self-care

Selflessness and selfishness are two very misunderstood terms. People mistakenly think that selfishness means doing things with the intention of taking care of your-self and they also think that selflessness means doing everything for other people that they want, taking everything on board, and never doing anything for your-self.

It’s always important to understand the balance in all of these actions in order to see the reality of the situation.

Imagine This

All day long, you do things for yourself, only based on what you want. If someone else needs something from you, or asks you to get something that they need which might ‘put you out’ a little, you refuse. Your time is your time and you want to keep it all to you.

This is pure selfishness.

Now imagine the opposite.

All day long, you run around for people getting everything they want, not having a second for yourself to get things done or to focus on what you need. You are constantly being told where to go and what to do without ever having the ability to sit down and think for yourself. People use you to the point of exhaustion, every day like a servant to the needs and wants of others.

This is pure selflessness and it is exhausting.

In all of this, it is vital that we find the balance.

Balancing Yourself

When we take care of the needs of others, we must do so while maintaining what we need also. When we need a break, we must be able to say no. When a person’s requests or demands are getting to be too much weight on our shoulders, again we must learn to say no.

While looking after and taking care of others, we must also make it a high priority to have time to ourselves, to relax and not have to deal with any added stresses and pressure.

Doing this, taking time out for ourselves, to give ourselves what we need, actually allows us to better serve others. If there is not balance, very quickly we will become exhausted and drained of our ability to do anything.

In this state, we would quickly become depressed and overwhelmed, or perhaps even start to get irritable and angry. This is all because there is no balance between selfishness and selflessness.

Real Selflessness

What we are trying to achieve here is ‘Real Selflessness’. The kind of selflessness that is balanced, that gives both ourselves and the other person or people what we all need. Living in this way actually makes us more capable of helping others, because at the same time we maintain our own requirements along with the requirements of everyone else.

It is important that we take as good care of ourselves as we do others. If we don’t, we actually lose the ability to take care of others properly.

Developing the right kind of balance means we can go on living through ‘Real Selflessness’ for as long as we continue to live.

How To Be Truly Selfless

We must be honest with ourselves and with others. We must have boundaries in place that don’t allow other people to take advantage, unknowingly or not.

We must recognize when things are becoming too much to handle, and when we need a little space to relax and let go of the stress.

Once we recognize this, we must put everything down, essentially say ‘no’ to the world for a little while so that we can rest, recover, recuperate and reset to come back reinvigorated and ready to serve once again.

Living in this way means that we aren’t just taking care of others, we are simultaneously taking care of ourselves in the same moment.

People will respect this and appreciate it because everyone knows how it feels to be stressed and exhausted and at the same time, they will appreciate that you are still helping them, or that you will continue to be your giving self once, you have had enough of a break to focus on yourself.

Learn to have boundaries in place and effectively implement them. By doing this, you will learn how to be the right amount of selfless and the right amount of selfish, without falling into any extremes.

The middle way is always balanced. Learn to walk the middle way and take care of yourself as much as you do others.

A Self-care routine is essential for both mental and physical wellness. It fosters a healthy lifestyle, which ensures that your body functions optimally. Self-care involves self-love, self-respect, self-awareness, and self-understanding. In other words, it involves doing what you feel is right for your health. Although self-care may be elusive, especially if you have a very busy schedule, it is important to note that prioritizing your needs is essential for your wellness. This article explores a few steps to guide you on how to incorporate self-care into your busy schedule.

Healthy Eating

Healthy eating ensures that your body gets adequate nutrients to function at an optimal level. The nutrients reduce your vulnerability to diseases and infections by keeping your immune system strong. To ensure you eat healthy, it is important to plan your diet in a way that incorporates carbohydrates, vitamins, proteins, and other nutrients that are important for body processes. Avoid fries and other foods that raise the level of cholesterol in your body. Any cholesterol surplus in the body is deposited as fats, which are harmful to your body. It is important to adopt a balanced diet to avoid too little or too much of a particular nutrient in your body.

