I don’t know what’s come over me but all of a sudden, I’ve gotten into wellbeing and focusing on a well-lived life. It all started towards the end of 2017 when I decided to be more conscious of how active I am on a weekly basis. I decided to start tracking my daily workouts and making an effort to challenge myself weekly. I had to get away from the mindset of viewing physical activity (exercise) as something I do to lose weight and keep the additional kilos at bay. I chose to put a spin on it and start seeing physical activity as something that I “get to” do to nourish my body and my mind. More on the “get to” later…
I noticed that when I started incorporating more physical activity into my daily routine, I started getting fewer migraines and my mood was generally elevated on a daily basis. In the words of Elle Woods (from Legally Blonde), endorphins make you happy! Endorphins are a group of hormones secreted by the brain and nervous system whenever you engage in physical activity. When endorphins are released, you get a euphoric feeling. You may have noticed that I’m using the words physical activity as opposed to exercise. Truth be told, I have a love-hate relationship with exercise and I’m still working on it. I find the word exercise very limiting because it doesn’t (in my mind) take into consideration other physical activities you could do for fun that are actually good for you. Let me just say that I don’t classify swimming laps in a pool as exercise because it’s something I actually enjoyed doing when I was younger (even though it was tiring).
This has been a journey for me (and it still is) and I started by setting myself a challenge of taking 10,000 steps a day. One of the things I’ve noticed when I take long walks during my lunch break is that I slowly start breathing from my stomach as opposed to my chest. This is something that I do unconsciously and I’m looking forward to exploring it further as I hear that breathing from your stomach is better for you in general. I also do walkercise at home. Hello Leslie Sansone!
Now let’s talk about “get to”. A friend of mine sent me a screenshot of an Instagram message Turia Pitt posted on how she’s learned to tune her mindset in alignment with who/how she wants to be and being more present. Instead of saying that she has to wake up early, feed the baby (insert whatever you want here), she says that she gets to wake up early, feed the baby etc. That simple change puts her in a more grateful state. I’d heard of this in the past and passively practised this on-and-off. But at the start of 2018, I decided to be more conscious of this and figured the easiest place to start implementing it is in my approach to physical activity.
I’m reminded of something Jim Rohn once said: take care of you for me, and I’ll take care of me for you. When we are consistent in taking care of ourselves, it becomes easier to take care of others. My journey to self-care truly started with a mindset shift. The key to self-care is being conscious of practising it often. Make it a date with yourself (and mark it on your calendar if that works).
Self-care can mean different things to different people. It could be…
- A quiet morning coffee
- A daily walk with your dog in the park
- A weekly manicure session
- Daily meditation
- Sleeping when your body needs you to
- Learning to forgive
- Embracing your emotions
- Loving all of you, flaws and all
- Evening showers and long baths…
… the list goes on.
I hope that sharing my journey with you will inspire you to start yours.
Well thought out. Thanks for sharing! For me it’s a quiet morning coffee thank you kindly!