Natalie Moore, LMFT, shares five self-care strategies: start your morning with it, meditate in short bursts throughout the day, run a challenge with friends, use apps like ClassPass and Mindbody, and meet a friend for accountability.
Hey guys, Natalie Moore here, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. Today I'm gonna talk about 5 self-care tips for you. This is an area near and dear to my heart because I've been on the self-care journey for about 8 years now, and it's still a struggle for me. I just did an Instagram post recently saying that therapists and coaches do not have it all figured out, and we're still on our own journeys of figuring out how to live our best lives too. So I, when I was writing the 5 tips for this, was really asking myself, okay, what has worked for me and what works for me? So number 1 is taking care of your self-care first thing in the morning. Okay, I know that this one might sound tough because you're probably thinking Well, I have so much that I need to do when I wake up in the morning. I have to get ready. I have to go to work. Maybe you have to get your kids to school. But think of it this way: if you're truly prioritizing your self-care and your health and wellness, wouldn't it be the most important thing for you to do? And don't we do the most important thing first? So what I tell my clients when this is their response is, try getting to bed an hour early every night. And waking up an hour early. I know that for people who have a lot of, you know, kids in the house or family members in the house, it can be easiest to get their self-care done first thing in the morning while everyone's still sleeping. For me, I find it easy to get my self-care done in the morning if I schedule like a yoga class or something that I have to be at, because it creates some of that accountability for myself. Or if I don't do that, I might, you know, make myself a smoothie or a healthy breakfast and make a commitment to eating it mindfully, and maybe I'll eat it or drink my smoothie outside so that I can kind of notice the sensory environment around me to kind of get my day started on the right foot. Okay, number 2: space short meditations throughout the day. So a lot of people, you know, a lot of clients that I've worked with have said that they just don't have time for meditation. And what I like to say to this is that, do you have 5 minutes? Yes or no? Do you have 1 minute? Yes or no? Everybody has 1 minute, right? So I've actually done this before where I've had a goal of meditating for maybe 20 minutes in a day, and so I'll start in the morning with like a 5 or 10 minute meditation, and then at lunchtime again, 5 or 10 minutes, and then if I have time at home after dinner or before bed, another 5 or 10 minutes. You'd be amazed at how much time actually adds up if you can space these short meditations throughout the day. On that note, you can— there's so many different apps that you can choose from, YouTube channels for guided meditations, or you can you could just set a 5-minute timer on your phone and just close your eyes and focus on your breath. Number 3, create a challenge, a self-care challenge. I've actually done this with friends with some success, where I'll send out a group text to some friends and say, "Hey, who wants to do a 21-day meditation challenge or a 21-day self-care challenge," something like that. And you actually, you and your friends can kind of hold each other accountable for doing something good for yourselves on a daily basis. And so you just take a screenshot of, you know, your meditation app, or, you know, your, like, a yoga class that you went to or something. And so you guys can kind of keep the conversation going about how you're taking care of yourselves, and you can share inspiration and support that way too. Number 4: Try an app. On that note, there are some really cool apps. There's one called ClassPass, and I know that they have, like, a free trial where you can do a free month to check it out, and they have classes all over, like all kinds of studios, yoga, gym time, Pilates, tai chi, like anything you could possibly think of, they've got classes. And you can do like a monthly subscription if you like it. And then secondly, there's an app called Mindbody, similar concept, but it's more of like a scheduling and a booking app, and you can get some deals and discounts from them too. I use these apps all the time, and they've really help me stay on top of my self-care because again, if I have a class, there's more of that sense of accountability. Number 5, meet up with a friend. This is also on the note of accountability. I find that if I can get my self-care done and do like a friend date at the same time, I kind of feel like I'm double-tasking. So not only am I getting the social interaction, which is really good for my health and wellness, but I'm also doing something with a friend. So I'll schedule to walk around, you know, do a 2-mile walk with a friend or go to a yoga class or something like that, and it really kills two birds with one stone, so I like that one. Okay, I hope you found these tips helpful. If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below, and if you live in the LA area and think that I might be a good fit for working with you, if you're looking for a therapist, please give me a call. Have a good one. Bye.
5 Things You Need to Cultivate Total Wellness with Natalie Moore | Authority Magazine
