Why It Is Important To Take Care of Yourself First

Your schedule is packed, and you wish you had an extra pair of hands. Your job is taking a toll, and you started skipping lunch, and you even forgot what it is like to have a social life. When stress starts reigning over your life like this, you first stop caring for yourself, and then everything else.

If you forego care for yourself in order to do more at work or achieve to finish more projects at home, you are not doing anyone a favor. We were taught that the more we sacrifice, the higher the reward becomes, but if you go too far, you just might push yourself over the edge.

It’s easy to exaggerate with the saying “hard work pays off” and take it to the point where it becomes counterproductive.

It may sound a bit self-indulgent, but self-care has to become a part of your daily routine since it is essential for your normal functioning.

If your edge feels a bit dull, your skills not as sharp as they once were, if your focus is starting to drift, and your abilities are worn, you are in the right place.

Self-care is crucial – when we are busy, even a small time off feels like an undeserved luxury. Exercising, socializing, eating lunch – everything feels like slacking.

Sadly, this mindset backfires in time, and instead of making progress, you start loosing the grip. Self-care might help you here, as it can actually make your progress faster.

Here’s why you need self-care:

1.It prevents overload burnout – self-care can help stop you before you push yourself beyond the breaking point.

2.It reduces negative effects of stress – a small amount of stress can help push you, but after a while, it can break your body and your mind. Self-care means that you keep your stress from taking the control over your life.

3.It helps you refocus – When you are stuck on a problem, nothing resets your mind like a break, and that is the epitome of self-care.

Self-care shouldn’t be a reward for a job well done, it should be a part of the process.

So, here’s how you can take good care of yourself, and achieve more.

Practice emotional hygiene

When people talk about self-care, they think about the physical aspect. Emotional health is just as important. If you are depressed, sad, stressed or anxious, you need to deal with it. So, how do you take care of these? When you are feeling intense emotions, you can take a quick break and process them.

Exercise and eat well even when you’re busy

When you have no time, it’s best to take some away from these activities. In cases when you’re overextended, it’s easy to neglect exercise because it seems to take an awful lot of energy, time, and an additional trip to the shower as well as a change of clothes.

Keep your schedule protected

If you sacrifice too much of the time that should be free, in order to do additional work, you will become irritable, unfocused and stressed. You need to learn to say no to people. If your boss or manager is asking for too much, discuss your workload and your responsibilities with them. It won’t be easy, but it’s better than sacrificing all of your free time.

Spend money on things that matter

It’s ok to spend wastefully from time to time, but a big part of self-care is coming up with things that you really want, things that will matter to you, and then save up money for those. Create a budget, learn how to handle your cash in a way that will enable you to do all of this, and you will feel much better.

Spend time on things that matter

Don’t put off things that you want in order to work more. Yes, working constantly will make you feel more successful, but it will not necessarily have a result. Sometimes you need to put tasks on hold in order to accomplish some of your personal goals. Every day, find one thing that you will do for yourself, one thing that will make you feel like you accomplished something.