“Self Care Isn’t Selfish!” Understanding the importance of looking after ourselves, as we celebrate ‘Self Care Week’

Did you know that this week 18th – 24th November is ‘Self Care Week’ here in the UK?

“Self Care Week is an annual national awareness week that focuses on embedding support for self care across communities, families and generations.”

Quote from ‘Self Care Week’ official website www.selfcareforum.org

Self love is not selfish – you can look after others better, when you remember to look after yourself too!

Some people view self love as selfish. To me that is just fake guilt that other people or the world want to put on you. If you aren’t happy or looked after, then it is harder for you to look after others to your full ability and bring the happiness you are missing into your daily life with others. I love the saying “You can’t pour from an empty cup” as it brings this message home that you have to look after yourself to be able to best look after others.

Lets encourage each other to look after ourselves and make self-care a part of normal life, so that people feel at ease about investing time in themselves rather than feeling any guilt or feeling this notion of being selfish. Ultimately, by giving your loved ones space and support for attending to their self-care, we are all helping each other as it then makes relationships with each other easier and makes family time more balanced.

Ever heard the old saying “Happy Wife, Happy Life”? Well that is true for all relationships. The more you invest in yourself and your own happiness, the more happiness you can bring to your relationships, your home, your workplace and all other aspects of your life.

“Don’t get so caught up in doing for others, that you forget to do for yourself!” – Helen’s Journey Blog Quote from ‘Self Care isn’t Selfish’ post

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So now hopefully you see self care as a necessity rather than a selfish thing. So now you may feel more comfortable with introducing or committing to self care on a more regular basis for yourself.

There are many different ways we can implement self-care into our lives and our daily routines

In my post “You are…” a SELF-LOVE AFFIRMATION to remind us how AMAZING we are & the importance of how you speak about yourself! I address an element of self-care that has really helped me and that is paying attention to the way I spoke to myself and also paying attention to what I was actually saying about myself to myself as well. In this post a share a self-love exercise you can do each day while you are doing normal daily tasks so it doesn’t take up any extra time of your day (so no excuses not to try it!)

Below is the sticky note message used in this exercise and you read this note to yourself at times that suit throughout the day: maybe while you wait for the kettle to boil, in the lift on the way to a meeting at work, say it out loud with the kids in the car on the way to school, while you brush your hair.

You can wrote this out on an actual sticky pad and place it somewhere to remind you to do this exercise. Maybe stick it on your mug you put your morning drink into, place it on the mirror where you do your make up or stick it to the inside of your laptop. This is an exercise you can adapt to suit you personally and to fit into your schedule and responsibilities without taking too much time out of your day.

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A different well-being blogger I enjoy following is ‘Life of a Mamma’ who is not only a ‘Life and Parent Coach’ but who is also a ‘Workplace Wellness Specialist’. She not only shares posts on how us adults can show ourselves self-care at home and look after ourselves at work too, but she also shares posts and videos of how she does self-care with her children too. You can follow her on Instagram @lifeofamamma and find her ‘Injoywell’ on Pinterest as well by clicking HERE.

She creates images such as these images below that I have pinned to my ‘Self’ board on Pinterest, that break down self-care down into different suggestions of activities you can do to help look after yourself and tasks we can incorporate into our daily lives to help look after our well-being:

In my own blog post “Why is our ‘Wellbeing’ so vital to our health and happiness?” I explore the topic of self-care being a necessity rather than something that is selfish and I sum it up as “creating and developing our own well-being through daily self-care to put us in a place where we can thrive, grow, smile, experience joy, be happy, content, positive.” This is the essence of self-care to me and why I share so much encouragement for ‘self’ here on my blog!

As part of this ‘WELL-BEING’ strand to Helen’s Journey I have written about a wide range of topics from chronic illness, self-love, mental health, grief, forgiveness, rest, perspective, female empowerment, art therapy, life lessons… the varied list goes on and on. Here is a sample of some of those posts that I encourage you to read to help support your self-care and self-development, as what we read also impacts on our inner thoughts too:

• Survival Tips for when Life feels Overwhelming
• How to work on self-worth & find self-value after life has knocked you down.
• The Dangers of ‘Tunnel Vision’ & how to break down the walls to widen your perspective in life & see solutions not just the problem!
• HOW TO GIVE YOURSELF A BREAK when life makes you HARD ON YOURSELF! A free printable Affirmation, to encourage Self-Love, Forgiveness & Letting Go…
• The Power of THANKFULNESS! Top Tips for logging GRATITUDE, to bring more happiness & inner peace into your life, through the joy of gratefulness! (Including a FREE Printable: WEEKLY GRATITUDE DIARY!)
• Life Lessons that the Season of Autumn/Fall can bring for us all!
• What I’ve Learnt from over a Decade with Chronic Illness! Top 5 Life Lessons Fibromyalgia has taught me;
• My ‘World Mental Health Day’ Spent With The Arts

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Follow my ‘Self-Love, Self-Help, Self-Care’ board on Pinterest below full of things we can do for self care, self development and to remember our self worth for time to put into our selves and our well-being:

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