Hey guys,
I told you that I’d be writing soon! I hope this post finds everyone well and excited about this topic. Seeing that there has been so much in the media about self-care, I thought to make a post about it. I am going to give some tips on how to have a healthy self-care routine, but first I want to give a brief explanation of what I think self-care means.
I do believe that it is essential to take care of one’s self; the Bible tells us that our bodies are the temples of God (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Therefore, that means we should take effort and time to make sure our bodies are well and honored.
However, it seems that some understandings of self-care/self-love mean that we must take care or love ourselves first before we can even think to start caring or loving others. As Christians, we are taught to love our neighbors and to love our neighbors as ourselves. So what does this mean for us?
It means two things:
1. We do not need to spend extra amounts of time behind ourselves to love others. We can put others before ourselves and still live to see the next day. As Christians we are called to lay down our lives for others (John 15:13), meaning we set our needs aside to help our neighbors.
This can look like skipping those extra minutes in the bathroom to help or spend time with your husband. Or making decisions that benefits your children but cuts out your desires. Or being there for a friend in need instead of getting some “much needed quiet time.” Self-care shouldn’t be that we are so consumed in our selfish desires that we neglect our duties as Christians.
However, that leads me to my second point on what self-care means to Christians.
2. Even though we do not need to spend extra time loving ourselves to love others, we are still called to care for ourselves. The healthier and better we are the better we can serve our neighbors and work on God’s plan.
It’s highly more likely to treat others poorly when you’re already treating yourself poorly, even though we as Christians strive to overcome this human defect.
Let’s look at it like this; if we are out of shape or eat an unhealthy diet, we are less likely to feel our best. In turn, when we neglect ourselves, we won’t be able to steward ourselves to others as best as we should. If you’re sick, you can’t help your spouse and kids and most likely won’t want to help others outside the home either. Therefore, it is essential to keep up with a healthy lifestyle that resembles proper and appropriate self-care.
Okay! Now that I got that out of the way I will give you some tips on establishing a healthy self-care routine!
Five tips to a healthy self-care routine
1. Stay in the word (The Bible)
Now I know what some of you may be thinking, how on earth does reading The Bible has anything to do with a self-care routine. Well, I will tell you! Self-care and health include mental and emotional health, and the best and only way that I think we can achieve optimal mental/ emotional health is through speaking and listening to God.
God has answers for all the ups and downs that we face in life, and he will help us get through all of them and find peace. Therefore, before we can do anything else for ourselves, we need to go to Him to find peace. Think about it, if you are feeling gloomy, you want to loaf around and eat ice cream right? Well instead of filling yourself with extra calories that will make you feel worse, go to God in your times of frustration, and he will lift you!
P.S. I’m telling you to stay in the word! This is a routine, not just a quick visit every time you need an answer. God wants us to spend time with him just like we would with a friend or family member.
2. Eat a healthy diet.
Self-care should include what you’re putting into your body. I am sorry if I am missing the mark. Is it only suppose to mean pampering yourself? IDK. Anyway, eating a healthy diet is essential for feeling your absolute best. I don’t know about y’all, but when I eat junk food, I tend to feel groggy and not so great. Making me not want to look after myself or anyone else. This is not pleasing to God because he wants us to be diligent! (haha, see I am learning something with my one word for 2019).
It is okay to eat your “comfort foods” every once and awhile. I am suggesting to make it a habit to eat the foods that make you feel your best so that you can be your best.
3. Exercise
You guys are probably used to me saying this by now, but I will repeat it. Exercising is an excellent way to take care of yourself. I will point out (like I have done before), that I am not referring to extreme exercise. Exercise can mean walking, stretching, or hardcore cross training, etc. The idea is to keep your body moving, your blood pumping and your lungs breathing. It will make you feel energized and healthy. All the better to serve God and others!
The good thing about this is that you can include your family in this and it can even be fun! If time is an issue, try to get creative and maybe use everyday activities as an exercise.
4. Groom yourself
Grooming yourself is a given part of self-care. However, I feel that I should touch on the topic a bit. I know of people who would neglect themselves because of chores, and other life events were taking priority. On the other hand, I know of people who would spend hours and hours in a salon to the point that they do not have any time left to spend with family or getting anything else done! I think that both incidences are extreme situations that we should avoid. There is nothing wrong with going to the salon regularly or opting to not wash your hair in order to deal with a loved one or to get something completed. Just make sure everything is balanced and appropriately prioritized.
5. Relax
I know that I referred to the “much needed quiet time” that we hear about as a less important priority. What I am trying to say is that; if something comes up during the time we set for relaxation, it is up to us to decide if it is more important to sleep or read a book than to help someone out. Therefore, ask God for guidance when you feel like you’re at your wit’s end and he will provide this relaxation that you need. I think we all know when we are really tired (to the point that we can not stand) and when we aren’t so much, we just don’t want to be bothered with anything else.
Final thoughts
I feel that it is essential to take care of ourselves. However, we need to make sure that we are balancing our time wisely. These tips weren’t new ideas but rather guidelines that I think we should all try to stick by. I hope it reminded you all to take care of yourselves and the people around y’all and I hope it also will bring joy to y’all lives to see how great it feels to honor God’s temple as it should be. If y’all have anything else you wish to add to this discussion be sure to leave a comment.
Until next time,
yasmin rose xoxo
