Something that everyone I know struggles with is self-care. We work in a time where it’s easy to get caught up in work, doom scrolling, or just trying to keep up with commitments to family and friends.
I’ve had to employ several tactics in my own life to find a sense of balance, and I’m sharing what has worked for me in this post. I didn’t come up with these tactics, I have merely adopted what I’ve learned from other people. But they’ve made a massive difference in my life, and so I’m hoping that you’ll be able to benefit from one or more of these self-care tactics. And what's really great is that one can incorporate several of these tactics while doing your red light therapy routine!
Read on and find out if any of these five self-care rituals might fit into your life!
Meditate for mindfulness
A few years ago I read a book called “10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works.” Despite the long, unwieldy title, the book explored the journey of Dan Harris, an American broadcaster, who had, famously, suffered a panic attack while broadcasting live on television.
Through his journey to find a way to recover from his on-air freakout, he “stumbled upon an effective way to rein in that voice,” the one that tells us things are, decidedly, not okay. That method: mindful meditation.
The book did not promise to cure me; instead, it showed me the means by which I might find myself getting slightly better, bit by bit, with very little effort. And the fun part is that it really worked!
Over the past few years, meditation with a focus on mindfulness has helped me to find some sense of peace throughout my days, and helps me to recover when my mind wanders away from the present and tries to trick me into believing that things are not as just okay as they actually are.
With just ten to fifteen minutes each morning, I’ve been able to bring myself a kind of calm, clarity, and focus that I was not aware could exist before I began my morning rituals.
It’s quite a simple exercise. I just find a quiet spot in our apartment where I know I won’t be disturbed for a few minutes, and then close my eyes, focusing on my breath. All I do is breathe deeply through my nose and exhale through my mouth. And if my mind wanders, I don’t try to focus on bringing it back, I just look at where it’s going, while continuing to breathe and, eventually, I work my way back to focusing on my breath.
It’s a remarkably simple means of reducing stress, increasing my awareness, and has given me a far deeper well of emotional health from which to draw on when needed.
If you want to give it a try, there are apps that will guide you through the process, or you can just breathe and use a timer. I found that Dan Harris’ quick introduction to meditation on YouTube was all I needed to get started. Give it a try!
Take care of your skin and your soul
In the 90s, popular culture introduced the term “metrosexual” to us. It was a snarky way of describing men who took care of themselves; something that the originator of the term saw as vain and narcissistic. The idea, though, started to make sense to me. Despite what pop culture may have thought of me, I decided it was actually a pretty good idea to start taking care of myself, especially my skin.
Men and women alike can benefit from the ritualistic aspects of skin care. I think of it as my zen time, where I’m just quiet and focused on the task at hand. My ritual involves shaving with a safety blade, using shaving soap and a brush, followed by other skin cleansing practices. When one takes the time to care for one’s skin, it can really start to become a kind of grounding experience with the added benefit of having great skin when you’re done!
By just using a gentle cleanser to wash away impurities, and then using a moisturizer, you’ll start to see the benefits quickly. The act of washing is calming and cleansing, and the results speak for themselves.
You'll also find that red light therapy can help a lot with skin care. Studies have shown that it can increase collagen production, reduce inflammation, and boost lymphatic function.
With just a few minutes each morning, you can practice self-care with a skincare routine that sets you up for more positivity throughout your day. It’s a wonderful and very worthwhile thing to be kind to yourself, and it will reinforce just how important it is to practice self-love and acceptance.
Write it down and leave it there
In my closet is a large, plastic, hefty box that contains journals I’ve been writing in since I was a tween. In them, you’ll find teenage angst poetry, the ramblings of a grunge-obsessed teen, the frustrations of a twenty-something parent, and the realizations of a man who found out he did not actually know everything.
Throughout my life, journaling has been the means by which I blow off steam, self-reflect, and try to express what I’m thinking, feeling, and doing. I use a pen and paper. My sister prefers her laptop. It doesn’t matter how you choose to do it, but just the simple act of putting thoughts to words can be incredibly therapeutic. This is your safe space, your non-judgemental zone for processing and releasing your feelings.
