More Self-love this Valentine's Day - Friday Focus

 Hello Friends,

I hope you are doing well. Happy Friday! It is almost Valentine's day and it is a time to celebrate all kinds of love. Love for others and love for yourself. I have been working on self-love over the years. It hasn't always been easy to feel the love for myself. I do love myself now and feel happy with how far I have come and I am doing things each day to keep working on this important relationship. I am posting below some tips I found online to practice more self-love, some of my own ideas, and my experiences with each tip. 

Choose a positive mindset. Psychology Today has a tip to "be a life coach to yourself". which is true and it made me think of a recent podcast I listened to from Natalie Bacon on her podcast Design your Dream Life called Three Default Mindsets. She discusses choosing the mindset that you have all the time. I have had different mindsets in the past sometimes it could be really negative and constant negative self talk. If you are easier on yourself if you make a mistake and treat yourself with the kindness and love then you can develop more self love.

Spend time on things you enjoy. I try to spend as much time doing the things I love and bring me joy like knitting, blogging, reading, and spending time with loved ones. I think by purposefully making time for the things you really love and that are important to you, you will send yourself the message that you matter.

Make peace with the past. This is one that I struggle with. If we dwell on our past mistakes, it makes us feel regret and shame. If we accept what happened and work hard each day to move forward, then we can understand ourselves better and to make better decisions for ourselves in the future. Our past selves were just learning as we went along, and we are the people we are today because of an accumulation of all of our experiences.

Thank you for visiting my blog today. I hope you are having a great week so far and enjoy your weekend!

Blogmas Day 11 - Self-Care During the Holidays

 Hello Friends,

I hope you are doing well. It is a wonderful time of the year, but also a time when we feel like we should be doing all the things. I know I do! make cookies, knit ornaments, gifts, blog post, exercise, do Christmas shopping, and the list goes on. This year is feeling so different because of Covid-19. Normally right now, I would be going into the office and we'd be doing festive gatherings and potlucks, and I would be shopping in stores and enjoying the Christmas displays. I would be seeing my family for our different traditions and we would be having people over to see our new home. This year however, we are mostly at home and times are tough not seeing loved ones and some are feeling isolated from the world. It is more important than ever to also take care of our mental health and wellbeing.

I've put together a list of things that help me to work on my self-care and wellbeing during the holidays. I also included some ideas I have found on the Internet to help promote wellbeing during the holidays. I will be making an effort to do these things in the list around Christmas to make sure I feel balanced. Please read below for some ideas on how to take care of yourself during the holidays.

1. Practice gratitude - Counting your blessings and really focusing on what you are grateful for around this time of the year is especially beneficial. Psychology today shares that it is something that is an excellent coping skill and it can be shared with others. They also include a lot of other self-care tips for the holidays. I write down three things that I am grateful for each morning using my Five Minute Journal. It has helped me to constantly think of what I have to be grateful for every morning. Even when it doesn't feeling like there is anything, I always come up with a few. We do have a lot of things to be grateful for especially this year it puts a lot into perspective.

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2. Log off from work at a set time: Have a set time you log off from work and don't go past that time. I am bad for this one. I say I will only work overtime until 6 (1 hour more) and then end up working until 7. This holiday season, I want to think of my stress levels and take care of myself and log off to have dinner and enjoy my evening.

3. Eat healthy- This time of the year it is so easy to just eat cookies, chocolate, and junk food as food groups because we are in holiday-mode (me). But it is good to remember to eat healthy as well and stay healthy so our bodies are also happy during this time of celebration. I get a bit stressed if I think I am going off my normal diet and eating way too much junk or carbs. If I add some veggies in my diet in between meals or celebrations then I feel more on track.

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4. Get enough sleep - Around this time of year, it is usually so busy with work, errands, and lots on the to-do list. It is important to get enough sleep. I am thinking of myself as I write this because I had a really tiring day the other day because I didn't make sleep a priority and it affects my whole day. To keep us functioning at our best and enjoy the holidays, we need those z's.

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5. Watch a Christmas or holiday movies. There are so many Christmas movies out there and they always have one thing in common, they are heartwarming and always put us in the Christmas spirit.  I was watching Jingle All the Way one night this week which is one of my favourites. Sometimes they are corny or overdone, but they are so comforting. In the photo below is pictures It's a Wonderful Life. I love this movie and it is my Christmas Eve tradition to watch it.

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6. Take a day off - Today I took the day off from work. I like to take a day off from work here and there during the holidays, just to catch up on rest, work on my goals for Christmas, and do some Christmas shopping for gifts. It has been a good day so far reading, knitting, and making Liam and I smoothies. Now I am going to post this blog and go around to finally catch up on reading others' blogs. If you aren't working, still taking a day off with no chores or things you need to do is important to do things you enjoy to relax.

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7. Chat with family and friends - For me, chatting with my family is a way for me to enjoy myself, recharge, and reconnect. Sometimes it is always so helpful to chat out my feelings or thoughts and they provide some advice.  It is a busy time of the year, but now that we are all in quarantine it is nice to come together if even in a way different way than our usual. It is good to keep in contact with those important people in our lives and after a good long chat with people I care about all feels right in the world.

