How to create self-care rituals that work for you!

Self-Care has now become a hype word among consumer goods, alongside a ‘treat yourself, you deserve it’ style campaign. Self-care can be a face mask. And of course, girl, run yourself a bath, enjoy a bath bomb and a new moisturiser, If that’s what you love! But to us here at Inflow taking time to care for yourself goes skin-deep. Self-care is about giving yourself the time to care about no other than you. It's about taking time to care about what you’re currently going through in the season of your life. Care about the emotions that are coming up. Care about what you want to achieve over the coming months and care about what you want to let go of from your past or present.  It’s about truly caring for you and honoring whatever you need to do in a moment to experience true love and care, from your one and only, you!

Ask yourself what is something that your currently doing for yourself, every day with no other intention but because you care and love you?  

If the answer is, nothing. Don’t worry, we're about to teach you the importance of self-care and what it means and how to create a self-care ritual that helps you come back to you, and feeling your absolute best not just for when life happens but for your every day. 

How to create a self-care ritual that works for you…

Self-care straight from the Oxford dictionary is the practice of taking action to preserve or improve one's own personal health. The benefits of creating a self-care ritual can include higher feelings of self-worth, understanding personal emotions, increased clarity, more self-love, less judgment, and lower stress levels. 

By now I'm sure you're thinking, that's all well and good, but what does a self-care ritual entail? With this, just like anything in life, there is no size fits all.  It's about finding something that you love, that makes you feel cared for, and something you can easily do every day. 

To get clear on this, take a moment to answer the following questions:

How much time do I have in the day to dedicate solely to myself? 

What time of the day is best for me to carve out some me-time? 

What makes me feel really good?

What am I doing when I feel most me and most aligned?

What makes me feel energised?

What do I wish I had more time for?

What makes me feel relaxed? 

What makes me smile? 

Some of these answers might include: watching the sunrise, feeling the grass in between my toes, the first sip of a frothy cappuccino in the morning, running a bath. Sitting by myself for 10 minutes in the morning before the kids wake up. 

Once you've collated answers to the above questions, you'll see a clear theme arise of what it is that really lights you up, really makes you feel good and as self-care states, improves your health. 

Now ask yourself: How much time can I stick to every day when it comes to creating a daily self-care practice?

This might mean only doing 20 minutes of Pilates a day, or sitting by yourself in the sun with your favourite herbal tea for 5 minutes. Be realistic and then, schedule it in. What time is it best for you to complete this daily ritual? Is it in the morning, lunchtime, late at night, whatever serves you best schedule it in your diary and keep it as an important commitment to yourself to show up every day.

Remember, when it comes to self-care it's all about you. Ask yourself at any moment, what do I need right now? Your daily ritual of Pilates for self-care may change to a morning of a slow walk because that's what you need. Get in tune with you, you're the boss of your self-care routine. 

We would love to know what you're doing every day for your self-care routine. Share it with us over on Instagram at @inflowactive.