Social media can be both harmful and helpful at the same time. Whenever you turn it on, those pictures of pretty nails, beautiful made-up ladies, or even ladies having an amazingly relaxing time in the bathtub in a nice candlelight bathroom, can either make you green with envy or eaten up with jealousy.
You will be thinking: “Where can I find the TIME to do such a thing when that 24 hours don’t seem to be enough for me to use?”. The next moment, you feel frustrated and resentful.
LET ME TELL YOU…
Self-care is not pampering. It is not self-indulgence. Those are a totally different matter. Self-care is important and we all need to make a commitment to practice self-care because it helps to
– build a better relationship with ourselves
– improve our self-esteem
– boost our confidence
– produce positive feelings
– restore your energy
AND…
if you have a daughter, all the more you should practice it. In addition, teach and practice self-care routine together with your daughter. You don’t have to wait till she is all grown up in order to do it together, teach her when she’s young. Let her understand the values and importance of self-care.
Not sure where and how to get started? Allow me to share with you 8 easy to follow ideas of how I practice self-care together with my daughter.
Meditation
This may sound tough for some of you but with practice, it does help a person to calm and find peace in oneself. All you need to do is to sit or lie in a comfortable position and breathe naturally for 5-10 minutes. Meditation allows your mind to relax and slowly allow the stress and tension in your body to dissolve away.
Intentional Check-in
Communicate your emotional needs with your daughter and vice versa. Talk about how both of you are feeling as a mother and daughter. Are you ladies meeting each other’s emotional needs? Let each other knows what you need in order to feel loved and secure.
Soak in nature
Numbers of studies have proven that being in nature promotes good health. Schedule a down day and take a walk in the park or go to the beach and enjoy the natural wind and sea breeze. Being in nature, allow both your minds and bodies to take a break from the hustle and bustle of the busy lifestyle that you have. It makes one feel less overwhelmed too.
Practice Personal Hygiene
I love this! Teach your daughter how to take care of her beautiful hair by showing her good shampoo and conditioner that are suitable for her hair. Shampoo and have fun together, if you may. This serves as a time to have a break and treat yourself while connecting and bonding with your daughter.
Doodle and/or colour together
We love doodling or drawing. We even bought books to learn how to do it. Doodling can be easily done indoor or outdoor. While doodling, it helps to spur our creativity and allow us to express ourselves as well. It’s a great way to discover ourselves and be present for each other.
Exercise regularly
This is great for teaching your daughter how to be active and healthy. Indirectly, you are also teaching her to love her body and taking good care of it. Simple exercises such as brisk walking, jogging, cycling, rollerblading can be easily added into the routine.
Declutter together
We always feel energized whenever we declutter. I love decluttering with my daughter as I get to see how confident she is in making her decision on what she wants to keep or throw. After the decluttering session, we will both feel very happy and the room feels so much brighter.
Make a list of what you are grateful for
Things that are easily being achieved or things that were there all the time that it has blended into our daily lives, we start to take them for granted. We need to take the time to consider them, understand how valuable they are and how fortunate we are to have them. We get so hung up with our busy lifestyle that we have lost track and sight of what we have. This is the time where we take note and appreciate what we have. This is also an amazing opportunity to teach your daughter about happiness, empathy and being thankful.
It is our responsibility to raise our child who is happy, mindful and know how to love herself for being herself. We are their role models and we have to practice the art of self-care so that we can pass on this knowledge to our daughters. If you find it tough sticking to it, create a daily or weekly self-care checklist to guide you.
So please, do remember to practice self-care on yourself and teach your daughter too because we all deserve it!