Healthy eating may also involve avoiding excessive alcohol intake. Too much alcohol has various side effects, including alcohol addiction and dehydration. Alcohol addiction may be difficult to treat, especially when you begin experiencing withdrawal symptoms. Alcoholism may affect your social and economic lifestyles.

Healthy Sleep

Getting perfect sleep should be an essential part of your daily schedule. Perfect sleep relieves stress and improves your cognitive ability by eliminating mental fatigue. Since every person is unique, it may be difficult to determine how long proper sleep should last. However, scientists generally recommend that you should sleep 7 to 8 hours a night. You can know that you lack good sleep if you experience certain signs and symptoms, including mood swings, sleepiness, difficulty concentrating, hallucinations, memory problems, and disrupted sleep cycle.

Meditation

Meditation connects you with your inner self. It alleviates stress and gives your mind the ability to focus on useful things. Meditation also fosters self-awareness and self-compassion. When meditating, be sure to focus on the good things you have achieved in your life. This gives you encouragement that you can achieve better things. Avoid thinking about past negative events because such events tend to cause stress and distract your focus on important aspects of your life.

Proper Exercises

Proper physical exercises should not be too light or too heavy, and they should be done on a regular basis. Exercises ensure proper self-care by keeping your circulatory system efficient. When the blood in your body flows optimally, nutrients and oxygen are properly transported in the body to keep you healthy. Proper exercises also boost your cognitive ability by ensuring increased blood supply to the brain. Additionally, it keeps your body healthy by toning your muscles and burning fat deposits in your body. To make the results of regular exercises even better, accompany your workout plan with a proper diet plan.

Overall, it is important to understand that you may not live to care for your loved ones if you fail to care for yourself. You need to avoid conforming to environmental and situational demands that compromise your self-care. Instead, think and act in a way that promotes self-care.

After the holiday season, you still have several months of winter left to cope with, so you must find ways to relax and de-stress. You may have been super busy throughout the holidays, giving you little time for reducing the stress of shopping and going to parties. Here are some winter care tips to help you feel better after the holidays end.

Create a Soothing Bedroom

First, you should create a soothing bedroom to cope with the cold temperatures at night. You may want to replace your old mattress and box springs by shopping at an after Christmas sale. In addition, January is a great time to find new bedroom linens at reduced prices so that you can have new items such as a thick comforter, heated mattress pad and soft flannel sheets. This is also an excellent time to replace lightweight curtains with heavier draperies so that there are fewer cold drafts in your bedroom.

Visit a Day Spa

Winter is the perfect time for visiting a day spa for relaxing treatments to eliminate the stress from the holiday season. You can request a facial to cleanse and moisturize your skin, or you might prefer a full-body wrap that includes an application of mud and herbs. A spa will have additional amenities such as whirling hot tubs or warm saunas to help you feel better. It is also possible to have an assortment of massages along with beauty treatments such as pedicures, haircuts and manicures.

Change Your Diet Plan

If you have gained weight during the holidays, then you will want to change your diet plan to lose a few pounds. You may have consumed a lot of bad carbohydrates such as cookies and noodles throughout the holidays, so you can switch to eating numerous fresh fruits and vegetables instead. Create new daily menus that include three meals and two snacks so that you can control what you eat rather than grazing mindlessly. With these menu plans, you can create a grocery-shopping list to avoid buying junk foods while you are at the supermarket.

Plan Your Exercise Routines

When you have avoided having an exercise routine, January is the perfect time to join a fitness center. This is the time of year that local gyms are offering discounts on memberships, and a fitness center is a heated indoor space away from snow or ice. You will have access to an assortment of exercise equipment such as elliptical machines, stationary bicycles and free weights. Most fitness centers also offer classes that involve group activities such as yoga or calisthenics. Joining a class at a fitness center is an excellent way to socialize with others while also increasing the strength of your muscles and bones.

Maintain a Regular Schedule

You may have had a poor daily and weekly schedule during the holidays because you were busy with Christmas shopping and holiday activities, but in January, you can begin to maintain a regular schedule again. To feel your best, you must go to bed at the same time each night and wake up at the same time each morning. You will also lose more weight if you eat your meals and snacks at the same times on a daily basis.