Wellness Wednesday~ Self Care Toolkit

It’s Wellness Wednesday! Let’s talk about self care. This doesn’t mean just going for a spa day(even though that can be part of it &  fun to do), this means taking care of YOU on a deeper level. The more life that I live & the more experiences I go through, I have come to the realization that women, in general have a hard time taking time for themselves.  Self care gets buried in our day to day lives. This is a mystery as to why this happens, but it is happening all the time.  As I was listening to this podcast from Being Carefull~ episode 18: Find the Magic in Today, I had an aha moment! There was a discussion about this- As moms there is a silent encouragement, that to be a good mom, you have to give yourself up. It’s almost like a bragging among moms that happens. We HAVE to stop feeling guilty for taking care of ourselves. It is harmful for us, and it hurts the ones that we love the most. This is one of the reasons that I want to blog about some form of self care every Wednesday. It’s important, like really, really important. Self care needs to be brought to the forefront~ please take care of yourself.   Today,  I am blogging about something that I had never heard of until just recently.  A Self Care Toolkit. Have you heard of it?

Self Care Toolkit:

So I love Pinterest & I came across this blog post about a Self Care Toolkit  https://jessicadimas.com/ it really peaked my interest & then started exploring her blog in general and I am hooked! Basically, a Self Care Toolkit is knowing what the necessities are that help you take care of you! I think if you are new to self care, it is hard to even know how to take care of yourself~ what does it mean, where do you start? For me, I just started researching it and finding people who were practicing self care and tried  to learn what they were doing. Then you have to just try some things out and see what it feels like for you.  You can check out https://jessicadimas.com/ and see what her toolkit is (because it is awesome) but I will share mine! Also note- I am putting an approximate amount of time each thing takes, so you can see taking care of yourself doesn’t mean blocking out hours in your day. There are things that you can do in short spurts of time throughout the day that make a HUGE difference!

Having a Morning Routine: (this takes about 15 minutes)

Do not get on my phone for the first hour that I am up

Start diffusing my essential oil blend (Lemongrass, Sage, Frankensense,  & Lemon)

Drink a large glass of water

Start my Coffee & drink some as soon as it’s ready 🙂

Read my Devotional ~ The Book of Awakening by Mark Nepo

Reading Books that promote Self Care: (Designate 15 minutes every day to read) 

These are some of the books that I haven’t read yet, but have been recommend to me & I am going to start on. You can click on each book and it will take you to Amazon where you can purchase the book, or just see what it looks like so you can check it out at the library or find it wherever you like to get your books

1. Simple Abundance by Sarah Ban Breathnach
2. You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay
3. You Can Heal Your Body by Louise Hay
4. The Bright Hour by Nina Riggs
5. The Clarity Cleanse by Gwyneth Paltrow 
6. The Wisdom of Sundays by Oprah Winfrey
7. Crushing It! by Gary Vaynerchuk
8. Judgment Detox by Gabrielle Bernstein
9. How to Get Sh*t Done by Erin Falconer
10. Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes
11. Big Potential by Shawn Achor
12. The Healing Self by Deepak Chopra and Rudolph E Tanzi
13. I’m Fine,… and Other Lies by Whitney Cummings
14. Braving the Wilderness by Brene Brown
15. The Hope Circuit by Martin E.P. Seligman

Read for Fun: (I always read right before bed)

The books I read for fun are a very eclectic mix. Right now I am reading the book Wild by Cheryl Strayed. It’s an amazing self discovery journey and I highly recommend it! Whatever you read, find something you enjoy!

Quotes or prayers:

Before I started this practice, when I would start feeling anxious or worried it was easy for me to just get overwhelmed in it. Having some go-to quotes and prayers that I can read when these feelings start, has been so helpful. Find some calming phrases, poems, quotes or prayers that you can bring out when starting to feel anxious (Pinterest is a great place to find these). Write them down in a small notebook you can keep in your purse, or put them in the notes on your phone.   Then if something happens that makes you feel overwhelmed & you need a minute to get your poop in a group~  take it. Get out your notebook or phone & read the words that bring you peace.

Bedtime Routine: (The time this one takes can vary~ but it could happen in 30 minutes or if you have longer take an hour!)

See my post about sleep here. 

1. Drinking Sleepy Time tea about an hour before bed ~or some nights a glass of wine 🙂

2. Taking a hot bath

3. Doing some yoga stretches  – click here for some great ones! 

4. Not looking at social media in bed

5.Diffusing a sleep blend essential oil in my room

6. Journaling right before bed, there is something about writing anything on my mind right before bed that helps

7. Using this meditation app. I can not tell you how much this alone has helped!!! Simply Being App

As I learn more about all of this, I already know my toolkit will be growing! Take care of yourself and thanks for stopping by!!

Faith ♥