7 Self-Care Routines You Can Easily Add Into Your Very Busy Schedule
…because self-care is just another form of selflessness.
In my very personal opinion, self-care is one of the truest forms of selflessness. Most people perceive self-care as selfish because somehow taking time for yourself to re-charge and re-set is a “horrible” thing to do. And I am here to tell those people why that is a very wrong perception.
As long as we human beings come together and live together in a society, community, our lives will always be intertwined with one another. I have many roles in my daily life because I live in a society — I am a daughter, a sister, a friend, a girlfriend, a confidant, a colleague, and, and, and…. Thus, in order to be the best version of myself in all these roles, it is important for me to take some time out as often as I need so that I can re-charge my batteries. If I am being honest, all these roles can be exhausting and if I don’t allow myself some me-time, then it will be difficult for me to be there for others. A good metaphor would be: I can not quench someone’s thirst when my own jug is empty. The same rule applies to self-care.
However, I am also aware that we live in a very fast-paced world. While the pandemic helped some of us slow down a little, the vaccines and preventive measures are bringing that very busy schedule right back into our calendars. So, taking some time for self-care sometimes means cancelling plans, going to bed later, or missing out on some other things — and if you are anything like me, then you tend to choose that “some other thing” over self-care 8 out of 10 times. But the pandemic re-inforced my belief in self-care and its importance. So, I came up with 7 self-care routines, that I can easily incorporate into my busy schedule and which doesn’t take up too much of my time, but massively helps me to recharge and re-set nonetheless.
I don’t do all these 7 things every day. I choose and combine them as I need and as my schedule allows. Since the benefit I reap from such simple practises are massive, I would like to share them with you — hoping that it may help you too.
For each self-care practice, I have also included my personal recommendation with respect to the duration, as well as some external links that have inspired me to include these practices in my regular self-care practice.
1. Dry Brushing
Annabelle recommends: 5–10 minutes
I love love love dry brushing.
Dry Brushing is the practice of brushing your skin with a skin brush while it’s dry. Personally, I like to do this in the morning, right before I jump into the shower. I start at my feet and work my way up. It only takes me around 10 minutes if I am not in a hurry but most of the time I am done in around 5.
Dry Brushing has a lot of benefits. It helps you shed your dead skin, promotes blood circulation to your skin, supports lymphatic drainage, to name a few. I love how my skin feels after I dry-brush and shower. It helps me to start my day with a good feeling, that lasts throughout the whole day. All you need is a dry brush, maybe some essential oils and 5–10 minutes time.
2. Deep Breathing
Annabelle recommends: 2 — 5 minutes
Breathing exercise is one of the easiest and fastest ways to calm down your entire system. Jay Shetty talks about the importance of breath in his book, podcasts, interviews and blogs and applying this practice was a complete game-changer for me.
I take several minutes throughout the day to simply breathe deeply. While doing so, I focus on how the air feels when I breathe in and breathe out. I am consciously focusing on how the air feels in my nose and fills up my lungs and how my body relaxes each time I breathe all of the carbon dioxides out. There are several breathing techniques that you can easily incorporate into your busy schedule. It only takes you a few minutes at a time but leaves you relaxed and fully energised when you are done.
3. Bullet Journalling
Annabelle recommends: 5 minutes
The first time I realised, how much writing helps me to “unload” my emotions and with it a huge load off of my shoulder, I was 13 years old. These days, I write to get that heavy feeling off of my chest, to put things into perspective and to bring my focus back on the more positive things in life. While I put off proper journaling for when I have more time, I took up the habit of bullet journaling.
Whenever I feel the need to get something off my chest, I write it down. I write down what is bothering me, what I want and what I am thankful for — all in bullet points. It’s quick and dirty but very effective. I write them down either on my phone or on my reMarkable paper tablet. Sometimes I also write when I feel bored. In this case, instead of mindlessly binging away on Netflix, I look for journaling prompts that help me reflect and which I can answer for myself.
4. Scalp massage
Annabelle recommends: 3 — 5 minutes
Scalp massages are my absolute favourite. Especially when someone else does it on me. But my mom lives too far away and going to the hair-dresser every other day is not something my wallet can handle. So, I started giving me scalp massages myself.
Massaging your scalp is good for your blood circulation, promotes healthy hair growth and helps you relax. As a curly head, I only wash my hair 2–3 times a week. My fellow curly heads can also confirm that wash day is an actual “event” and can sometimes be considered a workout in itself. Washing my hair alone takes me at least 20 minutes, so while I am at it, I give myself a scalp massage — preferably with my head bend down (I can hear all of my curly-haired sisters scream ‘amen!!’). In a nutshell:
- I shampoo my hair
- I comb out my curls with my fingers
- Rinse off the shampoo
- Apply conditioner to my hair (not head/scalp!!!)
