What does it mean to look after ourselves?

I've been thinking of this a lot lately, particularly as routine and commitments settle in. Looking after ourselves is so vital to being in a good place to look after others, whether thats clients, your friends, partner, pets etc,  We are all in different seasons of life and self care looks different depending on this. Here are some things I have started to put in place: 

- Balance your week out. Knowing that the body craves balance in most areas means that we will feel looked after when life has a variety of things in the right amount. A useful exercise with this is jotting down your plans for the week on a piece of paper or on your online calendar. If you like, use different colours for different categories such as social, work, home etc. Then have a look and see if this will be manageable for you. Do you need to add a coffee date in mid week? Is there a time to get housework done? Is it best to say no to a night event because you have had three nights out in a row? Of course, plans are flexible and at anytime you can negotiate but this exercise can help you become more aware of your limits, what you need and where boundaries might be helpful.   

- Take some you time. We all have many different 'hungers' - heart hunger, creative hunger, intellectual hunger, sensual hunger, spiritual hunger. Learning that we're not always - or often not - hungry for food allows us to explore other ways of nurturing. This may be doing something physical such as going for a walk, dancing, having a hug. Or it could be mental such as reading a novel, researching a new skill, having a digital detox. Journalling, yoga, talking with a friend covers physical, mental and emotional. Trying new things will help you learn what best fills you. Some of my favourite 'me time' activities are lying on the couch watching episodes of a favourite tv show, painting my nails or going for a walk on the beach. 

- Eat nourishing foods. We know that we feel better when we are eating well so taking the time to shop and prepare meals and snacks is so important when looking after ourselves. I'm not talking about perfection with meal planning, more having on hand the foods that feel good to you. For me, thats corn chips and avocado, ingredients for a brownie, greek yoghurt and bananas etc.