Tag: Be Kind

7 Self-Care Tips for A Happier Version of You

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Our lives will always have difficulties that others may never understand. We should never forget that even though others may want to reach out to us and help us, the only person who can ever care more about you is yourself: self-care.

To take care of ourselves, we have to know what it is we should be focusing on. In this mini-guide, we look at the 7 essential tips that can help you be the best version of you to tackle life’s great difficulties.

1. Express Yourself Freely Through Writing

Sometimes we need a healthy outlet for our overwhelming emotions. Other times, we want to entertain some thoughts, bounce new ideas, and plan our life.

Journaling gives us a chance to listen and think to ourselves. As a tool, it allows us to speak our minds without the influence of social norms, criticism, or judgment. Deliberate writing has shown a positive effect on reducing anxious feelings and depression. It’s why we see this method repeatedly preached as one of the great ways to relieve stress and practice self-care.

You can learn more about journaling and how you can start one on the URMC website.

2. Enjoy the Sunshine and Fresh Outdoor Air

Without movement, there is no life. We should always be on the go so our bodies can stay active and our minds can be well. The body needs exercise to keep itself healthy and happy.

Simply walking outdoor can provide a lot of benefits to both your physical and mental well-being. You can adopt an outdoor activity like hiking and sailing to make life a little more interesting.

Learn more about walking and exercise, visit HelpGuide.org.

Effects of Sleep Deprivation on Mental Health

3. Sleep Well and Sleep Consistently

When we aren’t taking good care of ourselves, sleep is usually one of the first things to go out the window. Our sleep is unsurprisingly tied to many aspects of our lives.

When we throw our sleep out the window, we also throw our internal clocks out of sync. We might need the next day or the entire week to get back to our normal selves.

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If we sleep well, we can better control our mood and emotions, remember things better, and it also plays a large role in our physical recover as the body makes repairs during this time of rest. Getting better sleep is amazing self-care

You can learn more about sleep and the best practices of it at MySleepyFerret.

4. Eat Well and Keep Healthy Food Around

Food provides the fuel for our body and mind. It gives us the energy to get things done throughout the day. When we put the right food in our mouths, we can feel better and have the energy to accomplish what we set our minds on doing.

We can’t tell you what exactly your diet should consist of since everybody is different. Some research is necessary and speaking to your family doctor or nutritionist is important.

There are some guidelines we can use to help us think critically about what we are eating and what our eating patterns are like. According to the U.S. dietary guidelines of the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, we seem to be taking in too much sodium, saturated fats, and sugars. We can also see from the charts we do not have enough intake of vegetables, fruits, and total grains.

You can also learn more about healthy eating and make a printout of a useful diagram as a reminder of eating healthy at Harvard T.H. Chan.

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5. Take Care of Your Bedroom, and Home to Take Care of Yourself

Our home can be a reflection of our minds. The more cleaned, well-organized, and kept together they are, the better our minds and our feelings toward ourselves can be.

Over time, it’s easy to forget about cleaning our home, and it can get to a point where our homes can make us sick. We can fall ill due to allergies, from food poisoning, or from pollution of some sort.

Much of our lives can be out of our control. What we can control is what is in front of us, and our home is arguably the closest to something we can improve.

Clean the clutter. Organize your bedroom for cleanliness and beauty. Make your bed a place for sleep and sex. Take good care of yourself because you deserve it. At least from there, whenever we have a bad day, we can always come home to somewhere great.

For more information and insights on decluttering your home effectively, check out ZenHabits.

6. Listen to Others and Help Them When They’re in Need

We as humans are social creatures. Without love and support, we suffer terribly. When we socialize and interact with others, we learn from one another and can contribute to each other’s’ lives. The health benefits are real, especially for our mental well-being and self-care.

Fortunately, there are a lot of ways to socialize. You can use social media tools to arrange times for phone calls and meeting in person. You can also visit a local community center or join local social and hobby groups. Who knows. You might find a friend or two for life.

You can learn more about socializing at PsychologyToday.

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7. Do Things That Make Your Life Better

This might seem obvious. Sometimes we need a reminder. It’s easy to let your inhibitions and impulsiveness take ahold of your day. It’s also easy to begin eating unhealthy, sleeping late, sit in front of a computer all day, let your home become a mess, and isolate yourself socially. We know these are inherently wrong. There’s no question about it, yet somehow we lose control.

That’s ok. Dust yourself off and start doing things that make your life better. Whenever you fall off the wagon, you can ask yourself three questions:

  1. Pick a hot spot in your life, like your relationships or career. Ask yourself where are you now?
  2. Where do you want to be?
  3. What obstacles might be in your way, and what can you do about them?
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Asking yourself these questions (maybe in the form of a journal entry like self-care tip #1) can help you break cyclical unhelpful behaviors that make our lives a little worse each day. It also makes you think and find solutions instead of focusing on any negativity that can be holding you back.

When you start taking action and doing things to make you better, we might run into some resistance. What we do might not be perfect, could be wrong or it might not work out, but at least we won’t be in doubt about ourselves.

Final Thoughts on Self-Care

It’s easy to forget the few essential things we can do to truly take care of ourselves. We hope this mini-guide serves as a reminder of the simple things we can do today to make our lives easier, better, and more enjoyable.

Meet the Author

This post was written by Brian Ferret. Brian is a sleep enthusiast who enjoys a good bedtime story. He is on a mission to create awareness on the best practices for sleep. His goal is to educate others on how they can sleep better so they can live happier, healthier, and better lives. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter to learn how you can improve your sleep. You can also visit his website at MySleepyFerret.com.

  • 7 Self-Care Tips for A Happier and Satisfying Version of You
  • 7 Self-Care Tips for A Happier and Satisfying Version of You

Simple Ways to Look After Yourself Better | Simple Self-Care

Realistically, we need there to be at least 30 hours in a day. This twenty-four-hour thing just isn’t cutting it anymore. Life’s just too hectic. That sense of being overwhelmed is affecting one thing: our self-care. Here are a few simple self-care techniques you need.

We’re just not looking after ourselves the way we ought to be, and that’s because we’re too busy to squeeze in the sorts of things that would really benefit our health. Instead, we’re forced to skip the gym, eat microwavable meals, and only catch a few hours’ sleep a night.

It’s horrendous. But it doesn’t have to be like this. Taking better care of yourself doesn’t have to be overly-complicated, time-chomping, or all-consuming, and to prove this to you we’ve pulled together a list of super-simple ways you can look after yourself a bit better. Super-simple.

Get Outside Every Day

According to some scientists, spending time outdoors has been proved to increase our energy levels and give us an increased sense of well-being. You don’t need to hike Everest or anything, just walking around your garden four half-an-hour to have a positive effect.

