Hands up who takes timeout and doesn’t feel guilty doing it? No I don’t mean time out on the naughty step! I mean some chill out time, time to relax, yes that time for you! And I do not just mean once a year on the beach! Not many hey? No didn’t think so. In today’s fast paced world that we live in everything has to be done yesterday. Achievments are expected to meet the highest of standards, which puts so much pressure on everybody. So in today’s blog I wanted to take a monent to think about your self-care. What would it be like to really think about YOU!

Who amongst us are worrying too much about what other’s think. Whether you think others think you are overreacting, over eating or over working. Worried others may think you are off too much? Or do you worry others think you work too hard? Maybe your thinking, they think that your relaxing too much. Worn out yet? I bet!

So STOP! You know your body better than anybody else! It is your body and nobody else’s, nobody can tell you when to sleep, eat, work, rest, or repeat. However you do need a healthy balance with the above regime to have a healthy body and mind so keep that in mind.

So how do you take care of yourself? Lets take a moment to think about what is your self-care regime?

A self-care regime needs to involve things that you enjoy for you to commit, for you to enjoy and for you to want to do it. You may decide to incorporated an hour a day or one day a week. It is your plan to make you feel healthy. It could be yoga in the morning and meditation in the evening.

Remember this is for you, it is your choice to take positive control. It is your health and wellbeing not a task.

My self-care, as a counsellor is important not just for me but also for my clients. My love of walking is the perfect remedy to balance the time listening, talking and sitting in the therapy room. Being with my Beagle in the great outdoors allows me to breath in the fresh air. It is my self-care regime which gives me space to clear my thoughts, time to stretch my legs and a place to healthily unwind.

Would an hour talking to a negative friend who is giving me unhelpful advice be as helpful as timeout with my dog? For me that is a definate no. So be aware of your needs and what is right for you. It is ok to say I just need a little bit of me time. That is the first step in the right direction to learning about you.