Stacey and I are declaring May Self-Care Month, but we need your help choosing the self-care tips we’ll discuss. Last May, we offered our Top 10 Tips Plus Two. Here they are:
How to Live Self-Care
1. Make your health and well-being a priority
2. Nourish your body with food, sleep, activity and rest.
3. Manage stress wisely.
4. Be a positive thinker.
5. Don’t make assumptions.
6. Accept yourself and others wholly.
7. Trust your inner guidance.
8. Nourish relationships with family and friends.
9. Respect yourself and others.
10. Do what makes your heart sing.
11. Practice compassion, kindness and forgiveness.
12. Connect with spirit through gratitude, service, and intention.
This week, we’d like each of you to vote for the top tip you’d like us to write about by commenting on it at livingselfcare.com. Then, we’d like you to choose one tip to practice this month and send us a paragraph about what you’re doing to make it stick. For participating, we’ll enter you into our self-care contest/challenge which will run from May 21-25 and features many wonderful prizes. Check out our contest section to see what we gave away last November.
Stacey and I will also be choosing our top tips, blogging about them and practicing with you. We have learned the hard way that caring for ourselves-body, mind, heart and soul, is better for us as well as our loved ones. When our emotional pitcher is dry, everyone loses.
Join us in declaring May Self-Care Month. While we can’t control everything, we can create a life filled with health, happiness and purpose if we align our actions and thoughts with living self-care body, mind, heart and soul. Today is the first day of the rest of your life. Make it count!
Living Self-Care 
I like all of the topics! I’m particularly interested in having you write more about #6 and #11. I’m going to be working on #2. Thanks for the awesome list and inspiration!
#6 is on our top 5 list and #11 is one of my personal favs. Happy to hear you’re working on #2. It’s the foundation of healthy living. I call it my “Five A Day,” and include #3 “Manage Stress Wisely” as part of self-care basics. I know from learning the hard way that if I don’t make time for the basics, nothing else works very well.
Great to hear from you MamiNgwa! We are so excited that you’ll be working with your physical self-care – it’s all SO important! We are looking forward to reading about your experiences!!
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Alright, I said that I was going to be working on Tip#2. So what have I done? I’ve been wearing my sneakers to work so that I can walk either at lunch or after work (which I have doen 3 times); I’ve been drinking more water and less soda; I’ve been taking naps & sleeping a little bit later when I can. Most importantly I’m goinig to hire a babysitter so I can got o yoga (or for a walk) 3 days a week. I’m always a work in progress, but I’m making baby-step progress!
You’re doing great! To make the changes you have, requires a real commitment. Kudos to you. Remember, “The journey of a thousand miles, begins with a single step.” You go girl and we’ll enter you in the drawing for our challenge prizes next week.
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I’m working on #1 and 2, especially making my physical, emotional, & spiritual health a priority, including >activity<. In terms of the latter, I tend to be a homebody & bookworm, so I started walking the dog briskly once a day and take the time for 20-30 minutes to take a path around the neighborhood instead of just taking him out to the grass briefly for the basic necessities. Now I'm noticing the sunshine, birds singing, trees, flowers, talking to neighbors, and enjoying my dog's joy! I'm noticing it lowers my daily stress and I breathe easier.
Recently I'm having to put aside #8 to achieve #1, as I'm still learning how to balance both – in the past I've put others first and that has caused my health to suffer. It also means saying "no" to a lot of people, even my best friend, and some of them aren't as understanding as others. I have to learn that when others get upset, that is their choice, not mine.
I have been doing more of #10 more recently, causing much happiness! For example, I am finally using my right brain/creative side – neglected for over 20 years – by joining a scifi-writing online forum, that is so freeing for my spirit! Yet I have much more to work on in this area: i.e. I am determined to find a job that doesn't just pay the bills, but also one that makes my heart sing! I've had a few of these in the past; my challenge now is to find one that pays what I am really worth – not poverty living – and has medical insurance coverage as well… before I change jobs, I am finally catching up on all the medical appointments I've been behind on, and the result is I'm feeling a sense of relief and self-worth – that I am worth taking care of myself! It's a wonderful feeling.