Stretch It Out

Stretching is such a simple form of self-care. If you’re really pressed for time, then one of the best things you can do is pause for one minute in every hour and just stretch. Stretch it out. Stretch out as far as you can go. It’s one of the kindest things you can do for your body and, what’s more, you can do it anywhere and at any time.

Simple Ways to Look After Yourself Better | Simple Self-Care

Sleep For 7.5 Hours

That’s the dream right there (excuse the pun). This is because sleep deprivation can lead to weight gain, a dwindling attention span, decreased productivity, and a bunch of other things. To counter this, set yourself a bedtime and stick to it. Further, invest in a new mattress, starting with a browse of dormreports.com. You can hang heavy drapes over your windows, stop eating large meals before bed and ban your phone from your bedroom.

Eat Right at Night

If you are one of those people that absolutely cannot resist snacking in the evening (like me), try rethinking your snacking strategy. Things like tart cherries, almond butter on toast, fruit and peanut butter, Greek yogurt, and cheese are all great ideas. They’ll help you out more than candy.

Write Down Your Worries

Nothing is worse for your health than having a brain full of swirling and whirling worries. That’s why we recommend you pull out a pen, and a pad of paper. Get into the habit of writing any worries you might have down. This will free up a lot of space in your mind and let you get on with life, whether that is work, sleep or just general goodwill.

Music Is Life

Nothing in life can take you out of your funk faster than uplifting music. So, the next time you are feeling a little low, find an adequate playlist, press play and then just dance. You’ll find your mood changes and your energy lifts in the blink of an eye.

Simple Ways to Look After Yourself Better | Simple Self-Care

Book More Self-Care

Doing something that’s just for you feels SO good. Heading to a spa, getting a manicure, having your hair done, a massage – all of these things make us feel fantastic, which is why you should book another appointment on your way out of the door. That way you will treat yourself again and not put it off.

Enjoy Compliments

We know this sounds bonkers because compliments are given out with the intention of making us feel good. But the reality is somewhat different. Instead of reveling in a compliment, we deflect them, shy away from them, minimize their meaning, ignore them, and loads of other weird things too. Don’t do this. Seriously. The next time someone compliments you – no matter how big or small it may be – look the person in the eyes, given them a huge thank you and let their words sink in a little.

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Add Some Color

Life is not meant to be grey; it’s meant to be bright and vivid, and fifty shades of colors and the easiest way to do this is to wear bright clothes, paint the walls of your home a brighter color and all that sort of stuff.

This post was written in collaboration. Collaborative writing means that while I have contributed to this post and edited its content and formatting, I am not its original author. By posting this content on my blog, I receive financial compensation. Want to guest post for Jihi Elephant? Learn more here. 

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Get A Better Experience When You Create Your Own Self-Care Challenge

Do you see all of these self-care challenges on Pinterest, but none of them seem to be what you need entirely? Then this challenge is for you because you create it! This self-care challenge is a step-by-step guide to creating your self-care challenge that fits your needs most.

This post may contain affiliate links.

I love making challenges, particularly self-care challenges. Still, it occurred to me that the challenges I create use only my ideas and completely neglect the thoughts of those who are completing the challenge! Maybe my ideas work, but the chances are that I am missing something valuable and unique that only you can bring to the table. Without further ado, let’s make you the best self-care challenge you’ve ever taken part in!

tulip, flowers, mug, magazine; create own self-care challenge

Make A Self-Care List

Every good challenge starts with a list, no matter what the topic is. For this challenge, I’d like you to start by making a list of things and activities that you enjoy, that make you happy, or that soothe you. There are NO rules to this list, make it as long or as short as you’d like and include whatever you want! I spoke to a group of my colleagues, and we put together a small but decent list of ideas if you are feeling stuck!

  • Wood-making/widdling
  • Bath/spa session
  • Yoga
  • A new fragrance (maybe a new one each week or month?)
  • Upbeat, love, or empowering music jam (in the car or at home)
  • Painting/drawing
  • Schedule 10 minutes of “me-time” either before bed or in the morning
  • Sculpting
  • Run or walk
  • Meditation
  • Mindfulness
  • Chocolate! (or your favorite snack)
  • Wear your favorite color or outfit
  • Watch comedy
  • Eat a balanced meal
  • gratitude journal

Timing your Challenge

Now that you have made your list of possible items, you need to pick a time frame. How long will your challenge last? One week? 12 days? A month? Three months? When deciding your length of time, be realistic. If you plan for more than is practical, your challenge will most likely fail! Another thing to keep in mind is that it takes about 21 days to create a habit, so if you wish to build a regular self-care practice, start small and work toward a 30+ day challenge! Another thing to keep in mind is that your self-care does not have to end when the challenge does, keep re-creating challenges, or re-using old challenges to continue further!

Now that you know how long it will last, you can start assigning your list to the days of your challenge. It is not uncommon to assign an activity to a specific day (ex: day 1: take a bath, day 2: light a candle). However, I highly recommend picking the date you will start your challenge and start assigning the activities to the actual date (ex: March 1: take a bath, March 2: light a candle). To make this easier, I created a document to help you plan out your challenge!

When you are assigning these activities, do not shy from using activities multiple times or not using everything on your list! Utilize the activities that you are most able to complete on that day. You could assign the more time-heavy activities to weekends or days you do not work.

Complete Your Self-Care Challenge

Now that you have created and planned out your challenge complete it! This is the most important part of the process! Go through your challenge and learn from it. By the end of the challenge, you’ll have a better idea of how to create future challenges and improve on the one you just made! Don’t be afraid to make changes as you go, sometimes things just don’t work out. Shorten, lengthen, or change up your challenge to make it most productive for you!

Get The Create-Your-Own-Challenge Template When You Sign Up Below!

My Self-Care Challenge

For the purpose of this post, I decided that I needed to create my own self-care challenge too! I am moving, and I plan to start this challenge the first day in my new apartment! I also decided that my challenge would be a 2-week challenge or 14-days. Check out my finished challenge below!

Elizabeth Self-Care 14-Day Challenge
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Embracing Self-Care Even When It’s Hard

There are many times in life when suddenly your ability to care for yourself goes out the window. In a flash, all of your learned habits become extremely difficult to uphold, and before you know it, you are letting yourself get behind with your own self-care. When this happens, however, it is best not to let yourself beat yourself up about it – as this will only actually make it worse in the long run. Instead, you should aim to get yourself back on track – not by deriding yourself, but quite the opposite – by taking positive steps in the right direction. Given that these circumstances are usually stressful or out of your control, it can be hard to do this – but still entirely possible with the right approach.

