We often think about things such as massages, manicures, pedicures and girls’ weekend getaways when we think about self-care. Yes, these things are incredible and relaxing things to fully enjoy from time to time. However, daily self-care maintenance more often involves doing glamour-less things that help me feel like my best self. The fact of the matter is that I’m a better wife and mother when I feel like the best version of me and a quarterly or yearly trip to the spa isn’t going to maintain that feeling.
Here are some rather mundane, chore-like self-care items that help me on a daily and weekly basis:
Going to Bed with a Clean Kitchen
Does this happen every night? Nope, especially in this present season with a newborn and three other kiddos to take care of. That said, there is something peaceful about coming downstairs in the morning to a clean kitchen and a cup of coffee. It starts the day off right and eliminates unnecessary frustrations of looking for the toddler’s sippy cup, cleaning up dishes so the kids can have breakfast, etc. Bonus points if I set the delay brew function on the coffee maker the night before and chug a mug of water first!
Make the Bed
If you haven’t yet watched the famous speech of Naval Admiral William McRaven, then you need to click here and watch it…and then go make your bed. There are so many things I cannot control once the day gets going, but it’s almost impossible that I cannot find 45-60 seconds to quickly make our bed at some point in the morning. It’s a quickly achievable accomplishment. It brings order to your living space. It clears up visual clutter and if all else fails for the rest of the day, it looks that much more appealing to crawl back into.
Budgeting
Does anyone love a good night of reviewing the checkbook, paying the bills, and setting allotted amounts of money for various categories of living expenses? I bet more people don’t love this idea than do; however, the best way to reduce money stress, according to financial expert Dave Ramsey, is to tell your money what to do instead of wondering where it went. I agree with this advice wholeheartedly. My preference is to make the effort to proactively budget versus stress about unexpected expenses or shortages whenever possible.
Turning Off the TV, Social Media, and Electronic Devices
I love a good series binge on Amazon Prime. I really do. One of my favorite times of the week is when my husband and I watch a series together after we get the littlest ones down to sleep. It’s our downtime and it doesn’t happen every day with where we are in life presently. It’s easy to get into the “only one more episode” mode and we are quickly cutting into much-needed sleep. Chronically overtired parents are not parents who feel like their best selves. So, one of us needs to make the call and turn it off. The series will still be there tomorrow or in a few days.
Daily Readings
I can easily feel like I don’t have time to do this. The morning takes off and we are in go, go, go mode before we know it. To make things easier, I simply use a website on my phone that automatically populates the daily Bible readings. This way, I can grab them on the go if I miss them first thing in the morning and I always take something away from them to center my day or give me perspective.
I love a good spa day as much as the next girl, but the reality is that I’m not going to get there often, never mind daily. Self-care and self-discipline can go hand in hand in the sense that we need to love ourselves enough to do some daily tasks that help us feel like our best selves.
