7 Wonderful Ways to Practice Self Care

Self-care is something we have all heard of but perhaps haven’t been able to fully explore. With everyday life being so busy as it is, it can be hard to find time to do activities just for you! However, self-care is important for everyone to practice.

Conditions which result in hair loss can affect your mood and confidence and finding the time to try self-care is a great way to help pick yourself back up again. In order to encourage everybody to get involved in self-care and try to make their day-to-day lives a little less stressful, we have come up with 7 different and simple ways you can practise self-care during the day.

1. Mindful eating.

This doesn’t necessarily mean you have to be on a strict healthy diet. Mindful eating means taking the time to enjoy whatever it is that you are eating. When you are busy and constantly on the move you often don’t have time to just sit and eat without out doing anything else. Enjoying your food and indulging in some time to sit and do so, can be great way easy of practising a bit of self-care. Even if you can do this for just one of your meals throughout the day, it can make a big difference to how you feel.

2. Start moving and exercise.

Another way to help you feel great is exercise. Exercise doesn’t have to mean daily visits to the gym or running miles each day, it’s about what is manageable for each individual. Whether it’s a light walk (also a great way to get you outside and breathing in the fresh air), or having a bit of a boogie in the kitchen if you can’t manage to get out. Whatever you can do to get those endorphins released and keep yourself feeling energised, is positive for both your health and wellbeing. If you are suffering from hair loss and are concerned what it may be like to wear a wig whilst going to the gym, Steph offers her own personal thoughts on the best styles to opt for during your workout.

3. Be creative and start a hobby.

Feeling productive is a great way to practise self-care particularly if you are being creative in the process. On-going projects are a great way of keeping this going and allows you to put this into practise each day, whether its knitting or painting, having something to constantly go back to is ideal. However, if you’re lacking a bit of inspiration or don’t want to commit to an ongoing project, baking or even creating a playlist of specific songs you love is a great way of being creative.

4. Make your own personal self-care bundle.

Building your own bundle of happiness is the perfect way to practise some self-care, particularly for moments when things get too much or you are having a bad day, which of course we all have from time to time.Find a box or storage container (you could even decorate this if you like) and add in all the things that make you happy or the essentials that you know you always need when you’re feeling low. It can include some self-care pamper items such as a face mask or some bath bombs for you to use, or other pick me ups such as your favourite bar of chocolate. Another option is to put in some cherished photos or tickets from a gig you went to from your favourite band. The important thing is, its full of things that will make you feel good after using them or things that you can’t help but smile at when you see them.

5. Don’t be afraid to be selfish.

Becoming a little more selfish is so important when learning how to look after yourself. It may seem a very strange concept at first and one that doesn’t come naturally to most, however a little bit of selfishness can really do you the world of good, as it will allow you to do at least one thing a day that makes you happy. It may be something small that won’t take you long like reading the next chapter of your book or sitting out in the sun while you have your morning coffee, that doesn’t matter though as long as it’s something you want to do and your consciously making the decision to do it for that exact reason! Doing what makes you happy is a very personal journey and as Lizzie suggests, it’s about finding the right balance of keeping positive and most importantly, being mindful.

6. Sometimes you need to just say no.

In order to be able to squeeze in the time for various self-care practises, it may mean saying no to something else, such as a friend or family member asking you a favour or wanting to pop round or arrange a phone call or vice versa. Sometimes you just need a little time to completely focus on yourself and learning to say no now and then could be the key to helping you find the time to actually being able to do that.

7. Make a realistic to-do list.

If you want to include as much of these practises as possible, or there’s a few you would really love to focus on, writing a to-do list compiled with realistically achievable goals is a great way of doing that and also the perfect method to keep you motivated throughout the day. Even if your list is full of small daily actions such as making the bed, as long as the goals are realistic and will make you proud once they are completed, you can put down whatever you like.

We hope our self-care suggestions has given you the inspiration needed to practice your own self-care in some form. Remember that overall the key is to practice things little and often. Taking time to focus on yourself can make such a difference, particularly if you are experiencing stress from hair loss. If you would like some more advice on coping with hair loss , please read our blog post on accepting and coping with hair loss to get some expert advice on the best methods to cope with hair loss.

It may not always seem possible to have a smile on your face, especially if you under a lot of pressure and stress. However, with a little bit of self-care practice and mindfulness, it can be an achievable reality for anyone.