Dealing with Life Situations

First of all, you need to make sure that you are actually dealing with the life situation which has caused you to put your self-care on hold. This is important for a couple of reasons. Firstly, if there is something like this in your way, it is a good idea to get it out of your way  – and that means solving the problem, if possible. Secondly, your life situation is not separate from your ability to care for yourself but instead wound up within it. By dealing with the one, you are also helping the progress of the other. Fast solutions are best. If the situation is a divorce or a break-up, go for out-of-court solutions to get back on track faster. If it is the death of a loved one, grieve properly. Deal with your reality.

A Lesson on Self-Love: The Importance of Loving Yourself

Putting Yourself First as Self-Care

Usually, in times of stress, we have a tendency to look to others for guidance, leadership, and support. This is natural, healthy and to a certain extent useful. But if you have started to notice that you have probably been playing too much emphasis on others, then you might want to remember to try and put yourself first. This means stepping back, taking a moment to ask yourself what your own opinion on the matter is, and doing whatever you think to get your self-care back on track. You are the most important person in your self-care, so this is a hugely valuable thing to bear in mind.

A Lesson on Self-Love: The Importance of Loving Yourself

Being Kind to Yourself

If you are someone who often derides yourself for feeling a certain way or failing to be always positive, it’s helpful to learn not to engage in that behavior. Ultimately, it doesn’t help. What does help is to be as kind to yourself as you can manage so that you can look after yourself both now and in the future? You will find that this makes an enormous difference, so it is really worth thinking about. The kinder you are to yourself, the more likely you are to be able to embrace your self-care – exactly when you need to do that the most.

This post was written in collaboration. Collaborative writing means that while I have contributed to this post and edited its content and formatting, I am not its original author. By posting this content on my blog, I receive financial compensation. Want to guest post for Jihi Elephant? Learn more here. 



Ebracing Self-Care Even When It's Hard

4 Ways to Improve Your Self-Esteem

If you want to experience a happy and healthy life, then self-love isn’t just incredibly important, it is necessary. Of course, it can be difficult to practice self-love sometimes if you don’t see yourself in a positive way. While it is common for people to have low self-esteem, it isn’t okay. So, you should do everything that you can to improve it. If you aren’t sure how to go about doing this, then keep reading for some helpful tips.

Take Care of Yourself

It can be challenging to feel great about your appearance if you aren’t putting very much effort into it each morning. Of course, there are plenty of people that can throw on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt and be ready to take on the world. But if you’re not one of these people, then consider switching things up a little. You could try a new hairstyle, invest in a new wardrobe, or experiment with a new makeup routine. You should also put some effort into maintaining a skincare routine. Exercise and eating healthily will also help to make you feel better mentally and physically. This is true even if you aren’t trying to lose any weight.

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Pursue Your Passions

If you are stuck in a job that you hate, then your self-esteem is naturally going to plummet. To combat this, invest some time into doing something that you love. You never know, it might even turn into a career. For example, if you’re passionate about singing you could go to a few karaoke nights, start a YouTube channel, even release your own music. You could then use a company like Nationwide Disc to make physical copies of your tracks. This is incredibly productive and is something that you enjoy doing and know you’re good at, so your self-esteem will improve.

Socialize with Positive People

If you’re looking to boost your self-esteem, then the last thing that you need is to be around people that criticize everything you do. There is no shame in cutting negative people out of your life. It’s difficult but they may be a partner, family member, or friend. Those that truly love you are happy with you the way that you are. Instead, stick with those that make you feel good about yourself, and build new relationships with others that do the same.

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Stop Comparing Yourself

Everyone compares themselves to others every now and then, whether you’re comparing the way you’re dressed, your successes, or your failures. Unfortunately, while this may give you a little boost every so often, it will usually point out the fact that you aren’t the same or “better” than someone else, which will only ever bring you down. No two people are the same, and they’re not supposed to be, so stop trying to be the people around you and focus on what you’re doing.

It can be challenging to know how to boost your self-esteem, but it is an incredibly important part of self-love. Hopefully, with the tips above, you’ll find it a little easier.

This post was written in collaboration. Collaborative writing means that while I have contributed to this post and edited its content and formatting, I am not its original author. By posting this content on my blog, I receive financial compensation. Want to guest post for Jihi Elephant? Learn more here. 

4 Ways to Improve Your Self-Esteem

5 Self-Care Tools To Amplify Your Self-Care Regimen

Self-care is a big deal and should be taken seriously. If you are not going to invest in yourself and your happiness and fulfillment, then what will you invest in? The following products are great investments to help amplify your regular self-care regimen.

Massage Tools

Most people don’t have the money nor the time to head out to a masseur when they get a bit of pain or tension in their back. However, you can still fix the problem and feel the benefits of a good massage by investing in a massage ball. A massage ball is just one of many self-massage products that you can find on the market right now, so why not try it out for yourself?

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Journaling for Self-Care

Another great investment in yourself is to Journal. Journals are fantastic for helping you process your thoughts and clear your mind of stress. When you take the time to sit down and process things in writing, you will get a better perspective on the things happening in your life. Here are some of my favorite journaling tools:

Invest In A Quality Mattress

You spend hours of every day sleeping in your bed. The mattress you sleep on will, therefore, have a big impact on how you feel throughout the day. With the right support, you will surely feel better. ChooseMattress is a mattress brand that will help you to have fewer aches and pains each day. The condition of your spine is vital, so do yourself a favor and make this upgrade sooner rather than later.

Self-Care Candles

Scented candles are perfect for relaxation, so why not invest in some for yourself? You will really benefit, and it makes those moments of relaxation in your home even more relaxing and enjoyable. We all know that those moments are few and far between when you lead a busy lifestyle, so why not make the most of them? I LOVE candles and recommend them to everyone. Read more about setting up a relaxing bath for the ultimate self-care experience here.

Fitness Gear

If you really want to be kind to yourself, you should try being physically active. To make it that little bit easier and to give yourself some much-needed motivation, you should buy yourself some fitness gear. Becoming physically active is one of the most beneficial forms of self-care because it not only strengthens your body, but it also strengthens your mind!

Looking after yourself sometimes comes at a price, and what better thing to spend money on than your mental health and happiness? Each of these tools will help your wellness in different ways, so be sure to make the most of them next time you want to treat yourself.

This post was written in collaboration. Collaborative writing means that while I have contributed to this post and edited its content and formatting, I am not its original author. By posting this content on my blog, I receive financial compensation. Want to guest post for Jihi Elephant? Learn more here.  



