Lockdown Self Care Series: Me Time
A Note to the Groundskeeper
You've probably heard the phrase “Your body is your temple” but have you ever really stopped to think what that means for you? I was thinking about this a couple of years ago and was finally able to put into words what it means to me, it means that I am a Janitor of this Temple, and that as an Esthetician, I am a professional Janitor in the surface cleaning sector. Yup. That’s how my brain works, and hopefully it makes sense to you too, but let’s break that down a little more.
“Your body is a temple, not a drive through”
It’s an important job, one we are now playing out daily in our “work from home” life and that is cleaning and caring for the space where you work/live. Thinking of your body as a place where you do all of your work and living will help to prioritize taking care of that vessel, aka YOU. If you want the vehicle you take to work to get you there safely, you (hopefully) get it serviced regularly. The same is true for your mind, body and spirit. These are the aspects that make up our self, our body, we are more than just our skin, more than the food we eat and all of it matters and makes us up. Take a look holistically at yourself, take inventory of how you care for and treat each of those aspects just mentioned. Don't worry if it seems overwhelming and like another thing to add to your plate, I promise you that making time for yourself frees you up to have more time for others.
Taking out time for yourself does not have to be a big ordeal, or involve the perfect setting with candles and incense burning. It can be as simple as mindfully drinking tea/coffee/water to not allowing negative comments to be made about yourself by yourself. When I first started paying attention to some of the negative things I said, or allowed to be said, about myself, it was quite eye opening.
We can be our harshest critics, and the inner thoughts that we have are privy only to ourselves, and can be some of the worst. Keeping your inner dialogue positive sounds simple, and maybe slightly silly, but believe me it is hard work and makes a huge difference!
The image to the left has just a few quick ideas of how you can prioritize your self care routine and healthy mindset. Do one or all, or make your own list!
Taking the mind/body/spirit aspect as a foundation for your self care, and we already touched on our mindset, and our dialogue to ourselves about ourselves. Next is the body, and this is my favorite place to take self care up a notch! First, get moving, or if you already have a regular fitness routine, keep doing it! Challenge yourself in this area, whatever that looks like for you. Next, how do you care for your skin? I won’t go into that here as I have written in depth about it in these blogs: The Skincare Routine | Settling Down Sensitive Skin | The Epidermis Explained | Getting Skin Sun Ready | Ask A Pro: Lymphatic Drainage
Mind health? Check. We are making sure to speak positively about ourselves and cease negative self talk.
Body health? Double check. Get moving for even just 5-10 minutes every day, always be mindful of what you take in, like foods, tv shows and news, and for your skin check out one or all of the blogs above and get into a twice daily facial skincare routine, and regular body exfoliation/lymphatic movement.
Spiritual health? This is an ever growing, evolving aspect in people’s lives. For that part, I can only give suggestions and share what has worked for me, but how you take care of this aspect is really up to you.
“An empty lantern provides no light. Self-care is the fuel that allows your light to shine brightly”
The spirit aspect of our mind/body/spirit self care is so very personal to you, that I will just share what I do, and what others I know have done that works for them. As long as you have a firm foundation in who you are and what you believe, and that those things are always for the good of you and other people, carry on. When it comes to self care, taking judgement out of the equation is essential. There isn’t time to fill your lantern while you are trying to drain others, so let that go.
Moving into to your light, your truth, will look different than mine for sure, but hopefully something will help you in any way. As a practicing Buddhist with the Soka Gakkai International, my foundation in spirituality has a twice daily practice of active mediation, aka chanting a mantra Nam Myoho Renge Kyo, for any duration of time. Typically, I try my best to chant for an hour a day, breaking it up in the morning and night, whichever time of day I have more time gets the bulk. Doing this consistently for the last 12 years has really helped me learn and maintain structure in my life which I apply to our business, my workout schedule and so much more (even my cat has a routine) and having that routine accomplished daily gives me a sense of fulfillment. It’s like my rudder, keeping me going straight ahead, and everything else is more for fine tuning. Listening to self help books/podcasts (I know but go with me they are so good) can help with mindset, there’s even YouTubers whose channels are just quick videos of motivation. Hearing a little positivity in your day is never a bad idea.
Yoga is another amazing form of meditation and movement, and under the umbrella of Yoga there are many different branches. Yin Yoga is slow, deeply meditative and restorative having you hold poses for 3-5 minutes with the support of bolsters and pillows. Kundalini Yoga energizes the body and spirit with movement, singing, chanting and even laughing! There’s so many more, and I really encourage you to take a look and find a form of stretching that works for you. I added in a 10 minute morning stretch ( which sometimes gets moved to late afternoon stretch) and really has made a big difference now that I sit more for work.
Anything that makes me feel connected to nature has always helped refresh my spirit as well. Before COVID-19, I would take a road trip, even if only for a day, to a near enough location, at least once every two to three months. I believe it is good to get a change of scenery. With our current working from home, quarantine and lockdown lives, this is getting harder to do, but still somewhat possible. Maybe it’s bringing a new, air purifying house plants in, or cleaning up and reorganizing a room. Simple things can make you feel so much better and bringing a little bit of the outdoors indoors is healthy for the home!
I’d love to hear what you are doing as a part of your self care/self love routine! Head over to my Instagram @eri-the-esti and look for the post about this article, write your comment there and share with our community of self care practitioners! If this year has taught me something, it is that no one can take care of you except you, and when we take care of ourselves we can all give a little bit more to each other in a healthy, empowering way. Take care, be well and enjoy a little positivi-tea for me :-D
Till next time, be good to your skin and even better to yourself,
xx eri