Self-care is not something that has ever come easily to me. I come from a family that values practicality, frugality, and efficiency, and painting my toe nails or doing a face mask really has never been a top priority. I went to prom without doing my hair or wearing any makeup whatsoever. It just wasn't on my radar.
In college, however, my dear friend and roommate taught me about looking pretty and feeling put together. We would joke about how people from Idaho (she is from Idaho) always look put together because they have nothing else to do. She probably doesn't know it to this day, but she was really the first glimpse I had into the world of pampering myself, looking how I wanted to look, and feeling how I wanted to feel about myself. She even let me wear her necklaces and use her hair dryer once in a while.
It was my sophomore year in college that I first bought my own hair dryer and actually used it. I painted my nails on a regular basis. I bought frilly underwear. I took long showers with expensive body wash and shampoo. I explored this world of what I saw as luxury, but I was never really able to master it and incorporate new self-care routines into my daily life. They all felt like once-in-a-while skip-class-and-slurge kinds of things.
For a while, after college, I kind of abandoned self-care all together. I found time for just the basics. My hair was clean, but it wasn't styled most days. My outfits weren't wrinkly and stained, but they weren't anything to be proud of either. They didn't inspire confidence. I think this shift happened as I continued to gain weight after college and began not fitting into the clothes I had once loved. I also didn't have the money I thought I needed to buy hair products and pay for pedicures. More than that, on some level, I didn't feel like I deserved them. I was working two jobs and feeling completely stagnant in my career. I was comfortable, but I wasn't working towards anything, towards bettering myself. After four years of constantly working towards something and taking opportunity after opportunity, this sudden stand still was completely foreign.
This slump continued for several years. I continued doing the same daily grind, often not waking up in time to pamper myself in the mornings and not having the energy to do anything in the evenings.
Up until about January of this year, there was no change. I was doing the minimum to look half-way presentable at work, but nothing else.
When I started this health journey, I decided I had to change the way my body functioned, but I also had to change value that I place on myself. I had to begin considering my body a valuable piece of equipment that deserves care and maintenance. This has taken, and still takes, quite a bit of conscious effort. Its not that I hate myself or anything like that. It is just that doing self-care activities is not a first priority. I just often don't think about it, but when I do, when I make time for even small self-care activities, I reap the benefits for days. I feel comfortable in my skin and empowered to face the day. I feel like I am prepared for anything that I encounter, and I'm going to look good doing it.
As a way of trying to make self-care a part of my everyday life, I have found some simple yet powerful practices that have been working for me. I don't pay for pedicures, and I don't spend hours everyday lounging in the tub. In fact, I don't even have a bathtub. A few minutes a few times a week has given me confidence that I have never really had before in who I am and what I am ready to face.
Here is what has been working for me so far:
At home pedicures: I have really rough feet. I always have. And I also live in Texas where it feels like I am crawling around on the surface of the sun during the summer months. I live in my Birkenstocks. To help keep me comfortable wearing sandals all summer, and even in the winter having soft touchable feet is a plus, I do a pedicure at home once a week. I have found that hot water, a simple pumice stone, a gentle foot scrub (which you can make at home), a rich lotion, and a classy polish color do the trick for me. It only takes about 10 minutes, but the difference it brings to my attitude is astounding.
Lotion Breaks: I take 30 seconds, even when I am running late, to lather my whole body in lotion after I get out of the shower. This not only gives me a few seconds to honor my whole body, it has also radically improved the condition of my skin. In the summer heat and the winter cold, my skin gets dry, flaky, and red in some areas. Before I started doing these lotion breaks, I would get to work and realize that the skin on my arms was so dry I was embarrassed to let anyone see it. It would be on my mind all day! I no longer have this problem, and it is one less worry I have to deal with.
Eyebrows and Lips: I don't wear makeup on a regular basis, and I have no desire to start. I have found though that two small changes to my morning routine have boosted my confidence in my appearance more than I could have imagined. I was reading an article about looking good with glasses somewhere online, and it mentioned paying attention to your eyebrows since the frames of glasses draw the eye to the eyebrow. I started shaping my eyebrows and instantly felt more put together. I also started wearing a neutral/slightly rosy shade of lip stick every day. This finishing touch is exactly what I was looking for to look polished and put together. This together takes about one minute in the morning but completely changes the outlook for my day.
As I continue on this path of total health, I will be adding to my list!
Obviously, these three self-care activities won't be what everyone is looking for, but they are representative of the simple, quick changes in self-care that can transform the way you look and feel about yourself.
Changes:
Placing value on my body and the maintenance it requires
Finding small, manageable changes that buy a lot of confidence for me
Taking the time to do self-care activities every week
No comments:
Post a Comment