5 Self-Care Tools You Need

10 Quick and Easy Ways to Practice Self-Love

Self-Love is so good. Not only is it essential to feel comfortable and happy in your own skin, but it’s essential to build confidence in all areas of your life. There are endless ways to practice self-love, but here are 10 of my favorite self-love practices (in no specific order, of course). This post may contain affiliate links.

Meditation | How to Keep Calm During the Holidays

Meditate

Meditation. For some people, this word or idea is intimidating or unappealing. We often think of meditating as sitting cross-legged on a yoga mat humming “OM” to yourself. If you want to meditate this way, go for it! But that is not the only way to meditate!

Meditation is essentially emptying the mind while practicing intentional awareness. This doesn’t have to be done sitting on a yoga mat. You can meditate while walking, or while eating a snack. All you should do is focus your energy and attention on something like your breathing, the taste of your snack, or the wonderful nature around you!

Maybe try taking a walk without your phone or your dog—just you and nature. Or you could mute your TV commercials and eat a cracker. While eating this cracker, eat it slowly and pay attention to all the flavors and textures. Do some deep breathing while lying in bed or in the bathtub. Mix it up and do whatever works for you!

10 Quick and Easy Ways to Practice Self-Love

At Home Spa Time

This is quite a popular way to practice self-love. It’s popular because it works! Set up your own personal spa with a beautiful bath, face mask, candles, and whatever else relaxes you! Learn more about creating the best bath for relaxation here!

Setting up the perfect bath and adding other little relaxers to the environment is a great way to settle down after a long day of work! And once you’re soothed, you can’t help but get an amazing night’s sleep! Which leads to number three.

5 Easy Holiday Self-Care Practices

Sleep

Get enough sleep! I cannot drill this enough, if you follow my posts, you already know what a huge fan of sleep I am. I encourage everyone to get the recommended eight hours of sleep as often as possible.

A sleep-deprived brain does not function normally. In fact, a sleep-deprived person functions as if they are too drunk to legally drive. Showing self-love meanings taking care of every aspect of yourself, including safety and mental functioning. Get enough sleep to avoid putting yourself at risk and to help clean up your mental functioning. Check out this post on creating a bedroom for better sleep.

Eat Well

Everyone knows, taking care of yourself generally includes eating well. Now, I’m not suggesting you never have dessert again. I sure couldn’t do that! But make sure you’re getting the nutrients and calories you need to be healthy! Avoid too many sugary foods and greasy foods and try to instead eat more fruits and nuts.

Included in healthy eating is drinking water. Water is so important for both physical and mental health. A dehydrated body is not a healthy one. Be sure to drink several 8-ounce glasses of water each day!

Eating well is such a great way to practice self-love because you are showing yourself that your health is important and that you want to feel healthy and happy!

Self-Love Ideas

Light Candles and Set the Mood

Set a relaxing scene to help you wind down from a stressful or busy day. Setting the mood works well with the At-Home-Spa. After coming home from a stressful day or work, light a few candles, dim the lights, diffuse lavender, or whatever else relaxes you! By setting a relaxing environment, you are setting yourself up for relaxation.

Allowing yourself this time or relaxation or relaxing environment is so good for an evening wind-down. Not only is it great to feel relaxed, it will help you sleep better and ultimately, feel healthier.

Find a Hobby You Love

Unfortunately, we can’t all love our jobs, and even if we did, a hobby is so fulfilling. When you do something you love, simply because you love it and you can, you will feel full and ready for the next challenge life throws at you.

Simply living a work to home and repeat kind of life is exhausting and you will eventually burn out. If you break up that cycle with something you love, you will be amazed at how much happier you really will be!

Now a hobby doesn’t have to be fishing or painting. You might collect something or exercise, perhaps you enjoy walking and looking at flowers regularly. It’s all perfect! Just break up the mundane with some fun! Trying exploring your interests, hobbies can be nearly anything, for example, backpacking.

Unplug

Spend some time each week or even each day to completely unplug. When I say unplug, I mean completely unplug. No TV, no internet, no social media, no Netflix, no nothing. Just you and a book or the laundry, maybe a spouse or close friend. Allowing yourself some social media detox time will feel amazing, trust me. Try it!

We are constantly bombarded with visual stimuli in the form of tweets, emails, videos, etc. It is so exhausting to never get a break from the non-stop notifications. Give yourself a break and allow a mental reboot. Put your phone away for a half hour each night!

Self-Love Ideas

Keep Clean and Organized

I understand, not everyone cares about keeping clean or keeping organized, but it is so good for your self-care and is a form of self-love! Living in chaos often leads to feeling chaotic. Even though some people thrive in chaos, chaos increases stress.

Decreasing stress through organization and cleaning is easy! Try starting by organizing one area of your life at a time. Start with your dining room, then, once you’ve got the hang of that move on to your car. Start small and work yourself up to the bedroom or your purse, maybe even your files.

Once you have gotten organized, your stress will decrease. How can reducing unnecessary stress be bad!? Give it a go, maybe you’ll surprise yourself!!

Practice Good Posture

Slouching promotes sluggish and lazy feelings. Have you ever tried sitting up straight for a day? Your confidence, focus, mood, and physical well-being is guaranteed to skyrocket! Granted, physical results won’t be immediate like the emotional and mental results will be.

Sitting up straight after being so used to slouching is not easy on your body. It’s not easy because you are using muscles differently and are using new muscles entirely! But go talk to your chiropractor, sitting up straight is SO good for you!

Back to emotional and mental results, as these will be almost immediate. When your body is up and alert, you can’t help but feel better and feel alert as well! Ever hear about using exercise balls at your desk instead of chairs? They not only work your abdominal muscles, but they force you to sit up straight, improving your posture, and help you feel more focused and confident.

I can’t think of a reason not to give it a shot!

Self-Love Ideas

Embrace You

Everything I’ve talked about so far is an activity—a regular practice. But number 10, embrace you, is so much more than that. Sure, embracing yourself is something to be practiced regularly. But it is also a frame of mind, a way of life. Embracing yourself is perhaps the most important of these self-love practices, and if you take nothing else away from this post, I hope you understand the importance of accepting yourself.

How do you embrace or accept yourself? That’s a good question that has a different answer for everyone. For some people, embracing who you are means to let go of a concern for other’s opinion of you. For others, it might mean accepting your flaws a beautiful. And for some, accepting and embracing means finding the motivation to become who you want to be instead of who is expected of you.

Acceptance is 100%, without a doubt, completely up to you. No one can do it for you, and you ought not to put it off. The sooner you love yourself unconditionally, the sooner you will feel joy from life. But it’s difficult, and only you can define it.

You’re not alone in this journey, we are all looking for self-acceptance. We are in this together. So, let’s love ourselves together!

