Key areas for self-care in your ‘new’ life

AS coronavirus continues to disrupt how we work and live, we are all learning about the importance of self-care either through the value of doing it–or from the consequences of not!

Just as wi-fi can only handle so many devices in a premises, we can only handle so much change and stress in any given timeframe. When our capacity is reached we like the wi-fi can no longer function–either because we are overwhelmed or exhausted or a combination.

We have all had to make a lot of adjustments over the last months and adapt to new circumstances. Some of us have slowed down a lot and simplified our lives.

Like you perhaps too, I have interacted with lots of people – old friends and new – mainly through zoom throughout the course of the pandemic. Some have loved the time and chance for a break. For many, their homes and gardens have never looked so good.

Others have been working flat out keeping up with the increased demand for their services and products. Many of us have had to reinvent ourselves and businesses. Those working in health care have taken on extra shifts and risk. Teachers, business owners and office staff have had to adjust to working entirely remotely and online. This has been challenging. The challenges of home working with no childcare support–on top of dealing with other unique pressures you are experiencing have challenged the capacity of most at times.

Whether you had a formula for self-care that worked for you before Corona or whether you didn’t. now is a great time to create one–one that fits into and enhances your life as it is today.

The 8 key areas for self-care and personal wellbeing are:

1. Physical – Exercise, a healthy diet, proper relaxation. sleep and good breathing bring about good physical vitality and wellbeing.

2. Mental – Be positive and present and engage in life-long learning. Spending too much time in the past or future generates stress and anxiety. Being in the moment makes us productive and happier. And learning is like a multivitamin of the mind.

3. Emotional – Focus on what you want and not on what is bothering you. Whatever you focus on, you feel.

4. Creative – Use your talents each day. When we use our gifts, we naturally feel good about ourselves. It brings a certain confidence which gives us further capacity to handle challenges that may arise.

5. Financial – Stay within your limits. Cut your cloth to your circumstances.

6. Social – Develop and maintain good relationships with those around you. See the new normal whatever it is, as an opportunity for a new and fresh start with people

7. Spiritual. Some like to meditate. Others pray and go to mass. In the time of lockdown there has been a surge in people connecting with a higher power. When we connect with something bigger than ourselves, we naturally feel good. This can even come through community projects and engagement.

8. Workplace Wellbeing – Being in a job where you use your talents, learn and grow, feel appreciated and enjoy good relationships with others makes us feel good.

While the last few months have been important to get us to this point, the next months are vital for us to create and design the next phase of our lives and establish the foundations for the same.

Fear, doubt and uncertainty are very stressful. Focussing on them generates stressful feelings. It is important for us all to ‘control the controllables’. We can do this by focussing on improving our self-care in these 8 areas.