Love yourself with these 5 self-care tips

Yes, it’s self-care September again! Ever heard of it? The month of September was once declared the month of self-care, in which you take a little moment for yourself every day. Something that sounds easy, but which we aren’t actually that good at yet.

What is self-care?

Self-care literally means taking care of yourself. It is a fairly general concept that can be interpreted and filled in in several ways. In this blog, we primarily focus on taking time for yourself. Taking time for ourselves is often still seen as something selfish. Especially if you have a busy family life, a busy job, or a combination of both.

Why practice self-care?

Self-care is something you can train yourself to do well, and it contributes to a healthy(er) life. For both body and mind. We know why we should live a healthy life, but perhaps we know less well how to do so best. We are therefore giving you a list of self-care tools that you can very easily put into practice.

Five self-care tips

Tip 1: Self-care time

This is perhaps the most important thing of all. Granting yourself the time to practice self-care in the first place. We live in a very rushed society and we have to do all sorts of things. But your self-care time is just like brushing your teeth. It’s a daily habit that you make time for; it’s in your system and is by now unthinkable to remove from your routine. That is how making time for self-care works, too. You really don’t have to spend an hour a day on this, even if it’s just 10 minutes. That little moment for relaxation—you can read how to fill it in below.

Tip 2: Meditation

When we think of meditation, we often think of being "woo-woo," and therefore we quickly feel disconnected from it. However, meditation is a very effective way to relax, return to yourself, and turn off your thoughts. Did you know that a person has an average of no fewer than 50 thoughts per minute? Pretty strange, right, when you think about it (so don't think about it too much 😉)? The power of meditation is to turn your thoughts off completely by focusing on your breathing and not judging your thoughts.

But how can you best meditate? By listening to relaxing music or turning on special meditation podcasts. A very nice example are the meditations by Dolly. You can find these on Spotify and YouTube, among others, and they vary from 5 minutes to, for example, 15 minutes. Dolly categorizes her meditations by subject, so you can decide for yourself exactly what you listen to, for example, meditation to raise your energy levels, or soothing meditation for when you are feeling sad.

Meditation is also very nice before going to sleep. You fall asleep much more peacefully and also sleep more deeply. Just try it and you will see that it works!

Tip 3: Self-care gift

If you are truly less into meditation and would rather have something tangible, choose self-care products. These are available in abundance; think of face masks, crystals, massage oil, lavender pillow spray, and so on. Self-care products have become an indispensable part of our daily rhythm, but some people are just better at it than others.

In the Bloom Mondays shop, you will find all kinds of self-care products and we even have a ‘Love Yourself’ line, really focused on that moment for yourself. These wellness gift packages are very suitable to give to your dear friend, your wife, or your mother, but they are of course also very suitable to give to yourself. There is really nothing wrong with spoiling yourself for a bit! We often wait until there is an occasion or until we feel we really deserve it. But why do you have to earn that? You deserve this always, don't you?

Tip 4: Have a relaxation massage

Perhaps our favorite tip! Why a relaxation massage? Because it makes the tension in your body disappear, muscles are loosened, and with that, waste products disappear from your body as well. In addition, you just become relaxed in your head, so you sleep better, and most importantly: you truly become happier from a massage, because it stimulates the production of the hormone endorphin.

Does the idea of a weekly relaxation massage sound like music to your ears? Unfortunately, that would become an expensive hobby, but about once a month, it is wonderful to do. If you don't like being touched that much, consider just a head, neck, and shoulder massage. Most tension is generally held in these three areas, so the effect is generally the same.

Tip 5: Self-care reminders

Finally, make sure you remind yourself every day that you need to practice self-care. That doesn't always have to be in physical actions; think, for example, of that voice in your head. Your mindset is how you feel, for example, insecurity about whether you can handle that job task, or if you are good enough at all. In those moments, remember that these are your thoughts. Your thoughts quickly become your conviction from which you act. So tell yourself that you are allowed to be here and that you are good enough!

For the self-care September challenge, a handy calendar has been created that helps you set up your daily self-care moment.

Good luck with it and stay zen!