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I talk about self care so much that the actual phrase “self care” has started to sound weird when I say it out loud. Kinda like if you say your own name too much and it starts to lose all sense of meaning. But self care has become one of the most important things in my life, especially after the train wreck that was 2020.
But one thing I’ve been really working to remove from my life lately is mindless self care. I feel that self care is talked about SO much and so many suggestions of how we can practice it are presented to us that we kinda forget to remember what it really means. On a deeper and more personal level, what self care means to US.
Mindfulness is something else I’ve been working hard on practicing more and when you combine the two… boy oh boy, it can be an absolute game changer. So today I wanted to share a few ways in which we can be more mindful with our self care. This will be particularly helpful to those who feel like they’re “going through the motions” when it comes to self care and how to practice it.
Here are 5 tips to help you be more mindful when practicing self care:
Listen to your body
And I mean REALLY listen to it. What is it telling you? What is your soul and everything your soul encompasses alerting you to? It’s very easy to notice when we have a headache or stomach ache but it’s time to go deeper. To feel deeper. This is where Yoga practice comes in really handy, as it helps you become much more aware of your body and the sensations you feel. More awareness means that you can act accordingly.
Related read: Yoga With Adriene Practices For Every Mood
Be more mindful of the products you’re using
And let’s continue with this point about acting accordingly. There are an endless amount of products that can aid our self care, from skincare routines to fancy oils to bath bombs. But in order to uplevel your mindfulness in your self care practice, it might be a good idea to start with the products you’re using. Are you using the correct type of products for your skin type? Are you using products with a ton of chemicals in?
This is where the wonderful brand of today’s post comes in very nicely because their amazing range of products are able to aid you in specific areas, depending on your needs. Something that is very helpful and relevant to what we’re talking about today. BetterYou specializes in supplements of various nutrition that have been underrepresented or omitted due to our current lifestyle.
The current products from BetterYou that I’m trying are from their Transdermal Magnesium range. Magnesium helps promote a stronger body and helps relieve muscle tension, spasms, reduces tiredness and fatigue and promotes sleep. 80% of people 65 and over are magnesium deficient and 53% of teenage girls have a gross deficiency. Clearly magnesium deficiency is an across the board problem.
I do a lot of exercise and Yoga so I’m not new to a muscle ache. In fact I have chronic lower back pain and suffer from upper back pain, tightness and muscle aches as well. I don’t think a day has gone by in 4 or 5 years where I’ve not felt some sort of back pain. Through the skin magnesium intake is an effective way to improve magnesium levels and is exactly what I needed.
The range consists of a range of products, from body oil, bath flakes, body lotion, body butter and more. There’s also specially formulated products for sensitive skin and juniors. I received the bath flakes, body lotion and oil and I’m thoroughly enjoying adding them to my routine. I’ve noticed a difference in the tightness and achiness of my muscles with regular use.
Products are Vegan and palm oil free as well as having sustainable packaging made from plant-based plastic. So these really are suitable for most people! Check out their full magnesium range here!
Don’t follow the crowd for the sake of it
A huge part of being more mindful of your self care practicies is not following what everyone else is doing just for the sake of it or because it sounds like the “right thing to do”. Bubble baths are often presented to us as an effective method of self care which will help to relax you but if you don’t like baths… it’s pointless having one. You’re just going to get hot and irritable and feel worse than you did before.
So keep that in mind next time you’re practicing self care. Ask yourself, are you doing this because you REALLY want to or need to? Or just because everyone else said it was a good thing to do on their blogs?
Make your own rules
And very much following on from the point above, self care is about YOU. The SELF. In order to be more mindful about your practice, you need to make your own rules. For this part, it’s worth thinking about; what time of day are you most in need of self care? What practices work well for you and what can you eliminate? What areas of self care are you struggling the most with?
Related read: 4 Areas of Self Care You Should Be Focusing On
Don’t neglect the difficult stuff
And finally, self care isn’t always pretty. Self care is NOT always a Insta-perfect bubble bath with candles and a good book. Sometimes, self care is messy. It’s difficult. It’s heart-wrenching and heart-breaking. But I urge you not to neglect the difficult stuff. Self care can often be painted as a light and fluffy way to take care of ourselves but when you get to the root of it, it goes MUCH deeper than that.
I learned a lot about that when I started life coaching last year. One of my sessions went really deep into something I didn’t even realise was a problem. I uncovered a lot about myself and it was one of the most powerful self care sessions I’ve ever had. And yes, it was messy. And uncomfortable. But vital.
[…] Related read: How To Be Mindful With Your Self Care […]
Hey Jenny, you made an important point, i.e., without mindfulness, self-care measures become fads that everyone follow but no one stick with. The form of self-care you choose needs to have a deeper personalized meaning and value. Plus, a great fan of magnesium lotions.
Yes totally agree!
