It's Not Only OK to Take Self Care Days, It's Vital

We've all had those weeks where work seems never-ending, or things have just been a bit too much to handle. Some people may find the idea of taking time for themselves to be impossible with their weekly schedule, but even just putting one afternoon or evening aside to recharge can help to ease the stress and chaos of everyday life.

Daily self-care comes in a variety of forms, whether it be through exercise or healthy eating habits. Taking a self-care break, however, should be in the form of something that relaxes and calms your mind enough to recharge your batteries in preparation for your busy routine to begin again throughout the week.

Even taking time to sit and read, colour, play a game, or anything that distracts your mind away from your stress can be a great way to wind down. Meditation is, of course, a fantastic way of calming your mind and recharging your batteries quickly, and is something you only need four minutes a day to do (see my article on meditation for beginners to get started). When you're on your own, there are millions of ways you wish you could be spending your time, and although the dishes may need washing, or you need to catch up on some work at home, you're more likely to get those things done productively once you have taken time to calm your mind and be rested enough to focus your full attention to those things without stress interfering.

When I was working in a stressful job that seemed to take up every ounce of my time and energy, I would get so burnt out that I felt like no time was my own. It wasn't until I set aside one night a week to say no to going out or having to do the housework right away, that I was able to take that time to treat myself to a bath and a pamper session. The effects that I saw just from taking this time to wind down and remind myself that I had time outside of my work life to look after myself, allowed me to feel rested and cared for enough to be able to invite less stress into my mind throughout the week. These self-care moments are also great at giving you something to look forward to at the end of a busy week.

It can often feel selfish to clear your schedule for what you may consider to be for the purpose of spending time by yourself doing "nothing," but learning that you are worth taking care of is part of the journey towards happiness. It is also important to remember that even if you are responsible for other family members, or have a highly responsible job, that you need to look after yourself in order to be able to handle assisting or caring for others.

Worried that you will be abandoning your duties as a friend or to your family? Remind yourself that they will need you at your best, and there is nothing you can offer them if you're completely out of steam. There is nothing worse than putting the world on top of your shoulders and not taking time to stop and adjust your balance before the pressure collapses on top of you completely. In order to stay steady, you must have a strong and healthy foundation to hold that world up there everyday, and remember that you are also part of that world you are trying to support. It will forever be true that you simply cannot pour from an empty cup.