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10 Quick and Easy Ways to Practice Self-Love

A Lesson on Self-Love | The Importance of Loving Yourself

In some ways, you could consider self-love to be the same as self-esteem. However, self-esteem tends to be more about how competent and effective we feel we are. Whereas self-love is more about acceptance and loving ourselves just the way we are.

In society today, we expend a lot of energy looking to external solutions to fix internal challenges. For example, we hit the high street with our credit card for some retail therapy to compensate for any rejection or loneliness we feel inside.

A Lesson on Self-Love: The Importance of Loving Yourself

Then, on a more extreme note, we can find ourselves spending hours searching for the best personal loan companies to buy material things to “keep up with the Jones.’”

In addition to material things, we often look to another person to feel loved. As John Gray (author of Men Are From Mars Women Are From Venus) puts it, we first need to fill ourselves up with self-love, so that we are overflowing, rather than clambering onto our partner, in dependence. Like two thirsty people in an arid desert trying to squeeze love out of the other. Such a situation is a recipe for codependency. It is sure to lead to an unfulfilling retaliatory relationship where love is offered and received almost on a transactional basis.

When searching to feel loved, it is easy to end up chasing people that do not value us. It can sometimes become almost addictive. This chronic state of neediness comes from a place of low self-worth and low self-esteem. This lack of self-love is where we are not able to value ourselves enough to feel comfortable; meaning we look to others to fill us up.

The truth is that nobody can ever truly love you until you truly love you. 

A Lesson on Self-Love: The Importance of Loving Yourself

As trite as it may sound, the only way to feel truly happy is to have inner happiness, and that happiness or self-love will not come from getting the latest and greatest.  It will come from being happy with who you are, as a person, and grateful for the life you have.

Self-love could be re-phrased as self-acceptance. When you accept yourself as you are right now, and love yourself just for being you (despite your flaws, despite your failures, and despite your past poor decisions) your life truly begins to open up. Unfortunately, it sometimes takes a mid-life crisis or traumatic divorce to break us down. A bit like Humpty Dumpty, to allow us to build ourselves back together, we need glue (aka self-love).

A Lesson on Self-Love: The Importance of Loving Yourself

Louise Hay, one of the world’s leading experts in this area of self-love states:

“To me, love is a deep appreciation. When I talk about loving ourselves, I mean having a deep appreciation for who we are. We accept all the different parts of ourselves—our little peculiarities, the embarrassments, the things we may not do so well, and all the wonderful qualities, too.”

One way to learn to love yourself is to practice self-care. Some ways to practice self-care include yoga, take a bath, meditate, and Journal. Learn more ways to practice self-care here.

How do you practice self-care? 

This post was written in collaboration. Collaborative writing means that while I have contributed to this post and edited its content and formatting, I am not its original author. By posting this content on my blog, I receive financial compensation. Want to write a post for Jihi Elephant? Learn more here. 

A Lesson on Self-Love | The Importance of Loving Yourself

30 Days of Yoga for Self-Love Challenge

One of my goals for 2018 was to do yoga regularly. Regularly can be defined as almost every day and consistent. I have not been doing a great job at keeping up with this. I chose yoga because I enjoy it, I can do it at home, and it is so good for physical and mental health. For these reasons, I have decided to challenge myself to 30 days of Yoga for Self-Love, and I would like you guys to join me! Yoga isn’t your thing? Try my other 30-Day Self-Care Challenge! -Care Challenge!

This post may contain affiliate links

yoga stretch

Why Take Part in The Self-Love Challenge?

The main reason you should take part in this self-care challenge is to feel better. Everyone knows that physical activity and exercise is so good for your general well-being. SO, practicing yoga for 30 days with me is a fantastic way to show yourself some self-love. The yogi who will be leading this group is a wonderful person. She has always brought yoga to a level that works for everyone, and she promotes growth and effort. She is the perfect leader for those of us who wish to practice yoga, but are not very good and tend to fall out of every pose at least twice.

yoga pose

How Do I Take Part in this Self-Care Challenge?

To take part in the challenge, all you will need is access to YouTube. My absolute favorite YouTube yoga channel is Yoga with Adriene, and she puts out a new challenge every year. We will be using her videos for the challenge. Access her playlist here. Now, Adriene started her challenge January 1st, but you and I will be starting whenever we want (I recommend right away for all procrastinators out there ;).

If you want to keep track of your mental and physical progress throughout these 30 days, I recommend you get access to my resource library where you can download a 30-Days of Yoga for Self-Care printable to help you track your progress.

yoga pose

But I Do Not Have a Yoga Mat…

So what? Do you have a floor? PERFECT! That is all you need to join me for some self-love! However, if you are on carpet, I recommend taking your socks off, so you do not slip—I’ve made that mistake before! Adriene is excellent at recommending household items that can be used during your practice to help you.

So what are you waiting for? Do you want to practice some bomb self-love or self-care? Grab your laptop or phone and join me in 30 days of yoga for self-care!

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  • I have decided to challenge myself to 30 days of Yoga for Self-Love and I would like you guys to join me! Check out my 30 day challenge here!
  • I have decided to challenge myself to 30 days of Yoga for Self-Love and I would like you guys to join me! Check out my 30 day challenge here!
  • I have decided to challenge myself to 30 days of Yoga for Self-Love and I would like you guys to join me! Check out my 30 day challenge here!

Meditation | How to Keep Calm During the Holidays

Meditation is one of those commonly misunderstood forms of self-care. This post will talk all about meditating to stay calm and to lessen anxieties during the holidays.

The holidays are a hectic time full of great times, but also full of stress and anxiety. It can sometimes be hard to stay calm and avoid these feelings. When experiencing holiday anxiety or stress it is important to find a way to combat it. There are countless ways to do so, one of the most effective forms of holiday relaxation is meditation and mindfulness.

What is Meditation?

Meditation is often thought of as a religion. While it is used by religious people and has ties to religions such as Buddhism, on its own it is not a religion. A good resource for learning more about meditation, or self-examination, is Gaiam. Gaiam states, “Meditation is an approach to training the mind, similar to the way that fitness is an approach to training the body.”

So, meditating is all about your mind. There are many ways to meditate. One way that we will focus on is mindfulness meditation.

Meditation | How to Keep Calm During the Holidays

How Meditation Will Help Calm During the Holidays

Mindfulness meditation refers to a focus on experiencing what is going on. You focus on your body and your mind and you become aware and mindful of your surroundings and how they influence your body and your mind. Learn more about how to practice mindfulness meditation here.

So how exactly will self-examination help to keep you calm during the holidays? Well, it’s like yoga (in fact, yoga is a form of meditation really), so it allows you to be aware of how you’re feeling. And the more you practice it, the more in tune with yourself you will become.

