“Self-care is a priority and necessity, not a luxury, in the work that we do.”

In today’s fast-paced world, self-care is an important and essential factor to deal with your everyday stress. So, ladies, self-care doesn’t necessarily mean self-indulgence but somewhere it’s an opportunity to think of yourself and care for yourself.

Let’s divide the self-care into three parts to derive an easy and thorough perception of it. These three parts are personal self-care, professional self-care, and financial self-care.

Let us discuss how you can implement self-care ideas in your daily life to bring a change.

1.   Personal self-care

It may sound quite absurd as self-care itself implies personal. Still, there’s something beyond it and you should think of it from a different perspective. Personal care includes caring for your body, mind, and spirit.

• Physical self-care
  Whether you are a working lady or a homemaker, it is a primal fact to take care of your physical health. It includes consuming healthy food and drinking ample water. If you think that preparing healthy food is difficult, you’re wrong. There are ways to consume simple and healthier food in your everyday life. Along with it, do exercise, maintain basic hygiene, follow the proper medication, and get enough sleep.
  Keep in mind that there always works a strong connection between your body and mind. So, if you take care of your body well, your mind will also stay fresh.
• Mental self-care
  Life can lead you to a hectic schedule sometimes without leaving you enough time for yourself. And for this reason, you may have higher chances to feel low, depressed, stressed out, tired, and anxious. And, the only thing that your mind permits you to do is lying on a bed. This is not the ultimate solution that you know very well.
  So, stop escaping from yourself and binding yourself in such beliefs that limit your mind with stagnant thoughts. Rather, know how to overcome your limiting beliefs to achieve goal in your life. Just open up yourself and fill your mind with self-compassion and acceptance.
• Emotional self-care
  Emotions are complex things as we all know. Still, you should have control over them so that things don’t get out of your control. For this, you need some self-care practices. Such practices can include keeping a diary to write down your feelings, reading a good book to divert your mind, walking amidst nature to take fresh air, listening to the songs that lift your mood, having a conversation with your dear one to relieve your anxiety, and the list goes on.
• Spiritual self-care
  Don’t confuse spirituality with religion because they bear two different concepts. Where religion welcomes diversity, spirituality forms a unity. So, tend yourself with the beliefs that depend on qualities like cooperation, kindness, and respect for all. Nurturing positive things in mind is a kind of self-care too.

Professional self-care

Professional self-care is about taking care of your mental and physical health just to retain and improve your performance at your workplace. Especially, for women, it becomes quite difficult to balance work life and personal life. And, this difficulty leads them to sacrifice self-care.
Below are ways that all you ladies can follow to take care of yourself while being at your professional place.

• Know your company’s policies
  Ask your employer about work policies on flexible hours and working from home facility while not being able to come to the office. If you are a strong performer, you’ll have an opportunity to negotiate an arrangement that’ll work for both you and your employer.
• Stop feeling guilty
  It is not always possible to give 100% to everything you do. A real human being can’t do what a Superwoman or Superman can do. Be realistic, think realistic when you approach doing a work. If you make mistakes, learn from it instead of feeling guilty.
• Stop being a people pleaser
  Sometimes it’s ok to say ‘NO’ to people rather than being a people pleaser. Keep in mind, you can’t please everybody and you are not committed to do so. You are liable to your job responsibility and perform it as per your ability. Be true, be real while you are dealing with people.
• Make your own work environment
  It can be quite difficult for you to make your own work environment when you are already a part of a team. Still, it’s up to you like how you look at the things! Sometimes, a positive outlook of a situation can help you to handle the things swiftly and smoothly. So, stay positive, feel positive!
• Be confident and be passionate        
  To linger on a work, it is quite necessary to be passionate about the work you are assigned to do. Being passionate about work can help you a lot to manage responsibility and stress at the same time. So, follow your passion and be confident while you are choosing your job role.

3. Financial self-care

Cash in the bank works as a tonic for our mind. Well-built finance doesn’t only secure our future but also soothes our mind. When there is mental peace, you can handle everything with ease.

Apparently, it may seem that the finance has nothing to do with self-care but somewhere deep down there’s a correlation.

• Make you involved in your family finances
  If you’re a stay-at-home mom and your husband manages your finances, you should get involved in it. It’s not about your right but it’s about the responsibility that you can’t ignore. Getting involved in family finances will let you know about your bank accounts, savings, insurance policies, wills, and so on. Educating yourself about your family’s finances is a kind of self-care as it imparts you with financial knowledge and mental peace at the same time.
• Help you to lead a debt-free life    
  If you’re well aware of your financial state and know how to manage your financial life, you might not have to fall into the debt trap. But, by any chance, if circumstances make you debt-ridden, then what will you do? Yes, there are ways that can help you to be debt-free.

You can take the help of several debt consolidation options but at first, you should gather knowledge about them. Credit card balance transfer is one of them and you can handle it on your own. In this process, you’ll have a new card at a low or 0% interest rate, with which you’ll be able to pay off your unsecured debts. Make sure, you’ve paid your transferred balance within the low introductory period.

Self Care Ideas for Women

These self-care ideas for women are sure to increase your quality of life! You are the heart of your family so it’s vital that you fill your cup. It’s important for you to stay happy and healthy for yourself and your family. And, for your wellness, self-care is a must which you should think about.

Remember, “Self-care” is not selfish. You cannot serve from an empty vessel.”

