Self-care seems to be all the rage lately. Everyone is talking about it. Self-care often soothes anxiety and can help us gain new perspectives. Taking time to care for yourself is essential. However, even self-care can leave us feeling unbalanced and with more anxiety.
When self-care becomes an extra item on your lengthy to-do list it can cause increased stress and anxiety. Often, we start out the new year with lofty goals around self-care. We will exercise more, start a yoga practice, eat better, or spend more quality time with friends. Nothing wrong with any of those activities. Have you ever caught yourself, though, thinking about these or other self-care activities and felt your heart rate increase, your mind start to race, or shut down?
You might be having a stress reaction to your own self-care plans. Often this comes from goals that are not realistic or don’t feel like self-care. So, what is self-care? Self-care that is truly helpful to your mental health must be done with balance in mind. This is where mindfulness can be helpful.
Mindfulness is not only a good form of self-care in itself (as long as it too is done with balance in mind), but also helpful in understanding your own limits, boundaries and sense of balance. When we overdo anything, we can create more stress and anxiety for ourselves. Mindfulness provides us with a space to look inside and assess our own needs in a way that alleviates stress and anxiety rather than adding to it.
If your attempts at self-care seem to leave you feeling nervous, anxious, or more stressed, you might benefit from mindfulness. I help people develop more mindfulness in their lives so they can feel calmer, happier, and less stressed. Talking to someone about what a balanced self-care routine might look like in your life can be very helpful.
Reach out to me to find out more about how a more balanced, mindful approach to self-care and life can help you decrease anxiety and stress in your life.
Andrea Harbeck
Andrea@AndreaHarbeckTherapy.com
720-336-9454