End-of-year wellbeing and self-care
End-of-year wellbeing and self-care
Top tips to care for you
December brings a new level of busyness for all of us. It seems that every deadline must be met now and where boundaries become invisible to those who all of a sudden realise they need to produce before we break. Mix this with a rise in social events, end of year celebrations, and every feeling between ‘I want to avoid’ and ‘I can’t wait’ and it is no surprise many of us feeling a little frazzled. This post is written to encourage you to feel empowered so you can realise you can do this. Whether you are the one running around trying to get everything done or you are the one trying to maintain your Zen while preparing to stop and take a break, I’ve collated my top tips to help you navigate your end of year wellbeing to place self-care at the heart of what you do.
1. Reminder to self: Self-care is not a dirty word. Yep, it’s true! Now's the time to practice some kindness to yourself and look at establishing some routines that are right for you right now. Self-care is all about establishing, protecting, and maintaining your wellbeing. And my mega tip, it will not be just one thing that helps you and it doesn’t have to be big either! So, you might look at a combination of things you can do that help you…so for me it’s a nice green tea in a cool Melbourne cafe for “me time”, mindful walking where I just take in the smells, sights, and space of nature, time with people who energise me and reading a new book slowly and steadily over a number of weeks (aka health, relationships and meaning shining for me here in these examples). What might be your combination of must have self-care routines, your non-negotiables?
2. Breathe. I know many of you will roll your eyes here, but a really deep belly breathe does wonders for anchoring us. It slows your heartbeat, helps you become present in the moment and allows you to really connect back to you with awareness and attention. It is all about giving yourself permission to slow down. You can use an app, listen to a guided mediation, or be self-guided with a strategy. You can do it for as little as 30 seconds or as for as long as you need. And you can do it anywhere…I’ve become accustomed to making sure I do it around those who have perhaps embraced the end of year busyness a little too much!!! To get you started here’s one quick strategy you can do anywhere, anytime:
4x4x4x4
Breathe in through your nose for 4 seconds
Hold for 4 seconds
Breathe out through your mouth for 4 seconds
Repeat 4 times
3. Give yourself permission to slow down and stop. And this means no email on weekends and on your break (you really don’t need to check it 24/7…hello, yes, I’m talking to you, I know you do it!) Stopping allows us to rest, and rejuvenate physically, emotionally and mentally. And even though we have cultivated (unhealthy) habits in working all the time, a break actually makes us more productive. We allow our ideas to process, and we can identify what really is important in the work we want to do and how this connects to our why. It is amazing what you discover you do not need to do, where you energy is spent, and how much thinking and processing improves when you actually stop.
4. Be curious and open to how you can extend your self-care toolkit of resources across a variety of areas of wellbeing (for example relationships, meaning and engagement, physical health and exercise, or positive emotions) and how you can create a habit for these to be a part of your life. I think about Charles Duhigg’s work that highlights we can cultivate a craving that cue’s a routine that in turns has a reward that then creates a habit cycle…for example leave your runners by the front door with your running gear so this cue’s your exercise routine in the morning with the reward feeling energised from the effects of the physical exercise). The end of year break time is a great time to explore and create opportunities in self-care habits and routines.
5. Mindset reminder: Be gentle to you. It’s not a race. You can learn with and from others, but don’t compare yourself to others. We are all unique.
6. It is ok to say “no”: Boundaries are a biggy at this time (personally and professionally) so remember you have the right to say no with what you do, who you do it with and/or for how long you do it.