Part of my Now Is My Time agenda is to take time to do little things for myself. Last week after a conversation with a wise person, I decided that when I reach those moments where I don't have anything immediate to do, but feel I should be accomplishing something, that my new goal is to ask myself "What can I do for myself?" instead of "What can I do for the house?" or "What can I do for the family?" That's a challenge. But I am taking it on. My needs are at least equal to things I can do for the home or family. So I'm totally changing the way I think of and process To Dos.
I've been trying to think about little pleasures that are important but sometimes get pushed aside for other priorities. All these things make me feel happier and healthier, so they are all valuable. I thought I'd share ten of them because I bet they are pretty enjoyable to a lot of kalanicut readers too. Tell me which are your favorites in the comments.
2) Bathing - Here's a link to a post I wrote on the benefits of bathing. After a little study, I was inspired by how truly therapeutic they can be.
3) Think Before You Get Dressed - I have found that I feel a big difference when I take a few minutes to put together a thought-out outfit rather than just throwing on clothes in the morning. When I add nice shoes or jewelry and put just a couple minutes more thought into getting dressed I feel much happier. It only takes a little thought to look a lot more pulled together, even if you are just running errands. There really is no reason for us to feel dumpy. My friend inspired me on this one. The Dress Up Revolution came about from a conversation with a San Diego wedding planner.
4) Curl Your Eyelashes - Curling your eyelashes just makes everything seem brighter and one looks a lot more awake. I like to add a little eye brightener around the insides of my eyes as well to give me a wide awake, enegerized smile.
5) Put lotion on before bedtime - I have visions in my mind of women putting on lotion before bed while talking to their husbands about the day from many TV shows and movies. I have a feeling maybe Carol Brady of The Brady Bunch used to do that. The luxury of going to bed with well-moisturized skin is a great one, which takes little time and gives your skin a chance to repair and keep more youthful looking while you sleep. Just be sure you are using a lotion without a lot of bad chemicals in it. That can be more destructive than helpful. As natural as possible is a great way to go.
6) Invest in good quality moisturizing products - Speaking of quality moisturizing products. It's worth it to invest and buy good quality products. Look for all-natural ingredients in all your beauty and body care products - and remember you only have one body and it deserves the best care you can give it!
7) Buff Your Skin - New, young skin grows when old dead skin leaves. Buffing or brushing the skin teaches the body to keep making beautiful, new cells and helps us maintain a more youthful appearance. The appearance of rough, dry skin adds years to the appearance.
8) Deep condition Your hair - This is one I've been working on lately. There are so many ways to do this from a small mix you can buy at the drugstore to homemade recipes on Pinterest. It takes a few minutes but makes such a difference in helping the hair to look soft, supple and again...youthful.
9) Phone A Friend - A good chat with a friend is pure therapy. I think we often avoid calling friends because we fear they might be busy and we'll feel dumb if they can't talk. But they often need it as much as we do. Talking with friends reminds us that we are all in the boat called life together. Some days it reminds us that we'd chose our problems over other people's problems or it just teaches us that our problems are not as big as we made them out to be. Sometimes it's just great to hear someone say, "Yeah, I've been there. You can do it. Everything will be okay." Even just laughing about some of life's absurdities is enough.
10) Floss, Brush and Rinse - A few minutes of great dental care can be so refreshing. I've loved using a tongue scraper too...crazy how much gunk it gets off the tongue some days. Disgusting. But a pretty, clean mouth is refreshing. I'd also add whitening here. Every once in a while it's a great thing to do. I did that last night. I used to be a total stickler for lovely white teeth and I've let that go just a little bit. Time for a little more pearly white action.
These are all just little loves we can give ourselves. Most of them take less than fifteen minutes and the most any would take is an hour. We can afford an hour to love ourselves each week. It's a small demand when you realize there are 168 of them each week. Surely we deserve one (or QUITE a few more) for ourselves.
I'd love to hear what your little self-loves are. How do you best fit them into your schedule?
image via mca
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