SELF CARE STRATEGIES

I recently gave the following speech to NAMI of the Northwest Suburbs. I thought you might be interested also.

It may seem like a strange way to think about things, but our number one responsibility in life is to take care of ourselves so that we have plenty of energy to care for those we love. 

When we put our own mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual self-care first, life can be much more relaxing and fun! Experts who do research in various areas of life emphasize that the following are necessary to keep stress under control and maintain good health:

1. Get no less than 7 or 8 hours of sound sleep every night. The body uses that sleep time to heal itself and eliminate stress.

2. Before getting out of bed in the morning choose the three most important things to accomplish for the day. Stay focused on these three things.

3. Meditate, pray, or spend quiet time daily for at least 15 minutes. This slows down your mind, reduces blood pressure, normalizes the body’s stress chemistry, and leads to feeling more relaxed and patient during the day.

4. Exercise for at least an hour three times a week. Walking every day for 30 minutes is excellent. Add stretching, aerobics, and weight lifting 3 times/week. This reduces the body’s stress hormones which lead to serious disease.

5. Eat three well balanced meals (protein, vegetables/fruit, grain and carbs) and two snacks every day. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Eat it sitting down at a table and make sure it includes several food groups.

6. Be sure to have fun every day – talk to a friend, listen to music, play sports, read a book, take a walk. This relaxes the mind and releases tension.

7. Spiritually it is important to do work that you love and feel called to do. Money should be a secondary concern. When you enjoy what you do for a living and have fun daily while working, money automatically comes to you. It is important to feel that you are contributing something significant to humanity.

8. Have meaningful, loving, and fun relationships with several important people. Everyone needs to feel loved and validated for who they are.

9. Belong to at least one “group” where people support and encourage each other’s dreams and day to day living experiences.

10. Find two or three very close friends at work – so you have someone to talk to who will really understand your situation. Ask for help when you have questions.

11. Worrying or obsessing is a sure sign you need to make a change of some kind. Find a professional who can help you come up with your choices. There are always at least three choices in any situation.

Never give up!!