Once you can recognize the incoming holiday stress or anxiety, you will be able to then practice self-examination to counteract those negative feelings.

Meditation | How to Keep Calm During the Holidays

Meditation Using Yoga

Yoga is most definitely my favorite form of meditation. Yoga places a huge focus on breathing and being aware of what you are feeling in your mind and in your body. Finding time in your schedule to do some quick yoga is super beneficial!

One of my favorite yoga practices is done at home. YouTube has a plethora of yoga videos, but Yoga with Adriene is my go-to. I particularly enjoy her 30-days of yoga challenges.

Now that you know a little bit more about meditation, check out 30-days of yoga challenge and get a FREE printable to track your mental and emotional progress.

Read more about Holiday Self-Care here.

Have a great idea? Want to write a post for Jihi Elephant? Head over here.

Meditation | How to Keep Calm During the Holidays

How to Create the Most Relaxing Bathroom

Creating a relaxing bathroom design is essential if you enjoy unwinding in the tub after a long day at work. The last thing you want is a bathing space that is not fit for relaxation. This post will provide a few hints and tips for the most relaxing bathroom.

Improved Bathroom Lighting

Most people find the lights in their bathroom to be too bright when they sit down to relax in the tub. The same is often true in bedrooms as well. So, that just means you have to think outside of the box when it comes to planning your bathroom lighting. You have a light fitting inside or outside the bathroom that controls the electricity to that socket. Why not swap the switch for a dimmer? You can even purchase smart dimmers that you manage using your phone. That means you can adjust the level of illumination without getting out of the tub. Of course, you should always choose items that use LED bulbs rather than the traditional alternative because they last longer, and they don’t use as much energy.

Alternative ways to get dim bathroom lighting are the use of candles or fairy lights.

How to Create the Most Relaxing Bathroom

Bathroom Heating

Nothing is worse than sitting in a hot bath when the room is cold. The parts of your body under the water will feel fine, but you’ll still be tensed and cold. With that in mind, be sure to think long and hard about the heating system in your bathroom. Two solutions tend to work well across the board. However, one of them is far more expensive than the other.

Firstly, you might consider investing in a heated towel rail that you can fit on the wall in your bathing space according to the guys from http://www.warmup.ca. This option is cheap and won’t break the bank. If you have a larger budget, you might consider opting for underfloor heating. Just contact appropriate companies to obtain some quotes.

Another few ways to keep your bathroom warm for those of you who rent or live with roommates or your parents is to use a space heater or turn the heat up entirely. Space heaters are fairly cheap and you can turn them off and store them easily between baths. Another easy option is to simply cranky the heat in your home while you bathe. Last, the use of candles might be enough to warm the room for your bath while simultaneously providing a calming environment.

How to Create the Most Relaxing Bathroom

Call The Bathroom Experts

Once you finish making your plans, it’s time to get in touch with a reputable bathroom specialist. Of course, this is not necessary if you choose to heat via space heater, but if not, do not make the mistake of trying to perform the job without assistance or professional knowledge. Doing so might mean harm to your person, flooding, or electric issues.

Renovation professionals from http://mayfieldrenovations.com/ and other sites say that you should always ask to see a portfolio before spending your money. That is because some experts are better than others, and you don’t want to waste your money on someone who isn’t going to achieve your dream. If you struggle to find a suitable firm, simply ask family members and trusted sources for recommendations, read online reviews, or post a question on social media or online forums.

If you manage to follow the tips and tricks from this article, you should have a relaxing bathroom in no time. When all’s said and done, nothing is wrong with thinking outside of the box and trying something unique. So, make sure you put a lot of effort into the planning stage and leave no stone unturned!

How to Create the Most Relaxing Bathroom

What are some tricks you use to make your bathroom the optimal space for a relaxing bath?

This post was written in collaboration. This means that while I have added to this post and edited its content and formatting, I am not it’s original author. By posting this content on my blog, I receive financial compensation.

How to Create the Most Relaxing Bathroom



Dealing with Loneliness: Living By Yourself Far Away From Home, Family, and Friends

Everyone gets lonely, especially when you are in a new town far away from those you know and love. It’s hard, very hard. And sometimes it’s even emotionally draining. Here are some tips to help you manage loneliness when living by yourself far away from home, family, and friends.

Go Out Often (AKA Don’t Pout at Home)

This is the one that I struggle with most. I am an introvert, a hardcore introvert, and I prefer to be at home. Sometimes when I get offers to go out, I turn them down because I had plans to relax on my couch and do nothing by myself. But other times, when I say yes despite every bone in my body wanting to turn it down, I have an amazing time and I no longer feel so lonely. If you’re an introvert like me, going out and spending time with people is really hard and you have to be intentional. But, it is so very worth it in the battle against loneliness.

Dealing with Loneliness: Living by Yourself Far Away from Home, Family, and Friends

Be Friendly When in Public

I think this is something people take for granted in general. When we are out and about running errands we get tunnel vision and forget about all those other people around us. I have found that this mentality only feeds loneliness. When you don’t allow yourself to see and interact with those people, you forget they are there and you feed your loneliness. However, if you see these people and provide a passing smile or acknowledgment, you are more likely to walk home a little less lonely. Maybe you can even try to spark up a conversation with the person checking you out at the grocery store.

The other day, I was dropping off a return package at the post office. The post office always seems to be one of the least friendly places on my list of errands. The people seem to want you out as quick as possible. And I accept that and make a point to tell them to have a nice day. This makes me feel better, but it’s not very helpful because the people don’t care. However, this day I was dropping off my package and there was a massive line.

As I stood in the line I observed the workers, one of which was striking up a conversation and being kind to everyone. When it was my turn, he was the worker who checked my package and immediately he sparked a conversation with me about old cartoons because he noticed I was wearing an antique Mickey Mouse t-shirt. He doesn’t know this, but I went home a little less lonely that day. Moral of the story, when you acknowledge the existence of those around you, even in passing, you feel less lonely and you could be helping them battle their own loneliness.

Befriend Coworkers

If you struggle with going out and being social like I do, making friends is even harder. And that is why I highly recommend befriending those you are around naturally. For me, making friends by going out and being social with strangers is discouraging, because I just don’t really do it, nor do I really understand how to do it. Because of this, I have learned to instead create my social life around coworkers and peers. Sure, this narrows my hunting grounds, but it also forces me to be nice to and aware of those around me. By befriending those around you, you are battling the lonely in a way that is more natural and easy. Sure, I encourage you to go out and find friends in other ways. But, this is a great way to start, and chances are, you have something in common with your co-workers, I mean, you chose to work or go to school at the same place, right?

