My Better Self-Care and Mindfulness Plan This Year

Urgh, January seems like it lasted forever. It seems like so long ago that I was thinking about my goals for the year and the things that I wanted to do better or start doing. I have written previously about making this year ‘the year of me’. Such a cliché, but I really need to take some time for me.

But how have I planned to make more time for myself?

Mindfulness and self-care have been buzzwords of late, but really, they are something that we need to make sure that we are doing more of. I am definitely one for writing things down, making lists, and doodling. It really helps to turn inwards a little and put my thoughts onto a page, rather than having them going around in my mind.

I find writing things down on actual paper with an actual pen, who knew, is really rather therapeutic and an ideal way to get a hold of life. It is a way to de-clutter my mind, and get things organised. For me, writing notes on my phone just isn’t the same. So I am going to be making more of an effort to journal and use notebooks.

Writing things down has been proven to help free your mind, de-stress and generally put your life in order. Even just a few minutes of journaling a day, the old-fashion pen to paper way, offers a multitude of benefits that I am starting to see already.

So this is a must for self-care and mindfulness this year. Who doesn’t love new stationery like this dreamy bullet journal from Pen Heaven?

I have been eagerly watching tutorial videos on bullet journaling, as it is a great way to be creative, more mindful, and to declutter and get organised all in one. Honestly, they are really addictive to watch!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKbzcjJLRRo

So the fact that this is dotted, rather than lined, is really helpful. I need to get better at font writing and coming up with new things, but making checklists, like the mood tracker, is a good way to record each day and monitor how things are going. With my hormone imbalance some days are great; some are terrible. So recording how things are going is a good way not only to unwind, but to monitor my health as part of my self-care.

I have been looking at other ways of being more mindful, as well as taking better care of myself, and one other way I have been exploring is through reflexology.

I have tinkered with it in the past a little, but after speaking to a friend of mine that is a practitioner and sharing all of my health woes with her, I have decided to give it a go to see how it can help my ailments. If all else fails it is a super relaxing time for me to deep breathe and unwind, which with different stresses in my life at the moment, is much needed.

With the children leading busier lives, I need to make sure that I take some time to put my health first – at the times that they don’t need me, of course. I feel I can be a much better, calmer parent, when I am refocused and have been taking care of myself.

Have you got any goals that you have been working on so far this year? It would deb great to hear what you have planned and how it is all going.

*thank you to Pen Heaven for my lovely new journal. All thoughts and opinions are my own.