It’s easy when you’re feeling overwhelmed and stressed to forget the importance of taking care of yourself. When you take care of yourself first, you have more to give to others in your life - family, friends and co-workers. When you treat yourself well, you are naturally more productive, motivated and energetic and have more to give to the world. What are some easy ways to nurture yourself?

• Eat Breakfast and Lunch - Skipping breakfast and working through lunch is a recipe for afternoon slumps and late night binges.
• Get your Beauty Sleep - Whoa, dark circles! Sleep 7-8 hours a night to look and feel your best.
• Active Relaxation - Take 5-10 minutes every day to meditate, do yoga, stretch or just breathe.
• Exercise - Getting your body moving and blood flowing will go a long way towards making you feel more energized. At minimum, aim for a 30 minute walk every day. Make exercise fun - take a yoga, dance or hooping class!
• Fresh Air - Get a dose of Vitamin D with your sunlight when you walk outside - two in one!
• Breathe - When we’re stressed or anxious, our breathing becomes shallower and weaker. Try taking some deep belly breaths to feel more calm and focused.
• Support - Who is supporting you? Do you have a friend or colleague that you can talk to about your personal or professional life? Are you making time for friends, even if it’s just meeting for a cup of tea?
• A little Pampering goes a long way. Make an appointment for a massage, facial or pedicure.
• Nurture List - What are the things that help you calm down and de-stress? Write a list of 10 quick things that you can do and post it on your refrigerator or by your desk to jog your memory.

Tags: breakfast, Breathe, dance, exercise, health, hooping, lunch, massage, nurture, pampering, self-care, sleep, support, Vitamin D, yoga

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 10th, 2009 at 9:32 pm and is filed under counseling, exercise, whole health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.