Shutting off the brain is difficult especially for anyone trying to accomplish goals, care for others, and maintain healthy relationships. There are always task lists roaming around in our minds. First off, you might want to thank your brain for helping you to constantly problem-solve; it keeps you creative and able to produce a lot of valuable things. However, sometimes we need to tell it to stop because our bodies need rest.
(I would know, I’ve written about rest and self-care multiple times here already)
Have you heard of warrior poses in yoga? Just like the name, these are poses that make you feel strong and confident like a warrior. They are meant to energize your body.
It turns out that there is one pose, the child’s pose, that is sometimes called the Warrior 4. If you are not familiar with yoga, the child’s pose involves kneeling and collapsing over your knees with your head on the ground (like in the picture). It reminds me of worshipping in surrender. In yoga, this pose is meant to be one of rest (and a deep stretch). Child’s pose is considered a warrior pose because it takes a lot of strength to recognize your need for rest and actually allow yourself to rest. But even if there was no Warrior 4, no matter how many warrior poses you do, at the end of a yoga class, the instructor brings everyone to a resting position. Why? Even warriors understand that at the end of their fight or hustle, they need rest. What more of you?
Why your self-care is equally important to your hustle
Self-care is what you intentionally do to take care of your emotional, mental, spiritual, and physical health. I like to think of it as rest and play. It is not over-indulgence in activities, and it is not doing something to avoid another. In other words, the reason why you might feel guilty about wasting time binge watching TV shows or scrolling through social media when you really want to be working on your project is because you are avoiding. Your avoidance leads to procrastination, which in turn leads to over-indulgence in something pleasurable. Do you see the cycle? Do you know how all of this can be stopped?
By giving yourself permission to take breaks along the way to do energizing and restful activities while also accomplishing your tasks list. This means intentionally incorporating rest/breaks throughout your day and/or week (and life) so that you are constantly balancing being productive and playing. At the end of the day, you feel less stressed and you accomplish more.
How do you make self-care a part of your lifestyle?
- Set the intention – Be intentional, as in immediately after you read this article, tell yourself, “(Name), I give you permission to let go of your need to be productive all the time and include self-care in your life. It is a good thing for you to take a break when you need one.”
- Create a list of restful and energizing activities – Now that we both have your permission, take a sheet of paper or open a word document and write out a list of things you enjoy doing. These can be energizing, relaxing, or mundane. Have a variety of short to long activities such as prayer, having moments of silence, exercising, talking to family or friends, cooking, sleeping, reading, singing, watching a funny video or a movie, taking showers or baths, coloring, listening to music, etc. These are things that you don’t find exhausting or draining, rather they replenish you. Keep writing until you run out of ideas. Place this list somewhere you can see e.g., on your refrigerator, on your computer desktop, etc.
- Take short breaks during your day and do those activities – Think through a typical day for you and note when you have natural breaks. Also notice when you start getting tired. Give yourself mini breaks throughout your day e.g., 5 to 15 minute breaks. Check your activity list from #2 and do one of these. Your goal is to give yourself a break right before you are tired. Think about it this way, by the time you get tired, you are out of resources, hence you’ll need more time of rest to get replenished. When you take a break right before you’re tired, you are giving yourself a boost which increases your energy resources. For people who work 9 to 5 hour jobs and only have one 30 minute or 1 hour break, you probably already do this when you find yourself looking at your phone or going to talk to a co-worker (which is not the same if you are working from home). Try being more intentional with what you do during that short break and during your lunch hour. Additionally, your time from work to your home is a natural break that you can spend not planning, rather enjoying your drive or walk home, catching up with a friend on the phone, or connecting with God.
- Your brain will remember your task list when you sit down to work, but if you really have a hard time remembering, carry a notepad with you or have a document on your electronic device where you can jot down project ideas and thoughts as they come to you. This way you aren’t over-taxing your brain by storing things in there.
- Plan weekly activities – Let’s look a little broader at your week. This is where you want to do the longer activities. If you are someone that plans your week ahead, pick a day or two when you will do one of those activities you wrote down. If you are not a planner, think of a day when you can do one of those activities. Try to get your loved ones involved. Part of enjoying life as you accomplish your goals includes being with the people in your life.
- Get a good night’s sleep – This is probably the most important point. Get enough sleep at night. For people who are constantly thinking of solutions, it is so easy for sleep to be hijacked by your mind trying to make sense of everything and come up with more solutions. The good news is when you sleep, your brain naturally organizes your thoughts, cleaning out what you don’t need and keeping the good stuff. This is amazing and such a relief. So, when you lay down and your thoughts start going wild, again go to my first point and say, “Brain, I give you permission not to stress on these solutions right now because you got this anyway. Right now, it’s time for us to sleep.” You’ll be surprised at how the more you redirect your thoughts to sleeping, the less you will worry.
Lastly, my bonus tip is that you plan quarterly and/or yearly vacations to take a break from all work. This gives you rest and time to get a clearer focus on why you are working so hard. So friends, take the time to take care of yourself.
Awesomely great methods
Great!
These are great! Thank you 🙏🏽
It’s my pleasure!
Nice one