Contribution: Valentina

Image Credit: Unsplash

When you think about going out to have fun with friends, it probably involves some sort of alcohol and high-fat and salty food. This isn’t a bad thing if you only do it occasionally but it is quite a limiting way to enjoy time with your friends.

Reducing your alcohol consumption, in particular, can be quite tough when your friends encourage you to drink all the time. If you have real concerns and you are worried that you can’t stop drinking there are Treatment Centres for Alcoholism in Canada that can help.

It doesn’t matter whether you are on a health kick, looking for a new lifestyle or worried about drinking too much, finding fun and healthy ways to socialize will build your friendships in a positive way. When you get out and do different things together, you will learn more about each other and find new ways to bond.

Go for Coffee

Having a drink together is a nice way to chat casually and relax. But you don’t need alcohol to do that! Swapping out a glass for a mug is a small change to make but it will make a big difference to your lifestyle.

If you are worried about swapping alcohol for caffeine, please don’t. No-one is going to judge you for going decaf! Coffee comes with all kinds of benefits from making you feel happier to possibly helping your liver. For a start, you can go for a coffee at any time, evening or day, and you won’t suffer the consequences in the morning.

Of course, you don’t have to go out for coffee. With a few gadgets, you can make some awesome coffee at home. A handheld milk frother is all you need to make a wide variety of coffee shop coffees and investing in a couple of syrups is a good idea too – just be aware of the amount of sugar they contain.   

Take a Walk

Going for a walk might not sound that exciting but actually, it’s a lovely way to connect with friends. Taking a walk removes all the usual distractions giving you proper time together. Plus, if you take a picnic, you can make a full day out work for everyone.

Of course, there are a few other reasons to go for a walk. You will get some fresh air, clear your head and all of this comes for free! All walking counts so whether you are planning a hike up a mountain, a wander around the shops or something in between, the main point is that you are out and moving.  

Walking is also a nice way to make new friends and network. Walking clubs can be found almost everywhere and the people are usually welcoming and friendly. You don’t need to be super-fit to manage and if you need to go slow, that’s fine too.

Try Cultural Pursuits

Taking in some culture is a great way to spend a weekend and it doesn’t have to be expensive. Going to the cinema or the theatre are more obvious routes for fun outings with friends but don’t exclude museums and art galleries.

If you are willing to open your mind, the humble museum can spark plenty of interesting conversations and could even be a good location for a date! Lots of exhibitions are free for you to enjoy but do buy a ticket if you have a particular interest you want to pursue.  

Going around museums is a good way to chat casually, another way to get a walk in and an ideal location for conversation starters. Try going to some of the more unusual museums in your area and don’t worry about taking it all too seriously! Museums are designed to make you think and hopefully enjoy yourself – and you don’t need to be a professor to do that.

Cook Together

It might sound weird to cook together but if you think about how barbecues work, it’s not so mad after all. Indeed, barbecues are the ideal way to enjoy an afternoon together with a large group and you can all get involved with the cooking and fire-making.

The danger with cooking together is that you might slip into old bad habits. However, there’s nothing to worry about as long as you provide some alternatives. There are all sorts of delicious mocktail recipes you can try and if your friends fancy a tipple, they can always add their own alcohol to the mocktail base.

And there’s no reason for barbecued food to be less healthy than your regular grilled dishes either. There are lots of great homemade burger recipes and as well as all the side dishes you could want for a healthy barbecue. Putting out a big bowl of salad and fruit on the table is a good way to encourage healthier eating too.  

Play Sports Together

Sport is a great bonding exercise as well as a way to get out of breath building your strength and stamina. Just make sure you drink plenty of water! You might decide to form a team together if there are a few of you but you could join an existing team with one other friend. Alternatively, going to exercise classes as a pair can be really fun and you can support each other. Even a casual kick-about can be a lot of fun.

The real bonus that comes with doing sports activities together is that you can develop your skills together and have another activity to bond over. You don’t have to be good at sport – in fact, being terrible at sport can be just as fun! The most important thing is that you have a good time.

You don’t have to drink alcohol or eat badly in order to have a good time. In fact, there are lots of activities that can get you moving and don’t require anything but good company. The more you branch out and do different things, the more fun you will have with your friends. What other plans could you come up with?

It’s been a minute since I’ve blogged about my love for Macy’s and clothes, so it only seems appropriate that I get back to it and tell you about this incredible North Face sale that’s going on!

Do You Love a Good Sale?

Obviously, that’s a rhetorical question! I love snagging great deals and it wouldn’t be fair to keep them to myself. Right now, you can get 25% off select The North Face styles.

I had to share a few of my favorite items that are on sale now!

So, we all know that fanny packs are back and I haven’t seen one that’s this cute before. Check out this North Face fanny pack here. And you can get it in either this pretty pink or a shady blue.

I am obsessed with this waterproof rain jacket. Obvi, pink is my favorite color but it comes in several different colors. It’s also super lightweight so it’s perfect for rain and wind.

And while it’s technically Spring here in Indiana, we’re having a rainy and cold weekend. This means pulling out my favorite hoodie. This one will be a staple in my closet for sure!

Head Over to Macy’s for These North Face Deals!

Don’t wait to take advantage of these great North Face deals. They are good through 4/22/19. But Macy’s is also having other great deals throughout April, so you’re sure to find something perfect for you!

What are your favorite things to get at Macy’s?