In this article, i discuss four simple secrets to self care when you don’t have time or money.
One of my favorite things to talk about is self care. This is because I believe it is one of the best investments any woman can make in herself. In simple terms self care is making time to take care of yourself.
Many women usually put self care last on their lists. I have found myself doing this too. And from experience, I realize that we usually have so much to do that we brush aside things that have to do with our physical, emotional and psychological well being.
A Lot of the women I work with usually use time as an excuse for not being able to take care of themselves. It’s either they are too busy with work, or they’re too busy with kids and managing the home. Others also say they cannot afford self care because they are already living on strict budgets.
Below are four simple secrets to self care when you don't have time or money.
1. Change Your Self Value Mindset
The first secret to self care when you don’t have time and value is to change your self value mindset.
I have realized that when something is important to us, we value it and make time for it. Also the possessions we have that are valuable to us, we make sure we maintain them so they don’t lose value.
That is why you take your car into service periodically and you service your HVAC system often. If you own a home, I’m sure you perform certain maintenance on the house periodically so the house does not depreciate.
Why do we make time for maintaining all these possessions and neglect our self care?
If you do not adhere to the maintenance routine proposed by your car’s manufacturer, with time your engine may break down and possibly you may lose your car. Self-care is the maintenance you do on yourself so you do not depreciate and breakdown.
We are so busy placing value on all these in-animate things and putting our time into taking care of them when in reality we are more important than them. If you have all these things and you break down because of poor self care, how will you be able to enjoy them.
We need to change our self value mindset. We need to place value on ourselves and see ourselves as more valuable than any material possessions we may have. We need to make time for maintaining ourselves so that we can live to enjoy all our possessions. A change in your self value mindset is one secret to self care.
2. See Self Care as a Necessity not a Luxury
A Lot of us women see self care as a luxury. So when we hear self-care the first thing that comes to mind is a luxurious trip to the spa or a vacation, etc. We also tend to attach money to self care. So a lot of us don’t practice self care because we feel we cannot afford it.
We need to switch our mindset and realize that though spa days and vacations are a good way of self care, that is just a percent of all the other self care routines that a woman can implement in her life.
See self care as a necessary thing that you implement in your life so you can replenish the energy that you exert in your day to day activities. Also realize that you don’t need to spend a lot of money to be able to take care of yourself. This shift in mindset is the second secret to self care when you do not have a lot of money to spend.
3. Start with Baby Steps
When you are busy and have no time or money, it’s hard to afford or make time for the big things like vacations, spa days, etc. When I started implementing self care into my routine, I started with taking a mandatory day off every week. So I paid someone to come watch my kids from 9am-5pm so I could take a day off catching up on sleep and doing things for myself that have nothing to do with the kids or chores, or work etc. That was my ‘ me time’.
After doing this for a month, I started feeling better physically, emotionally & psychologically. However I realized paying someone every week was expensive and I could not sustain it in the long term. So I needed to find a creative way of implementing a self care routine that is less time consuming and less expensive.
I decided to spread the eight hours I was getting from my day off into one hour a day. My new plan was to get two ‘15 minutes me time breaks’ during the day and 30 minutes to unwind in the evening after the kids go to sleep. This added up to one hour for ‘me time’ a day. This was time for relaxing, putting my feet up, sipping on something cold or warm depending on the weather, reading a book, meditating, watching funny movies, journaling, writing, etc. This time is for me and non negotiable.
My Realization...
After making this plan, I realized this was easier than I thought it would be. I was now conscious about making the time so I was seeing the little parts of my day which were spent on unnecessary things like social media.
For example, I found I always had about 10 minutes of waiting at the kids school car park. So I decided to use that time as ‘me time’.
I have been practicing this for a while now and I can tell you, it really makes a big difference. It may be a little bit at a time, but it adds up eventually.
If you do not have the money and time to invest in a more expensive way of self care, start with the baby steps.
You could start with increments of 15 minutes a day then work it up to an amount of time that works best for you. A little bit at a time will go a long way to improve your physical, emotional and psychological well-being. This is the third secret to self care when you do not have time and money.
4. Find a Self-Care Accountability Partner
The fourth secret to self care is to create the right support system. When you start implementing the first three secrets to self care that i already explained, You need to develop a self care support system. Find a self care accountability partner that you can be accountable to.
This could be a neighbor, a friend, a family member or a coach. You will share your self care goals with them and celebrate your milestones with them periodically. This will motivate you to keep moving forward.
In this blog I have talked about four simple secrets to self care when you don't have time and money. These are:
- Change Your Self Value Mindset
- See self care as a necessity not a luxury
- Start with baby steps
- Find a self care accountability partner
In conclusion
There is nothing like a perfect self care routine. As a busy woman already juggling so many things, you just want to make sure you are chipping in a little bit of self care at a time and aim at making bigger chunks as you go along.
work with me
If you need help with implementing these four simple secrets to self care into your life, I am more than happy to work with you. Book your free breakthrough coaching session with me.
In this free session, we will delve into your current situation, what your obstacles are and ways you can move forward so you can implement a self care routine that would help you live a more balanced and burnout free life. Book your free session at empoweredforbalance.com/call