What’s great about journaling, especially for someone like me who has to adhere to specific sentence structures all day long, is that no structure is required. You can write about whatever comes to mind. Sometimes nothing does, in which case, just writing words nonsensically can get you started.
You may end up writing about your hopes and dreams; your goals and aspirations; your fears and regrets; or your thoughts and behaviors. Either way, as a part of your daily routine, you’ll soon find greater self-awareness and emotional maturity. It’s all part of taking care of yourself!
You’ve got to move it, move it
For my entire life, I’ve been physically active. Tennis, hiking, golf, basketball, baseball, mountain biking, squash—you name it, I was doing it. And then, about ten years ago, my body began to betray me.
My knees gave out. Several discs in my spine began to crumble, leading to excruciating pain caused by nerve damage. I got frustrated. Then I gained weight. Then I got more frustrated. Perhaps you’re familiar with the journey.
But, I found that even a little bit of physical activity was absolutely key to me having any sense of positive mental health. I worked with someone that showed me how to stretch properly, and how to keep moving. “Motion is lotion,” she said, and it became my mantra.
For any of us, movement that fits into one’s lifestyle can be the difference between a positive and negative outlook. While I’ve had to change how that’s done, things like yoga, walking the dog, or doing a small workout with resistance bands has not only improved my moods, but has helped me to keep losing weight and feel much, much more healthy. All of this helps to reduce stress, boost my mood, and increase my energy levels.
Perhaps the best one, for me, has been simply walking with no purpose. The author, Henry David Thoreau was a big advocate for this very thing. He wrote, “The walking of which I speak has nothing in it akin to taking exercise, as it is called, as the sick take medicine at stated hours — as the swinging of dumb-bells or chairs; but is itself the enterprise and adventure of the day.”
Sly Stone famously said, “free your mind, and your ass will follow.” But perhaps, if we agree with Thoreau, it’s the other way around. Feel free to give it a shot.
Live and unplugged!
My workstation is a kind of modern miracle. A powerful laptop connected to two monitors, one of which doubles quite nicely as a television or video game station when necessary, the other off to the side, used solely for chat apps and, occasionally, to track food delivery. It is, needless to say, a far cry from my PII 350 tower and the 13-inch CRT monitor that I connected to it in 1999.
Despite the fact that it is my workstation and it does an amazing job in that capacity, it is also my entertainment station. And that is a mistake. As a result, I’ve had to take steps to “unplug” during the day.
For myself, I have the advantage of being a little bit analog in other aspects of my life. I still have my old record collection and I listen to music that way. I am a photographer, and I still use film cameras. And, as I said, I still write an awful lot with a pen and paper.
I’m obviously not a Luddite, but I have had to learn to find the means by which I can step away from the constancy of the images and text on these mind-bogglingly cool boxes of light and coax myself back into the real world.
But I do find that having these things as part of my life has helped me to disconnect from my phone, my computer, and other digital devices.
It’s as easy as just setting aside time to sit and read a book. An actual book made of paper. Or, take the advice above and go for a walk. Start small. Set aside 15 minutes, then 30, etc. With time, you’ll feel the benefits of disconnecting from technology, and reconnecting with your surroundings.
You deserve it!
Those of us with time to give to self-care rituals are remarkably privileged. Not everyone will have time to dedicate to all of these things, but with some practice and perseverance, you may be able to add one or two to your routine and, believe me when I tell you, showing yourself just how much you love yourself will make a massive difference in how you feel.
Just like how red light therapy should always be considered just one aspect of one’s journey to healing physically, mental health and emotional resilience often mean adding more than one means of achieving one’s goals. These tips are a great start. Speaking to a mental health professional is also part of that journey. It’s even more important to listen to experts than it is to take the word of someone like me who has found some tactics. Without the help of mental health professionals, I would not have been able to incorporate these tactics into my life.
All of that is just to say, take care of yourselves, friends. You deserve the very best, and you deserve the privilege that enables you to be your best you.
Do you have other self-care routines you want to share with us? We’d love to hear them! Comment below so we can benefit from your experience. And have an amazing day!
