Hi All,
I’m Ivy, and I’m a self-care researcher! What does that mean? Well, I have been a life long learner,
and have been actively engaged in human service professions for my entire adult life. Within that, I’ve
had times where life has been challenging, and overwhelming. I’ve had to learn about self-care in order to apply it to my life. Then, when working on Master of Social Work degree I decided to dive deeper and embark on learning about what experienced female social workers in Saskatchewan (a province in Canada) know about self-care. The love affair with self-care was born. I like to say: I’m in my self-care era (I’m also a Swiftie!)
I’m going to be writing some blog posts about self-care, and in a way that hopefully you can take a way a few tips and tricks in order to gain or maintain wellness in your life. The first topic is one that is so helpful when you are starting your self-care journey… its about micro self-care. You often hear about bubble baths and wine (both of which I happen to love), when we talk about self-care. But it is so much more than that. We don’t have to schedule long in depth days of activities nor do we need to spend a lot of money. Micro self-care focuses on the little moments that we can actively put into our day.
Self-care is very personalized, and what works for me, may not work for you. In the same way, we can’t self-care ourselves out of the oppressive forces that might be in play in our life (sexism, classism, racism). What we can do, is implement some small (think 5 or 15 min) activities into our day to help with wellbeing. For me, this looks like generating a list of activities that are small but can make an impact in my day.
Micro Self-Care Suggestions:
Enjoy a cup of tea or hot chocolate, or sip on some water!
If you sit at a desk, take a walk once an hour, or use a standing desk (as I am right now).
Even if you can’t do a long workout – try leg lifts, crunches, or a short walk.
When you take a restroom break, give yourself a couple extra minutes to sit and take some deep breaths or use a short meditation from an app.
Prep some vegetables or fruits in advance so you have some easy to nibble on snacks.
Stick little blue dots around your space – when you see the dot, it is a reminder to take a deep breath.
Time in nature – it doesn’t have to be long, but going outside, enjoying some fresh air can help the calm.
Schedule in a 15 min catch up with a friend – over the phone or with video chat.
Start acknowledging things that you are grateful for – even 2-3 things per day really adds up!
Have a 5 min dance party and get those endorphins going!
Micro self-care is like dipping your toes into the sea of wellbeing and just one piece of what you can do to be well. If you have a busy schedule (like I do), this is best way to get the ball rolling towards feeling a little bit better!
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