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8 Meditate- I recently started meditating again when restarting the Miracle Morning savers. I forgot how good I feel during and afterwards. It is so helpful to just sit quietly for even 5 minutes and close your eyes to relax and help to clear your mind. I want to incorporate more meditation into my routine and use it as a tool whenever I am feeling stressed. The Harvard Medical School website includes deep breathing and other forms of relaxation in their list . They provide a list on their website here of other relaxation techniques I haven't tried before such as guided imagery and body scan.

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I am no expert on this topic, and I am still am working on all of these things myself. Everyone has their own needs to recharge and take care of themselves. What are some things that help you to self-care during the holidays to improve your wellbeing? 

While thinking of this topic, I found so much information and resources online to help to work on self-care during the holidays. I enjoyed reading through many sites and I will be using and putting to work a lot of these tips this year. Here are some other resources for self care during the holidays you can check out:

Harvard Medical School - Prioritzing the "me" in Merry

The Well - 9 Simple Self-Care Tops for the Holidays

Peaceful Mind Peaceful Life - Self-Care Practices for the Holidays (they include what to do if you are experiencing certain emotions, very helpful if you just don't know how to make yourself feel better during a difficult feeling)

Thank you for joining me for Blogmas Day 11! Please join me again tomorrow for another Blogmas Post! Please click here for my other Blogmas posts so far. 

Have a great day!

Self Care and Life Balance

Hi Friends,

I hope you are doing well. I have been busy with work, helping my sister with wedding plans as her Maid of Honor, and working on knitting projects and reading goals.

Lately I have been thinking more about self care  and creating a more positive routine for myself during the week and accomplishing more of what I would like to do. Last year I was at home, taking online courses, knitting, and blogging. Returning to work makes me think of purposefully taking time for self care and after having not worked full time in a few years, it requires more effort to get back into it. I have recently been reflecting on what self care practices I used then and now and have noticed lately that I am getting back into some of my older self care habits and tricks that help me to keep balanced. So I thought I would love to chat with you about them. Below are some things I have been up to lately to take care of myself and to learn and grow and to be my best self.

Listening to audio books:  I have really been looking into reading and listening to more books on personality, goals, and self care. I have been thinking that going back to work has brought back a need for me time and reflection in the evenings and mornings. I listened to a wonderful audiobook called What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast: A Short Guide to Making Over Your Mornings and Life by Laura Vanderkam. I took this book out from the online library because I have been thinking more about morning routines and how it is so important to starting your day off right. Through reading this book, I learned that mornings can be such an important time of the day for many people to get in their exercise, reading, journaling, spiritual practices, professional development and more.  I love my mornings before work because as I prepare my breakfast and meals for the day, I think about the day ahead as I sip my coffee and mentally prepare myself. I have been thinking of ways be more productive and to make the most of my mornings before work. I listened to this audiobook on my drive to work and realized that would be a great time to learn new things and to prepare for the day on my drive. In the audiobook, the author suggests to write a time log for a week to see how you use your time and ways you can be more productive. I would love to also do that. I would love to read and knit more because that is a big priority for me and to also make more time to blog. I will be incorporating more of these into my morning routine.

Reading: I finished reading the book Reading People by Anne Bogel and enjoyed learning about the personality tests you can take to learn more about your personality. I think this book would be more helpful for someone who has taken these tests before and can learn more about your type. But I also thought for someone like me with some knowledge of personality types, it provided me with more information on the tests you can do and it kept my interest. It also made me want to take one of the tests by a professional as suggested in the book. So reading has been helping me keep my balance and providing me with some more information on different personalities and that we are not all the same and to accept others for who they are and to accept yourself for who you are. I like to learn and also grow in my awareness of myself, my abilities, and also weaknesses. Reading books like these have been helping me to look inwards and to understand myself and others more.

Watching YouTube videos about self care: Like blogging, vlogs can offer a window into the lives of others and you can learn so many new tips and tricks from what works for them. I like to see what others do for their self care routines and they inspire me to really think about how I treat myself each day and how I can be better. Rowena Tsai has a wonderful YouTube channel and she posts videos on self care and talks about self care frequently. I stumbled onto her channel when I was browsing trending videos on YouTube one night and so glad I did because she inspires me to take my time to care for myself and to be more positive. I am sure there are so many other vloggers to discover too that promote self care and motivate us to be our best selves.

Reading affirmations: I have also been reading affirmations some mornings to help me start the day off right and positive. One that I have been reading for the past couple weeks (when I remember) is "Today is a gift and I am blessed to be here. Today will be a positive day". I got this affirmation off Pinterest one day and it was pinned from Louise Hudson's blog. She has a lot of other wonderful affirmations to start or end your day positively. Starting my day with an affirmation like the one below will remind me to be true to myself, support myself and be kinder to myself.

An affirmation to to promote self love. Photo source

Knitting: I had to include my favorite hobby in this list because knitting has always helped me to relax, set goals, and be positive. It allows me to focus my mind on the task and to also feel accomplished when I finished a project and learn something new. I knit at night while watching TV or YouTube videos or just simply with my thoughts.

And being with my cats is always nice

Some things I would like to work on and work back into my routine are: writing monthly goals, writing in a journal, and exercising regularly.

Please let me know in the comments below how you keep balanced and when you feel a bit off or need to connect with yourself what are some things that you do. I will be posting soon on my progress on my current knitting projects and reading.

Hope you have a great day!