Dealing with Loneliness: Living by Yourself Far Away from Home, Family, and Friends

Be Safe

Now, this tip won’t intrinsically help you with loneliness, but it will be useful. When we get lonely, sometimes we accept offers from strangers despite our better judgment because we are trying to make friends and build relationships. This is not a good idea. Do not go out at night alone, do not have strangers over, and do not go over to strangers homes. These tips are common sense, sure. But when loneliness becomes overwhelming, sometimes these ideas don’t seem to back. Be safe.

Keep Busy, But Not Distracted

Sitting at home watching Netflix is the worst idea I’ve ever had since living alone. Doing this just leads to me feeling even lonelier. If you throw Netflix on in the background and clean the apartment, cook dinner, play a game, write a paper, or really anything productive, it’ll affect you far less.

Dealing with Loneliness: Living by Yourself Far Away from Home, Family, and Friends

Regularly Talk to Family and Friends

If you are like me and can’t visit friends or family whenever you’d like, be sure to contact them regularly. I text or snap chat my sisters, parents, and friends almost daily and talk to my Dad and boyfriend on the phone when I am able. This immensely helps! If it wasn’t for connecting with loved ones regularly, I would feel even more alone. But those who know me best are able to encourage me and allow me someone to work my problems out with while I am still making new friends.

Deal with the Emotions

Those lonely feelings are real, and they won’t go away if you pretend they aren’t there. So you’re lonely, that’s okay. Feel those emotions and deal with them. When you get lonely, accept the emotions, and then battle them. This battle depends completely on you, I tend to call or text family or friends when I get lonely, or I’ll pull up a project to work on, sometimes I’ll run to the store simply to be around people. If you’re feeling lonely, don’t suppress—deal with it.

Battling the lonely is REALLY hard, almost cyclical. And when you are in the midst of it, it can be so hard to see a way out. But there are so many easy ways out, try going out, being friendly, befriend coworkers, be safe, keep busy, communicate with your loved ones regularly, and then deal with your emotions.

Have you battled with loneliness? I’d love to hear about how you have gotten through, or how you are getting through it, leave a comment below!

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Dealing with Loneliness: Living by Yourself Far Away from Home, Family, and Friends

12-Day Gratitude Challenge

This week on ElizabethJournals I have been planning an Instagram challenge and I want to share it with you amazing people! The goal of this challenge is to express gratefulness publicly with the hope that it inspires gratitude in those around us.

Being grateful is so so so important and wonderful, which I have talked about before for my Gratitude Artwork post. So if you want to learn more about my journey with gratitude click here.

Otherwise, let’s get to the challenge!

#GratefulWithElizabeth Gratitude Challenge

The #GratefulwithElizabeth Instagram challenge is all about expressing gratefulness publicly to spread that therapeutic grateful feeling. This challenge is 12 days long and can happen at any time! There is no specific date for this challenge, but if you want to participate in the challenge with me, I will be starting Monday, September 11th!

12 Day Instagram Gratitude Challenge | #GratefulwithJihiElephant

One | Something I am grateful for

Two | Someone I am grateful for

Three | A life-changing event I am grateful for (positive or negative)

Four | A memory I am grateful for – #TBT

Five | A state of mind that I am grateful for

Six | A part of my daily routine that I am grateful for

Seven | Something I am grateful for today

Eight | A positive experience I am grateful for

Nine | Someone I am grateful for

Ten | A struggle I am grateful for

Eleven | A memory I am grateful for – #TBT

Twelve | Something I am grateful for

Don’t love a prompt? Alter it to fit you better! The images are completely up to you, what picture really shows what you are grateful for? I will be doing a rundown of my own Instagram posts, after all is said in done, so stay tuned to this #gratefulwithelizabeth Instagram gratitude challenge!

Love participating in #GratefulwithElizabeth? Try practicing weekly Instagram gratitude with me!

You can use the hashtag #GratefulwithElizabeth no matter when you’re practicing gratitude or if you’re participating in the challenge! Let’s spread gratitude!!

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12 Day Instagram Gratitude Challenge | #GratefulwithJihiElephant

How to Love Yourself Better | A 30-Day Challenge

Need to take better care of yourself? I challenge you to 30 days of self-love! For the next 30 days, pamper yourself with this challenge!

Are you up for a challenge!? Awesome! I challenge you to 30 days of self-love! For the next 30 days, pamper yourself! Self-love is so important; I cannot stress it enough! This challenge calls you to spend 30 days indulging and taking care of yourself, working on loving yourself. Self-love is more than just loving your life. It is loving who you are and taking care of yourself. So many people spend their time taking care of others (their spouse, children, clients, friends, etc.). This is great, but we forget to take care of ourselves! Take part in the 30-days of self-love challenge!

So what is self-love? Well, according to Deborah Khoshaba over at Psychology Today, “Self-love is a state of appreciation for oneself that grows from actions that support our physical, psychological and spiritual growth. Self-love is dynamic; it grows by actions that mature us. When we act in ways that expand self-love in us, we begin to accept much better our weaknesses as well as our strengths, have less need to explain away our shortcomings, have compassion for ourselves as human beings struggling to find personal meaning, are more centered in our life purpose and values, and expect living fulfillment through our efforts.”

This challenge incorporates a ton of ways you can implement daily self-love in a small not-so-time-consuming way.

Without further ado…

lady in towel

More On Self-Love & Loving Yourself

Self-love could be re-phrased as self-acceptance. When you accept yourself as you are right now, and love yourself just for being you (despite your flaws, despite your failures, and despite your past poor decisions) your life truly begins to open up. Unfortunately, it sometimes takes a mid-life crisis or traumatic divorce to break us down. A bit like Humpty Dumpty, to allow us to build ourselves back together, we need glue (aka self-love).

Excerpt from A Lesson on Self-Love | The Importance of Loving Yourself

30 Days of Self-Love Challenge

This self-love challenge includes some of my favorite relaxation and self-care activities. But, please, by all means, love yourself the way that is best for you. If you don’t like puzzles but you like story-writing, then write a story on the days I challenge you to complete a puzzle. It’s completely customizable! Let’s get started!

