September is my birthday month aka “Treat Yo’self” month! [Insert Parks and Rec gif here] The other day a friend told me, “This is your month. Make sure you do things that make you happy.” Her words struck me like a chord because sometimes I forget that we all deserve to be happy. It’s been rough goings for a while now and I figure now is a better time than ever to put some serious self-care practices to reality. So for the month of September, I’m going to be one of *those* people who takes advantage of the whole month in order to feel great. It helps that my birthday isn’t until the end of the month so as of right now I have about more than half a month to treat myself.
I feel like in our daily lives, we put more emphasis on filling our lives with doing things and becoming stressed than we do on relaxing and self-care. We’ll write out our daily or weekly to-do lists full of our day-to-day work duties, chores, dinners, school, pick-up/drop-off for the kids, but when do we ever make to-do lists full of self-care practices? Not putting ourselves as a priority can make it harder to take care of those who need taking care of in our lives. There is this stigma we should prioritize these to-do lists before taking care of ourselves and by the time we realize it, we are completely burnt out to do anything and struggle to make ourselves feel better. Today I’m listing out things I want to do this month because I deserve to treat myself every once in a while and I hope reading them makes you realize you deserve to treat yourself as well!
Go shopping
Last month I talked about how I went on a shopping break and ended on a note that I would probably not go shopping for clothes unless it was for thrifted or vintage pieces and I’d really like to stay true to that. I’m definitely on this road to cut fast fashion out of my shopping habits because of the reasons I stated in my post, but like any other person who loves to shop, treating yourself to something pretty makes for a fantastic mood booster. It’ll fulfill our constant search for self-worth, which is something you look for whether you’re aware or not.
Have a spa day
About a month ago, I treated myself to a spa day at a local spa because I was in dire need of some pampering. I booked a massage and took advantage of their spa facilities. It was insanely relaxing and I remember not wanting to leave. A spa day is perfect to just relax and let someone do things for you for a change.
Make stretching the first and last things I do in my day
I don’t know about you, but sometimes in the morning after snoozing a couple of times, I will get up and go about my day forgetting to stretch. For 6-8 hours or however many hours you sleep every night, our muscles become stagnant and tensions can build up. Stretching first thing in the morning helps wake the muscles and release those tensions. The same goes for the end of the day—we are out and about and we need to give time to let the muscles rest and relax before bedtime. Stretching first thing in the morning and the last thing at night will help give us an overall better quality of life.
Drink more water
So I feel like I drink enough water, but a little more water won’t hurt at all (but I did read there is such thing as drinking too much water, called water intoxication. You can look that up yourselves.) I may have to go to the bathroom more, but those pros outweigh the cons. It is recommended you drink eight 8-ounce glasses a day (8×8). Drinking water is such a simple form of self-care and probably the easiest. Drinking water helps clear our skins, energy levels go up, it helps maintain the functions of our organs, and helps remove waste from our bodies. Before anything, I will drink about a cup and a half of water in the morning. I have found since I started doing so, I am more awake than if I don’t.
Read more
This is a constant form of self-care in my life. I’ve always loved to read, but know it can sometimes be tough to pick up and finish a book. I love how a book or an article can take me away to a different place just for a little. Living a different life away from our reality for a while can be good if one knows not to get too carried away. I’m trying to finish Lauren Graham’s “Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls (and Everything in Between)” so I can finally get myself to read the Crazy Rich Asians trilogy. A couple chapters before bed will have us floating into dreamland for a good night’s sleep! (Psst! Leave me any book recommendations in the comments if you have any!)Experience thingsI am a homebody. I work from home and then I like to curl up in my house clothes, watch some Netflix or Arashi, read a book, check Twitter, then I’ll fall asleep. It’s not a lifestyle I’m too happy to live, but it does leave me content. This is why I really want to get out this month and keep my mind off drifting to heavy thoughts. I have my calendar out and I’m planning out different activities to get me out of the house.
I’m trying to take on September with a positive outlook. I see September the home stretch for the end of the year because from here on there’s usually a lot to take on: Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, travel plans. These events can definitely get the best of us. September is also the start of school for many, which makes an excellent starting point to put forth some change in our lives.I really hope someone reading this is able to take away something from it. Feel free to let me know what you do to practice self-care in the comments!
+ALYSSA
