Self Care - how do you do it?
Self care for the 50 plus woman
It’s No Smoking day. For 32 years cigarettes had ruled my life to a certain degree. In as much that I was addicted, and cig breaks were something I had to plan in and make time for - especially once you couldn't smoke indoors. As an addict it didn’t matter how skint I was I ALWAYS made sure that I had enough money for cigarettes. It was non-negotiable.
Fast forward to today (I haven’t smoked for over 11 years- woohoo!) and I’m pondering what do I do these days that is absolutely non-negotiable? If I’m honest there’s nothing immediately springs to mind. I feel slightly embarrassed to admit this. I’m aware that I’m not getting any younger and feel like I should be looking after myself better – preserving my health and wellbeing. The phrase self-care springs to mind.
Whilst I don’t keep going and push through until I make myself ill these days like I used to, I know that I could be so much better than I currently am.
I’ve asked around for the different ways, other women my age, deem as self-care and here’s a list, in no particular order of what your peers are doing.
Self care checklist
Reading – for pleasure or self-development, books are easily portable, you can even access on your phone while driving if you have Audible or take anywhere and sync books with the Kindle app. I’m not too bad at this but it is mostly stuff I link to my business rather than reading to relax. Could do better.
Massage – you need time/money for this so needs to be planned in. But I have no excuse not to tick this one as we invested in a massage chair. I do use it but probably not as much as I could. Another could do better.
Facial/manicure/pedicure – In the words of Meatloaf I’m two out of three ain’t bad on this one. I look after my skin – gone are the days of waking up in yesterday’s make up! I would like to book in for a salon facial more regularly though. My nails are polished 99% of the time so I tick the manicure box, but I could take better care of my feet I confess.
Baths – the pampering, posh smellies, relaxing music and candles type. I have got out of the habit of having these lately. I was enjoying having a Sunday evening soak and creating a home spa with a face mask and plinky plonk music. Need to get back into the weekly habit.
Sleep – having spent years not sleeping brilliantly due to stress I really appreciate the benefit of a good night’s sleep. During lockdown we used our holiday/social money to buy a new bed and switched to Egyptian cotton bedding – bliss! One thing I could improve in this department is to not have my phone by the bed, switching it off earlier too.
Journaling – I’m a big believer in the power of journaling. I don’t do it every day but use it as a tool to get clarity around my thoughts and emotions. I write as a stream of consciousness, no editing and rarely read back what I’ve written. I use a nice fountain pen and coloured inks and buy beautiful notebooks for this. I find it really helps me. If I need more than my own thoughts I use oracle cards to give me a helping hand.
Time – this could be alone or with friends. It depends on whether you’re an introvert and recharge your batteries with solitude or an extrovert and need other people to give you a boost. I’m more introverted now than I’ve ever been but need a bit of both. I’ve recently discovered that means I’m an ambivert. I’m making a conscious effort to check in with friends and meet up socially so this one gets a tick.
Exercise – walking, going for a run, the gym, swimming yoga etc all came up. I get a big fat cross for this box. I’ve never been big on exercise. I used to swim but not done that for ages. Yoga has been on my ‘list’ for ages, and I’ve started following YouTube tutorials a few times but not kept it up. I’m starting a physio Pilates class on Thursday, so I’ll see how I get on with that.
Nutrition – so this is about looking after yourself with what goes in your body. I’m giving myself a big tick for eating largely unprocessed food, cooking from scratch most days and drinking around 2 litres of water a day. Where I fall down is with alcohol. I do like a glass of wine or a gin and tonic and probably have more than the recommended weekly units. The trouble with a little tipple is when you’ve had more than one you want some crisps or cheese…it’s called balance lol.
How do you prioritise yourself?
I know that I'm not alone in not prioritising myself as much as I could do. Most of my clients come to me because they've got to a point in their lives where they are fed up with putting themselves at the back of the queue. Their priority has been looking after the family and they've had no time for themselves.
They all have different ‘final straw’ moments that make them bite the bullet and value themselves enough to get in touch. For some it’s been business related. They recognise that in order to step up in their career they need to be more visible or put themselves out there on social media. For others it’s more to do self-worth and putting themselves first for a change.
How to dress with confidence
On the whole all my clients really want is to look nice and feel good in their clothes. They’re so done with not really being 100% certain whether or not things work for them. They want to KNOW for sure and DRESS WITH CONFIDENCE. To be able to DITCH THE DOUBT and clamber out of the rut they’ve found themselves in.
They finally become their own NON-NEGOTIABLE project and want my help.
If you’ve been thinking you’ll wait until you’ve lost weight, the decorating is finished or all those other things that are getting in your way watch this video.
It might be the thing that helps you decide to just seize the day. You could be heading towards summer feeling AWESOME.
Shift your wardrobe from ok to awesome
Lots of food for thought there as we move into the new season.
If you feel like you need a kick start and a bit of help to get you on the right track with moving your wardrobe from ok to awesome you might want to think about treating yourself to my Project FAB! Retreat which I describe in the video and is taking place at the end of this month. We’ve got Mother’s day coming up too, maybe get the kids to chip in and help you make that investment in yourself. It’s an ideal opportunity to get bespoke 1:1 advice from me, in person, in a small group setting. A one stop shop to getting your colours, shapes and style sorted with a charity shopping experience and dinner/cocktails thrown in. If you fancy having a no obligation chat with me about it please book a session in here.
Share this post: