first place.

This will help tremendously in terms of managing our most valuable resource, which is time. Learn how to lay out what is most urgent and important for a specific time period, heavily considering the state of your physical and mental well-being and capacity.

2. Start an exercise routine

Keeping the machine running and getting it started early on in the day will help clear your mind of stress, anxiety, and other debilitating mental conditions. Establishing a certain exercise routine for the morning will actually help in the long run in terms of keeping your physical and mental state clear.

This does not necessarily mean the whole weekly gym visit or weekly cycle session. It can be as simple as waking up an hour earlier than usual to take a walk or sprint outside or doing some basic stretches on your computer chair.

The idea is to get that machine running earlier in the day to keep your mind active during normal waking hours and stabilize this activity.

A bonus to this is having a dedicated routine for health and wellness in general. Some people will have skin care regimens, for example, for the purpose of oil cleansing. This is for the purpose of systematizing your me time!

3. Set clear boundaries

Having clear boundaries will let you know when and where work ends and me time begins. It is important to have these boundaries when talking about self care since this is what most people tend to forget.

Saying no to requests and schedules is normal. While it can be a challenge at first, it’s best to always bear in mind that sometimes you have to put you first, and self care is actually part of ensuring that you will be able to deliver the best service to them. We must quash the notion that taking care of yourself is selfish or indulgent. Taking care of one’s self is essential to everyone’s physical and mental well-being.

One of the concrete ways you can do this is by setting meal breaks solely for meals and not for work. Taking weekends off is another. Start with allotting hours or days specifically to reel back and rest from all the hecticness. Clearing your mind will also be beneficial to delivering more efficiently at work in terms of providing fresh perspectives and a renewed energy.

4. Get some light

Many have attested to the positive effects of starting your day early in the morning with a quick walk around the neighborhood. Getting good sun is not only good to clear your mind and prepare you for a new day, but also for your entire body. The quick walk can also serve multiple purposes, such as running errands for the parents or buying that period underwear you have been looking for.

Get your daily dose of natural light every morning to wake up and you will automatically radiate the sun’s vibrancy as well after your walk. Seeing people from the neighborhood starting their days as well can help boost your morale. We’re all in this together!

Final thoughts

Key to maintaining a self care routine is identifying your needs and what can most efficiently resolve them. It is important to include in the conversation your loved ones, family, and friends as these are the people outside of your work life who know you the most.