Self Care 101 – Recovering From A Long, Stressful Day

At the beginning of the pandemic, we might have romanticised the idea of working from home – about how we’d relax ourselves to life – as opposed to working ourselves to death.

We daydreamed about the number of skills and hobbies we’d be able to work on, the number of movies we’d be able to watch, and how we’d be living a pretty good life away from the office.

Unfortunately, our daydream bubbles soon started to pop in front of our eyes, and we started letting go of our dreams and aspirations. Instead, we started using up all our energy in juggling office and housework while struggling to keep our sanity intact.

The trouble here is – that we need self-care now – more than ever!

Pandemic-related stress has led to unhealthy weight gain or loss, too much work or the lack of it, managing finances, and the list goes on and on – all at the same time!

And when we fail to put proper stress management techniques to work, we risk burnout, listlessness, unhappiness, ill effects on our physical and mental health.

So if you find yourself craving some good self-care tips and stress management techniques to recover from a tough day or week or month, you’ve stumbled onto the right place.

Here are some self-care tips that will help you relax and get your mojo back. (Sadly, treating yourself to a pizza isn’t enough.)

1. Indulge in Hydrotherapy

The benefits of hydrotherapy are numerous. And fortunately, the ways you can indulge are too!

• A hot shower will calm all your senses, relax you, and wash away the troubles of the day. But make sure you don’t waste water while you wait for the perfect temperature to jump in. Bonus: It will also help improve the quality of your sleep! After a long day, this self-care tip is one of the best ones you can use.
• If you’re not up for a bath in the evening, you can prepare a warm bath for your feet. While going for a pedicure isn’t safe now, you can always DIY and #dify! Fill a bucket with lukewarm water, add some relaxing soap or shampoo to the mix, with slices of lemon and some flowers for natural aroma and let your feet do the calming!
• Need to let off some steam? Try the magic of facial steam! This self-care tip comes with a guaranteed sigh of relief. Taking warm steam right before bed will work as a great stress relief technique and give you sweet dreams.

If you don’t have a facial steamer, don’t worry it’s easy to DIY one. Fill a pan with water, bring it to a boil, add aromatic ingredients from your kitchen or garden if you want fragrant steam. Then sit comfortably with the pan at a safe distance from your face. Cover your head with a towel and bend slightly over the pan as the water lets off some steam – and helps you do the same!

2. Disconnect from all screens

Remember the good old days when we didn’t have our screens to kill time, and we plugged in our walkmans then stared into the ceiling smiling? Well, neither do we. Our technological growth has been so immensely powerful that without them, we feel somehow incomplete. The problem is that these devices can take a lot of our energy, leaving us exhausted even if all we’re doing is laying in bed and scrolling through our instafeeds!

So at the end of a long day, try this self-care tip and disconnect from all types of screens. This works brilliantly for stress relief. As you blissfully stare into the void instead of your screen, you’ll regain your sense of calm. It might feel weird at first, but trust that you’ll reap the reward of peace sooner than you’d expect.

3. Go for a walk in a nearby park

The benefits of being among trees are plenty! They make you feel good, fill you with awe, and make you more compassionate towards yourself and others. At the end of a stressful day, all you might need is to pour your energy into beauty, kindness, and compassion to feel alive again.

Go to a nearby park or your building complex or locality and take a walk under the shade of the trees, pet dogs, and willing cats on the way. A simple walk in the outdoors can work at any time of the day and is one of the best self-care tips you can practice.

4. Do something for yourself

When we’re working for other people all day – be it your bosses, colleagues, or family members, it’s good to take out some time to do something purely for yourself.

We bet you’ve been dreaming and saying, ‘I wish I could do that’ for a long time. So why not start now? Pick a hobby or a skill you’ve always wanted to learn or polish and #doitforyourself!

Even 10 minutes a day that is devoted wholly to ‘me time’ can magically transform your week!

5. Create and maintain a nightly routine

Even though our entire days are devoted to working, no one controls what we do at night. Take this opportunity to make the best of your night with this stress management technique. Instead of binge-watching a series and feeling even worse the day after, try maintaining a rejuvenating nightly routine that allows you to be ready for the next day.

Include things like:

• Changing into your night clothes
• Journaling to get all your thoughts down so you don’t stay up tossing and turning till 3 am
• Brushing your teeth, washing and moisturising your face
• Washing your feet and taking a steam to speed up reaching the ZZZ state

No matter what you add to the list, taking half an hour out for a night-time routine will get you ready for bed and help you reach dreamland in a jiffy. This self-care tip will help you wake up refreshed so you can tackle a new day!

If you have a friend who might be going through a tough time, share the power of self-love with the doitforyourself care bundle!