- Comb out my curls again with a wide-tooth comb
- Rinse my hands to get rid of the conditioner
- Give me a scalp massage with my fingers with my head upside down
- Try not to moan too loudly
Oh, how I love the feeling! It only adds 2 -3 minutes to my already long hair-wash routine, but my scalp feels glorious afterwards and I have yet again sneaked in a self-care practice into my usual routine.
5. Drink a cup of happiness
Annabelle recommends: 10–15 minutes
We all have our own version of “a cup of happiness”. It could be a cup of coffee, turmeric latte or a simple cup of tea. What I usually do is, I make myself one such cup of happiness — sometimes it’s a turmeric latte, most of the time it’s a simple cup of black coffee — and I sit down and enjoy it. I really try to bring my mind back to the present each time it takes off and focus on being present. I pay attention to the smell of my drink, how the warm cup feels in my hand, how it tastes on my tongue and the warm sensation in my throat and stomach when I am drinking it….
…I know, it sounds a lot like I am describing sex, and I promise it’s almost as good…
Being mindful, being present in the moment and focusing on the here and now is also a form of “me-time”. In this fast-paced world, I often find myself worrying about the future, or thinking about what’s on my to-do list for the day, drafting a reply in my head to the E-Mails in my inbox or simply reliving the past (in a not so good way). As a result, I completely miss the moment in the here and now. So, when I am taking a break from work, which is usually 10–15 minutes, I make myself a cup of coffee and consciously try to be mindful of the time that I am drinking it. To me, this is a form of meditation and I always feel a lot better after a mindful 15-minute break than one where I let my mind aimlessly wander off with no control.
6. Moisturize your hands
Annabelle recommends: 3 minutes
In this era of frequent 20-second hand washing and constant hand-disinfecting, your hands can start to look like that of a 500-year-old mummy.
One of the easiest self-care routines that I have managed to make a habit of, is moisturising my hands each time after I wash them. But instead of just mindlessly rubbing lotion into my hands, I pay attention to it. I focus on how the lotion feels on my hand, I rub each of my fingers and try to consciously take in the smell of my lotion. While I do this, I notice the small creases and lines on my hands, how it looks and how the insides of my palms feel. It’s just another way of being mindful, being in the moment and consciously focusing on the present — and all it takes is 3 minutes.
7. Stretch your body
Annabelle recommends: 5–10 minutes
It’s been over a year and a half since working from home has become the norm for a lot of us. I often find myself working 2 – 3 hours at a stretch, in a bad posture without a break. Without a doubt, at the end of a workday, you will find me complaining about lower back pain, or shoulder pain or both to anyone and everyone around me. So I started to incorporate stretching sessions into my very busy schedule.
If I have the time, I will look for a proper 10-minute stretching tutorial or a yoga video that I can follow along. But almost always, I am too busy to do that, so I just get up and stretch my back, my shoulders, my legs and arms for a few minutes, every two hours or so.
Taking the time to stretch and feel your body, and taking a simple moment to be thankful for your body is a very effective form of self-care and self-love. We often forget that we live in our bodies and it enables us to do things in our day-to-day lives. Instead, we compare, we shame and we even hate our bodies for the way it looks. To switch this attitude towards our body to being more grateful for it, loving it and cherishing it takes conscious effort and consistent practice.
So take a few minutes throughout the day to stretch your body while focusing on the things it does for you, day-in, day-out, the things it can do for you, and just be grateful for it. Maybe even give yourself a hug. It helps, I promise!
So, to conclude, self-care is an important form of self-love and an essential factor in helping you become a better person for yourself as well as for everyone in your life. Let me conclude this article by quickly summarizing the 7 self-care practises, that you can easily incorporate into your already busy daily routine:
- Dry Brushing: helps you to feel very good in your skin and improves the blood circulation to your skin.
- Deep Breathing: helps you to calm down your system, be grounded and be in the present.
- Bullet Journalling: help you to unload a “weight” off of your shoulders and put things into perspective.
- Scalp Massage: helps you to relax and increases the blood circulation to your scalp.
- Drink a cup of happiness: stay in the present and truly enjoy the drink — how it smells, how it tastes, how the cup feels in between your hands. This helps you to be mindful and be present.
- Moisturize your hands: this is another way of being present in the moment and being mindful, plus it’s good for your hands that are currently putting up with a lot of soap and hand sanitisers.
- Stretch your body: take a moment, stretch out your body and be grateful for it.
I hope you find little pockets of happiness with each of these self-care practices. I also hope that taking a few minutes every day for yourself will help you as much as it has helped me — to cultivate self-love, to be mindful and to become a better version of yourself, every single day.
