How do you take care of yourself when you are taking care of others?
Supporting Individuals to reach their goals and ensuring they have the best Quality of Life available is what we love to do, but it can be very demanding both physically and mentally.
A few weeks back, we threw out the question “How do you practice self-care?” to our ASLS Team.
Here are some of the responses;
I practice Self-Care by singing in Smule apps, and karaoke at home, training my puppies and enjoying my bed after work😊😊
I practice self-care by listening to and exploring new music. It is amazing to find how many artists are virtually unknown but have such deep and meaningful lyrics, and then to find existing artists come out with songs that just ‘get’ you. Music has always been a comfort to me when I am feeling stressed. It drowns out the noise in my head with something positive, or something I can relate to on a deeper level and makes me feel lots better.
I practice self-care by:
– Going to the gym after work
– Using our EAP for counselling services
– Sewing, and
– Journaling
I love to laugh and sing. If I can find something to smile about then the stressful days become less stressful. For self-care, I like to do something creative like paint by number or cross-stitch or I just get outside with my sons and fly a kite.
First priority when I get home every day is to get a big hug and snuggle from my puppies, they are always so happy to see me it’s hard not to smile and be happy with them around. My husband and I have recently built a home gym, so we try and utilize it every other day. We also really enjoy cooking together, my favourite is cooking Italian. My love of cooking came from my Nona when I was young, she would give me and my siblings two options: cook or clean. I always chose cooking so I could taste test before dinner and then hit the couch after! Luckily, my husband shares my love of cooking, so we like to spend a good amount of our evening in the kitchen trying out new recipes or recreating some of our favourites.
I like to unwind with a hot cup of chamomile lavender tea and sit outside, enjoying the sounds of nature on our acreage after the kids have gone to sleep.