I was watching a Facebook Live last night about Self Care, and Coach Peter said...If you are NOT taking care of yourself, that is being selfish.  Wow, that hit hard because I tend to take care of others, then if I have time (rarely do), I'll do what I need to do.  

I will admit in the past I've haven't been the best when it comes to self care and taking care of myself. Are you? But I've been on a mission for the last month and I've seen a big improvement- in myself! 

10 Minutes A Day- Self Care! 

Something that tends to hold people off from starting down a path of self-care is that they don’t feel as though they have enough time to make that kind of a commitment. They assume that it’ll be hours out of their day that they currently need for other tasks, and they don’t want to cut back that much just to feel a bit better.

But in reality, you don’t need to take a ton of time out of your day to get a self-care routine going. Wondering how? Check out this guide. Just a mere 10 minutes a day will do. Self-care doesn’t have to take up a lot of time. We just need to make that TIME! Finding 10 minutes a day is easy to say we will do, BUT we really need to do it. 

Schedule your 10 minutes

What I've been doing the last month has helped me so much...I SCHEDULE my 10 minutes. Yes, I put a timer on my phone for 7:20 am, and I take that time to do something for ME!  Lately, I've been taking this time to meditate, and OMG, what a difference my day is when I meditate. I've been trying to do 10 minutes in the morning and afternoon.  My afternoon 10 minutes of self-care is mainly writing in my journal, but there are so many things you can do for yourself. 

As little as 10 minutes a day is enough to help you improve your life significantly. 

Switch Up Your Self Care Routine

First, you can spend that 10 minutes a day focusing on one specific thing or something different each day. I tend to do a weekly theme.  You really don't have to put much thought into it- just take 10 minutes to yourself.  

Maybe try to do 10 minutes of meditation on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Then on Tuesday and Thursday, go for a 10 minutes walk around the neighborhood.  As long as the 10 minutes is something you enjoy and want to do- there are no rules on self-care. 

Another option would be splitting it up each day. You can even do five minutes each, mental health and physical health if that’s what you’d prefer. If you feel as though it works better for you, then you can do that

Self Care helps with Mental Health

Similarly, those 10 minutes can be spent on improving your mental health. You can do this by getting in a quick yoga session or any other equivalent helpful stress relief strategy. It can be done anywhere, and as long as you’re giving yourself around 10 minutes, you’re going to do just fine.

It seems insufficient, but if you really push yourself for those 10 minutes, you can do a lot more than you’d think. The days that I do my meditation seem to go by so smooth, and my mood is not in the dumps. I look forward to my time now, and I will stop being selfish and take care of myself- you can do it too! 

Even A Small Amount Of Self Care Goes A Long Way

No matter how much you do a day (hopefully at least 10 minutes), please take the time for self-care. Just remember this is for you!  Don't do things that others (kids) want to do- do something you want to do.  Sometimes we might even have to escape to the bathroom for that 10 minutes of self-care.  I know I've been there and done the bathroom time out for myself.  

It’s certainly better than completely neglecting yourself on a routine basis. Find small time-saving strategies like deep breathing or a quick, brisk walk, and engage on them consistently throughout to week to see how your body and mind respond.