  1. List 5 reasons why you are grateful for today
  2. Lit a candle when you get home
  3. Read 10 minutes before bed
  4. Do a puzzle or creative activity
  5. Stretch for 5 minutes
  6. Spend 15 minutes electronic-free
  7. Drink 60 ounces of water
  8. Get 7 hours of consecutive sleep
  9. Drink a cup of tea
  10. Clean or organize something
  11. List 5 things you are good at
  12. Take a 20-minute bath
  13. List 5 reasons why you are grateful for today
  14. Drink 60 ounces of water
  15. Spend 20 minutes electronic-free
  16. Meditate for 5 minutes
  17. Drink a cup of tea
  18. Stretch for 5 minutes
  19. Clean or organize something
  20. Avoid sugary foods
  21. Do a puzzle or creative activity
  22. Light a candle when you get home
  23. Get 7 hours of consecutive sleep
  24. Journal about your day
  25. Take a 20-minute bath
  26. Read for 10 minutes before bed
  27. List 5 reasons why you are grateful for today
  28. Meditate for 5 minutes
  29. Clean or organize something
  30. Journal about something that you love and why you love it
lady in red and white dress off white background

For this challenge, you will need…

  • An open mind
  • Willingness to love yourself
  • 30 days of commitment
  • A candle or multiple candles
  • A journal or notebook
  • Water
  • Tea, any kind will work
  • Bathtub
  • A leisure book of your choice

And if you don’t have all of this, don’t worry because you can change the challenge to fit you!

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  • Need to take better care of yourself? I challenge you to 30 days of self-love! For the next 30 days, pamper yourself with this challenge!
  • Need to take better care of yourself? I challenge you to 30 days of self-love! For the next 30 days, pamper yourself with this challenge!
  • Need to take better care of yourself? I challenge you to 30 days of self-love! For the next 30 days, pamper yourself with this challenge!

25 Self-Love Quotes

Self-love is such an important topic and practice. And no one is able to love you like you can. These quotes are meant to help you with your own self-care in a little way! Everyone is important and needs some pampering, that includes yourself! Try adding these quotes to images on your wall, write them in your notebooks or on your calendar, they are an awesome way to remind you of your importance to this world! I hope these self-love quotes can inspire you to love yourself more!

Self-Love Quotes

She took a deep breath and let it go.

anonymouse

Your mind is a powerful thing. When you fill it with positive thoughts, your life will start to change.

unknown

If you realized how beautiful you are, you would fall at your own feet.

Bryon katie

I am Grounded. My spirit is grounded deep in the earth. I am Calm, Strong, Centered, and Peaceful. I can let go of fear and trust that I am eternally safe. And I am worthy of all things beautiful.

carly marie

Darling don’t forget to fall in love with yourself first

unknown
25 Self-Love Quotes

Self-Love Ideas

  • Take some time off
  • Take a bath
  • Get a massage
  • Eat some Chocolate

Self-Love Quotes

Be kinder to yourself and then let your kindness flood the world.

pema chodron

I am in charge of how I feel and today I am choosing happiness.

anonymous

Inhale. Exhale.

anonymous

Worrying won’t stop the bad stuff from happening it just stop you from enjoying the good.

eleanor roosevelt

Be with those who help your being.

anonymous

Be in love with your life. Every minute of it.

jack kerouac
25 Self-Love Quotes

Self-Care Ideas

  • Write yourself a love note
  • Take a walk
  • Treat yourself
  • Go out with friends

More Quotes

Admire someone else’s beauty without questioning your own.

unknown

Maybe it’s not always about trying to fix something broken. Maybe it’s about starting over and creating something better.

unknown

ast does not equal the future. It does not matter that you failed yesterday, or all day today. What matters is what are you going to do, right now?

unknown

None of us come to this earth to gain our worth; we bring it with us.

sheri L dew

Forgive yourself for not having the foresight to know what now seems so obvious in hindsight.

judy belmont

You’ll never be happy if you continuously hold onto things that make you sad.

unknown
25 Self-Love Quotes

Want more self-care ideas? Check out these fundamentals.

One small crack does not mean that you are broken, it means that you were put to the test and you didn’t fall apart.

linda poindexter

Your value doesn’t decrease based on someone’s inability to see your worth.

unknown

Chin up beautiful. Don’t let it get to you.

unknown

Choose Happy

unknown

Beauty begins the moment you decide to be yourself.

coco chanel

The real difficulty is to overcome how you think about yourself.

maya angelou

>>Want more self love quotes? Click HERE<<

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25 Self-Love Quotes

How to Set Up the Perfect Bath for Relaxation

You’ve come home from a stressful day at work or school. How do you de-stress? A Bath! Setting up a nice relaxing bath is a science. It requires not only a relaxing bath but a relaxing bath environment. I am here to tell you exactly how to set up the perfect relaxation bath. This article contains affiliate links

STEP 1: Clean the Bathroom

No one can relax in their bath if the bathroom hasn’t been cleaned in weeks. The key here is a quick clean.

First, rinse out the tub! If you do nothing else before a bath rinse down the tub. This is especially important if you don’t regularly clean your bathroom. I have a dog and I constantly find dog hair in my tub that I don’t want in my bath. A quick rinse will get rid of any stray hairs, dust, or whatever else.

You can stop there if you’d like, but I know I can’t relax in my bath without cleaning up just a little bit more. Before a bath, I pick up clutter off the floor.

Lastly, quickly wipe down the countertop. Put away any stray items and run a wet cloth over the countertop

Now you are ready to prepare the bath.

STEP 2: Set the Scene

Next, you want to get candles. Set them wherever you’d like. I put mine on the counter because of the size of my tub. But they are a nice addition to the tub’s edge!

Now, light the candles and dim the lights. However, you don’t want complete darkness for obvious safety reasons. I leave the light on in my bedroom and turn the bathroom lights off for the perfect dimmed effect.

STEP 3: The Bath

You have cleaned up, set the scene, and now it’s time to prepare the bath!

The Base of Relaxation

First, you fill the bath (duh). I like a really hot bath so I crank the heat up! But fill it with a temperature suitable for you. Next, add 1 to 2 cups of Epsom salt. This helps to relax your muscles, perfect!

ConvertKit

Scent

Add a scent next. Lavender is my favorite relaxation scent, but if you prefer something else, focus on that scent. I add a few drops of lavender essential oil to the water. This creates a light lavender aroma.

Add to this aroma with lavender candles.

Fun Additions

If you like a bubble bath, add some scentless or lavender-scented soap. I never have these products available to me. So instead, I add a lavender-scented bath bomb. Then again, sometimes I’ll add both.

If there are other products you’d like to add, now is the time to add them. Otherwise, your bath is all ready for you!

STEP 4: Get In!

This is everything you’ve been waiting for, so get in and ENJOY! The most effective relaxing bath lasts for at least 20 minutes, but don’t look at the clock. Have some quiet, electronic-free ME-time.

Bath Must-Haves:

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  • How to set up the perfect relaxing bath
  • How to set up the perfect relaxing bath
  • How to set up the perfect relaxing bath
  • How to set up the perfect relaxing bath
  • How to set up the perfect relaxing bath