Sometimes after mindlessly scrolling through Facebook, I get exhausted. The compare and despair syndrome that comes with online voyeuristic life gazing can be frustrating and leave you feeling empty. So, do yourself a favor and use this crazy cyberland to make a new connection! Follow someone who posts about different interests and topics. Find someone who stimulates you and inspires you (not just raises your blood pressure) and then (gasp), maybe we take this over into our real lives and actually talk to humans we don’t know! Or better yet, humans we know but could deepen our relationship with. When we focus on quality interactions of a new connection, the world looks so much brighter and much less gloomy and doomy.
Month: February 2017
#SelfCare17: Tell Someone Why You Love Them
I’m not always the best at receiving compliments (I’m working on it!), but I’m great at giving them. That’s why I can attest that a good way to practice self-care is to tell someone why you love them. Not only is it nice to let someone know that you do, but also when you can articulate why — it gives you a deeper appreciation of ALL the good that is in your life.
#SelfCare17: Take Yourself on a Date
When my husband and I wrote our vows, we pledged to the 7 principles we felt were the foundation of our relationship and a good marriage. One of them was self-love. Without knowing how to love and support ourselves, we wouldn’t be as strong as a union. So don’t forget to nurture the most important relationship you have in this life – YOU!
Take yourself on a date: eat alone, see a movie, take a dance lesson, travel the world. Picture your perfect date, and as long as it doesn’t involve tandem bicycling, you’re good to go at it alone! 🙂
Sometimes, We Need A Digital Detox
In 2017, unplugging and disconnecting from technology and the social world sounds like the last thing we want to do.
We feel the need to stay up-to-date with the news, which ironically can tend to wear us down. Nevertheless, we scroll through our feeds and timelines and run endless searches for “How can we impeach Donald Trump?” Information overload – it gets exhausting. How are we supposed to bring justice and equality when we’re overstimulated and low on energy?
Our hyperconnectivity can also create unnecessary obstacles along our self-care journey; the important journey that unlocks the ammo for the fight. There’s no way we can stay plugged into every tragedy or scandal in the news while staying sane at the same time.
But I can’t lie, I’m living right along with the 84% of cell phone users who claim they could not go a single day without their device. Detachment from our screens is necessary, and those of us who are dedicated to improving self-care have to learn how to unplug. It’s important for us to learn to power-down with the intent to recharge and refocus internally.
We won’t find solitude outside of ourselves. Solitude is found within and helps keep us grounded in the noisy outer world.
So I challenge you (and myself) to do yourself a favor and look up. There’s an abundance of beautiful, inspiring life happening right in front of our faces, but we have to look up beyond our phones, laptops, and tablets to experience it. Observe our world IRL (in real life).
Unplug long enough to go out and collect information in the real world and use it to create content and solution instead of spending hours of time consuming other people’s content and information. You have something special to contribute. And we need you fully charged to continue to help change this world.
#SELFCARE17: UNPLUG
You know that peaceful moment at the end of the day when the whole world goes quiet and you’re left with just you and your thoughts?
Me neither.
These days if we want a little solitude we must make a conscious effort.
Take a moment, a day, or a week (okay, fine start with 10 minutes) and create a moment without distraction.
Then rinse and repeat.
This is a fundamental foundation of self-care. You deserve it.