[…] it properly. For example, we can reduce the level of stress we experience by asking for help, practice adequate self-care and setting […]
[…] How To Be More Mindful With Your Self Care […]
[…] on what’s working, what’s not and what you need from your self care. We need to be mindful when practicing self care because so often we can follow the crowd without considering whether what we’re doing is […]
[…] Metallica. It’s each to their own as far as I’m concerned as it’s important to be more mindful with your self and not just follow the crowd for the sake of […]
This is a fab post Jenny. Self care is useless if it doesn’t actually push us forward (in my opinion). Even if it’s only pushing us to help change a mood from grumpy to happy, or pushing us to make tiny changes to our lifestyle for the benefit of our health. It’s so important that we work out what works best for us and helps us grow. I’m really passionate about the self care routine I’ve developed over the last year, and I can feel it helping me be a better person, too.
Beth x Adventure & Anxiety
I totally agree, Beth. It’s utterly useless if all we’re doing is what everyone else is doing when we actually hate it!
Love this! 100% agree that it’s so important to listen to yourself and the types of self care you need
Katie | katieemmabeauty.com
It really is 🙂
This was super helpful! Self care is so important to me especially since last year. I think self care is such a popular subject now and everyone has advice about it but I think it’s such an intimate and special thing and there’s no one way or one method. Thanks for sharing x
http://www.lynnmumbingmejia.com
I totally agree. It’s great to take suggestions but at the end of the day, it’s personal to you!
These are some great tips. My mum uses magnesium spray for her legs to help with the muscle pain and she says it helps soo much. Maybe it’s something I need to invest in for my back. I’m the same as you, i don’t remember a day it hasn’t ached. xxx
I definitely would! It’s been amazing for my back x
The post was really good!
We always tend to follow the crowd instead of listening to ourselves (I do it often), so that part was helpful to me. Overall, the post was fruitful.
Thank you, glad you found it helpful 🙂
Self care is super important and can take so many forms x
Thanks for sharing, all these points are important when it comes self care esp. with what is going on at the moment 🙂
Thank you 🙂
Excellent points Jenny! It’s messy not just cozy. I love the emphasis you place on the Self; we are not all the same. I e dove lots of self care and you always need to go deeper.
Totally agree! 🙂
Haha, I love a good bubble bath. But I absolutely agree with not following the crowd. We can get inspiration from other people and see what they are doing and we can test it out, but if it does not work there is no point in continuing with it. Good point!
Oh so do I! I could spend hours in the bath!
I love this perspective on mindful self care! It really is so true that self-care can become more routine than anything and begin to lose any effectiveness. Thank you for sharing about the products as well. I hadn’t heard of these before!
Thank you 🙂 x
Lovely tips! I think I need to listen to my body more so I don’t hit burnout before practising some self-care.
Tash – A Girl with a View
Good idea, my love! 🙂 x
Yes! It’s so important to remember self care is about you! Not about following the trends or doing what’s cool but doing what benefits your mind and body! Some really helpful tips as we enter another season where self care is super important!
I totally agree 🙂 x
Lovely tips!! So important to do whatever works for you. It’s easy to get lost in the self-care advice and choose methods that do not fit one’s needs!
I agree, so much! It’s not one size fits all!
My own self care has come on a long way since this time last year. I didn’t realise how much I was putting myself on the back burner untl I was forced to stop. That’s one good thing that has come out of this pandemic changing our lives!
Rosie
I totally agree, it’s made us consider ourselves a lot more!
It’s so easy to forget that self-care is about yourself and listening to your body rather than fancy face masks and bathbombs. Sometimes I just need to sit in the shower for twenty minutes and think.
I used to love the body spray when I did bootcamp, it helped with muscle aches and cramps so much.
Cora | http://teapartyprincess.co.uk/
I agree, bathbombs are great but they can’t fix the real stuff!
I definitely need to be better at self care because I’m not great at knowing what I need! The products sound amazing, I’m going to have to look into them 🙂 xx
Holly | http://www.gollymissholly.uk
I’d say take it one section at a time, for example think about how you feel physically first. What hurts? What aches? And go from there 🙂
Some fab tips, I’ve used this Magnesium range and really liked it, especially the Bath flakes. They really do help x
I love the bath flakes a lot!
Great tips! Self care is not a one-size fits all kind of thing. And at different points in our lives, we need different things. Paying attention is so important. We cannot take care of others or be our best selves if we make a habit of neglecting our own person…body and soul.
I totally agree!
Yes girl! This is so so important👏👏 thank you for highlighting what self care really is!
Thank you 🙂 x
I love this post and you’re so right in everything you say!! It’s so important to listen to your body completely xx
Thank you 🙂 x
Fantastic advice here. I agree with not following the crowd. Everyone’s self care looks different, I personally don’t find bubble baths relaxing, so they would be a terrible form of self-care. With everything that has been going on, I think self care is more important than ever and it’s just as important to find what works and doesn’t work for you. You really don’t want to do a self care routine that makes you more stressed just because someone else says it works for them.
I agree, self care isn’t supposed to make you feel more stressed haha!
Great post Jenny! It really is important make sure whatever you do do for self care, is for you and not because someone else has said to do it. I’ve written posts myself on self care in the past, but at the end of the day it really is down to you and what you find relaxing. The BetterYou products sound great as well. x
I agree. I love hearing people’s suggestions because they do help but if you try something and it doesn’t work that’s totally okay too!
This is such a great post and reminder of what self care truly looks like- honoring your own boundaries!
I definitely agree with your comment of speaking about self care so much that it starts to lose meaning. Sometimes, I play way too much pressure on practicing self care, as opposed to trusting my intuition and body to let me know.
Thank you for sharing!
Totally agree. I think the phrase “self care” is very loose and meaningless these days!
Great tips!! Good for you for doing a lot of Yoga. I started doing Yoga, and it was good experience. I need to get back to it with exercises.
Thank you. I’ve recently fallen back in love with Yoga.
Love what you said about not following the crowd! It’s so important to remember what works for one person might not work for another. I’m definitely trying to make sure self care is a priority this year xx
Tiffany x http://www.foodandotherloves.co.uk
Definitely. It isn’t a one size fits all sort of thing!
I love how you said about not following the crowd when it comes to your self care, that’s so true. My self care routine is probably so different to others, but it’s what my routine and that’s all that matters x
Lucy | http://www.lucymary.co.uk
Exactly, that’s all that matters!
I am so happy about your point of not following the crowd because I HATE bubble baths! I hate wallowing in hot water, I much prefer a shower. Seriously though, being mindful with self-care is a bit of a light bulb moment – something we all need to pay attention to. Great tips, Jenny, thank hou! x
Hahahah! I love a wallow xD but fair enough if you don’t! We definitely all need that light-bulb moment.
The flakes were also such a top seller when I worked in pharmacy however I haven’t tried them myself before xx
They’re amazing, such a good addition to my routine!
I really enjoyed this post! Such a lovely brand with great products. I love that you pointed out about not following the crowd, it’s honestly such an important thing to do. My life genuinely changed when I stopped basis what I was doing and how I was feeling on the actions of others x
Absolutely agree. Taking others suggestions is great but if it doesn’t work, that’s fine!
Some great tips here Jenny. I especially love the don’t follow the trends one. Some people love a face mask for self care but personally I’m not a huge fan. I like them for what they do to my skin but it’s not always an enjoyable thing for me if that makes sense. I do love a good bath though I must admit!
Kayleigh x
https://hazelnutmusings.co.uk/
I totally get that! There are a ton of things I do for the benefits but don’t necessarily enjoy!
Woah, I have probably never realized that just about everything I do for self care is because it goes with the crowd. I really needed this advice. Thanks!
Rudie- https://blabberlytwist.wordpress.com
I’m so glad you found this post then!
Great tips! I feel like ‘self-care’ has turned into a buzz word where we’re constantly being inundated with how to ‘do it right’. However, most of those videos and articles fail to acknowledge the fact that it’s going to be different for everyone. What I need may be completely different from what you need, and that’s okay!
I totally agree, the actual term “self care” has become a bit meaningless these days x
These are some really helpful tips. Choosing self care options that you will enjoy is so important. I’ve seen so many people doing things just because its become a trend but that’s not what true self care is about. I’ve never tried anything from Better You before but it sounds like such a great product.
They’re such a great brand, would highly recommnd!
These are good tips. I agree with point no.2 the most. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you 🙂
Some great tips here! I think that listening to your body and not following the crowd go hand in hand, they’re really great points. Self-care is definitely a priority for me at the moment, and mindfulness too!
Anika | chaptersofmay.com
Totally agree 🙂 x
This was such a great read Jenny! I always give it for granted that I take enough care of myself, but sometimes i just push it under my to do list and don’t do it. I am not a huge fun of baths, but last year I started to search deeper what I liked. I am more than happy with a book, a scented candle and nice mask to take care of myself.
I will take on your advices and dig deeper, maybe even try yoga and mindfulness! Thanks for sharing x
Oooh I hope you give Yoga a go! It’s my favourite thing in the world x
Great post Jenny. I think self care should be more of a priority for us this year than ever before. I always promise myself that I will make more time for it but I am rubbish at following through on that.
This year though I have actually scheduled time for it, I wake early to exercise now and actually write in my diary for any other activity I need to do for me. 10 minutes a day to journal, Tuesday Thursday and Sunday are 2 hour bath with a book. Saturdays I schedule time with my step daughters to wash their hair, blow dry and straighten it, It is a form of care for them and great bonding time for us. I want to develop the idea of self care for them even at such a young age.
Acknowledging what we need is so important x
That’s amazing that you’ve scheduled this time into your week and found such helpful activities for you and your family! x
Nice and correct ways to care about yourself. I especially like the fact that you emphasize that this is very individual, so testing & learning what one might like is a necessary step in self-care.
I agree 🙂 It’s a very individual thing!
Such an interesting post! Self care is such a difficult subject, since it’s more than lighting a few candles. Some research into the products you’re using makes such a difference 😁
I agree, you don’t want to be putting a load of rubbish on your skin!
This is such an amazing post! I totally agree that it can be so easy to just do what everyone else is doing, but it’s unlikely to work for you because we’re all so different and need different things xx
Hannah | https://luxuryblush.co.uk/
Thank you lovely 🙂